Patent ID: 11971505
Assignee: STMICROELECTRONICS (GRENOBLE 2) SAS
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 7:
8. A method for detecting a peak time interval in a time-of-flight system, the method comprising:
incrementing, by a first counter, a first count in response to receiving a first-counter increment command;
decrementing, by the first counter, the first count in response to receiving a first-counter decrement command;
receiving, by a gate circuit, a photon-detection alert from a radiation-sensitive pixel in response to detecting a photon by the radiation-sensitive pixel, the gate circuit having a first state wherein the gate circuit transmits the first-counter increment command to the first counter in response to receiving the photon-detection alert, and the gate circuit having a second state wherein the gate circuit transmits the first-counter decrement command to the first counter in response to receiving the photon-detection alert;
receiving, by a decoder circuit, the first count from the first counter;
receiving, by the decoder circuit, a timing signal that communicates an optical-emission time by an optical emitter;
transmitting, by the decoder circuit, a control signal to the gate circuit;
setting the gate circuit to the first state after a passage of a first-state delay determined in accordance with the first count and measured from the optical-emission time; and
setting the gate circuit to the second state after a passage of a second-state delay determined in accordance with the first count and measured from the optical-emission time.