Patent ID: 11874374
Assignee: XENOMATIX NV
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 0:
1. A system for characterizing surroundings of a vehicle, the system comprising:
projection means arranged for projecting a pattern of laser light towards said surroundings in a sequence of pulses, said pattern of laser light comprising a pattern of discrete spots;
a detector comprising a plurality of pixels, said detector being configured for detecting light representing said pattern of laser light as reflected by said surroundings in synchronization with said sequence of pulses; and
processing means configured to calculate distances to objects in said surroundings as a function of first and second exposure values generated by said pixels in response to said detected light;
wherein each pulse of said sequence of pulses has associated with it a first predetermined time window and a second predetermined time window, said second predetermined time window occurring after said first predetermined time window;
wherein said pixels are configured to generate said first exposure value by accumulating in a first well of the respective pixels, for all of the pulses of said sequence, first amounts of electrical charge representative of first amounts of light reflected by said objects during respective first predetermined time windows and
wherein said pixels are further configured to generate said second exposure value by accumulating in a second well of the respective pixels, for all of the pulses of said sequence, second amounts of electrical charge representative of second amounts of light reflected by said objects during respective second predetermined time windows;, wherein said detector is further configured for detecting light forming a two-dimensional image of said surroundings at points in time that do not coincide with said sequence of pulses.