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

Claim 14:
15. A time-of-flight system, comprising:
an optical emitter configured to emit photons;
an optical receiver comprising a radiation-sensitive pixel;
a first counter configured to increment a first count in response to receiving a first-counter increment command, the first counter configured to decrement the first count in response to receiving a first-counter decrement command;
a gate circuit configured to receive a photon-detection alert from the radiation-sensitive pixel in response to detecting a photon by the radiation-sensitive pixel, the gate circuit comprising a first state and a second state, wherein the gate circuit transmits the first-counter increment command to the first counter in response to receiving the photon-detection, and wherein the gate circuit transmits the first-counter decrement command to the first counter in response to receiving the photon-detection alert; and
a decoder circuit configured to receive the first count from the first counter and a timing signal that communicates an optical-emission time by the optical emitter, wherein the decoder circuit is configured to deliver a control signal to the gate circuit that:
sets the gate circuit to the first state after a passage of a first-state delay determined based on the first count and measured from the optical-emission time; and
sets the gate circuit to the second state after a passage of a second-state delay determined based on the first count and measured from the optical-emission time.