Patent ID: 11950026
Assignee: ARIZONA BOARD OF REGENTS ON BEHALF OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
Field: Audio-visual technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G  H | IPC G  H

Claim 9:
10. A LIDAR system to detect a position of an object, comprising:
a light source;
a light controller optically or electrically coupled to the light source, such that that a combination of the light source and the light controller constitutes a first source of a two-dimensional array of beams of light;
a camera to obtain a sequence of images of the object, comprising:
a first lens adapted to receive light from the object;
an angular light modulator (ALM) comprising a plurality of actuatable elements, each of the plurality of pixels configured to transition between an ON state having an ON angle and an OFF state having an OFF angle and positioned to receive the light from the first lens and further configured to project the light into one of at least three diffraction orders each corresponding to a unique angle by actuating between a first angle of a first diffraction order and a second angle of a second diffraction order;
a detector array positioned to receive the light from the ALM and simultaneously capture multiple images of the same object using the at least three different diffraction orders; and
at least one processor coupled to the ALM adapted to actuate the actuatable elements between the ON and OFF states such that during the transition the light is projected in a first direction determined by the first diffraction order to project a first image of the object onto a first portion of the detector array and to actuate the actuatable elements in a second direction determined by the second diffraction order to project a second image of the object onto a second portion of the detector array;

and
a range finding detection module coupled to the light source and comprising a detector to receive each of the beams of light after the each of the beams of light is reflected from the object and to determine a time difference and corresponding distance to the object based on a time of flight between when the light source outputs each of the beams of light in the array into each unique angle according to one of the plurality of diffraction orders and when the detector receives each of the beams of light in the array after the each of the beams of light is reflected from the object.