EXHIBIT A 

Case 3:17-cv-00939 Document 1-1 Filed 02/23/17 Page 1 of 24
(12) United States Patent 

Pennecot et al. 

US008836922B1 

US 8,836,922 B1 

Sep. 16, 2014 

(10) Patent No.: 

(45) Date of Patent: 

(54) DEVICES AND METHODS FOR A ROTATING USPC ........ 356/4.01, 3.01, 4.07, 5.01, 5.09, 9, 625, 

LIDAR PLATFORM WITH A SHARED 356/337–342, 28, 28.5 

TRANSMIT/RECEIVE PATH See application file for complete search history. 

(71) Applicant: Google Inc., Mountain View, CA (US) (56) References Cited 

- |U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS (72) Inventors: Gaetan Pennecot, San Francisco, CA 

(US); Pierre-Yves Droz, Los Altos, CA 3,790,277 A 2/1974 Hogan (US); Drew Eugene Ulrich, San 4,516,158 A * 5/1985 Grainge et al. ............... 348/145 

Francisco, - CA (US); Daniel - Gruver, o 3 * ~~~ 3 * |: #. ellekSOIn et tal al. $on Foncisco, CA (US)/ashay 5,202,742 A 4/1993 Frank et al. Morriss, San Francisco, CA (US). 5,703,351 A 12/1997 Meyers Anthony Levandowski, Berkeley, CA 6,046,800 A * 4/2000 Ohtomo et al. ............ 356/141.1 

(US) 6,778,732 B1* 8/2004 Fermann ......................... 385/31 

Continued (73) Assignee: Google Inc., Mountain View, CA (US) ( ) - - - - - - FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS 

(*) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this 

patent is extended or adjusted under 35 EP 2410358 A1 1/2012 

U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days. Primary Examiner – Isam Alsomiri 

(21) Appl. No.: 13/971,606 Assistant Examiner – Samantha KAbraham 

s (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm — McDonnell Boehnen 

(22) Filed: Aug. 20, 2013 Hulbert & Berghoff LLP 

(51) Int. Cl. (57) ABSTRACT 

G0IC 3/08 (2006.01) A LIDAR device may transmit light pulses originating from 

G0IS 17/92 (2006.01) one or more light sources and may receive reflected light 

(52) U.S. CI. pulses that are then detected by one or more detectors. The 

CPC ...... Gois 1702 (2013.01) LIDAR device may include a lens that both (i) collimates the 

USPC ....... 356/4.01: 356/3.01: 356/5.01: 356/5.09: light from the one or more light sources to provide collimated 

356/4.07: 356/9: 356/625: 356/337: 356/342: light for transmission into an environment of the LIDAR 

s s s 35628. 356/28 s device and (ii) focuses the reflected light onto the one or more 

(58) Field of Classification Search s - detectors. The lens may define a curved focal surface in a 

CPC ...... GO1C 3/08; GO1C 15/002; GO1C 11/025; 

GO1C 15/02; GO1C 21/30; G01S 17/89: 

G01S 7/4817: G01S 17/42; G01S 17/50: 

G01S 17/158; G01N 15/0205; G01N 15/1459: 

G01N 21/29: G01N 2015/1486; G01N 21/53; 

G01N 21/538; G01N 2021/4709; G01N 21/21; 

G01P 3/36; G01P 5/26: G01P 3/366 

transmit path of the light from the one or more light sources 

and a curved focal surface in a receive path of the one or more 

detectors. The one or more light sources may be arranged along the curved focal surface in the transmit path. The one or 

more detectors may be arranged along the curved focal sur 

face in the receive path. 

18 Claims, 11 Drawing Sheets 

 

Case 3:17-cv-00939 Document 1-1 Filed 02/23/17 Page 2 of 24
US 8,836,922 B1 

Page 2 

(56) References Cited 7,361,948 B2 * 4/2008 Hirano et al. ................. 257/294 

7,417,716 B2 8/2008 Nagasaka et al. 

|U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 7,544,945 B2 6/2009 Tan et al. 

7,969,558 B2 6/2011 Hall 

7,089,114 B1 8/2006 Huang 2002/0140924 A1* 10/2002 Wangler et al. ................. 356/28 

7,248.342 B1 7/2007 Degnan 2010/0220,141 A1* 9/2010 Ozawa ............................ 347/18 

7,255,275 B2 8/2007 Gurevich et al. 2011/0216304 A1 9/2011 Hall 

7,259,838 B2 * 8/2007 Carlhoffet al. .............. 356/5.04 

7,311,000 B2 * 12/2007 Smith et al. ................ 73/170.11 * cited by examiner 

Case 3:17-cv-00939 Document 1-1 Filed 02/23/17 Page 3 of 24
U.S. Patent Sep. 16, 2014 Sheet 1 of 11 US 8,836,922 B1 

100 

Housing 110 

Transmit B?ock 120 Receive Block - 130 

?ight Sources 122 

T 

104 106 i # : 

FIG. 1 

 

 

 

 

 

Case 3:17-cv-00939 Document 1-1 Filed 02/23/17 Page 4 of 24
U.S. Patent Sep. 16, 2014 Sheet 2 of 11 US 8,836,922 B1 

200 

\, 206 

# : # : 

228 220 

 

Case 3:17-cv-00939 Document 1-1 Filed 02/23/17 Page 5 of 24
U.S. Patent Sep. 16, 2014 Sheet 3 of 11 US 8,836,922 B1 

Ç 

co 

cr) 

: 

: 

 

Case 3:17-cv-00939 Document 1-1 Filed 02/23/17 Page 6 of 24
U.S. Patent Sep. 16, 2014 Sheet 4 of 11 US 8,836,922 B1 

FIG. 3B 

 

Case 3:17-cv-00939 Document 1-1 Filed 02/23/17 Page 7 of 24
U.S. Patent Sep. 16, 2014 Sheet 5 of 11 US 8,836,922 B1 

 

Case 3:17-cv-00939 Document 1-1 Filed 02/23/17 Page 8 of 24
U.S. Patent Sep. 16, 2014 Sheet 6 of 11 US 8,836,922 B1 

FIG. 5A 506 508 

` 

FIG. 5B 508- 504 : <---------. 500 

506 

FIG. 5C 510 | 504 <---------, 500 

506 ; 

Case 3:17-cv-00939 Document 1-1 Filed 02/23/17 Page 9 of 24
U.S. Patent Sep. 16, 2014 Sheet 7 of 11 US 8,836,922 B1 

690 

FIG. 6B 

 

Case 3:17-cv-00939 Document 1-1 Filed 02/23/17 Page 10 of 24
U.S. Patent Sep. 16, 2014 Sheet 8 of 11 US 8,836,922 B1 

750 

752 × 

FIG. 7A 

752 

754 

FIG. 7B 

Case 3:17-cv-00939 Document 1-1 Filed 02/23/17 Page 11 of 24
U.S. Patent Sep. 16, 2014 Sheet 9 of 11 US 8,836,922 B1 

840 Right Side View 

Back View Top View 

FIG. 8A 

 

Case 3:17-cv-00939 Document 1-1 Filed 02/23/17 Page 12 of 24
U.S. Patent Sep. 16, 2014 Sheet 10 of 11 US 8,836,922 B1 

FIG. 8B 

 

Case 3:17-cv-00939 Document 1-1 Filed 02/23/17 Page 13 of 24
U.S. Patent Sep. 16, 2014 Sheet 11 of 11 US 8,836,922 B1 

, 900 

ROTATING A HOUSENG OF A LIGHT DETECTION AND 

RANGING (LIDAR) DEVICE ABOUT AN AXIS, WHEREIN 

902 THE HOUSING HAS AN INTERIOR SPACE THAT INCLUDES 

A TRANSMIT BLOCK, A RECEIVE BLOCK, AND A SHARED 

SPACE, WHEREIN THE TRANSMIT BLOCK HAS AN EXIT 

APERTURE, AND WHEREIN THE RECEIVE BLOCK HAS AN 

ENTRANCE APERTURE 

EMITTING, BY A PLURALITY OF LIGHT SOURCES IN THE 

904 TRANSMIT BLOCK, A PLURALITY OF LIGHT BEAMS THAT 

ENTER THE SHARED SPACE VIA A TRANSMIT PATH, THE 

?|GHT BEAMS COMPRISING LIGHT HAVING 

WAVELENGTHS IN A WAVELENGTH RANGE 

906 

RECEIVING THE LIGHT BEAMS AT A LENS MOUNTED TO 

THE HOUSING ALONG THE TRANSMHT PATH 

908 

COLLIMATING, BY THE LENS, THE LIGHT BEAMS FOR 

TRANSMHSS}ON INTO AN ENVIRONMENT OF THE {_{DAR 

DEVICE 

g40 FOCUSING, BY THE LENS, THE COLLECTED LIGHT ONTO 

A Pi_URALITY OF DETECTORS N THE RECEIVE BLOCK 

VIA A RECEIVE PATH THAT EXTENDS THROUGH THE 

SHARED SPACE AND THE ENTRANCE APERTURE OF THE 

RECEIVE B? OCK 

912 

DETECTING, BY THE PLURALITY OF DETECTORS IN THE 

RECEIVE BLOCK, LIGHT FROM THE FOCUSED LIGHT 

HAVENG WAVELENGTHS N THE WAVELENGTH RANGE 

Figure 9 

 

Case 3:17-cv-00939 Document 1-1 Filed 02/23/17 Page 14 of 24
US 8,836,922 B1 

1 

DEVICES AND METHODS FOR A ROTATING 

LIDAR PLATFORM WITH A SHARED 

TRANSMIT/RECEIVE PATH 

BACKGROUND 

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described 

in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application 

and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section. 

Vehicles can be configured to operate in an autonomous 

mode in which the vehicle navigates through an environment 

with little or no input from a driver. Such autonomous 

vehicles can include one or more sensors that are configured 

to detect information about the environment in which the 

vehicle operates. 

One such sensor is a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) 

device. A LIDAR can estimates distance to environmental 

features while scanning through a scene to assemble a “point 

cloud” indicative of reflective surfaces in the environment. 

Individual points in the point cloud can be determined by transmitting a laser pulse and detecting a returning pulse, if 

any, reflected from an object in the environment, and deter 

mining the distance to the object according to the time delay 

between the transmitted pulse and the reception of the 

reflected pulse. A laser, or set of lasers, can be rapidly and 

repeatedly scanned across a scene to provide continuous real 

time information on distances to reflective objects in the 

scene. Combining the measured distances and the orientation 

of the laser(s) while measuring each distance allows for asso 

ciating a three-dimensional position with each returning 

pulse. In this way, a three-dimensional map of points indica 

tive of locations of reflective features in the environment can 

be generated for the entire scanning zone. 

SUMMARY 

In one example, a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) 

device is provided that includes a housing configured to rotate 

about an axis. The housing has an interior space that includes 

a transmit block, a receive block, and a shared space. The 

transmit block has an exit aperture and the receive block has 

an entrance aperture. The LIDAR device also includes a plu rality of light sources in the transmit block. The plurality of 

light sources is configured to emit a plurality of light beams 

that enter the shared space through the exit aperture and 

traverse the shared space via a transmit path. The light beams 

include light having wavelengths in a wavelength range. The 

LIDAR device also includes a plurality of detectors in the 

receive block. The plurality of detectors is configured to 

detect light having wavelengths in the wavelength range. The 

LIDAR device also includes a lens mounted to the housing. The lens is configured to (i) receive the light beams via the 

transmit path, (ii) collimate the light beams for transmission 

into an environment of the LIDAR device, (iii) collect light 

that includes light from one or more of the collimated light 

beams reflected by one or more objects in the environment of 

the LIDAR device, and (iv) focus the collected light onto the 

detectors via a receive path that extends through the shared 

space and the entrance aperture of the receive block. 

In another example, a method is provided that involves 

rotating a housing of a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) 

device about an axis. The housing has an interior space that 

includes a transmit block, a receive block, and a shared space. 

The transmit block has an exit aperture and the receive block 

has an entrance aperture. The method further involves emit 

ting a plurality of light beams by a plurality of light sources in 

the transmit block. The plurality of light beams enter the 

10 

15 

20 

25 

30 

35 

40 

45 

50 

55 

60 

65 

2 

shared space via a transmit path. The light beams include light having wavelengths in a wavelength range. The method fur 

ther involves receiving the light beams at a lens mounted to 

the housing along the transmit path. The method further 

involves collimating, by the lens, the light beams for trans 

mission into an environment of the LIDAR device. The 

method further involves collecting, by the lens, light from one 

or more of the collimated light beams reflected by one or more 

objects in the environment of the LIDAR device. The method 

further involves focusing, by the lens, the collected light onto 

a plurality of detectors in the receive block via a receive path that extends through the shared space and the entrance aper 

ture of the receive block. The method further involves detect 

ing, by the plurality of detectors in the receive block, light from the focused light having wavelengths in the wavelength 

range. 

These as well as other aspects, advantages, and alterna 

tives, will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art 

by reading the following detailed description, with reference 

where appropriate to the accompanying figures. 

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example LIDAR device. 

FIG. 2 is a cross-section view of an example LIDAR 

device. 

FIG. 3A is a perspective view of an example LIDAR device 

fitted with various components, in accordance with at least some embodiments described herein 

FIG. 3B is a perspective view of the example LIDAR 

device shown in FIG. 3A with the various components 

removed to illustrate interior space of the housing. 

FIG. 4 illustrates an example transmit block, in accordance 

with at least some embodiments described herein. 

FIG. 5A is a view of an example light source, in accordance 

with an example embodiment. 

FIG. 5B is a view of the light source of FIG. 5A in combi 

nation with a cylindrical lens, in accordance with an example 

embodiment. 

FIG. 5C is another view of the light source and cylindrical 

lens combination of FIG. 5B, in accordance with an example 

embodiment. 

FIG. 6A illustrates an example receive block, in accor 

dance with at least some embodiments described herein. 

FIG. 6B illustrates a side view of three detectors included 

in the receive block of FIG. 6A. 

FIG. 7A illustrates an example lens with an aspheric sur 

face and a toroidal surface, in accordance with at least some 

embodiments described herein. 

FIG. 7B illustrates a cross-section view of the example lens 

750 shown in FIG. 7A. 

FIG. 8A illustrates an example LIDAR device mounted on 

a vehicle, in accordance with at least some embodiments 

described herein. 

FIG. 8B illustrates a scenario where the LIDAR device 

shown in FIG. 8A is scanning an environment that includes 

one or more objects, in accordance with at least some embodi 

ments described herein. 

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a method, in accordance with at 

least some embodiments described herein. 

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 

The following detailed description describes various fea 

tures and functions of the disclosed systems, devices and 

methods with reference to the accompanying figures. In the 

figures, similar symbols identify similar components, unless 

Case 3:17-cv-00939 Document 1-1 Filed 02/23/17 Page 15 of 24
US 8,836,922 B1 

3 

context dictates otherwise. The illustrative system, device and 

method embodiments described herein are not meant to be 

limiting. It may be readily understood by those skilled in the 

art that certain aspects of the disclosed systems, devices and 

methods can be arranged and combined in a wide variety of 5 

different configurations, all of which are contemplated 

herein. 

A light detection and ranging (LIDAR) device may trans 

mit light pulses originating from a plurality of light sources 

and may receive reflected light pulses that are then detected 10 

by a plurality of detectors. Within examples described herein, 

a LIDAR device is provided that includes a transmit/receive 

lens that both collimates the light from the plurality of light 

sources and focuses the reflected light onto the plurality of 

detectors. By using a transmit/receive lens that performs both 15 

of these functions, instead of a transmit lens for collimating and a receive lens for focusing, advantages with respect to 

size, cost, and/or complexity can be provided. 

The LIDAR device comprises a housing that is configured 

to rotate about an axis. In some examples, the axis is substan- 20 

tially vertical. The housing may have an interior space that 

includes various components such as a transmit block that 

includes the plurality of light sources, a receive block that 

includes the plurality of detectors, a shared space where emit 

ted light traverses from the transmit block to the transmit? 25 

receive lens and reflected light traverses from the transmit/ 

receive lens to the receive block, and the transmit/receive lens 

that collimates the emitted light and focuses the reflected 

light. By rotating the housing that includes the various com 

ponents, in some examples, a three-dimensional map of a 30 

360-degree field of view of an environment of the LIDAR 

device can be determined without frequent recalibration of 

the arrangement of the various components. 

In some examples, the housing may include radio fre 

quency (RF) and optical shielding between the transmit block 35 

and the receive block. For example, the housing can be 

formed from and/or coated by a metal, metallic ink, or metal 

lic foam to provide the RF shielding. Metals used for shield 

ing can include, for example, copper or nickel. 

The plurality of light sources included in the transmit block 40 

can include, for example, laser diodes. In one example, the 

light sources emit light with wavelengths of approximately 

905 nm. In some examples, a transmit path through which the 

transmit/receive lens receives the light emitted by the light 

sources may include a reflective element, such as a mirror or 45 

prism. By including the reflective element, the transmit path 

can be folded to provide a smaller size of the transmit block 

and, hence, a smaller housing of the LIDAR device. Addi 

tionally, the transmit path includes an exit aperture of the 

transmit block through which the emitted light enters the 50 

shared space and traverses to the transmit/receive lens. 

In some examples, each light source of the plurality of light 

sources includes a respective lens, such as a cylindrical or 

acylindrical lens. The light source may emit an uncollimated 

light beam that diverges more in a first direction than in a 55 

second direction. In these examples, the light source’s respec 

tive lens may pre-collimate the uncollimated light beam in the 

first direction to provide a partially collimated light beam, 

thereby reducing the divergence in the first direction. In some 

examples, the partially collimated light beam diverges less in 60 

the first direction than in the second direction. The transmit/ 

receive lens receives the partially collimated light beams from 

the one or more light sources via an exit aperture of the 

transmit block and the transmit/receive lens collimates the 

partially collimated light beams to provide collimated light 65 

beams that are transmitted into the environment of the LIDAR 

device. In this example, the light emitted by the light sources 

4 

may have a greater divergence in the second direction than in 

the first direction, and the exit aperture can accommodate 

vertical and horizontal extents of the beams of light from the 

light sources. 

The housing mounts the transmit/receive lens through which light from the plurality of light sources can exit the 

housing, and reflected light can enter the housing to reach the 

receive block. The transmit/receive lens can have an optical 

power that is sufficient to collimate the light emitted by the 

plurality of light sources and to focus the reflected light onto 

the plurality of detectors in the receive block. In one example, 

the transmit/receive lens has a surface with an aspheric shape 

that is at the outside of the housing, a surface with a toroidal 

shape that is inside the housing, and a focal length of approxi 

mately 120 mm. 

The plurality of detectors included in the receive block can 

include, for example, avalanche photodiodes in a sealed envi 

ronment that is filled with an inert gas, such as nitrogen. The 

receive block can include an entrance aperture through which 

focused light from the transmit/receive lens traverses towards 

the detectors. In some examples, the entrance aperture can 

include a filtering window that passes light having wave 

lengths within the wavelength range emitted by the plurality 

of light sources and attenuates light having other wave 

lengths. 

The collimated light transmitted from the LIDAR device 

into the environment may reflect from one or more objects in 

the environment to provide object-reflected light. The trans 

mit/receive lens may collect the object-reflected light and 

focus the object-reflected light through a focusing path (“re 

ceive path”) onto the plurality of detectors. In some examples, 

the receive path may include a reflective surface that directs 

the focused light to the plurality of detectors. Additionally or 

alternatively, the reflective surface can fold the focused light 

towards the receive block and thus provide space savings for 

the shared space and the housing of the LIDAR device. 

In some examples, the reflective surface may define a wall 

that includes the exit aperture between the transmit block and 

the shared space. In this case, the exit aperture of the transmit 

block corresponds to a transparent and/or non-reflective por 

tion of the reflective surface. The transparent portion can be a 

hole or cut-away portion of the reflective surface. Alterna 

tively, the reflective surface can be formed by forming a layer 

of reflective material on a transparent substrate (e.g., glass) 

and the transparent portion can be a portion of the substrate 

that is not coated with the reflective material. Thus, the shared 

space can be used for both the transmit path and the receive 

path. In some examples, the transmit path at least partially 

overlaps the receive path in the shared space. 

The vertical and horizontal extents of the exit aperture are 

sufficient to accommodate the beam widths of the emitted 

light beams from the light sources. However, the non-reflec 

tive nature of the exit aperture prevents a portion of the 

collected and focused light in the receive path from reflecting, 

at the reflective surface, towards the detectors in the receive 

block. Thus, reducing the beam widths of the emitted light 

beams from the transmit blocks is desirable to minimize the 

size of the exit aperture and reduce the lost portion of the 

collected light. In some examples noted above, the reduction 

of the beam widths traversing through the exit aperture can be 

achieved by partially collimating the emitted light beams by including a respective lens, such as a cylindrical or acylindri 

cal lens, adjacent to each light source. 

Additionally or alternatively, to reduce the beam widths of 

the emitted light beams, in some examples, the transmit/ 

receive lens can be configured to define a focal surface that 

has a substantial curvature in a vertical plane and/or a hori 

Case 3:17-cv-00939 Document 1-1 Filed 02/23/17 Page 16 of 24
US 8,836,922 B1 

5 

zontal plane. For example, the transmit/receive lens can be 

configured to have the aspheric surface and the toroidal sur 

face described above that provides the curved focal surface 

along the vertical plane and/or the horizontal plane. In this 

configuration, the light sources in the transmit block can be 

arranged along the transmit/receive lens’ curved focal surface 

in the transmit block, and the detectors in the receive block 

can be arranged on the transmit/receive lens’ curved focal 

surface in the receive block. Thus, the emitted light beams 

from the light sources arranged along the curved focal surface 

can converge into the exit aperture having a smaller size than 

an aperture for light beams that are substantially parallel 

and/or diverging. 

To facilitate such curved arrangement of the light sources, 

in some examples, the light sources can be mounted on a 

curved edge of one or more vertically-oriented printed circuit 

boards (PCBs), such that the curved edge of the PCB substan 

tially matches the curvature of the focal surface in the vertical 

plane of the PCB. In this example, the one or more PCBs can 

be mounted in the transmit block along a horizontal curvature 

that substantially matches the curvature of the focal surface in 

the horizontal plane of the one or more PCBs. For example, 

the transmit block can include four PCBs, with each PCB 

mounting sixteen light sources, so as to provide 64 light 

sources along the curved focal plane of the transmit/receive 

lens in the transmit block. In this example, the 64 light sources 

are arranged in a pattern substantially corresponding to the 

curved focal surface defined by the transmit/receive lens such 

that the emitted light beams converge towards the exit aper 

ture of the transmit block. 

For the receive block, in some examples, the plurality of 

detectors can be disposed on a flexible PCB that is mounted to 

the receive block to conform with the shape of the transmit/ 

receive lens’ focal surface. For example, the flexible PCB 

may be held between two clamping pieces that have surfaces 

corresponding to the shape of the focal surface. Additionally, 

in this example, each of the plurality of detectors can be 

arranged on the flexible PCB so as to receive focused light 

from the transmit/receive lens that corresponds to a respective light source of the plurality of light sources. In this example, 

the detectors can be arranged in a pattern substantially corre 

sponding to the curved focal surface of the transmit/receive 

lens in the receive block. Thus, in this example, the transmit/ 

receive lens can be configured to focus onto each detector of 

the plurality of detectors a respective portion of the collected 

light that comprises light from the detector’s corresponding 

light source. 

Some embodiments of the present disclosure therefore pro vide systems and methods for a LIDAR device that uses a 

shared transmit/receive lens. In some examples, such LIDAR 

device can include the shared lens configured to provide a 

curved focal plane for transmitting light sources and receiv 

ing detectors such that light from the light sources passes 

through a small exit aperture included in a reflective surface 

that reflects collected light towards the detectors. 

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example LIDAR device 

100. The LIDAR device 100 comprises a housing 110 that 

houses an arrangement of various components included in the 

LIDAR device 100 such as a transmit block 120, a receive 

block 130, a shared space 140, and a lens 150. The LIDAR 

device 100 includes the arrangement of the various compo 

ments that provide emitted light beams 102 from the transmit 

block 120 that are collimated by the lens 150 and transmitted 

to an environment of the LIDAR device 100 as collimated 

light beams 104, and collect reflected light 106 from one or 

more objects in the environment of the LIDAR device 100 by 

the lens 150 for focusing towards the receive block 130 as 

10 

15 

20 

25 

30 

35 

40 

45 

50 

55 

60 

65 

6 

focused light 108. The reflected light 106 comprises light 

from the collimated light beams 104 that was reflected by the 

one or more objects in the environment of the LIDAR device 

100. The emitted light beams 102 and the focused light 108 

traverse in the shared space 140 also included in the housing 

110. In some examples, the emitted light beams 102 are 

propagating in a transmit path through the shared space 140 

and the focused light 108 are propagating in a receive path 

through the shared space 140. In some examples, the transmit 

path at least partially overlaps the receive path in the shared 

space 140. The LIDAR device 100 can determine an aspect of 

the one or more objects (e.g., location, shape, etc.) in the 

environment of the LIDAR device 100 by processing the 

focused light 108 received by the receive block 130. For 

example, the LIDAR device 100 can compare a time when 

pulses included in the emitted light beams 102 were emitted 

by the transmit block 120 with a time when corresponding 

pulses included in the focused light 108 were received by the 

receive block 130 and determine the distance between the one 

or more objects and the LIDAR device 100 based on the comparison. 

The housing 110 included in the LIDAR device 100 can 

provide a platform for mounting the various components 

included in the LIDAR device 100. The housing 110 can be 

formed from any material capable of supporting the various 

components of the LIDAR device 100 included in an interior 

space of the housing 110. For example, the housing 110 may 

be formed from a structural material such as plastic or metal. 

In some examples, the housing 110 can be configured for 

optical shielding to reduce ambient light and/or unintentional 

transmission of the emitted light beams 102 from the transmit 

block 120 to the receive block 130. Optical shielding from 

ambient light of the environment of the LIDAR device 100 

can be achieved by forming and/or coating the outer surface 

of the housing 110 with a material that blocks the ambient 

light from the environment. Additionally, inner surfaces of 

the housing 110 can include and/or be coated with the mate 

rial described above to optically isolate the transmit block 120 

from the receive block 130 to prevent the receive block 130 

from receiving the emitted light beams 102 before the emitted 

light beams 102 reach the lens 150. 

In some examples, the housing 110 can be configured for 

electromagnetic shielding to reduce electromagnetic noise 

(e.g., Radio Frequency (RF) Noise, etc.) from ambient envi 

ronment of the LIDAR device 110 and/or electromagnetic 

noise between the transmit block 120 and the receive block 

130. Electromagnetic shielding can improve quality of the 

emitted light beams 102 emitted by the transmit block 120 

and reduce noise in signals received and/or provided by the 

receive block 130. Electromagnetic shielding can be achieved 

by forming and/or coating the housing 110 with a material 

that absorbs electromagnetic radiation such as a metal, metal 

lic ink, metallic foam, carbon foam, or any other material 

configured to absorb electromagnetic radiation. Metals that 

can be used for the electromagnetic shielding can include for 

example, copper or nickel. 

In some examples, the housing 110 can be configured to 

have a substantially cylindrical shape and to rotate about an 

axis of the LIDAR device 100. For example, the housing 110 

can have the substantially cylindrical shape with a diameter of 

approximately 10 centimeters. In some examples, the axis is 

substantially vertical. By rotating the housing 110 that 

includes the various components, in some examples, a three 

dimensional map of a 360 degree view of the environment of 

the LIDAR device 100 can be determined without frequent recalibration of the arrangement of the various components of 

the LIDAR device 100. Additionally or alternatively, the 

Case 3:17-cv-00939 Document 1-1 Filed 02/23/17 Page 17 of 24
US 8,836,922 B1 

7 

LIDAR device 100 can be configured to tilt the axis of rota 

tion of the housing 110 to control the field of view of the 

LIDAR device 100. 

Although not illustrated in FIG. 1, the LIDAR device 100 

can optionally include a mounting structure for the housing 

110. The mounting structure can include a motor or other 

means for rotating the housing 110 about the axis of the 

LIDAR device 100. Alternatively, the mounting structure can 

be included in a device and/or system other than the LIDAR 

device 100. 

In some examples, the various components of the LIDAR 

device 100 such as the transmit block 120, receive block 130, 

and the lens 150 can be removably mounted to the housing 

110 in predetermined positions to reduce burden of calibrat 

ing the arrangement of each component and/or subcompo 

ments included in each component. Thus, the housing 110 

provides the platform for the various components of the 

LIDAR device 100 for ease of assembly, maintenance, cali 

bration, and manufacture of the LIDAR device 100. 

The transmit block 120 includes a plurality of light sources 

122 that can be configured to emit the plurality of emitted 

light beams 102 via an exit aperture 124. In some examples, 

each of the plurality of emitted light beams 102 corresponds 

to one of the plurality of light sources 122. The transmit block 

120 can optionally include a mirror 126 along the transmit 

path of the emitted light beams 102 between the light sources 

122 and the exit aperture 124. 

The light sources 122 can include laser diodes, light emit 

ting diodes (LED), vertical cavity surface emitting lasers 

(VCSEL), organic light emitting diodes (OLED), polymer light emitting diodes (PLED), light emitting polymers (LEP), 

liquid crystal displays (LCD), microelectromechanical sys 

tems (MEMS), or any other device configured to selectively 

transmit, reflect, and/or emit light to provide the plurality of 

emitted light beams 102. In some examples, the light sources 

122 can be configured to emit the emitted light beams 102 in 

a wavelength range that can be detected by detectors 132 

included in the receive block 130. The wavelength range 

could, for example, be in the ultraviolet, visible, and/or infra 

red portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. In some 

examples, the wavelength range can be a narrow wavelength 

range, such as provided by lasers. In one example, the wave 

length range includes wavelengths that are approximately 

905 nm. Additionally, the light sources 122 can be configured 

to emit the emitted light beams 102 in the form of pulses. In 

some examples, the plurality of light sources 122 can be 

disposed on one or more substrates (e.g., printed circuit 

boards (PCB), flexible PCBs, etc.) and arranged to emit the 

plurality of light beams 102 towards the exit aperture 124. 

In some examples, the plurality of light sources 122 can be 

configured to emit uncollimated light beams included in the 

emitted light beams 102. For example, the emitted light 

beams 102 can diverge in one or more directions along the 

transmit path due to the uncollimated light beams emitted by the plurality of light sources 122. In some examples, vertical 

and horizontal extents of the emitted light beams 102 at any position along the transmit path can be based on an extent of 

the divergence of the uncollimated light beams emitted by the 

plurality of light sources 122. 

The exit aperture 124 arranged along the transmit path of 

the emitted light beams 102 can be configured to accommo 

date the vertical and horizontal extents of the plurality of light 

beams 102 emitted by the plurality of light sources 122 at the 

exit aperture 124. It is noted that the block diagram shown in 

FIG. 1 is described in connection with functional modules for 

convenience in description. However, the functional modules 

in the block diagram of FIG. 1 can be physically implemented 

5 

10 

15 

20 

25 

30 

35 

40 

45 

50 

55 

60 

65 

8 

in other locations. For example, although illustrated that the 

exit aperture 124 is included in the transmit block 120, the exit 

aperture 124 can be physically included in both the transmit 

block 120 and the shared space 140. For example, the transmit 

block 120 and the shared space 140 can be separated by a wall 

that includes the exit aperture 124. In this case, the exit 

aperture 124 can correspond to a transparent portion of the 

wall. In one example, the transparent portion can be a hole or 

cut-away portion of the wall. In another example, the wall can 

be formed from a transparent substrate (e.g., glass) coated 

with a non-transparent material, and the exit aperture 124 can 

be a portion of the substrate that is not coated with the non 

transparent material. 

In some examples of the LIDAR device 100, it may be 

desirable to minimize size of the exit aperture 124 while 

accommodating the vertical and horizontal extents of the 

plurality of light beams 102. For example, minimizing the 

size of the exit aperture 124 can improve the optical shielding 

of the light sources 122 described above in the functions of the 

housing 110. Additionally or alternatively, the wall separating 

the transmit block 120 and the shared space 140 can be 

arranged along the receive path of the focused light 108, and 

thus, the exit aperture 124 can be minimized to allow a larger 

portion of the focused light 108 to reach the wall. For 

example, the wall can be coated with a reflective material 

(e.g., reflective surface 142 in shared space 140) and the 

receive path can include reflecting the focused light 108 by 

the reflective material towards the receive block 130. In this 

case, minimizing the size of the exit aperture 124 can allow a 

larger portion of the focused light 108 to reflect off the reflec 

tive material that the wall is coated with. 

To minimize the size of the exit aperture 124, in some 

examples, the divergence of the emitted light beams 102 can 

be reduced by partially collimating the uncollimated light 

beams emitted by the light sources 122 to minimize the ver 

tical and horizontal extents of the emitted light beams 102 and 

thus minimize the size of the exit aperture 124. For example, 

each light source of the plurality of light sources 122 can 

include a cylindrical lens arranged adjacent to the light 

source. The light source may emit a corresponding uncolli 

mated light beam that diverges more in a first direction than in 

a second direction. The cylindrical lens may pre-collimate the 

uncollimated light beam in the first direction to provide a 

partially collimated light beam, thereby reducing the diver 

gence in the first direction. In some examples, the partially 

collimated light beam diverges less in the first direction than 

in the second direction. Similarly, uncollimated light beams 

from other light sources of the plurality of light sources 122 can have a reduced beam width in the first direction and thus 

the emitted light beams 102 can have a smaller divergence 

due to the partially collimated light beams. In this example, at 

least one of the vertical and horizontal extents of the exit 

aperture 124 can be reduced due to partially collimating the 

light beams 102. 

Additionally or alternatively, to minimize the size of the 

exit aperture 124, in some examples, the light sources 122 can 

be arranged along a substantially curved surface defined by 

the transmit block 120. The curved surface can be configured 

such that the emitted light beams 102 converge towards the 

exit aperture 124, and thus the vertical and horizontal extents 

of the emitted light beams 102 at the exit aperture 124 can be 

reduced due to the arrangement of the light sources 122 along 

the curved surface of the transmit block 120. In some 

examples, the curved surface of the transmit block 120 can 

include a curvature along the first direction of divergence of 

the emitted light beams 102 and a curvature along the second 

direction of divergence of the emitted light beams 102, such 

Case 3:17-cv-00939 Document 1-1 Filed 02/23/17 Page 18 of 24
US 8,836,922 B1 

9 

that the plurality of light beams 102 converge towards a 

central area in front of the plurality of light sources 122 along 

the transmit path. 

To facilitate such curved arrangement of the light sources 

122, in some examples, the light sources 122 can be disposed 

on a flexible substrate (e.g., flexible PCB) having a curvature 

along one or more directions. For example, the curved flex 

ible substrate can be curved along the first direction of diver 

gence of the emitted light beams 102 and the second direction 

of divergence of the emitted light beams 102. Additionally or 

alternatively, to facilitate such curved arrangement of the 

light sources 122, in some examples, the light sources 122 can 

be disposed on a curved edge of one or more vertically 

oriented printed circuit boards (PCBs), such that the curved 

edge of the PCB substantially matches the curvature of the 

first direction (e.g., the vertical plane of the PCB). In this 

example, the one or more PCBs can be mounted in the trans 

mit block 120 along a horizontal curvature that substantially 

matches the curvature of the second direction (e.g., the hori 

zontal plane of the one or more PCBs). For example, the 

transmit block 120 can include four PCBs, with each PCB 

mounting sixteen light sources, so as to provide 64 light 

sources along the curved surface of the transmit block 120. In 

this example, the 64 light sources are arranged in a pattern 

such that the emitted light beams 102 converge towards the 

exit aperture 124 of the transmit block 120. 

The transmit block 120 can optionally include the mirror 

126 along the transmit path of the emitted light beams 102 

between the light sources 122 and the exit aperture 124. By 

including the mirror 126 in the transmit block 120, the trans 

mit path of the emitted light beams 102 can be folded to 

provide a smaller size of the transmit block 120 and the 

housing 110 of the LIDAR device 100 than a size of another 

transmit block where the transmit path that is not folded. 

The receive block 130 includes a plurality of detectors 132 

that can be configured to receive the focused light 108 via an 

entrance aperture 134. In some examples, each of the plurality 

of detectors 132 is configured and arranged to receive a por 

tion of the focused light 108 corresponding to a light beam 

emitted by a corresponding light source of the plurality of 

light sources 122 and reflected of the one or more objects in 

the environment of the LIDAR device 100. The receive block 

130 can optionally include the detectors 132 in a sealed envi 

ronment having an inert gas 136. 

The detectors 132 may comprise photodiodes, avalanche 

photodiodes, phototransistors, cameras, active pixel sensors 

(APS), charge coupled devices (CCD), cryogenic detectors, 

orany other sensoroflight configured to receive focused light 

108 having wavelengths in the wavelength range of the emit 

ted light beams 102. 

To facilitate receiving, by each of the detectors 132, the 

portion of the focused light 108 from the corresponding light 

source of the plurality of light sources 122, the detectors 132 

can be disposed on one or more substrates and arranged accordingly. For example, the light sources 122 can be 

arranged alonga curved surface of the transmit block120, and 

the detectors 132 can also be arranged along a curved surface 

of the receive block 130. The curved surface of the receive 

block 130 can similarly be curved along one or more axes of 

the curved surface of the receive block 130. Thus, each of the 

detectors 132 are configured to receive light that was origi nally emitted by a corresponding light source of the plurality 

of light sources 122. 

To provide the curved surface of the receive block 130, the 

detectors 132 can be disposed on the one or more substrates 

similarly to the light sources 122 disposed in the transmit 

block 120. For example, the detectors 132 can be disposed on 

5 

10 

15 

20 

25 

30 

35 

40 

45 

50 

55 

60 

65 

10 

a flexible substrate (e.g., flexible PCB) and arranged along the 

curved surface of the flexible substrate to each receive 

focused light originating from a corresponding light source of 

the light sources 122. In this example, the flexible substrate 

may be held between two clamping pieces that have surfaces 

corresponding to the shape of the curved surface of the 

receive block 130. Thus, in this example, assembly of the 

receive block 130 can be simplified by sliding the flexible 

substrate onto the receive block 130 and using the two clamp 

ing pieces to hold it at the correct curvature. 

The focused light 108 traversing along the receive path can 

be received by the detectors 132 via the entrance aperture 134. 

In some examples, the entrance aperture 134 can include a 

filtering window that passes light having wavelengths within 

the wavelength range emitted by the plurality of light sources 

122 and attenuates light having other wavelengths. In this 

example, the detectors 132 receive the focused light 108 

substantially comprising light having the wavelengths within 

the wavelength range. 

In some examples, the plurality of detectors 132 included 

in the receive block 130 can include, for example, avalanche 

photodiodes in a sealed environment that is filled with the 

inert gas 136. The inert gas 136 may comprise, for example, nitrogen. 

The shared space 140 includes the transmit path for the 

emitted light beams 102 from the transmit block 120 to the 

lens 150, and includes the receive path for the focused light 

108 from the lens 150 to the receive block 130. In some 

examples, the transmit path at least partially overlaps with the 

receive path in the shared space 140. By including the trans 

mit path and the receive path in the shared space 140, advan 

tages with respect to size, cost, and/or complexity of assem 

bly, manufacture, and/or maintenance of the LIDAR device 

100 can be provided. 

In some examples, the shared space 140 can include a 

reflective surface 142. The reflective surface 142 can be 

arranged along the receive path and configured to reflect the 

focused light 108 towards the entrance aperture 134 and onto 

the detectors 132. The reflective surface 142 may comprise a 

prism, mirror or any other optical element configured to 

reflect the focused light 108 towards the entrance aperture 

134 in the receive block 130. In some examples where a wall 

separates the shared space 140 from the transmit block 120. In 

these examples, the wall may comprise a transparent sub 

strate (e.g., glass) and the reflective surface 142 may comprise 

a reflective coating on the wall with an uncoated portion for 

the exit aperture 124. 

In embodiments including the reflective surface 142, the 

reflective surface 142 can reduce size of the shared space 140 

by folding the receive path similarly to the mirror 126 in the 

transmit block 120. Additionally or alternatively, in some 

examples, the reflective surface 142 can direct the focused 

light 103 to the receive block 130 further providing flexibility 

to the placement of the receive block 130 in the housing 110. 

For example, varying the tilt of the reflective surface 142 can 

cause the focused light 108 to be reflected to various portions 

of the interior space of the housing 110, and thus the receive 

block 130 can be placed in a corresponding position in the 

housing 110. Additionally or alternatively, in this example, 

the LIDAR device 100 can be calibrated by varying the tilt of 

the reflective surface 142. 

The lens 150 mounted to the housing 110 can have an 

optical power to both collimate the emitted light beams 102 

from the light sources 122 in the transmit block 120, and 

focus the reflected light 106 from the one or more objects in 

the environment of the LIDAR device 100 onto the detectors 

132 in the receive block 130. In one example, the lens 150 has 

Case 3:17-cv-00939 Document 1-1 Filed 02/23/17 Page 19 of 24
US 8,836,922 B1 

11 

a focal length of approximately 120 mm. By using the same 

lens 150 to perform both of these functions, instead of a 

transmit lens for collimating and a receive lens for focusing, 

advantages with respect to size, cost, and/or complexity can 

be provided. In some examples, collimating the emitted light 

beams 102 to provide the collimated light beams 104 allows 

determining the distance travelled by the collimated light 

beams 104 to the one or more objects in the environment of 

the LIDAR device 100. 

In an example scenario, the emitted light beams 102 from 

the light sources 122 traversing along the transmit path can be 

collimated by the lens 150 to provide the collimated light 

beams 104 to the environment of the LIDAR device 100. The 

collimated light beams 104 may then reflect off the one or 

more objects in the environment of the LIDAR device 100 and 

return to the lens 150 as the reflected light 106. The lens 150 

may then collect and focus the reflected light 106 as the 

focused light 108 onto the detectors 132 included in the 

receive block 130. In some examples, aspects of the one or 

more objects in the environment of the LIDAR device 100 can 

be determined by comparing the emitted light beams 102 with 

the focused light beams 108. The aspects can include, for 

example, distance, shape, color, and/or material of the one or 

more objects. Additionally, in some examples, rotating the 

housing 110, a three dimensional map of the surroundings of 

the LIDAR device 100 can be determined. 

In some examples where the plurality of light sources 122 

are arranged along the curved surface of the transmit block 

120, the lens 150 can be configured to have a focal surface 

corresponding to the curved surface of the transmit block 120. 

For example, the lens 150 can include an aspheric surface 

outside the housing 110 and a toroidal surface inside the 

housing 110 facing the shared space 140. In this example, the 

shape of the lens 150 allows the lens 150 to both collimate the 

emitted light beams 102 and focus the reflected light 106. 

Additionally, in this example, the shape of the lens 150 allows 

the lens 150 to have the focal surface corresponding to the 

curved surface of the transmit block 120. In some examples, the focal surface provided by the lens 150 substantially 

matches the curved shape of the transmit block 120. Addi 

tionally, in some examples, the detectors 132 can be arranged 

similarly in the curved shape of the receive block 130 to 

receive the focused light 108 along the curved focal surface 

provided by the lens 150. Thus, in some examples, the curved 

surface of the receive block 130 may also substantially match 

the curved focal surface provided by the lens 150. 

FIG. 2 is a cross-section view of an example LIDAR device 

200. In this example, the LIDAR device 200 includes a hous 

ing 210 that houses a transmit block 220, a receive block 230, 

a shared space 240, and a lens 250. For purposes of illustra 

tion, FIG. 2 shows an x-y-Z axis, in which the z-axis is in a 

substantially vertical direction and the x-axis and y-axis define a substantially horizontal plane. 

The structure, function, and operation of various compo 

nents included in the LIDAR device 200 are similar to corre 

sponding components included in the LIDAR device 100 

described in FIG. 1. For example, the housing 210, the trans 

mit block 220, the receive block 230, the shared space 240, 

and the lens 250 are similar, respectively, to the housing 110, 

the transmit block 120, the receive block 130, and the shared 

space 140 described in FIG. 1. 

The transmit block 220 includes a plurality of light sources 

222a-c arranged along a curved focal surface 228 defined by 

the lens 250. The plurality of light sources 222a-c can be 

configured to emit, respectively, the plurality of light beams 

202a-c having wavelengths within a wavelength range. For 

example, the plurality of light sources 222a-c may comprise 

5 

10 

15 

20 

25 

30 

35 

40 

45 

50 

55 

60 

65 

12 

laser diodes that emit the plurality of light beams 202a-c 

having the wavelengths within the wavelength range. The 

plurality of light beams 202a-c are reflected by mirror 224 

through an exit aperture 226 into the shared space 240 and 

towards the lens 250. The structure, function, and operation of 

the plurality of light sources 222a-c, the mirror 224, and the 

exit aperture 226 can be similar, respectively, to the plurality 

of light sources 122, the mirror 124, and the exit aperture 226 

discussed in the description of the LIDAR device 100 of FIG. 

1. 

Although FIG. 2 shows that the curved focal surface 228 is 

curved in the x-y plane (horizontal plane), additionally or 

alternatively, the plurality of light sources 222a-c may be 

arranged along a focal surface that is curved in a vertical 

plane. For example, the curved focal surface 228 can have a 

curvature in a vertical plane, and the plurality of light sources 

222a-c can include additional light sources arranged verti 

cally along the curved focal surface 228 and configured to 

emit light beams directed at the mirror 224 and reflected 

through the exit aperture 226. 

Due to the arrangement of the plurality of light sources 

222a-c along the curved focal surface 228, the plurality of 

light beams 202a-c, in some examples, may converge towards 

the exit aperture 226. Thus, in these examples, the exit aper 

ture 226 may be minimally sized while being capable of 

accommodating vertical and horizontal extents of the plural ity of light beams 202a-c. Additionally, in some examples, the 

curved focal surface 228 can be defined by the lens 250. For 

example, the curved focal surface 228 may correspond to a 

focal surface of the lens 250 due to shape and composition of 

the lens 250. In this example, the plurality of light sources 

222a-c can be arranged along the focal surface defined by the 

lens 250 at the transmit block. 

The plurality of light beams 202a-c propagate in a transmit 

path that extends through the transmit block 220, the exit 

aperture 226, and the shared space 240 towards the lens 250. 

The lens 250 collimates the plurality of light beams 202a-c to 

provide collimated light beams 204a-c into an environment of 

the LIDAR device 200. The collimated light beams 204a-c 

correspond, respectively, to the plurality of light beams 202a 

c. In some examples, the collimated light beams 204a-c 

reflect off one or more objects in the environment of the 

LIDAR device 200 as reflected light 206. The reflected light 

206 may be focused by the lens 250 into the shared space 240 

as focused light 208 traveling along a receive path that 

extends through the shared space 240 onto the receive block 

230. For example, the focused light 208 may be reflected by 

the reflective surface 242 as focused light 208a-c propagating 

towards the receive block 230. 

The lens 250 may be capable of both collimating the plu 

rality of light beams 202a-c and focusing the reflected light 

206 along the receive path 208 towards the receive block 230 

due to shape and composition of the lens 250. For example, 

the lens 250 can have an aspheric surface 252 facing outside 

of the housing 210 and a toroidal surface 254 facing the 

shared space 240. By using the same lens 250 to perform both 

of these functions, instead of a transmit lens for collimating and a receive lens for focusing, advantages with respect to 

size, cost, and/or complexity can be provided. 

The exit aperture 226 is included in a wall 244 that sepa 

rates the transmit block 220 from the shared space 240. In 

some examples, the wall 244 can be formed from a transpar 

ent material (e.g., glass) that is coated with a reflective mate 

rial 242. In this example, the exit aperture 226 may corre 

spond to the portion of the wall 244 that is not coated by the 

reflective material 242. Additionally or alternatively, the exit 

aperture 226 may comprise a hole or cut-away in the wall 244. 

Case 3:17-cv-00939 Document 1-1 Filed 02/23/17 Page 20 of 24
Case 3:17-cv-00939 Document 1-1 Filed 02/23/17 Page 21 of 24
US 8,836,922 B1 

15 

As noted above in the description of FIG. 1, the light from 

light sources 122 could be partially collimated to fit through 

the exit aperture 124. FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5C illustrate an 

example of how such partial collimation could beachieved. In 

this example, a light source 500 is made up of a laser diode 

502 and a cylindrical lens 504. As shown in FIG. 5A, laser 

diode 502 has an aperture 506 with a shorter dimension cor 

responding to a fast axis 508 and a longer dimension corre 

sponding to a slow axis 510. FIGS. 5B and 5C show an 

uncollimated laser beam 512 being emitted from laser diode 

502. Laser beam 512 diverges in two directions, one direction 

defined by fast axis 508 and another, generally orthogonal 

direction defined by slow axis 510. FIG. 5B shows the diver 

gence of laser beam 512 along fast axis 508, whereas FIG. 5C 

shows the divergence of laser beam 512 along slow axis 510. 

Laser beam 512 diverges more quickly along fast axis 508 

than along slow axis 510. 

In one specific example, laser diode 502 is an Osram SPL 

DL90 3 nanostack pulsed laser diode that emits pulses of 

light with a range of wavelengths from about 896 nm to about 

910 nm (a nominal wavelength of 905 nm). In this specific 

example, the aperture has a shorter dimension of about 10 

microns, corresponding to its fast axis, and a longer dimen 

sion of about 200 microns, corresponding to its slow axis. The 

divergence of the laser beam in this specific example is about 

25 degrees along the fast axis and about 11 degrees along the 

slow axis. It is to be understood that this specific example is 

illustrative only. Laser diode 502 could have a different con 

figuration, different aperture sizes, different beam diver 

gences, and/or emit different wavelengths. 

As shown in FIGS. 5B and 5C, cylindrical lens 504 may be 

positioned in front of aperture 506 with its cylinder axis 514 

generally parallel to slow axis 510 and perpendicular to fast 

axis 508. In this arrangement, cylindrical lens 504 can pre 

collimate laser beam 512 along fast axis 508, resulting in 

partially collimated laser beam 516. In some examples, this 

pre-collimation may reduce the divergence along fast axis 

508 to about one degree or less. Nonetheless, laser beam 516 

is only partially collimated because the divergence along slow 

axis 510 may be largely unchanged by cylindrical lens 504. 

Thus, whereas uncollimated laser beam 512 emitted by laser 

diode has a higher divergence along fast axis 508 than along 

slow axis 510, partially collimated laser beam 516 provided by cylindrical lens 504 may have a higher divergence along 

slow axis 510 than along fast axis 508. Further, the diver 

gences along slow axis 510 in uncollimated laser beam 512 

and in partially collimated laser beam 516 may be substan 

tially equal. 

In one example, cylindrical lens 504 is a microrod lens with 

a diameter of about 600 microns that is placed about 250 

microns in front of aperture 506. The material of the microrod 

lens could be, for example, fused silica or a borosilicate 

crown glass, such as Schott BK7. Alternatively, the microrod 

lens could be a molded plastic cylinder or acylinder. Cylin 

drical lens 504 could also be used to provide magnification 

along fast axis 508. For example, if the dimensions of aper 

ture 506 are 10 microns by 200 microns, as previously described, and cylindrical lens 504 is a microrod lens as 

described above, then cylindrical lens 504 may magnify the 

shorter dimension (corresponding to fast axis 508) by about 

20 times. This magnification effectively stretches out the 

shorter dimension of aperture 506 to about the same as the 

longer dimension. As a result, when light from laserbeam 516 

is focused, for example, focused onto a detector, the focused 

spot could have a substantially square shape instead of the 

rectangular slit shape of aperture 506. 

5 

10 

15 

20 

25 

30 

35 

40 

45 

50 

55 

60 

65 

16 

FIG. 6A illustrates an example receive block 630, in accor 

dance with at least some embodiments described herein. FIG. 

6Billustrates aside view of three detectors 632a-cincluded in 

the receive block 630 of FIG. 6A. Receive block 630 can 

correspond to the receive blocks 130, 230, and 330 described 

in FIGS. 1-3. For example, the receive block 630 includes a 

plurality of detectors 632a-c arranged along a curved surface 

638 defined by a lens 650 similarly to the receive block 230, 

the detectors 232 and the curved plane 238 described in FIG. 

2. Focused light 608a-c from lens 650 propagates along a 

receive path that includes a reflective surface 642 onto the 

detectors 632a-c similar, respectively, to the focused light 

208a-c, the lens 250, the reflective surface 242, and the detec 

tors 232a-c described in FIG. 2. 

The receive block 630 comprises a flexible substrate 680 

on which the plurality of detectors 632a-c are arranged along 

the curved surface 638. The flexible substrate 680 conforms 

to the curved surface 638 by being mounted to a receive block 

housing 690 having the curved surface 638. As illustrated in 

FIG. 6, the curved surface 638 includes the arrangement of 

the detectors 632a-c curved along a vertical and horizontal 

axis of the receive block 630. 

FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate an example lens 750 with an 

aspheric surface 752 and a toroidal surface 754, in accordance 

with at least some embodiments described herein. FIG. 7B 

illustrates a cross-section view of the example lens 750 shown 

in FIG. 7A. The lens 750 can correspond to lens 150,250, and 

350 included in FIGS. 1-3. For example, the lens 750 can be 

configured to both collimate light incident on the toroidal 

surface 754 from a light source into collimated light propa 

gating out of the aspheric surface 752, and focus reflected 

light entering from the aspheric surface 752 onto a detector. 

The structure of the lens 750 including the aspheric surface 

752 and the toroidal surface 754 allows the lens 750 to per form both functions of collimating and focusing described in 

the example above. 

In some examples, the lens 750 defines a focal surface of 

the light propagating through the lens 750 due to the aspheric 

surface 752 and the toroidal surface 754. In these examples, the light sources providing the light entering the toroidal 

surface 754 can be arranged along the defined focal surface, 

and the detectors receiving the light focused from the light entering the aspheric surface 752 can also be arranged along 

the defined focal surface. 

By using the lens 750 that performs both of these functions 

(collimating transmitted light and focusing received light), 

instead of a transmit lens for collimating and a receive lens for 

focusing, advantages with respect to size, cost, and/or com 

plexity can be provided. 

FIG. 8A illustrates an example LIDAR device 810 

mounted on a vehicle 800, in accordance with at least some 

embodiments described herein. FIG. 8A shows a Right Side 

View, Front View, Back View, and Top View of the vehicle 

800. Although vehicle 800 is illustrated in FIG. 8 as a car, 

other examples are possible. For instance, the vehicle 800 

could represent a truck, a van, a semi-trailer truck, a motor 

cycle, a golf cart, an off-road vehicle, or a farm vehicle, 

among other examples. 

The structure, function, and operation of the LIDAR device 

810 shown in FIG. 8A is similar to the example LIDAR 

devices 100, 200, and 300 shown in FIGS. 1-3. For example, 

the LIDAR device 810 can be configured to rotate about an 

axis and determine a three-dimensional map of a surrounding 

environment of the LIDAR device 810. To facilitate the rota 

tion, the LIDAR device 810 can be mounted on a platform 802. In some examples, the platform 802 may comprise a 

Case 3:17-cv-00939 Document 1-1 Filed 02/23/17 Page 22 of 24
US 8,836,922 B1 

17 

movable mount that allows the vehicle 800 to control the axis 

of rotation of the LIDAR device 810. 

While the LIDAR device 810 is shown to be mounted in a 

particular location on the vehicle 800, in some examples, the 

LIDAR device 810 may be mounted elsewhere on the vehicle 

800. For example, the LIDAR device 810 may be mounted 

anywhere on top of the vehicle 800, on a side of the vehicle 

800, under the vehicle 800, on a hood of the vehicle 800, 

and/or on a trunk of the vehicle 800. 

The LIDAR device 810 includes a lens 812 through which 

collimated light is transmitted from the LIDAR device 810 to 

the surrounding environment of the LIDAR device 810, simi 

larly to the lens 150, 250, and 350 described in FIGS. 1-3. 

Similarly, the lens 812 can also be configured to receive 

reflected light from the surrounding environment of the 

LIDAR device 810 that were reflected off one or more objects in the surrounding environment. 

FIG. 8B illustrates a scenario where the LIDAR device 810 

shown in FIG. 8A and scanning an environment 830 that 

includes one or more objects, in accordance with at least some 

embodiments described herein. In this example scenario, 

vehicle 800 can be traveling on a road 822 in the environment 

830. By rotating the LIDAR device 810 about the axis defined 

by the platform 802, the LIDAR device 810 may be able to 

determine aspects of objects in the surrounding environment 

830, such as lane lines 824a–b, other vehicles 826a-c, and/or 

street sign 828. Thus, the LIDAR device 810 can provide the 

vehicle 800 with information about the objects in the sur 

rounding environment 830, including distance, shape, color, 

and/or material type of the objects. 

FIG.9 is a flowchartofa method 900 of operating a LIDAR 

device, in accordance with at least some embodiments 

described herein. Method 900 shown in FIG. 9 presents an 

embodiment of a method that could be used with the LIDAR 

devices 100, 200, and 300, for example. Method 900 may 

include one or more operations, functions, or actions as illus 

trated by one or more of blocks 902-912. Although the blocks 

are illustrated in a sequential order, these blocks may in some 

instances be performed in parallel, and/or in a different order 

than those described herein. Also, the various blocks may be 

combined into fewer blocks, divided into additional blocks, 

and/or removed based upon the desired implementation. 

In addition, for the method 900 and other processes and 

methods disclosed herein, the flowchart shows functionality and operation of one possible implementation of present 

embodiments. In this regard, each block may represent a 

module, a segment, or a portion of a manufacturing or opera 

tion process. 

At block 902, the method 900 includes rotating a housing 

of a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) device about an 

axis, wherein the housing has an interior space that includes a 

transmit block, a receive block, and a shared space, wherein 

the transmit block has an exit aperture, and wherein the 

receive block has an entrance aperture. 

At block 904, the method 900 includes emitting, by a 

plurality of light sources in the transmit block, a plurality of 

light beams that enter the shared space via a transmit path, the 

light beams comprising light having wavelengths in a wave 

length range. 

At block 906, the method 900 includes receiving the light 

beams at a lens mounted to the housing along the transmit 

path. 

At block 908, the method 900 includes collimating, by the 

lens, the light beams for transmission into an environment of 

the LIDAR device. 

At block 910, the method 900 includes focusing, by the 

lens, the collected light onto a plurality of detectors in the 

5 

10 

15 

20 

25 

30 

35 

40 

45 

50 

55 

60 

65 

18 

receive block via a receive path that extends through the 

shared space and the entrance aperture of the receive block. 

At block 912, the method 900 includes detecting, by the 

plurality of detectors in the receive block, light from the 

focused light having wavelengths in the wavelength range. 

For example, a LIDAR device such as the LIDAR device 

200 can be rotated about an axis (block 902). A transmit 

block, such as the transmit block 220, can include a plurality of light sources that emit light beams having wavelengths in 

a wavelength range, through an exit aperture and a shared 

space to a lens (block 904). The light beams can be received 

by the lens (block 906) and collimated for transmission to an 

environment of the LIDAR device (block 908). The colli 

mated light may then reflect off one or more objects in the 

environment of the LIDAR device and return as reflected light 

collected by the lens. The lens may then focus the collected 

light onto a plurality of detectors in the receive block via a 

receive path that extends through the shared space and an 

entrance aperture of the receive block (block 910). The plu rality of detectors in the receive block may then detect light from the focused light having wavelengths in the wavelength 

range of the emitted light beams from the light sources (block 

912). Within examples, devices and operation methods 

described include a LIDAR device rotated about an axis and 

configured to transmit collimated light and focus reflected 

light. The collimation and focusing can be performed by a 

shared lens. By using a shared lens that performs both of these 

functions, instead of a transmit lens for collimating and a 

receive lens for focusing, advantages with respect to size, 

cost, and/or complexity can be provided. Additionally, in 

some examples, the shared lens can define a curved focal 

surface. In these examples, the light sources emitting light 

through the shared lens and the detectors receiving light 

focused by the shared lens can be arranged along the curved 

focal surface defined by the shared lens. 

It should be understood that arrangements described herein 

are for purposes of example only. As such, those skilled in the 

art will appreciate that other arrangements and otherelements 

(e.g. machines, interfaces, functions, orders, and groupings of 

functions, etc.) can be used instead, and some elements may be omitted altogether according to the desired results. Fur 

ther, many of the elements that are described are functional 

entities that may be implemented as discrete or distributed 

components or in conjunction with other components, in any 

suitable combination and location, or other structural ele 

ments described as independent structures may be combined. 

While various aspects and embodiments have been dis 

closed herein, other aspects and embodiments will be appar 

ent to those skilled in the art. The various aspects and embodi 

ments disclosed herein are for purposes of illustration and are 

not intended to be limiting, with the true scope being indi 

cated by the following claims, along with the full scope of 

equivalents to which such claims are entitled. It is also to be 

understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and is not 

intended to be limiting. 

What is claimed is: 

1. A light detection and ranging (LIDAR) device, compris 

1ng: 

a lens mounted to a housing, wherein the housing is con 

figured to rotate about an axis and has an interior space 

that includes a transmit block, a receive block, a transmit 

path, and a receive path, wherein the transmit block has 

an exit aperture in a wall that comprises a reflective 

surface, wherein the receive block has an entrance aper 

ture, wherein the transmit path extends from the exit 

Case 3:17-cv-00939 Document 1-1 Filed 02/23/17 Page 23 of 24
Case 3:17-cv-00939 Document 1-1 Filed 02/23/17 Page 24 of 24