Patent Publication Number: US-2022229183-A1

Title: LiDAR INTEGRATED WITH SMART HEADLIGHT AND METHOD

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims priority benefit, including under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e), of
     U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/853,538, filed May 28, 2019 by Y. P. Chang et al., titled “LIDAR Integrated With Smart Headlight Using a Single DMD,”   U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/857,662, filed Jun. 5, 2019 by Chun-Nien Liu et al., titled “Scheme of LIDAR-Embedded Smart Laser Headlight for Autonomous Driving,” and   U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/950,080, filed Dec. 18, 2019 by Kenneth Li, titled “Integrated LIDAR and Smart Headlight using a Single MEMS Mirror,” each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.   

     This application is related to:
     PCT Patent Application PCT/US2019/037231 titled “ILLUMINATION SYSTEM WITH HIGH INTENSITY OUTPUT MECHANISM AND METHOD OF OPERATION THEREOF”, filed Jun. 14, 2019, by Y. P. Chang et al. (published Jan. 16, 2020 as WO 2020/013952);   U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/509,085 titled “ILLUMINATION SYSTEM WITH CRYSTAL PHOSPHOR MECHANISM AND METHOD OF OPERATION THEREOF”, filed Jul. 11, 2019, by Y. P. Chang et al. (published Jan. 23, 2020 as US 2020/0026169);   U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/509,196 titled “ILLUMINATION SYSTEM WITH HIGH INTENSITY PROJECTION MECHANISM AND METHOD OF OPERATION THEREOF”, filed Jul. 11, 2019, by Y. P. Chang et al. (published Jan. 23, 2020 as US 2020/0026170);   U.S. Provisional Patent Application 62/837,077 titled “LASER EXCITED CRYSTAL PHOSPHOR SPHERE LIGHT SOURCE”, filed Apr. 22, 2019, by Kenneth Li et al.;   U.S. Provisional Patent Application 62/856,518 titled “VERTICAL CAVITY SURFACE EMITTING LASER USING DICHROIC REFLECTORS”, filed Jul. 8, 2019, by Kenneth Li et al.;   U.S. Provisional Patent Application 62/871,498 titled “LASER-EXCITED PHOSPHOR LIGHT SOURCE AND METHOD WITH LIGHT RECYCLING”, filed Jul. 8, 2019, by Kenneth Li;   U.S. Provisional Patent Application 62/873,171 titled “SPECKLE REDUCTION USING MOVING MIRRORS AND RETRO-REFLECTORS”, filed Jul. 11, 2019, by Kenneth Li;   U.S. Provisional Patent Application 62/862,549 titled “ENHANCEMENT OF LED INTENSITY PROFILE USING LASER EXCITATION”, filed Jun. 17, 2019, by Kenneth Li;   U.S. Provisional Patent Application 62/874,943 titled “ENHANCEMENT OF LED INTENSITY PROFILE USING LASER EXCITATION”, filed Jul. 16, 2019, by Kenneth Li;   U.S. Provisional Patent Application 62/881,927 titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD TO INCREASE BRIGHTNESS OF DIFFUSED LIGHT WITH FOCUSED RECYCLING”, filed Aug. 1, 2019, by Kenneth Li;   U.S. Provisional Patent Application 62/895,367 titled “INCREASED BRIGHTNESS OF DIFFUSED LIGHT WITH FOCUSED RECYCLING”, filed Sep. 3, 2019, by Kenneth Li; and   U.S. Provisional Patent Application 62/903,620 titled “RGB LASER LIGHT SOURCE FOR PROJECTION DISPLAYS”, filed Sep. 20, 2019, by Lion Wang et al.; each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.   

    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to the field of solid-state illumination and three-dimensional (3D) imaging and measurement, and more specifically to a system and method for using a single-mirror Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) scanning mirror assembly, and/or a DMD (digital micromirror device) having a plurality of independently steerable mirrors or switchable-tilt mirrors for steering a plurality of light beams that include one or more light beam(s) for the headlight beam(s) of a vehicle and/or one or more light beam(s) for LiDAR purposes, along with highly effective associated devices for light-wavelength conversion, light dumping and heatsinking. Some embodiments include a digital camera, wherein image data from the digital camera and distance data from the LiDAR sensor are combined to provide information used to control the size, shape and direction of the smart headlight beam. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     LiDAR stands for light detection and ranging (also laser imaging, detection and ranging). LiDAR has seen extensive use in autonomous vehicles, robotics, aerial mapping, and atmospheric measurements. LiDAR is one of the key sensors for autonomous driving. LiDAR sensors emit invisible laser-light beams to scan and detect objects in the near or far vicinity of the sensors and create a three-dimensional (3D) map of the surroundings environment [1-4] (numbers in square brackets herein refer to publications listed in Table 1 below (which is adapted from “New scheme of LiDAR-embedded smart laser headlight for autonomous vehicles,” Y-P. Chang et al., Optics Express Vol. 27, Issue 20, pp. A1481-A1489 (September, 2019))). 
     
       
         
           
               
             
               
                 TABLE 1 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 References 
               
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                   
               
            
           
           
               
            
               
                 1. B. Schwarz, “LiDAR: Mapping the world in 3D,” Nat. Photonics 4(7), 429-430 (2010). 
               
               
                 2. C. V. Poulton, A. Yaacobi, D. B. Cole, M. J. Byrd, M. Raval, D. Vermeulen, and M. R. 
               
               
                 Watts, “Coherent solid-state LiDAR with silicon photonic optical phased arrays,” Opt. Lett. 
               
               
                 42(20), 4091-4094 (2017). 
               
               
                 3. W. Xie, T. Komljenovic, J. Huang, M. Tran, M. Davenport, A. Torres, P. Pintus, and J. E. 
               
               
                 Bowers, “Heterogeneous silicon photonics sensing for autonomous cars,” Opt. Express 27(3), 
               
               
                 3642-3662 (2019). 
               
               
                 4. L. Ulrich, “Whiter brights with lasers,” IEEE Spectrum 50(11), 36-56 (2013). 
               
               
                 5. Leddar Vu8 Solid-State LiDAR, LeddarTech Inc., 4535 Wilfrid-Hamel Blvd, Suite 240, 
               
               
                 Quebec City, QC, G1P 2J7 Canada. 
               
               
                 6. J. Wang, C. C. Tsai, W. C. Cheng, M. H. Chen, C. H. Chung, and W. H. Cheng, “High 
               
               
                 thermal stability of phosphor-converted white light-emitting diodes employing Ce:YAG- 
               
               
                 doped glass,” IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 17(3), 741-746 (2011). 
               
               
                 7. Y. P. Chang, J. K. Chang, W. C. Cheng, Y. Y. Kuo, C. N. Liu, L. Y. Chen, and W. H. 
               
               
                 Cheng, “New scheme of a highly-reliable glass-based color wheel for next-generation laser 
               
               
                 light engine,” Opt. Mater. Express 7(3), 1029-1034 (2017). 
               
               
                 8. Y. P. Chang, J. K. Chang, W. C. Cheng, Y. Y. Kuo, C. N. Liu, L. Y. Chen, and W. H. 
               
               
                 Cheng, “An advanced laser headlight module employing highly reliable glass phosphor,” Opt. 
               
               
                 Express 27(3), 1808 (2019). 
               
               
                 9. Y. H. Kim, N. S. M. Viswanath, S. Unithrattil, H. J. Kim, and W. B. Im, “Review- 
               
               
                 Phosphor Plates for High-Power LED Applications: Challenges and Opportunities toward 
               
               
                 Perfect Lighting,” ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol. 7(1), R3134-R3147 (2018). 
               
               
                 10. Y. Peng, Y. Mou, H. Wang, Y. Zhuo, H. Li, M. Chen, and X. Luo, “Stable and efficient 
               
               
                 all-inorganic color converter based on phosphor in tellurite glass for next-generation laser- 
               
               
                 excited white lighting,” J. Eur. Ceram. Soc. 38(16), 5525-5532 (2018). 
               
               
                 11. Y. Peng, Y. Mou, Y. Zhuo, H. Li, X. Z. Wang, M. X. Chen, and X. B. Luo, “Preparation 
               
               
                 and luminescent performances of thermally stable red-emitting phosphor-in-glass for high- 
               
               
                 power lighting,” J. Alloys Compd. 768(5), 114-121 (2018). 
               
               
                 12. Y. Peng, Y. Mou, Q. Sun, H. Cheng, M. X. Chen, and X. B. Luo, “Facile fabrication of 
               
               
                 heat-conducting phosphor-in-glass with dual-sapphire plates for laser-driven white lighting,” 
               
               
                 J. Alloys Compd. 790(25), 744-749 (2019). 
               
               
                 13. L. Wang, R. J. Xie, T. Suehiro, T. Takeda, and N. Hirosaki, “Down-conversion nitride 
               
               
                 materials for solid State lighting: recent advances and perspectives,” Chem. Rev. 118(4), 
               
               
                 1951-2009 (2018). 
               
               
                 14. M. Cantore, N. Pfaff, R. M. Farrell, J. S. Speck, S. Nakamura, and S. P. DenBaars, “High 
               
               
                 luminous flux from single crystal phosphor-converted laser-based white lighting system,” 
               
               
                 Opt. Express 24(2), A215-A221 (2016). 
               
               
                 15. K. Yoshimura, K. Annen, H. Fukunaga, M. Harada, M. Izumi, K. Takahashi, T. 
               
               
                 Uchikoshi, R. J. Xie, and N. Hirosaki, “Optical properties of solid-state laser lighting devices 
               
               
                 using SiAl on phosphor□glass composite films as wavelength converters,” Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 
               
               
                 55(4), 042102 (2016). 
               
               
                 16. NVIDIA Jetson TX2, NVIDIA Corporation, Santa Barbara, California, USA 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     PCT Patent Application Publication WO 2020/013952 (of Application PCT/US2019/037231), which is incorporated by reference, describes an illumination system that includes a waveguide having a first end configured to receive a laser light, a luminescent portion configured to generate a luminescent light from the laser light, a second end opposite the first end configured to pass the luminescent light; an input device adjacent to the first end configured to collect the laser light for propagation to the first end; an output device adjacent to the second end configured to reflect at least some of the laser light back into the luminescent portion and direct the luminescent light away from the second end through an output surface. In one embodiment, the input device includes a light homogenizer configured to receive the laser light and provide to the first end of the waveguide a spatially uniform intensity distribution of the laser light. In another embodiment, a heat dissipater is provided adjacent to the waveguide and configured to dissipate heat generated within the waveguide by the generation of the luminescent light. 
     U.S. Patent Application Publication 2020/0026169 by Chang et al. published Jan. 23, 2020 with the title “Illumination system with crystal phosphor mechanism and method of operation thereof” (U.S. application Ser. No. 16/509,085), and is incorporated by reference. Patent Application Publication 2020/0026169 describes an illumination system that includes: a laser array assembly including: a laser configured to generate a laser light; a crystal phosphor waveguide, adjacent to the laser and in the laser light, configured to: generate of a luminescent light based on receiving the laser light, and direct the luminescent light away from a base end; and a compound parabolic concentrator (CPC), coupled to the crystal phosphor waveguide opposite the base end, configured to: collect the luminescent light from the crystal phosphor waveguide, extract the luminescent light away from the crystal phosphor waveguide. 
     U.S. Patent Application Publication 2020/0026170 by Chang et al. published Jan. 23, 2020 with the title “Illumination system with high intensity projection mechanism and method of operation thereof” (U.S. application Ser. No. 16/509,196), and is incorporated by reference. Patent Application Publication 2020/0026170 describes an illumination system that includes an input device configured to generate a first luminescent light beam; a pumping assembly, optically coupled to the input device, configured to project a pumping light beam into the input device; a focusing lens, aligned with the first luminescent light beam, to focus the first luminescent light beam enhanced by the pumping light beam as an output beam; and an output device, optically coupled to the focusing lens, configured to: receive the output beam from the focusing lens, and project an application output, formed with the output beam, from a projection device. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,108 to Hed issued on Mar. 10, 1998 with the title “High efficiency compound parabolic concentrators and optical fiber powered spot luminaire,” and is incorporated by reference. U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,108 describes a compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) that can be used as an optical connector or in a like management system or simply as a concentrator or even as a spotlight. That CPC has a hollow body formed with an input aperture and an output aperture and a wall connecting the input aperture with the output aperture and diverting from the smaller of the cross-sectional areas to the larger cross-sectional areas of the apertures. The wall is composed of contiguous elongated prisms of a transparent dielectric material so that the single reflection from the inlet aperture to the outlet aperture takes place within the prisms and thus the losses of purely reflective reflectors can be avoided. 
     A journal article titled “Optical efficiency study of PV Crossed Compound Parabolic Concentrator,” by Nazmi Sellami and Tapas K. Mallick (Applied Energy, February, 2013, Vol. 102, 868-876) (which is incorporated herein by reference), describes static solar concentrators that present a solution to the challenge of reducing the cost of Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) by reducing the area of solar cells. In this study a 3-D ray trace code has been developed using MATLAB in order to determine the theoretical optical efficiency and the optical flux distribution at the photovoltaic cell of a 3-D Crossed Compound Parabolic Concentrator (CCPC) for different incidence angles of light rays. 
     United States Patent Application Publication 2014/0373901 by Mallick et al. published on Dec. 25, 2014 with the title “Optical Concentrator and Associated Photovoltaic Devices”, and is incorporated by reference. Patent Application Publication 2014/0373901 describes a transmissive optical concentrator comprising an elliptical collector aperture and a non-elliptical exit aperture, the concentrator being operable to concentrate radiation incident on said collector aperture. The body of said concentrator may have a substantially hyperbolic external profile. Also disclosed is a photovoltaic cell employing such a concentrator and a photovoltaic building unit comprising an array of optical transmissive concentrators, each having an elliptical collector aperture; and an array of photovoltaic cells, each aligned with an exit aperture of a concentrator, wherein the area between adjacent collector apertures is transmissive to visible radiation. 
     There is a need in the art for an improved smart headlight and method, and a combined vehicle smart headlight and LiDAR system and method. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In some embodiments, the present invention provides an apparatus that includes: a LiDAR device, the LiDAR device including: a laser that outputs a pulsed LiDAR laser signal; a DMD having a plurality of individually selectable mirrors arranged on a first major surface of the DMD; first optics configured to capture light from an entire scene and to focus the captured light to a focal plane located at the first surface of the DMD; a light detector; and a first light dump, wherein each respective one of the plurality of mirrors of the DMD is switchable to selectively reflect a respective portion of the captured light to one of a plurality of angles including a first angle that directs the reflected light toward the light detector and a second angle that directs the reflected light toward the first light dump. 
     In some embodiments, the present invention provides an apparatus for automatically adjusting a spatial shape of a vehicle headlight beam as projected onto a scene. This second apparatus includes: a first pump-light source that generates a first pump light (such as a pump laser and/or other pump-light source generating pump light from one or more LEDs (light-emitting diodes) or other sources of pump light); a first plate made of glass having a phosphor therein operatively coupled to receive the first pump light and to emit wavelength-converted light from areas of the glass first plate illuminated by the first pump light; projection optics operatively coupled to receive the wavelength-converted light from the first plate and an unconverted portion of the first pump light and configured to project a headlight beam toward the scene, wherein the headlight beam is based on the received wavelength-converted light and the unconverted portion of the first pump light; a digital imager configured to obtain image data of the scene; a LiDAR sensor configured to obtain a plurality of distance measurements of objects in the scene; and control logic operatively coupled to receive and combine the image data and the plurality of distance measurements and configured, based on the combined image data and distance measurements, to generate headlight-control data that is used to adjust the spatial shape of the headlight beam. 
     In some embodiments, the present invention provides an apparatus for vehicle-headlight illumination and LiDAR scanning a scene. This third apparatus includes: a first MEMS scanner that includes a first two-dimensional (2D) scanner mirror; a laser-phosphor smart headlight that includes: a first pump laser that outputs a first pump laser beam; and a target phosphor plate configured to receive the first pump laser beam and convert a wavelength of the first pump laser beam to a converted wavelength light; and a LiDAR laser system that includes: a pulsed LiDAR laser that outputs a pulsed LiDAR laser beam to be scanned across the scene, wherein the laser-phosphor smart headlight and the LiDAR laser system both use the first 2D scanner mirror to respectively reflect the first pump laser beam of the first pump laser along an optical path that impinges on a first area of the target phosphor plate and the pulsed LiDAR laser beam along an optical path towards the scene. Some such embodiments further include: a second pump laser that outputs a second pump laser beam, and wherein the target phosphor plate assembly is configured to receive the second pump laser beam on a second area of the target phosphor plate assembly and convert a wavelength of the second pump laser beam to a converted-wavelength light; and a projection lens located along an optical path between the target phosphor plate assembly and the scene, wherein the projection lens is configured to form a headlight beam that includes a portion of unconverted light of the first pump laser beam and converted wavelength light from the first area of the target phosphor plate assembly and a portion of unconverted light of the second pump laser beam and converted wavelength light from the second area of the target phosphor plate assembly. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a side-view schematic of a scene  100  with a full-field laser-illumination LiDAR system  101 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2A  is a side-view schematic of a scene  200 A with a partial-field-laser-illumination LiDAR system  201  rotated to point in a first direction, according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2B  is a side-view schematic of a scene  200 B with a partial-field-laser-illumination LiDAR system  201  rotated to point in a second direction, according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a side-view schematic of a scene  300  with a scanned laser-illumination LiDAR system  301 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a side-view schematic of a scene  400  with a scanned laser-illumination and scanned detection LiDAR system  401 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5A  is a side-view schematic of a scene  500  with a combined headlight, scanned laser-illumination and scanned detection LiDAR system  501 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5B  is a side-view schematic of a DMD-lens system  502  usable with system  501 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5C  is a side-view schematic of an alternative DMD-lens system  503  usable with system  501 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 6A  is a side-view schematic of a scene  600  with full-field laser-illumination and scanned detection LiDAR system  601 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 6B  is a side-view schematic of a scene  600  with full-field laser-illumination and scanned detection LiDAR system  602 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 7  is a perspective-view schematic of a combined smart headlight with scanned laser-pumped illumination and LiDAR system  701 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 8  is a side-view schematic of a combined smart headlight with scanned laser-pumped illumination system  801 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 9A  is a schematic diagram of a ray-tracing simulation  900  of a smart headlight system  901 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 9B  is a schematic diagram of illumination intensity  902  from a smart headlight system  901 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 10A  is a cross-section side-view schematic diagram of a glass-phosphor wavelength-converting system  1001  usable for a smart headlight system, according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 10B  is a schematic diagram of a smart headlight system  1002 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 11A  is a schematic diagram of a ray-tracing simulation  1101  of a smart headlight system  1002 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 11B  is a schematic diagram of illumination intensity  1102  from a smart headlight system  1002 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 12A  is a block diagram of a LiDAR system  1201 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 12B  is a schematic diagram of operation of a software system  1202 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 13  is a block diagram of a headlight-control method and system  1301 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 14A  is a schematic block diagram of a region-of-interest (ROI) LiDAR system  1401 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 14B  is a schematic block diagram of ROI LiDAR system  1402 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 15  is a perspective-view diagram of a two-dimensional MEMS mirror system  1501 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 16  is a side-view diagram of a smart headlight with scanned laser-pumped illumination system  1601  that utilizes a two-dimensional MEMS mirror system  1501 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 17A  is a side-view diagram of a combined LiDAR and smart headlight with scanned laser-pumped illumination system  1701  that utilizes a two-dimensional MEMS mirror system  1501 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 17B  is a side-view diagram of a combined LiDAR and smart headlight with scanned laser-pumped illumination system  1702  that utilizes a two-dimensional MEMS mirror system  1501  but avoids redirection optics for the scanned LiDAR output beam, according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 17C  is a side-view diagram of a combined LiDAR and smart headlight with scanned laser-pumped illumination system  1703  that utilizes a two-dimensional MEMS mirror system  1501  but avoids redirection optics for the scanned LiDAR output beam and includes a heatsink on the phosphor plate  1737 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 18  is a side-view diagram of a combined LiDAR and smart headlight with scanned laser-pumped illumination system  1801  that utilizes a two-dimensional MEMS mirror system  1501 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 19  is a side-view diagram of a combined low-beam/high-beam smart headlight with scanned laser-pumped illumination system  1901  that utilizes a two-dimensional MEMS mirror system  1501 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 20A  is a front-view diagram  2001  of a phosphor plate  2010  usable, for example, in combined low-beam/high-beam smart headlight with scanned laser-pumped illumination system  1901 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 20B  is a front-view diagram  2002  of a phosphor plate  2020  usable, for example, in combined low-beam/high-beam smart headlight with scanned laser-pumped illumination system  1901 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 20C  is a front-view diagram  2003  of a phosphor plate  2030  usable, for example, in combined low-beam/high-beam smart headlight with scanned laser-pumped illumination system  1901 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 21  is a cross-section-view diagram of a phosphor plate  2101  usable, for example, in combined low-beam/high-beam smart headlight with scanned laser-pumped illumination systems such as  1601 ,  1701 ,  1702 ,  1703 ,  1801  or  1901 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 22  is a cross-section-view diagram of a phosphor plate  2201  usable, for example, in combined low-beam/high-beam smart headlight with scanned laser-pumped illumination systems such as  1601 ,  1701 ,  1702 ,  1703 ,  1801  or  1901 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 23  is a cross-section-view diagram of a phosphor plate assembly  2301  usable, for example, in combined low-beam/high-beam smart headlight with scanned laser-pumped illumination systems such as  1601 ,  1701 ,  1702 ,  1703 ,  1801  or  1901 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF PART A OF THE INVENTION 
     Although the following detailed description contains many specifics for the purpose of illustration, a person of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that many variations and alterations to the following details are within the scope of the invention. Specific examples are used to illustrate particular embodiments; however, the invention described in the claims is not intended to be limited to only these examples, but rather includes the full scope of the attached claims. Accordingly, the following preferred embodiments of the invention are set forth without any loss of generality to, and without imposing limitations upon the claimed invention. Further, in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. It is understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The embodiments shown in the Figures and described here may include features that are not included in all specific embodiments. A particular embodiment may include only a subset of all of the features described, or a particular embodiment may include all of the features described. 
     The leading digit(s) of reference numbers appearing in the Figures generally corresponds to the Figure number in which that component is first introduced, such that the same reference number is used throughout to refer to an identical component which appears in multiple Figures. Signals and connections may be referred to by the same reference number or label, and the actual meaning will be clear from its use in the context of the description. 
     Certain marks referenced herein may be common-law or registered trademarks of third parties affiliated or unaffiliated with the applicant or the assignee. Use of these marks is for providing an enabling disclosure by way of example and shall not be construed to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter to material associated with such marks. 
     One of the recent developments in automotive technology is LiDAR for autonomous vehicles. LiDAR provides the digital “vision” of the environment for controlling the various functions of the vehicle, including lighting, cruising, etc. However, today&#39;s LiDAR systems have difficulties in meeting the specifications of car manufacturers. Together with the desire to have a smart headlight, the total cost of conventional smart headlights and LiDAR becomes too high for mass adoption. 
       FIG. 1  is a side-view schematic of a scene  100  with a full-field laser-illumination LiDAR system  101 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, LiDAR system  101  includes a pulsed laser  120  that outputs a relatively wide-angle spread pulsed laser output beam  120 ′ that is used to illuminate the entire scene. In some embodiments, a detector system  110  includes a plurality of detectors  112 ,  114 , . . .  116  arranged at the focal plane of lens system  130  (in some embodiments, the plurality of detectors  112 ,  114 , . . .  116  are located at different various X and Y positions on an XY grid). The portion  112 ′ of the output beam  120 ′ that reflects from object  92  (e.g., in some embodiments,  112 ′ represents a pulsed light signal reflected by a car  92 ) through lens  130  is focused by lens  130  onto detector  112 . The portion  114 ′ of the output beam  120 ′ that reflects from object  94  through lens  130  is focused onto detector  114 . The portion  116 ′ of the output beam  120 ′ that reflects from object  96  through lens  130  is focused onto detector  116 . In some embodiments, each pulse of the output beam  120 ′ passes through optics (e.g., a lens system) that spreads the beam to illuminate the entire full field of view such that the entire scene of interest is illuminated by the same single pulse for each set of distance measurements. In some embodiments, a processor  190  is operatively coupled to control operation of the components described above and/or receive signals from other components of system  101  to determine the distances to objects  92 ,  94 , . . .  96  based on the time delays between each of the plurality of returning pulsed signals  112 ′,  114 ′, . . .  116 ′ relative to each single pulse of the pulsed output signal  120 ′. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates the basic function of a LiDAR system in which a pulsed laser beam  120 ′ is targeted at the scene  100  that has, in this example, three objects located at different distances and directions as shown, represented by three cars  92 ,  92  and  96 . The detection sensor system  110  is represented by a plurality of (e.g., in some embodiments, three as shown here) respective detectors  112 ,  114 , . . .  116 , each receiving reflected signal from a respective one of the objects  92 ,  94 , . . .  96 . In some embodiments, the plurality of detectors  110  includes a larger number of detectors, since the number of distance measurements depends on the number of detectors, where here only three detectors are shown. The respective X-Y-location of each respective detector  112 ,  114 , and  116  of the plurality of detectors  110  at the focal plane of lens  130  represents the corresponding respective X-Y-angles of the vector towards respective cars  92 ,  94 , . . .  96  and the delay time between each output laser pulse  120 ′ and the respective detected pulse  112 ′,  114 ′, . . .  116 ′ is converted to distance (the radial distance of a polar coordinate system, sometimes called herein the Z distance), and this radial distance and the angular coordinates (sometimes referred to as polar angles φ and θ, or herein as the X-Y-angles since some embodiments steer the output laser beam using a mirror that tilts in the X and Y directions) are combined and converted to cartesian coordinates to determine the X-Y-Z-location of each object relative to LiDAR system  101 , where one object location can be determined for each of the plurality of detectors  110  (one X-Y-Z location relative to LiDAR system  101  corresponding to each provided detector  112 ,  114 , . . .  116  for each emitted pulse  120 ′). This allows the LiDAR system  101  to provide a three-dimensional (3D) digital picture of the environment. 
       FIG. 2A  is a side-view schematic of a scene  200 A with a partial-field-laser-illumination LiDAR system  201  rotated to point in a first direction at a first period in time, according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, LiDAR system  201  includes a pulsed laser  220  that outputs a relatively narrow-angle pulsed laser output beam  220 ′ that is used to illuminate a small portion of the entire scene, and the pulsed reflected light  214 ′ is focused by lens  230  onto detector  214  of detection system  210 . LiDAR system  201  is configured to rotate itself to point at different portions of scene  200 A at sequential times. In some embodiments, the rotation allows LiDAR system  201  to point to different angles in the X and Y directions to determine distances and thus determine the X-Y-Z locations of objects in the scene  200 A. In some embodiments, a processor  290  is operatively coupled to control operation of the components described above and/or receive signals from other components of system  201 , in order to determine the distances to objects  94  and  92 , respectively, based on the time delay between the returning pulsed signals  214 ′ and  212 ′, respectively, relative to the pulsed output signal  220 ′ during the respective first and second periods in time. 
       FIG. 2B  is a side-view schematic of a scene  200 B with a partial-field-laser-illumination LiDAR system  201  rotated to point in a second direction at a second period in time (e.g., scene  200 B, which is the same as scene  200 A, but at a later point in time), according to some embodiments of the present invention. Referring again to  FIG. 2A , the portion  214 ′ (a pulsed light signal) of the output beam  220 ′ that reflects from object  94  (e.g., in some embodiments, a car) through lens  230  at the first point in time is focused by lens  230  onto detector  214 . The portion  214 ′ of the output beam  220 ′ that reflects from object  94  through lens  230  is focused onto detector  214  during the first period in time. At the later period in time corresponding to scene  200 B, the portion  212 ′ of the output beam  220 ′ that reflects from object  92  through lens  230  is focused onto detector  214  during the second period in time. In some embodiments, each pulse of the output beam  220 ′ passes through optics (e.g., a lens system, not shown) that focusses the beam to illuminate just a small portion of the field of view. 
       FIGS. 2A and 2B  illustrate system  201  (one alternative to system  101  of  FIG. 1 ) that uses a rotating platform, where the XY-location of the target is determined by the angle of rotation and/or tilt of the system  201  and/or an internal mirror. Again, the Z-location (the distance between system  201  and an object at which system  201  is pointed) is determined by the delay time between the respective detected pulse and the corresponding output pulse  220 ′ during a respective period of time. 
       FIG. 3  is a side-view schematic of a scene  300  with a scanned laser-illumination LiDAR system  301 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, LiDAR system  301  includes a pulsed laser  320  that outputs a relatively narrow-angle pulsed laser output beam  320 ′ (in some embodiments, laser  320  is an infrared laser and pulsed laser output beam  320 ′ has an infrared wavelength) that is pointed in different X-Y directions by two-dimension (2D) scanning mirror  360  to illuminate a small portion of the entire scene, and the pulsed reflected light  314 ′ from that illuminated portion (as well as from the rest of scene  300 ) is focused by lens  330  onto stationary detector  314  of detection system  310 . In some embodiments, there is only a single detector  314  that is used to determine the time delay between the output pulses from laser  320 , which LiDAR system  301  is configured to point laser beam  320 ′ at different portions (different X and Y angles) of scene  300  at sequential times by tilting 2D scanning mirror  360 . In some embodiments, the X and Y tilting of scanning mirror  360  allows LiDAR system  301  to sequentially point to different angles in the X and Y directions to determine distances between system  301  and the plurality of objects (e.g., cars  92 ,  94  and  96 ) and thus determine the X-Y-Z locations of a plurality of various objects in the scene  300 . In some embodiments, because there is a single laser  320  and a single detector  314 , each X and Y angle must be scanned sequentially, which takes more time to scan the entire scene than system  101  (which can use a single laser pulse  120 ′ from its laser  120  to determine distances to as many objects and/or directions as the number of detectors  110 , but because the pulse is spread across the entire scene (beam  120 ′ is spread to a larger portion of a solid angle for each output pulse  120 ′ (e.g., a larger portion of a steradian)), each object in the scene reflects less power toward the detectors  112 ,  114 , . . .  116 ). In contrast, the intensity of laser power in system  301  is higher at each object because the entire output pulse  320 ′ is pointed at only one, much smaller solid angle at a time. However, detector  314  of system  201  has a somewhat smaller signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio, as compared to system  401  of  FIG. 4  described below, because detector  314  receives light from the entire scene  300 , not just the portion illuminated by each of the pulses from scanned laser beam  320 ′. In some embodiments, a processor  390  is operatively coupled to control operation of the components described above and/or receive signals from other components of system  301 , in order to determine distances to various objects in scene  300  and/or to generate a three-dimensional image or map of those objects. 
     Similar to  FIG. 2 ,  FIG. 3  shows a system  301  that uses a laser beam that is scanned across scene  300 , using various types of laser-beam pointers or scanners (e.g., in some embodiments, a 2D scanning mirror  360  that is controlled to point in various directions to get the various angles needed for determining the XY-angles to the object or target). The Z distance is determined by the time-of-flight as described previously. In some embodiments, the X angle and Y angle are combined with the Z distance (e.g., using a polar coordinate system or geometry) to mathematically determine the X-Y-Z location relative to system  301  (e.g., in some embodiments, obtaining a cartesian coordinate system or geometry) of each object in scene  300 . 
       FIG. 4  is a side-view schematic of a scene  400  with a scanned laser-illumination and scanned detection LiDAR system  401 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, LiDAR system  401  includes a pulsed laser  420  that outputs a relatively narrow-angle pulsed laser output beam  420 ′ that is pointed in different X-Y directions by 2D scanning output mirror  460  to illuminate a small portion of the entire scene. While reflected light  414 ′ from the entire scene  400  is focused by lens  430  onto DMD  412 , the mirror(s) of DMD  412  on only a certain computer-selected area of DMD  412  are pointed to reflect light from those mirrors toward detector  414 , while light toward all other areas of DMD  412  is reflected by mirrors of DMD  412  that are controlled to reflect that light toward light dump  418 . In some embodiments, the pulsed reflected light  414 ′ from that illuminated portion is focused by lens  430  (e.g., in some embodiments, lens  430  being implemented as one or more lenses, and/or a hologram or other focusing optics) onto DMD array of mirrors  412  located at the focal plane of lens  430 , one or more of which reflects light from just those angle(s) (or portion(s)) of scene  400 , at which output laser beam  420 ′ is being directed at a given period of time, onto stationary detector  414  of detection system  410 , while light from all other angle(s) (or portion(s)) of scene  400  is reflected towards light dump  418  (in some embodiments, a black surface that is highly absorbent to wavelengths of light from scene  400 ). In some embodiments, an aperture is provided around the light path toward light dump  418  and/or the light path toward detector  414  to prevent or reduce any stray reflections from light dump  418  from reaching detector  414 . In some embodiments, there is only a single detector  414  that is used to determine the time delay between the scanned output pulses from laser  420 . In some embodiments, LiDAR system  401  is configured to point output laser beam  420 ′ at different portions (different X and Y angles) of scene  400  at sequential times by tilting 2D scanning mirror  460 , and to also tilt one or more of the mirrors of DMD  412  corresponding to the X-Y angles of output laser beam  420 ′, while all other mirrors of DMD  412  reflect light from those other portions of scene  400  to light dump  418 . In some embodiments, the X and Y tilting of mirror  460  and the tilting of the mirrors of DMD  412  to reflect toward detector  414  for the portion of scene  400  being measured (and to reflect toward light dump  418  for all other portions of scene  400  to improve the S/N ratio) allows LiDAR system  401  to point output beam  420 ′ toward (and receive light to detector  414  from) different angles in the X and Y directions to determine Z-distances between system  401  and a plurality of objects (e.g., cars  92  . . .  94 ), and thus determine the X-Y-Z locations of various objects in the scene  400 . Thus, during a first period of time, pulsed output laser beam  420 ′ points toward the X-Y angles corresponding to object  92  (e.g., a car), and the reflection  92 ′ of the output laser beam from object  92  is directed by one or a few mirrors of DMD  412  toward detector  414 , while the background noise of reflections of light from sun  80  (e.g., reflections  82 ′ from snow on distant mountains  82  or reflections  84 ′ from glass windows of buildings  84  (or even sun reflections  94 ′ from other objects  94 )) are reflected toward light dump  418  by other ones of the plurality of mirrors of DMD  412 . Later, during a second period of time, pulsed output laser beam  420 ′ points toward the X-Y angles corresponding to object  94  (e.g., another car), and the reflection  94 ′ of the output laser beam from object  94  is directed by one or a few mirrors of DMD  412  toward detector  414 , while the background noise of reflections of light from sun  80  (e.g., reflections  82 ′ from snow on distant mountains  82  or reflections  84 ′ from glass windows of buildings  84  (or even sun reflections  92 ′ from other objects  92 )) are reflected toward light dump  418  by other ones of the plurality of mirrors of DMD  412 . In some embodiments, because there is a single laser  420  and a single detector  414 , each X and Y angle must be scanned sequentially, which takes more time to scan the entire scene than system  101 , but system  401  has a better S/N ratio than system  101  because for system  101  each object in the scene reflects less power toward the detectors  112 ,  114 , . . .  116 ). System  401  also has a better S/N ratio than system  101  or system  301 , because the intensity of laser power in system  401  is higher at each object because the entire output pulse  420 ′ is pointed at only one much smaller solid angle at a time, and detector  414  (because of the selections of one or more mirrors of DMD  412 ) receives light from only the selected small portion of the entire scene  400  that is illuminated by each of the pulses from scanned laser beam  420 ′. In some embodiments, a processor  490  is operatively coupled to control operation of the components described above and/or receive signals from other components of system  401 , in order to determine distances to various objects in scene  400  and/or to generate a three-dimensional image, formatted data file, or map of those objects. 
     Thus,  FIG. 4  shows system  401  with improved signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio as compared to systems  101 ,  201  and  301 . The output-pulse operation of system  401  is similar to that of system  301  of  FIG. 3 ; however, the operation of detection system  410  is improved using digital micromirror device (DMD)  412 . In some embodiments, DMD  412  is used to reflect a selected portion of the target scene at the focal plane of lens  430  toward detector  414  and direct that selected portion of the scene (e.g., during the first period of time, the reflection  92 ′ of beam  420 ′ from object  92 ) to the detector  414 . The rest of the target scene at the focal plane of lens  430  is directed away from the detector (e.g., toward light dump  418 ). The selected portion of the target scene is synchronized with the scanning laser beam  420 ′ such that the detector  414  only “sees” the portion of the target scanned by the laser beam at that instant of time (or period of time, since objects at different distances will have different delay times for the return pulse, so the detector is active for the period of time after the outgoing pulse in which the return pulses may be expected). As a result, all the ambient light of light  414 ′ reflected from areas not at the laser beam location will be directed away from the detector  414  and instead at light dump  418 , thus lowering the background noise signal, and increasing the S/N ratio. 
     To provide added functionality and lower the cost of an overall LiDAR and smart headlight system, some embodiments of the present invention integrate these two functions in the same package using a single DMD, such as system  501  of  FIG. 5A . 
       FIG. 5A  is a side-view schematic of a scene  500  with a combined smart headlight, scanned laser-illumination, and scanned detection LiDAR system  501 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, combined smart headlight and LiDAR system  501  includes a pulsed laser  520  that outputs a relatively narrow-angle pulsed laser output beam  520 ′ that is pointed in different X-Y directions by a 2D scanning output mirror  560  to illuminate a small portion of the entire scene  500 . While reflected light  514 ′ from the entire scene  500  is focused by lens  530  onto DMD  512  at the focal plane of lens  530 , the mirror(s) of DMD  512  on only a certain computer-selected area of DMD  512  are pointed to reflect light from those mirror(s) toward detector  514 , while light toward all other areas of DMD  512  is reflected by mirror(s) of DMD  512  that are controlled to reflect that light toward light dump  518 . 2 . In some embodiments, the pulsed reflected light  514 ′ from that illuminated portion is focused by lens  530  (e.g., in some embodiments, lens  530  being implemented as one or more lenses, and/or a hologram or other focusing optics) onto the array of mirrors of DMD  512  located at the focal plane of lens  530 , one or more of which mirrors of DMD  512  reflects light from just those XY-angle(s) (or portion(s)) of scene  500  toward which output laser beam  520 ′ is being directed at a given period of time, onto stationary detector  514  at the +24-degree position of detection system  510 , while light from all other XY-angle(s) (or portion(s)) of scene  500  are reflected towards light dump  518 . 2  at the −24-degree position (in some embodiments, light dump  518 . 2  includes a heat sink with a black surface that is highly absorbent to wavelengths of light from scene  500 ). In some embodiments, an aperture is provided around the light path toward light dump  518 . 2  and/or the light path toward detector  514  to prevent or reduce any stray reflections from light dump  518 . 2  from reaching detector  514 . In some embodiments, there is only a single detector  514  that is used to determine the time delay between the scanned output pulses  520 ′ from laser  520 . In some embodiments, LiDAR system  501  is configured to successively point output laser beam  520 ′ at different portions (different X and Y angles) of scene  500  at sequential times by tilting 2D scanning mirror  560 , and to also tilt one or more of the mirrors of DMD  512  at XY locations on DMD  512  corresponding to the X-Y angles of each given pulse of output laser beam  520 ′, while all other mirrors of DMD  512  reflect light from those other portions of scene  500  to light dump  518 . 2 . In some embodiments, the X and Y tilting of mirror  560  and the tilting of the mirrors of DMD  512  to reflect toward detector  514  for the portion of scene  500  being measured (and to reflect toward light dump  518 . 2  for all other portions of scene  500 , in order to improve the S/N ratio) allows LiDAR system  501  to point output beam  520 ′ toward (and to select received light  514 ′ from) different angles in the X and Y directions to determine Z-distances between system  501  and a plurality of objects (e.g., car  92  and the like), and thus determine the X-Y-Z locations of various objects in the scene  500 . Thus, during a first period of time, pulsed output laser beam  520 ′ points toward the X-Y angles corresponding to object  92  (e.g., a car), and the reflection  514 ′ of the output laser beam  520 ′ from object  92  is directed by one or a few mirrors of DMD  512  toward detector  514 , while the background noise (such as described above for  FIG. 4 ) is reflected toward light dump  518 . 2  by other ones of the plurality of mirrors of DMD  512 . In some embodiments, because there is a single laser  520  and a single detector  514 , each X and Y angle used to measure distances is scanned sequentially. In some embodiments, a processor  590  is operatively coupled to control operation of the components described above and/or receive signals from other components of system  501 , in order to determine distances to various objects in scene  500  and/or to generate a three-dimensional image, formatted data file, or map of those objects. 
       FIG. 5A , thus, shows combined smart headlight and LiDAR system  501  according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which the LiDAR output laser beam  520 ′ is a scanning laser beam similar to scanning laser beam  420 ′ as shown in  FIG. 4 , and includes the XY-angle-selection (to determine the location that is to be measured for its Z-distance) capabilities via the XY-tilt functions of DMD  512  without the use of multiple detectors (i.e., just a single detector  514  is used in some embodiments). Furthermore, combined smart headlight and LiDAR system  501  includes the function of a smart headlight using DMD  512  having an array of mirrors, each of which can be tilted to one of a plurality of angles, e.g., in some embodiments, to −12°, 0°, or +12°. In some embodiments, there are thousands of tiny mirrors in DMD  512 , while only one mirror is shown in  FIG. 5A , representing the position of one of the mirrors. When a conventional standard DMD operates, each mirror switches just to the 0° or −12° direction. Some embodiments of the present invention use the extra capability of the DMD  512  to point one or more of the mirrors in the +12° (positive 12-degree) direction as well as the −12° direction, and optionally the 0° direction. When the illumination light source  550  is placed at the −24° position as shown in  FIG. 5A , the output light  550 ′ of illumination light source  550  will be reflected to the 0-degree position (outputting the light  550 ′ in a horizontal left-to-right direction in  FIG. 5A ) as headlight output illumination when the selected mirror(s) is (are) at the −12-degree position, which is the HEADLIGHT-ON position for the headlight function. When a respective mirror of DMD  512  is selected to be HEADLIGHT OFF with the respective mirror at the +12-degree position, the light from illumination source  550  is reflected to the 48-degree position, which is the HEADLIGHT-OFF position, with light from illumination source  550  directed away from the output direction and instead toward light dump  518  where the light is absorbed by light dump  518  (e.g., a heat sink having a highly absorbent black surface) to avoid the spilling of light from illumination source  550  into the detector  514 . 
     Making use of the capability of the individually selectable micromirrors of DMD  512  of operating between −12-degrees and +12-degrees (whether with or without stopping at 0-degrees), the LiDAR laser beam  520 ′ is successively pointed to illuminate each respective target area and the reflected beam  514 ′ from that respective target area is collected at the focal plane of lens  530  located at the 0-degree position, which is reflected by one or more mirrors of DMD  512  that is tilted either in the −12-degree or +12-degree positions. If the respective mirror(s) of DMD  512  at the detection position is (are) tilted +12-degrees, the reflected LiDAR signal will be directed to the detector  514  at the 24-degree position, but when the respective DMD mirror is tilted at the −12-degree position, the reflected LiDAR signal will be directed to the −24-degree position where the light dump  518 . 2  and the headlight light source  550  are located. When the mirror at the selected position of the DMD  512 , corresponding to the location of the LiDAR beam  520 ′ for a given output LiDAR pulse, is set to have the mirror(s) switched to the +12-degree position, the reflected signal  514 ′ from the selected location will be directed to the detector  514  for Z-distance determination, as described previously. When the selected mirror position of the DMD is “scanned” across the whole area of DMD  512 , such as raster scanning, synchronized to the scanned LiDAR beam  520 ′, corresponding to the full scene  500 , the full set of Z-distances, each corresponding to one of the XY-angles the targets, could be determined. This provides the function of the scanning LiDAR where the scanning function is performed by the mirror switching of the DMD  512  synchronized to the scanned pulsed LiDAR output laser beam  520 ′. 
     In some embodiments, for the smart headlight function of system  501 , the headlight source  550  is positioned at the −24-degree position where the light from headlight source  550  will be reflected towards the output (0-degree) direction towards the roadway when the selected mirror(s) is/are at the −12-degree position. When the mirror is at the +12-degree position, the light from headlight source  550  will be reflected to the +48-degree direction and absorbed by the light dump  518 . 1 . The net effect is that at the selected positions being used at a given period of time for the LiDAR detection, the headlight will be OFF at these positions and the light will be directed to the light dump  518 . 1  (at the +48-degree position). For all the un-selected positions where the mirrors of DMD  512  are at the −12-degree positions, the light from headlight source  550  will be output to the target as the headlight output beam. Since the tilt of the mirrors of DMD  512  at the selected area is synchronized to the scanning laser beam  520 ′, the scanning laser beam  520 ′ is pointed such that it does not illuminate these un-selected areas, and these mirrors could also be switched to +12-degree without affecting the LiDAR distance-detection function. As a result, this section of the mirrors can be used to switch ON or OFF the headlight output as desired, achieving the function of a smart headlight (i.e., illuminating just selected portions of the scene  500  in front of the vehicle). 
     In some embodiments, DMD devices with other mirror-switching angles (other than +12 degrees and −12 degrees) are used, with corresponding changes to the positions and/or angles at which the other components are placed. For example, if the plurality of mirrors of DMD  512  were instead capable of switching to +6-degrees and −6-degrees, the other components would be placed centered at +24 degrees instead of +48 degrees for light dump  518 . 1 , +12 degrees instead of +24 degrees for lens  532  and light detector  514 , and −12 degrees instead of −24 degrees for lens  534 , light source  550  and for light dump  518 . 2 . For embodiments using DMDs having other switched angles, corresponding changes to the positions and/or angles at which the other components are placed are made. 
       FIG. 5B  is a side-view schematic of a DMD-lens system  502  usable with system  501 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, DMD-lens system  502  includes a DMD  512  and a lens  530  that focuses light coming from the scene to the right of lens  530  onto its lens focal plane at major face  513  of DMD  512 . In some embodiments, DMD  512  has a plurality of switchable mirrors located at major face  513 , wherein one or more subsets of the plurality of switchable mirrors are switched to an angle of +12 degrees, and another one or more subsets of the plurality of switchable mirrors are switched to an angle of −12 degrees. In other embodiments, DMD  512  has a plurality of switchable mirrors selectably switched to other angles, and the other components of system  501  DMD  512  are also adjusted in position and/or angle. In some embodiments, each one of the DMD mirrors switches between a positive (+) angle and a negative (−) angle that is selected using a drive signal, and a zero (0-degree) angle is the default mirror orientation when there is no drive signal, but the exact angle of this no-signal (0-degree) orientation tends to vary and is often not repeatable or reliable. 
       FIG. 5C  is a side-view schematic of an alternative DMD-lens system  503  usable with system  501 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, DMD-lens system  503  includes a DMD  512 ′ and a lens  530 ′ that focuses light coming from the scene to the right of lens  530 ′ onto its lens focal plane at major face  513 ′ of DMD  512 ′. In some embodiments, DMD  512 ′ has a plurality of switchable mirrors located at major face  513 ′, wherein one or more subsets of the plurality of switchable mirrors are switched to an angle of +0 degrees relative to major face  513 ′, and another one or more subsets of the plurality of switchable mirrors are switched to an angle of −24 degrees relative to major face  513 ′. In some embodiments, DMD  512 ′ is tilted such that major face  513 ′ is at an angle of +12 degrees, such that the mirrors at +0 degrees relative to major face  513 ′ are at +12 degrees, and the mirrors at −24 degrees relative to major face  513 ′ are at −12 degrees. In some embodiments, lens  530 ′ is tilted such that the focal plane of lens  530 ′ is focused at the tilted major face  513 ′. In other embodiments, DMD  512 ′ has a plurality of switchable mirrors selectably switched to other angles, and the other components of system  501  using DMD  512 ′ are also adjusted in position and/or angle. Some embodiments use a DMD (e.g., for DMD  512 ′ or DMD  512 ) with larger switching angles. For example, +/−14 degrees, and up to +/−17 degrees, are available but are generally less available for automotive applications. 
       FIG. 6A  is a side-view schematic of a scene  600  with full-field laser-illumination and scanned detection LiDAR system  601 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, LiDAR system  601  includes a pulsed laser  620  that outputs a high-power relatively wide-angle pulsed laser output beam  620 ′ configured to simultaneously illuminate all X-Y angles of the entire scene  600 . While light  621  from the entire scene  600  is focused by lens  630  onto DMD  612  at the focal plane of lens  630 , the mirror(s) of DMD  612  on only a certain computer-selected area of DMD  612  are pointed to reflect light from those mirror(s) toward detector  614 , while light toward all other areas of DMD  612  is reflected by mirror(s) of DMD  612  that are controlled to reflect that light toward light dump  618 . In some embodiments, the pulsed reflected light  621  (as well as ambient light) from the entire scene  600  is focused by lens  630  (e.g., in some embodiments, lens  630  being implemented as one or more lenses, and/or a hologram or other focusing optics) onto the array of mirrors of DMD  612  located at the focal plane of lens  630 , one or more of which mirrors of DMD  612  reflects light  614 ′ from just those XY-angle(s) (or portion(s)) of scene  600 ), of interest at a given period of time, as light  622  onto stationary detector  614  at the +24-degree position of detection system  610 , while light  624  from all other XY-angle(s) (or portion(s)) of scene  600 ) is reflected towards light dump  618  at the −24-degree position (in some embodiments, light dump  618  includes a heat sink with a black surface that is highly absorbent to wavelengths of light from scene  600 ). In some embodiments, an aperture is provided around the path of light  624  toward light dump  618  and/or the path of light  622  toward detector  614  to prevent or reduce any stray reflections from light dump  618  from reaching detector  614 . In some embodiments, there is only a single detector  614  that is used to determine the time delay between the full-field output pulses  620 ′ from laser  620 . In some embodiments, LiDAR system  601  is configured to successively point light  622  from different X and Y angles of scene  600  at sequential times by tilting a selected one or more of the mirrors of DMD  612  at XY locations on DMD  612  corresponding to the X-Y angles of each location whose distance is being measured to reflect towards detector  614 , while all other mirrors of DMD  612  reflect light from other portions of scene  600  to light dump  618 . In some embodiments, the tilting of the mirrors of DMD  612  to reflect toward either detector  614  for the portion of scene  600  being measured (and to reflect toward light dump  618  for all other portions of scene  600 , in order to improve the S/N ratio) allows LiDAR system  601  to select received light  614 ′ from different angles in the X and Y directions to determine Z-distances between system  601  and a plurality of objects in scene  600  (e.g., car  92  and the like), and thus determine the X-Y-Z locations of various objects in the scene  600 . Thus, during a first period of time, the reflection  614 ′ of the output laser beam from object  92  is directed by one or a few mirrors of DMD  612  toward detector  614 , while the background noise (such as described above for  FIG. 4 ) is reflected toward light dump  618  by other ones of the plurality of mirrors of DMD  612 . In some embodiments, because there is a single laser  620  and a single detector  614 , each X and Y angle used to measure distances is selected sequentially. In some embodiments, a processor  690  is operatively coupled to control operation of the components described above and/or receive signals from other components of system  601 , in order to determine distances to various objects in scene  600  and/or to generate a three-dimensional image, formatted data file, or map of those objects. 
       FIG. 6B  is a side-view schematic of a scene  600  with full-field laser-illumination and scanned detection LiDAR system  602 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, system  602  is equivalent to system  601  in form and function, with the exception that the optics of lens  630  of  FIG. 6A  is replaced by reflective optics  631 . In some embodiments, reflective optics  631  is coated with a plurality of dielectric layers so as to be highly reflective at the wavelength of the LiDAR beam  620 ′, and thus can be more efficient at gathering LiDAR reflections  614 ′ than a lens  630 . 
     Referring again to  FIG. 6A , system  601  represents another embodiment of the present invention, where the targets of scene  600  are all illuminated by a high-power pulsed LiDAR signal  620 ′ covering the full area of the target. A selected portion (i.e., one or more) of the mirrors of DMD  612  will be switched to the +12-degree position such that the reflected LiDAR signal  614 ′ is detected by detector  614  and the Z-distance at the selected XY-angle is calculated. Again, in some embodiments, the mirrors of DMD  612  are switched in turn for each successive LiDAR pulse of full-field beam  620 ′, providing the function of the raster scan that selects successive portions of the received signal repeatedly, covering the full area of the target scene  600  without the need for a scanning mirror for laser  620 , nor the need to synchronize the scanning mirror to the switched mirror(s) of DMD  612 . In some embodiments, depending on the strength of the signal  620 ′ at the certain selected portion of the target, the number of the DMD mirrors selected is chosen such that the signal  622  is detected with sufficient signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio for accurate positioning. Using such switched mirrors of DMD  612  for detection, in some embodiments, the number of switched mirrors is determined based on the strength of the signal at a particular object in the target area. When the signal is weak, more mirrors are switched, lowering the resolution of the detected target region, which could be a more-distant object, for example. When the signal is strong, fewer mirrors are switched, increasing the resolution of the detected target region. This could be a closer object in which high resolution will be more beneficial. 
       FIG. 7  is a perspective-view schematic of a combined smart headlight and LiDAR system  701 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, combined smart headlight and LiDAR system  701  includes a LiDAR sensor  760  and a laser-headlight module (LHM)  750 . In some embodiments, LHM  750  includes a low-beam light source  752  and a high-beam light source  751 , either or both of which is configured to changeably configure the shape, size, and/or direction of the headlight output illumination. In some embodiments, the 3D information from the LiDAR sensor  760  and image data from a CCD (charge-coupled device) imager  770  or other digital imager are combined to obtain scene data that is used to configure the shape, size, and/or direction of the headlight output illumination from LHM  750 . 
     In some embodiments, the combined smart headlight with scanned laser-pumped illumination and LiDAR system  701  is usable, for example, for autonomous driving. In some embodiments, LiDAR sensor  760  includes an assembly from LeddarTech, Inc. (such as a Leddar Vu8 module with Medium FOV (field of view)) with the wavelength of 905 nm. In some embodiments, LHM  750  includes a highly reliable glass-phosphor substrate that exhibits excellent thermal stability, two blue-laser diodes, and two blue LEDs (light-emitting diodes). In some embodiments, the glass yellow-phosphor wavelength-converter substrate layer is mounted to a copper thermal-dissipation substrate, and a parabolic reflector is used to reflect blue light and yellow-phosphor light to form one or more selectable white-light headlight beams (e.g., either a low-beam pattern beam, a high-beam pattern beam, or both, or a variable-spatial-extent beam having selectable variable brightnesses at different locations in the beam). In some embodiments, LHM  750  exhibits total output optical power of 9.5 W, luminous flux of 4000 lm, relative color temperature of 4300 K, and efficiency of 421 lm/W. In some embodiments, the high-beam patterns of LHM 750 were measured to be 180,000 luminous intensity (cd) at 0° (center), 84,000 cd at ±2.5°, and 29,600 cd at ±5°, which well satisfied the ECE R112 (Economic Commission Europe regulation R112) class B regulation. The low-beam patterns also well satisfied the ECE R112 regulation. The beam range of headlight from LHM  750  was measured to be more than 300 meters (300 m). Employing a smart algorithm, some embodiments include automatically selected on/off portions of the smart headlight beams through integration of distance-measurement data from the LiDAR unit  760  and data from CCD (charge-coupled device) imager  770 . In some embodiments, the recognition rate of objects by the LiDAR-CCD system was evaluated to be more than 86%. The novel LiDAR-embedded smart LHM of system  701  with its unique high-reliability glass phosphor-converter layer is a promising candidate for automotive use in the next generation of high-performance autonomous-driving applications. 
     In automotive applications of LiDAR technology, most existing conventional LiDAR sensors are installed on the top of the vehicle. Conventional LiDAR sensors continuously rotate and generate thousands of output laser pulses per second. These high-speed pulsed laser beams from LiDAR are continuously emitted in the 360-degree surroundings of the vehicle and are reflected by objects in the environment. Employing smart algorithms, the data received from the LiDAR scanner is converted into real-time 3D information, such as 3D graphics, which are often displayed as 3D maps of the surrounding objects, and/or machine-vision data, used for control of the vehicle motion and/or warning systems for the human driver of the vehicle. 
     However, placing the LiDAR sensor on the top of the vehicle may cause many issues, such as close-range dead angle (areas that are near to the vehicle but not detectable from the top of the vehicle), collecting dust, water corrosion, and difficulty in connecting the electrical system in the LiDAR sensors to the other information processors in the vehicle. In addition, this conventional top-of-vehicle design of LiDAR does not follow the aesthetic conceptions of customer desires or requirements. In contrast to the LiDAR sensors mounted on the top of the vehicle, the present invention integrates the LiDAR into the vehicle&#39;s headlight systems to solve the aforementioned issues. Therefore, the problems of close-range dead angle and air/water corrosion of the LiDAR are prevented by the cover of the headlight. The electrical system and heat-dissipation are more easily handled by locating the LiDAR in with the vehicle headlight system. 
     In some embodiments, the present invention provides a new combination of a smart laser-headlight module (LHM)  750  with an embedded LiDAR sensor  760  by integrating the optical system of the LiDAR into the headlight assembly as a unit in which control of the laser-pumped headlight is achieved by feedback control orders from a smart system that utilizes 3D data from the LiDAR sensor(s)  760  and/or CCD  770 . In some embodiments, the LiDAR sensor  760  used is fabricated by LeddarTech, Inc. [5]. 
     In some embodiments (see  FIG. 8 ), LHM  750  includes two blue-laser diodes  811 , two blue LEDs (not shown), a glass-based yellow-phosphor wavelength-converter layer having a copper thermal-dissipation substrate as a heat sink, and a parabolic reflector to reflect and combine blue light and yellow phosphor light into white light. In some embodiments, the novel glass-based yellow phosphor-converter layers used are fabricated using a low-temperature process of 750° C., which exhibits excellent thermal stability [6-8]. The measured high-beam and low-beam patterns of the LHMs well satisfied the ECE R112 (Economic Commission Europe R112) class B regulation. Some embodiments employ a smart algorithm to provide an on/off smart headlight through integration of the LiDAR detection of object distance with a CCD (charge-coupled device) image. In some embodiments, the recognition rate of vehicle and objects was evaluated to be more than 86%. Therefore, the present invention that includes a novel LiDAR-embedded smart LHM having a highly reliable glass-phosphor wavelength-converter layer is promising for automotive use in the next generation of high-performance autonomous driving applications. 
     Fabrication of a Glass-Based Phosphor Wavelength-Converter Layer 
     One primary benefit to a human driver of a vehicle that uses laser-diode (LD) headlights is that the beam range can be up to  600  meters [9]. This offers the driver improved visibility, contributing significantly to road-traffic safety. Most conventional white-LD engines are integrated using a blue LD and a phosphor wavelength-converter layer. The headlight&#39;s laser-based phosphor wavelength-conversion layer(s) have conventionally been fabricated using ceramic [10], single-crystal [11], or glass materials [12]. However, the fabrication temperatures of the ceramic-based and single-crystal-based phosphor were over 1200° C. and 1500° C., respectively. These high-temperature fabrications can be difficult for commercially viable production. In previous reports [6-8], glass-based-phosphor wavelength-converter layers made by process temperatures as low as 750° C. had shown better thermal stability than the silicone-based color-conversion (wavelength-converter) layers. The glass-based phosphor with its better thermal stability is used in some embodiments of the LD light engines of the present invention. 
     In some embodiments, the fabrication procedures of glass-based yellow phosphor-converter layer (Ce 3+ :YAG) include the preparation of sodium mother glass by melting a mixture of raw materials at 1300° C. and dispersing Ce 3+ :YAG powders into the mixture by gas-pressure and sintering under different temperatures [6-8]. The composition of the sodium mother glass was 60 mol % SiO 2 , 25 mol % Na 2 CO 3 , 9 mol % Al 2 O 3 , and 6 mol % CaO. The resultant cullet glass of the SiO 2 —Na 2 CO 3 —Al 2 O 3 —CaO was dried and milled into powders. The Ce 3+ :YAG crystals were uniformly mixed with the mother glass and sintered at 750° C. for one hour and then annealed at 350° C. for three hours, followed by cooling to room temperature. The concentration of Ce 3+ :YAG with 40 wt % exhibited the higher luminous efficiency and provided better purity for yellow color phosphor wavelength-converter layers [6-8]. Then, the glass-phosphor bulk was cut into the disks of the phosphor wavelength-converter layer with a diameter of 100 mm and thickness of 0.2 mm. 
     In comparison with commercial silicone-based phosphor-converter layers, the glass-based phosphor wavelength-converter layers exhibited better thermal stability in lumen degradation and lower chromaticity shift. These benefits were due to the glass-based phosphor-converter layer(s) exhibiting a higher transition temperature (550° C.), a smaller thermal expansion coefficient (9 ppm/° C.), a higher thermal conductivity (1.38 W/m° C.), and higher Young&#39;s modulus (70 GPa) than the silicone-based phosphor-converter layers. 
     The design and fabrication of high-beam laser headlight module (LHM)  751  and low-beam LED headlight module (LEDHM)  752  for some embodiments are set forth below. 
       FIG. 7  shows integrated smart laser headlight and LiDAR system  701 , which includes of a high-beam laser headlight module (LHM)  751 , a low-beam LED headlight module (LEDHM)  752 , and a LiDAR module  760 . Some embodiments also include a digital imager  770  that obtains images from visible light (e.g., wherein each pixel of each obtained image has data for red, green and blue (RGB data). In some embodiments, all of the components of integrated smart laser headlight and LiDAR system  701  are packaged together and mounted to a vehicle in the location usually occupied by the vehicle headlight. 
       FIG. 8  is a side-view schematic of a high-beam LHM system  801  usable as a smart headlight with scanned laser-pumped illumination, according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, system  801  includes a plurality of laser diodes  811 , each outputting pump wavelengths (e.g., in some embodiments, blue light having about 445-nm wavelength; in other embodiments, other pump wavelengths in the range of 420 nm to 480 nm, or in the range of 430 nm to 460 nm, or in the range of 440 nm to 450 nm are used) that are used to excite the phosphors in glass phosphor plate  817 , which is mounted to a heatsink  818  (e.g., in some embodiments, a copper thermal-dissipation plate). In some embodiments, a parabolic reflector  815  is used to shape light  816  from phosphor wavelength-conversion plate  817  (wherein light  816  includes blue light from the pump diodes  811  and yellow light resulting from wavelength conversion by the phosphor plate  817 ) as output beam  826  (e.g., a high-beam headlight illumination shape, which includes a portion of unconverted short-wavelength light indicated by dotted line and wavelength-converted light indicated by dashed line), which has a white color. In some embodiments, the white color of output beam  826  is selected to have a color temperature in the range of about 2700K to about 6000K by adjusting the amount of yellow phosphor (for example, by adjusting concentration in the glass plate or the thickness of the glass plate), in order to adjust the proportion of wavelength-converted yellow light to the amount of unconverted blue light from the laser diodes  811 . 
     In some embodiments, the high-beam LHM system  801  includes two blue laser diodes  811 , two blue LEDs, a glass phosphor-converter layer  817  with a copper thermal dissipation substrate  818 , and one parabolic reflector  815  to reflect blue light and yellow phosphor light into white light  816 , as shown in  FIG. 8 . In some embodiments, blue lasers from Nichia with wavelength of 445-nm are used. In some embodiments, LHM system  801  exhibited total output optical power of 9.5 W, luminous flux of 4000 lm, relative color temperature of 4300 K, and efficiency of 420 lm/W. The glass phosphor-converter layer  817  was fabricated by a low-temperature process of 750° C. and mounted on a copper thermal-dissipation substrate  818 . An infrared thermal-imaging camera showed that the temperature profile of the LHM  810  with copper substrate  818  had an average temperature of 48° C. after a long operation time of more than one hour. In some embodiments, copper thermal-dissipation substrate  818  solves the thermal effect of the LHM. In some embodiments, the combination of refractor  812  (e.g., a prism, diffraction grating, or the like) and flat reflector  813  is used to integrate beams from the two blue lasers  811  and reflect into the glass phosphor-converter layer  817 . In some embodiments, parabolic-reflector  815  improves the white light pattern of the LHM to satisfy the ECE R112. 
       FIG. 9A  is a schematic diagram of a ray-tracing simulation  900  of a smart headlight system  901 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, the parabolic reflector  911  and the placement location of the phosphor plate  817  are configured with ray-tracing software to provide a suitable high-beam illumination profile, with the individual rays  912  through  913  traced by the simulation software. Output beam  926  (e.g., a high-beam headlight illumination shape, which includes a portion of unconverted short-wavelength light indicated by dotted lines and wavelength-converted light indicated by dashed lines). 
       FIG. 9B  is a schematic diagram of illumination intensity  902  from a smart headlight system  901 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, the profile of illumination intensity  902  includes iso-intensity lines  910  of concentric increasing intensity toward the center of the beam. In some embodiments, five measurement points  921  through  925  are calculated from the simulation and then measured from the implemented reflector design as built. In some embodiments, measurement point  921  corresponds to location  2 . 25 L at −5 degrees (to the left), measurement point  922  corresponds to location  1 . 125 L at −2.5 degrees (to the left), measurement point  923  corresponds to location I max  at 0° (center), measurement point  924  corresponds to location  1 . 125 R at +2.5 degrees (to the right), and measurement point  925  corresponds to location  2 . 25 R at +5 degrees (to the right). 
     
       
         
           
               
             
               
                 TABLE 2 
               
             
            
               
                   
               
               
                 Measurement, safety accreditation of ECE R112 
               
               
                 class B, and simulation for high-beam LHM 751 
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
            
               
                 Test point 
                 Class B (cd) 
                 Simulation (cd) 
                 Measurement (cd) 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
            
               
                 Imax (0°) 
                 &gt;40,500 
                 189,777 
                 180,000 
               
               
                 H-1.125L/R (±2.5°) 
                 &gt;20,300 
                 88,740 
                 84,000 
               
               
                 H-2.25L/R (±5.0°) 
                 &gt;5,100 
                 35,726 
                 29,600 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     A simulation tool of the SPEOS software was used to design the high-beam LHM  801  used for some embodiments of high-beam laser headlight module (LHM)  751  in system  701 .  FIG. 9A  shows the ray-tracing diagram and  FIG. 9B  shows the iso-intensity lines of the light distribution pattern of high-beam LHM  801 . In this study, eye safety is an important issue since high power lasers are used. In some embodiments, a white-light sensor  814 , shown in  FIG. 8 , is installed to monitor whether the lasers and glass-phosphor layer are functioning properly. If there is function failure caused by a car accident, the monitor  814  will sense these problems and send a signal to disable the blue lasers, preventing the risk of laser leakage. The high-beam patterns of the LHMs  751  were measured and simulated, as shown in Table 2. The high-beam patterns of the LHMs  751  were measured to be 180,000 luminous intensity (cd) at 0° (center), 84,000 cd at ±2.5°, and 29,600 cd at ±5°, which well satisfied the safety accreditation of the high-beam of the ECE R112 class B regulation. The beam range of high-beam headlight was measured to be more than 300-m. The difference between the measurement and simulation of the patterns might be caused by fabrication and assembly error. 
     
       
         
           
               
             
               
                 TABLE 3 
               
             
            
               
                   
               
               
                 Measurement, safety accreditation of ECE R112 class 
               
               
                 B, and simulation for low-beam LED module 1002 
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
            
               
                 Test point 
                 Class B (cd) 
                 Simulation (cd) 
                 Measurement (cd) 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
            
               
                 B50L 
                 ≤350 
                 105 
                 330 
               
               
                 75R 
                 ≥10,100 
                 12,800 
                 12,880 
               
               
                 75L 
                 ≤10,600 
                 9,950 
                 7,840 
               
               
                 50L 
                 ≤132,00 
                 11,160 
                 7,280 
               
               
                 50R 
                 ≥10,100 
                 10,890 
                 28,000 
               
               
                 50V 
                 ≥5,100 
                 10,710 
                 11,088 
               
               
                 25L 
                 ≥1,700 
                 4,337 
                 17,360 
               
               
                 25R 
                 ≥1,700 
                 4,383 
                 15,120 
               
               
                 op 
               
               
                 Point 1 + 2 + 3 
                 ≥190 
                 950 
                 952 
               
               
                 Point 4 + 5 + 6 
                 ≥375 
                 1,350 
                 1327 
               
               
                 Point 7 
                 ≥65 
                 423 
                 470 
               
               
                 Point 8 
                 ≥125 
                 500 
                 554 
               
               
                 Zone III 
                 ≤625 
                 536 
                 448 
               
               
                 Zone IV 
                 ≥2,500 
                 8,528 
                 3158 
               
               
                 Zone I 
                 ≤56,000 
                 9,682 
                 44,800 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     FIG.  10 A 1  is a cross-section side-view schematic diagram of an LED-pumped glass-phosphor wavelength-converting low-beam LED headlight module (LEDHM)  1001  usable for a smart headlight system, according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, one or more LEDs  1014  that are mounted to a heatsink substrate  1016  and emit (in an upward direction in FIG.  10 A 1 ) pump light (e.g., in some embodiments, blue light having about 445-nm wavelength; in other embodiments, other pump wavelengths in the range of 420 nm to 480 nm, or in the range of 430 nm to 460 nm, or in the range of 440 nm to 450 nm are used) that is used to excite the phosphors in glass phosphor plate  1010 , and an epoxy  1012  is used to hold a glass phosphor wavelength-conversion plate  1010  over the LED(s)  1014 . A combination of unconverted blue light and wavelength-converted yellow light is emitted upward as the output light  1015 , which has a white color. In some embodiments, the white color of output beam  1026  (see  FIG. 10B , output beam  1026  (e.g., a low-beam headlight illumination shape, which includes a portion of unconverted short-wavelength light indicated by dotted line and wavelength-converted light indicated by dashed line)) is selected to have a color temperature in the range of about 2700K to about 6000K by adjusting the amount of yellow phosphor (by adjusting concentration in the glass plate or the thickness of the glass plate), in order to adjust the proportion of wavelength-converted yellow light to the amount of unconverted blue light from the laser diodes  811 . 
     FIG.  10 A 2  is a top-view schematic diagram of LEDHM  1001  having a glass-phosphor wavelength-conversion plate  1010  over the LED(s) (in some embodiments, five LEDs are used), usable for a smart headlight system, according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
       FIG. 10B  is a cross-section side-view schematic diagram of a low-beam smart headlight system  1002 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, low-beam smart headlight system  1002  includes LEDHM  1001  described above mounted in a parabolic reflector  1018 . The white light  1015  emitted from LEDHM  1001  is shaped by parabolic reflector  1018  and some of that light is blocked by mask  1024  and the remainder is output as low-beam headlight illumination output beam  1026 . In some embodiments, system  1002  includes five blue LEDs  1014 , glass phosphor-converter layer  1010  held by epoxy  1012  to LEDs  1014  on copper substrate, an ellipse-reflector  1018 , a mask  1024 , and an aspherical lens. In some embodiments, OSRAM blue LEDs with wavelength of 445-nm are used, and the resulting system  1002  exhibited luminous flux of 3100 lm, relative color temperature of 6000 K, and efficiency of 310 lm/W. 
       FIG. 11A  is a schematic diagram of a ray-tracing simulation  1101  of a smart headlight system  1002 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, an elliptical reflector  1111  is used with an aspherical lens  1112  and a mask  1113  to form a low beam with a cut-off line (above which little or no illumination is output) to avoid the low beam headlight interfering with the vision of oncoming traffic. In some embodiments, the elliptical reflector  1111 , the aspherical lens  1112  and mask  1113 , and the placement location of the LEDHM  1001  (see  FIG. 10B ) are configured with ray-tracing software to provide a suitable low-beam illumination profile, with the individual rays traced by the simulation software. 
       FIG. 11B  is a schematic diagram of illumination intensity  1102  from a smart headlight system  1002 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, the profile of illumination intensity  1102  includes iso-intensity lines  1110  of concentric increasing intensity toward the center of the beam. In some embodiments, a plurality of measurement points  1131  through  1138  are calculated from the simulation and then measured from the implemented reflector design as built. In some embodiments, measurement point  1131  corresponds to  25 L (to the left), measurement point  1132  corresponds to  25 R (to the right), measurement point  1133  corresponds to  50 L, measurement point  1134  corresponds to  50 V, measurement point  1135  corresponds to  50 R, measurement point  1136  corresponds to  75 L, measurement point  1137  corresponds to  75 R, and measurement point  1138  corresponds to B 50 L. Zone I is the rectangle  1121 , Zone IV is the rectangle  1124 , and Zone III is the truncated rectangle  1123  having cut-off line  1122  at its bottom edge. 
       FIG. 11A  shows the simulation of ray tracing diagram, and  FIG. 11B  shows an iso-intensity plot of the 2D intensity-distribution pattern of LED low-beam module, which was based on the design of each test point and asymmetric cut-off line with a mask. 
     In the low-beam headlight of the left-hand-drive-type vehicle, an asymmetric cut-off line was necessary to illuminate far road and significantly prevent amounts of light from being cast into the eyes of drivers of oncoming cars, as indicated in  FIG. 11B . Cut-off line  1122  was established on the one hand as a natural part separating bright and dark area in the conventional low beam. It was assigned as an essential function of the visual aiming of headlights. The cut-off line definition was a horizontal straight line on the side opposite to the direction of traffic for which the headlight was intended. In some embodiments, the shape of the cut-off line  1122  was horizontal on the left side and slant line 15° to the right or angular line 45° degree and then horizontal, as shown in  FIG. 11B . 
     The low-beam patterns of the LEDHMs  1001  were measured and simulated, as shown in Table 3 (above), and all of the test points followed the safety accreditation of the low-beam of the ECE R112. The low-beam patterns of the LEDHM were measured to be 44,800 luminous intensity (cd) at Zone I, 448 cd at Zone III, and 3,158 cd at Zone IV, which well satisfied the safety accreditation of the low-beam of the ECE R112 class B regulation. The difference between the measurement and simulation of the patterns might be caused by fabrication and assembly error. 
     Package and Measurement of LiDAR Sensor 
       FIG. 12A  is a perspective block diagram of a LiDAR system  1201 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, LiDAR system  1201  (e.g., in some embodiments, a conventional LiDAR module (for example, a Leddar Vu8 module with Medium FOV (field of view))) includes an imager portion  1211  and a wide-angle LiDAR laser-beam emitter portion  1212  that emits a beam  1214 , wherein reflections from the scene are gathered by the lens of imager portion  1211 . In some embodiments, beam  1214  has a horizontal spread of 48 degrees, and the imager includes eight detectors, each measuring distance from one-eighth (i.e., six degrees) of the emitted beam  1214 . 
       FIG. 12B  is a schematic diagram of operation of a software system  1202 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, the spread angle  1215  is 48 degrees, and each of the eight detector segments obtains a distance measurement from one of the six-degree arcs  1221 ,  1222 ,  1223 ,  1224 ,  1225 ,  1226 ,  1227 , and  1228 . 
     In some embodiments, a conventional LiDAR module (for example, a Leddar Vu8 module with Medium FOV (field of view)) [5] is embedded with a smart laser-headlight module (LHM) and the LiDAR detection software is shown in  FIGS. 12A and 12B . With the feedback of the LiDAR, a smart LHM  701  (see  FIG. 7 ) can control the headlight field, avoid high-reflection areas at night, and monitor all directions to ensure safe driving. The Leddar Vu8 with Medium FOV, as shown in  FIG. 12A , was used to track multiple objects simultaneously in the sensor field of view, including lateral discrimination, without any moving parts, which was embedded in the laser headlight. In some embodiments, the light source, wide-angle LiDAR laser-beam emitter portion  1212 , of LiDAR (shown in the lower part of  FIG. 12A ) includes a 905-nm laser emitter combined with diffractive optics that provided a wide illumination beam with viewing angle of 48° (horizontal)×3° (vertical). In some embodiments, the receiver assembly (upper part of  FIG. 12A ) includes eight independent detection elements with simultaneous multi-object measurement capabilities supported by software of signal-processing algorithms, that provides eight simultaneous distance measurement for the eight angles labeled  1221 - 1228  as shown in  FIG. 12B . In some embodiments, the LiDAR detection range has eight six-degree channels within the sensor&#39;s capability of 48 degrees, which respectively output eight detected-vehicle distances, and eight channels correspond to the high-beam area. The detected multi-objects were shown in the dotted lines  1230  at 20 meters. Using optical path and wavelength differences, the optical signal of LiDAR did not interfere with CCD images obtained using illumination from the laser headlight systems  751  and  752 , and therefore, high-quality optical data could be obtained. The image and distance data obtained using smart chips and software technology in LiDAR detection and CCD image were integrated to determine the distances and different objects from large amounts of data, which provide fast feedback to ensure safe driving. 
     Recognition Method  1301  of Smart LHM  701 . 
       FIG. 13  is a block diagram of a headlight-control method and system  1301 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, method  1301  includes RGB-to-HSV conversion  1311  of the RGB image data  1310  of the scene obtained from digital imager  770  to corresponding hue-saturation-value (HSV) data, HSV filtering  1313 , type-converting function  1313  to remove noise from the image data, using image markers to calculate block position, size, and shape  1314 , limiting the block size  1315 , drawing  1316  a frame and center cross using LiDAR data  1320 , determining  1317  which headlight area is to be illuminated, and controlling  1318  the shape, size, direction, intensity, superimposed symbols, etc., of the headlight beams  1326  of the vehicle. In some embodiments, the combined image data and LiDAR distance data are used to detect pedestrian(s) in the scene and the headlight beam is controlled by modulating the scanned pump laser beam(s) such that a symbol (such as an enhanced-intensity cross or other suitable symbol) is formed in the headlight beam to point out the detected pedestrian(s) to the driver of the vehicle. 
     In some embodiments, a simple Hue-Saturation-Value (HSV) method is used to determine detection-and-tracking robustness of the vehicle. In some embodiments, the HSV method describes colors in terms of their shade (the hue and saturation parameters) and brightness (the value parameter). Employing the HSV method, the recognition rate of vehicle and the brightness/shade area controlled of headlight are determined. This offers the driver improved visibility, contributing significantly to road traffic safety.  FIG. 13  is a block diagram of the HSV method used in some embodiments. The HSV method includes converting  1311  pixels from RGB space to HSV space, filtering  1312  the HSV parameters, morphological image processing  1313 , image labeling  1314  function, block size limiting  1315 , determining  1316  the region-of-interest (ROI) area with frame and center cross lines, LiDAR data input  1320 , determining  1317  the illumination area for which the headlights are to be illuminated, and controlling  1318  the headlights. The colors of the areas to be illuminated by headlights can be roughly divided into white and yellow. In some embodiments, two upper and lower thresholds of HSV are set by using two HSV filters, to allow only the headlights and taillights to be indicated in the obtained image data. 
     For example, in some embodiments, a bitmap image is obtained from digital imager  770  (such as shown in  FIG. 7 ), where each pixel of the bitmap image initially has associated 8-bit values for the R, G and B color components. In some embodiments, the RGB components are transformed to create hue-saturation-value (HSV) data. In some embodiments, the RGB data are converted to separate intensity, hue and saturation images by first transforming the RGB values of each pixel to the three components of the YCbCr color model. In some embodiments, the equations for these transformations are as follows: 
     
       
         
           
             Y 
             = 
             
               
                 
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     where Y is the luminance or intensity of the pixel and Cr and Cb are color components of the YCbCr color model. In some embodiments, hue and saturation are then derived from Cr and Cb by the following formulas: 
     
       
         
           
             Saturation 
             = 
             
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     In other embodiments, other color representations are used for the received image data. 
     In some embodiments, the present invention is primarily interested in those portions of the CCD visual (image) area that are illuminated by the headlights of the vehicle having the combined smart headlight and LiDAR system, in which data from the CCD images are integrated with LiDAR distance-measurement data into the image-recognition board [13]. In some embodiments, a six-column by two-row (6×2) region of interest (ROI) is defined in the headlight-illumination area according to the range of driver visibility, in order to reduce the computational complexity and the possibility of misjudgment. 
       FIG. 14A  is a schematic block diagram of a labeled region-of-interest (ROI) LiDAR image  1401 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, image  1401  includes a six-column by two-row array  1430  of rectangular portions  1430  of a roadway scene, with rectangular portion  1431  having an approaching car  1420  with its two headlights marked by crosses  1422  and rectangular portion  1432  having a departing coach bus  1410  with its two red taillights marked with crosses  1412  and another light marked with cross  1413 . In this first case, when the lights (e.g., headlights and taillights) of other vehicles on the road nearby entered the ROI area, the position(s) of those vehicle(s) is/are marked with the blue squares and blue crosses in the image area through the recognition software, as shown in  FIG. 14A  representing a video frame of a driving documentary. 
       FIG. 14B  is a schematic block diagram of ROI LiDAR image  1402 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, image  1402  includes a six-column by two-row array  1430  of rectangular portions of a scene, with rectangular portion  1440  (cross-hatched with vertical lines) having an associated LiDAR distance measurement, and rectangular portion  1450  (cross-hatched with horizontal lines) having a portion of person  1499  holding a flashlight marked with a crosses  1452 . 
     For this second case, it was assumed that pedestrian  1499  and the pedestrian&#39;s flashlight(s) entered the ROI area, the position of a pedestrian and lights were marked with a square  1450  (cross-hatched with horizontal lines) with CCD image data, a square  1440  (cross-hatched with vertical lines) with associated LiDAR distance data, in which the ROI area was determined and marked by the recognition software, as shown in  FIG. 14B  in real-time. According to the design of some embodiments of the smart laser headlight, when the cars and pedestrians enter the ROI areas, the detected areas of smart laser headlight will be turned off. After the cars and pedestrians leave the ROI area, the smart laser headlight illumination for those areas will be turned on again. To demonstrate the vehicle detector to missed detections and false positives test, the video sequences were manually labelled. The video resolution was 960×540 when testing was conducted. The detection algorithm was evaluated by measuring bounding box intersection between annotation and the bounding box obtained by grouping detection. If the intersection percent was more than 70%, then the detection was proclaimed as valid. The experimental results showed the correct detections of seven-hundred-two (702), missed detections of ninety-seven (97), and false positives of thirty-one (31). Therefore, the detection rate was evaluated as 86%. The sensor fusion of combining the LiDAR detection and CCD image may cause the resulting information to have less uncertainty than the individual CCD source. 
     In summary, a new scheme of LiDAR embedded smart laser headlight module (LHM) was developed for autonomous driving. In comparison with most existing LiDAR sensors installed on the top of the vehicle in automotive applications, the advantages of the novel LiDAR-embedded laser headlight of the present invention are free of close-range dead angle (data unavailability at close range), prevention of dust collection and water corrosion, and easy set-up of the electrical system in the LiDAR sensors. In addition, the LHM  701  was fabricated using a unique high-reliability glass phosphor, which exhibited excellent thermal stability. The measured high-beam and low-beam patterns of the LHM and low-beam LEDHM well satisfied the ECE R112 class B regulation. In this study, by employing a smart algorithm, we demonstrated on/off control of portions of the headlight beams from smart headlights through the integration of the LiDAR detection and CCD image. The recognition rate of the objects was evaluated to be more than 86%. This proposed novel LiDAR embedded smart LHMs with a unique high-reliability glass phosphor-converter layer is a promising candidate for automotive use in the next-generation high-performance autonomous driving applications. 
     To promote versatility and road safety, smart headlights are being introduced. Due to the high cost, most systems are introduced to high-end vehicles, and as the price of smart headlights goes down in future, it is expected that smart headlights will be applied to high-volume, lower-end vehicles. In addition, more and more autonomous functions, such as self-breaking, car-following, parking assistance, etc., are being implemented, which requires imaging and non-imaging sensors to acquire the data for the environmental conditions such that appropriate action can be taken. To lower the cost of such systems, integration and sharing of components becomes important. 
     In some embodiments, the present invention provides an integrated smart headlight together with a LiDAR (“Light-based Detection And Ranging”) system using a single MEMS scanner. Such integration allows the sharing of the MEMS and other components, reducing the size and cost of the system. 
       FIG. 15  is a perspective-view diagram of a two-dimensional (2D) micro-electrical-mechanical system (MEMS) scanning mirror system  1501 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, 2D MEMS mirror system  1501  includes a mirror surface  1550  that is tiltable to a variable angle in the X direction relative to ring structure  1512  by electrostatic interdigitated angular actuators  1510  located on the lower-left edge and upper-right edge of ring structure  1512 , and in turn, ring structure  1512  and its two actuators  1510  are tiltable to a variable angle in the Y direction relative to the overall structure of system  1501  by electrostatic interdigitated angular actuators  1520  located on the lower-right edge and upper-left edge of ring structure  1512 . 
       FIG. 15  is a schematic drawing of a microphotograph of a typical MEMS device  1501  in which the mirror  1550  as shown can be rotated in two directions, namely, the X- and Y-directions. When a laser beam is directed at the mirror and is reflected towards a target, the target can be scanned by controlling the rotation of the mirror. Typical limits of the rotation angles are in the range of a few degrees to several tens (10&#39;s) of degrees in both directions. Most systems have different limits for each direction, and as a result, the outputs can be larger in the horizontal direction and smaller in the vertical directions, which will be suitable for most automotive applications. 
       FIG. 16  is a side-view diagram of a smart headlight with scanned laser-pumped illumination system  1601  that utilizes a two-dimensional MEMS mirror system  1501 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, system  1601  includes a pump laser  1611  that emits a short-wavelength pump laser beam  1621  (e.g., in some embodiments, having a blue-color beam with a wavelength of 445 nm; or in other embodiments, other pump wavelengths in the range of 420 nm to 480 nm, or in the range of 430 nm to 460 nm, or in the range of 440 nm to 450 nm are used) that reflects from 2D MEMS scan mirror  1612  as a 2D scan pattern  1622  (e.g., in some embodiments, a raster scan in the X and Y directions) across the area of the major surface of the back (left-hand side) of phosphor plate  1614 . In some embodiments, phosphor plate  1614  wavelength converts much of the scanned light of the pump laser beam  1622  to converted-wavelength light of longer wavelengths (e.g., in some embodiments, yellow light in a broad range of wavelength centered at about 580 nm), and that converted-wavelength light along with at least a portion of the shorter-wavelength pump light is focused by optics  1616  (e.g., in some embodiments, a lens or a plurality of lenses, one or more Fresnel lenses, or a curved reflector such as a parabolic or elliptical mirror, or diffractive optics such as a hologram or lithographically formed diffractive imager) into output headlight beam  1626 . In some embodiments, laser  1611  is pulsed or amplitude modulated to vary the intensity of the light at each “pixel” subarea of phosphor plate  1614  and thus adjust the lateral size, shape and intensity of output beam  1626 . In some embodiments, the duration of time that the scanned beam  1622  stays at each pixel location is variable, such that hot spot(s) can be created where the output beam is brighter at those locations since the beam is “ON” longer than at other areas. In some embodiments, the intensity (optical power) of scanned beam  1622  at each pixel location is variable, such that hot spot(s) can be created where the output beam is brighter at those locations since the pumping beam is brighter there than at other areas. 
       FIG. 16  shows an example of a scanning-laser phosphor smart headlight  1601 . A focused laser beam  1621  with the focus adjusted to be at the phosphor plate  1614  such that a smallest spot with the best resolution is obtained. As the MEMS mirror  1612  is scanning, the focused spot will be scanned as scanned beam  1623  across an area on the phosphor plate  1614 , producing a moving light spot. In some embodiments, the laser  1611  is turned ON/OFF (i.e., pulsed), and/or amplitude modulated in intensity, and is synchronized with the scanning such that the desired spatial pattern is obtained for output beam  1626 . The output pattern of wavelength-converted emitted yellow light from the phosphor plate  1614 , along with an unconverted portion of blue laser light  1623 , is projected onto the roadway using a projection lens  1616  (such as shown in  FIG. 16 ). Controller  1690  controls the headlight pattern. Examples of such patterns include low beam, high beam, warning symbols (e.g., symbols superimposed as computer graphics onto the headlight pattern and/or instead of the headlight pattern as head-up displayed vehicle speed, turn directions, maps, vehicle status, or the like), etc. 
       FIG. 17A  is a side-view diagram of a combined LiDAR and smart headlight with scanned laser-pumped illumination system  1701  that utilizes a two-dimensional MEMS mirror system  1501 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, system  1701  includes a pump laser  1711  that emits a short-wavelength (indicated by the small dots in the lines of this light in  FIG. 17A ) pump laser beam  1721  that reflects from 2D MEMS scan mirror  1713  as a 2D scan pattern  1723  across the area of phosphor plate  1714 . In some embodiments, phosphor plate  1714  wavelength converts much of the scanned light of the scanned pump laser beam  1723  to converted-wavelength light of longer wavelengths (indicated by the medium-length dashes in the lines of this light in  FIG. 17A ), and that converted-wavelength light along with at least a portion of the shorter-wavelength pump light is focused by optics  1716  into output headlight beam  1726 . In some embodiments, pump laser  1711  is pulsed or amplitude modulated to vary the intensity of the light at each “pixel” subarea of phosphor plate  1714  and thus adjust the lateral size, shape and intensity of output beam  1726 . The above headlight-generating aspects of system  1701  match the corresponding headlight-generating aspects of system  1601  of  FIG. 16 . In addition, system  1701  includes LiDAR scanning functions obtained from LiDAR laser  1712  that emits a LiDAR laser beam  1722  (in some embodiments, having an infrared (IR) wavelength (indicated by the long-length dashes in the lines of this light in  FIG. 17A ) of, e.g., 905 nm or 920 nm) that impinges onto the same 2D MEMS scan mirror  1713  as used to scan the headlight-generating pump laser  1711  to form pump laser beam scan pattern  1723 , but IR LiDAR laser beam  1722  is at a different, shallower angle to 2D MEMS scan mirror  1713  as compared to pump laser beam  1721 , so the LiDAR scan pattern  1724  comes off at a 2D range of shallower angles  1724 , and this LiDAR scan pattern  1724  is redirected by redirection optics such as prism  1715  to form the output LiDAR scan pattern  1725 . The reflected LiDAR signal  1727  is received by detector  1717 , and controller  1790  uses the delay between each output laser pulse and the received reflection to determine distances to each X-Y angle/position of the output scan pattern  1725 . In some embodiments, controller  1790 , which controls the components described above, also controls the size, shape, direction, intensity, superimposed symbols, and/or the like, of headlight pattern. 
       FIG. 17B  is a side-view diagram of a combined LiDAR and smart headlight with scanned laser-pumped illumination system  1702  that utilizes a two-dimensional MEMS mirror system  1501  but avoids redirection optics  1715  for the scanned LiDAR output beam  1725 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, system  1702  has the pump laser beam impinging on 2D MEMS scan mirror  1733  to form pump-beam scan pattern  1723  propagating initially downward, then reflecting from stationary mirror  1734  (or other suitable redirection optics such as a diffraction grating) to form scan pattern  1744  that impinges on phosphor plate  1735 . Other aspects of system  1702  are the same as corresponding structures and functions in system  1701 . 
       FIG. 17C  is a side-view diagram of a combined LiDAR and smart headlight with scanned laser-pumped illumination system  1703  that utilizes a two-dimensional MEMS mirror system  1501  but avoids redirection optics for the scanned LiDAR output beam and includes a heatsink  1738  on the phosphor plate  1737 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, the functions and structures of system  1703  are the same as corresponding structures and functions in system  1702 , except that the scanned pump beam impinges on a front major surface of phosphor plate  1737  in system  1703  rather than the back major surface of phosphor plate  1713  in system  1702 . In some embodiments, this allows phosphor plate  1737  to be mounted on a heatsink  1738  to better dissipate waste thermal energy of the wavelength-conversion process. In some embodiments, this diffuser plate  1736  or the like is mounted on or formed into the front surface of phosphor plate  1737  such that unconverted blue light from the pump beam combines with the wavelength-converted blue light from the phosphor plate  1737  to form output headlight beam  1726 . In some embodiments, lens  1716  is tilted to compensate for the tilt of phosphor plate  1737  and diffusion plate  1736 , such that the major surface of phosphor plate  1737  is at the focal plane of the scene being illuminated by output headlight beam  1726 . 
     Referring again to  FIG. 17A , an embodiment of the present invention is shown in which an infrared LiDAR laser beam  1721  is used together with the MEMS mirror  1713 , producing the scanning output beam portion  1725  of the LiDAR system. The infrared LiDAR laser beam  1722  is placed at a different angle from the pump laser beam  1721  used for the headlight, relative to the MEMS mirror  1713 . Since the same MEMS mirror  1713  is used, as the headlight pump laser beam  1721  is being scanned to form scan pattern  1722 , the LiDAR laser beam  1723  is also scanned to form scan pattern  1724 , but at a different output angle, as shown. In order to have the LiDAR beam directed toward the output direction  1725 , in some embodiments, one or more wedge prisms  1715  can be used, providing the needed deviations redirecting the scanned beam  1724  to the output direction of scanned pattern  1725 . 
     Under normal operation, the infrared LiDAR laser  1711  is driven with a very short pulse. As the infrared LiDAR laser beam is reflected by the target, the returned LiDAR signal  1727  is received by the receiver detector  1717 . The time difference between the transmitted infrared LiDAR laser pulse and the returned pulse is used to calculate the distance of the target. As the scanned LiDAR laser beam  1725  is scanning the targets around the automobile, the detector  1717  will determine the distance of each point of the targets scanned by the LiDAR laser beam, forming a three-dimensional (3D) data representing a digital picture of the targets. In some embodiments, this 3D distance data is used to adjust the shape, size, direction and/or intensity or headlight beam  1726 . 
       FIG. 18  is a side-view diagram of a combined LiDAR and smart headlight with scanned laser-pumped illumination system  1801  that utilizes a two-dimensional MEMS mirror system  1501 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, system  1801  includes a pump laser  1811  that emits a short-wavelength pump laser beam  1821  that reflects from 2D MEMS scan mirror  1813  as a 2D scan pattern  1823  across the area of phosphor plate  1814 . In some embodiments, phosphor plate  1814  wavelength converts much of the scanned light  1823  of the pump laser beam  1821  to converted-wavelength light of longer wavelengths, and that converted-wavelength light (indicated by the medium-length dashes in the lines of this light in  FIG. 18 ) along with at least a portion of the shorter-wavelength pump light (indicated by the small dots in the lines of this light in  FIG. 18 ) is focused by optics  1816  into output headlight beam  1826 . In contrast to the prism(s)  1715  of system  1701  in  FIG. 17A , system  1801  uses mirrors  1815 A and  1815 B as the redirection optics to generate the scanned output LiDAR beam  1825 . Other aspects, structures and functions of system  1801  are the same as the corresponding aspects, structures and functions of system  1701 . 
     Instead of using one or more prisms  1715  as shown in  FIG. 17A , in other embodiments two reflectors  1815 A and  1815 B are used, as shown in  FIG. 18 , which shows another embodiment of the present invention. The LiDAR laser beam  1821  is scanned by the 2D-MEMS mirror  1813  and the scanned pattern  1824  is reflected by two additional reflectors  1815 A and  1815 B in the upper portion of  FIG. 18  such that the beam  1825  is directed towards the output direction. In addition, one or both of the additional reflectors  1815 A and  1815 B can be concave or convex such that the scanning angle (in X and/or Y directions) and beam divergence (in X and/or Y directions) can be adjusted. 
       FIG. 19  is a side-view diagram of a combined low-beam/high-beam smart headlight with scanned laser-pumped illumination system  1901  that utilizes a two-dimensional MEMS mirror system  1501  for scanning mirror  1913 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, system  1901  uses a plurality of pump lasers  1911  and  1912 , and optionally a plurality of mirrors  1931  and  1932  to direct pump light toward 2D MEMS scan mirror  1913  from a plurality of peripheral angles. In some embodiments, each pump laser beam is scanned across a different area of phosphor plate  1914  (e.g., as shown here, pump laser beam  1921  with a dash-single-dot line is scanned by mirror  1913  across area  1914 . 1  of phosphor plate assembly  1914 , while simultaneously pump laser beam  1922  with a dash-double-dot line is scanned by mirror  1913  across area  1914 . 2  of phosphor plate assembly  1914  Two beams  1921  and  1922  are shown here, with two corresponding areas  1914 . 1  and  1914 . 2  (corresponding to areas  2011  and  2012  in the front view of  FIG. 20A ), but in other embodiments, a larger number of beams are directed from circumferential angles surrounding the circumference of 2D MEMS scan mirror  1913 . In some embodiments, a LiDAR beam such as shown in  FIGS. 17A and 18 , for example, is also scanned by the same 2D MEMS scan mirror  1913  in a corresponding manner as shown in  FIGS. 17A and 18 . In some embodiments, the multi-laser scanned laser-pumped illumination system  1901  is used in any of the other systems herein that are described having single pump-lasers directed at a single scan mirror and scanned across a phosphor plate. Output beam  1926  having a headlight illumination shape (which includes a portion of unconverted short-wavelength light indicated by dotted line and wavelength-converted light indicated by dashed line) has a higher number of pixels for a given modulation frequency imposed on the plurality of lasers  1911 - 1912 , since each of the plurality of scan areas  1914 . 1 - 1914 . 2  has the number of pixels that would be produced by a single pump laser being modulated at the given modulation frequency. See  FIGS. 20A and 20B  for examples of phosphor plate assemblies having a plurality of scan areas, each respective one of which is scanned, in some embodiments, by a respective pump laser beam, all directed at a single 2D MEMS mirror  1913 . In some embodiments, a single phosphor plate is used for phosphor plate assembly  1914 , while in other embodiments, a plurality of phosphor plates are arranged either edge-to-edge (e.g., with two separate phosphor plates forming the two areas  2011  and  2012  of  FIG. 20A , or with two, four or more separate phosphor plates forming the four areas  2021 ,  2022 ,  2023  and  2024  of  FIG. 20B ), or stacked on one another as shown in  FIG. 23 , with a third laser supplying the additional front-side beam  2322  (see  FIG. 23 ) to provide a hot spot in the output beam  1926  of  FIG. 19 . 
     Thus, in order to increase the output power, some embodiments use two or more pump lasers  1911 - 1912  to provide the laser excitation for the phosphor plate  1914 . For a two-laser system as shown in  FIG. 19 , since the 2D-MEMS mirror  1913  is common to both lasers beams  1911  and  1912 , the area of the phosphor plate  1914  is divided into two sub-areas  1914 . 1  and  1914 . 2 , such that each sub-area is scanned by its respective laser  1911  and  1912 . In this case, two scanned laser spots are used, instead of one scanned laser spot as shown in  FIGS. 16-18 , doubling the output power of the system. In some embodiments, the phosphor plate  1914  is divided into two areas  1914 . 2  and  1914 . 2  (such as area  2011  and  2012  of phosphor plate  2010  of  FIG. 20A  when plate  2010  is used for plate  1914 ). As shown in  FIG. 19 , the output beam  1921  of laser  1911  is reflected by the mirror  1931  toward near the middle of the area  2011  of  FIG. 20A , such that when the 2D-MEMS mirror is scanning, the full area of the area  2011  is scanned. Similarly, the output beam  1922  of laser  1912  is reflected by the mirror  1932  toward near the middle of the area  2012  of  FIG. 20A , such that when the 2D-MEMS mirror  1913  is scanning, the full area of the area  2012  is scanned. As shown in  FIG. 19 , the laser  1901 , laser  1902 , mirror  1931 , and mirror  1932  are placed at a different plane reference to the plane of the 2D-MEMS mirror  1913  and the phosphor plate  1914 . Besides having a large area for phosphor-plate assembly  1914 , the number of pixels is also increased. 
       FIG. 20A  is a front-view diagram  2001  of a phosphor plate  2010  usable, for example, for phosphor plate assembly  1914  in combined low-beam/high-beam smart headlight with scanned laser-pumped illumination system  1901 , showing the two scanned areas  2011  and  2012  side-by-side, according to some embodiments of the present invention. To further increase the power, more lasers can be used, with each laser directed towards its own area at the phosphor plate  2001 . 
       FIG. 20B  is a front-view diagram  2002  of a phosphor plate  2020  usable, for example, for phosphor plate assembly  1914  in combined low-beam/high-beam smart headlight with scanned laser-pumped illumination system  1901 , according to some embodiments of the present invention.  FIG. 20B  shows phosphor plate  2020  with four areas for use with four lasers, increasing the power to four times. In some embodiments, the respective four laser beams are placed appropriately such that each beam is directed to scan its own respective area  2021 ,  2022 ,  2023  or  2024  using the same single 2D-MEMS  1913  of  FIG. 19 . In still other embodiments, a larger number of lasers are used to impinge on a corresponding number of areas on the phosphor plate  2002  used for phosphor-plate assembly  1914 . 
       FIG. 20C  is a front-view diagram  2003  of a phosphor plate  2030  usable, for example, in combined low-beam/high-beam smart headlight with scanned laser-pumped illumination system  1901 , according to some embodiments of the present invention.  FIG. 20C  shows an embodiment in more general applications in which each area  2031 ,  2032 , and  2033  can be connected to another or be separate from each other, and have different sizes and shapes. In some embodiments, the scanning of the various areas is done using a single laser simply by programing, or, in other embodiments, using multiple lasers, each exciting a different region on the phosphor plate or a combination of both to scan areas  2031 ,  2032 ,  2033  (and, in other embodiments, additional areas), as an example. 
     In a similar fashion, not shown, a plurality of infrared (IR) LiDAR lasers can be used at different circumferential positions, pointing at the same 2D-MEMS mirror, such that multiple sets of scanning LiDAR beam(s), each set having one or more laser beam(s), can be produced. Prisms, diffraction optics, and/or reflectors can be used to direct each set of scanning LiDAR beam(s) to the desired direction, and multiple LiDAR detectors can be used, one or more LiDAR detector(s) for each set of scanning LiDAR beam(s), forming multiple 3D digital pictures with measured distances for each X and Y angle/position from different (possibly somewhat overlapping) directions based on the directions of the scanning LiDAR beams. 
     In some embodiments, to provide reduced cross-talk between the sets of scanning LiDAR beams, different LiDAR laser-beam wavelengths are used for the respective output LiDAR beams and the respective LiDAR detector&#39;s wavelength filters, wherein a narrow-band filter can be used in front of each LiDAR detector for detecting the appropriate return LiDAR signals from the LiDAR laser of the given wavelength, forming the proper digital pictures. 
     There is another feature of a smart headlight that is desirable, but usually limited by the power-handling capacity of the phosphor plate. This is the formation of a hot spot, a high-intensity area on the phosphor plate such that it can be projected onto the roadway with extended range. With the 2D-MEMS mirror, the scanning can be controlled such that the beam can stay at the desired position for a long time, or the laser can be driven at higher power at a given position, producing the “hot spot” required (the hot spot being an area of the output headlight beam that has increased intensity relative to the other areas of the output headlight beam), as long as the phosphor plate is not damaged by the higher intensity. For certain applications and intensity requirements, the property of crystal-phosphor materials or glass-phosphor plates that they withstand high temperatures is desirable and/or required. But the transparent property of crystal phosphor allows diffusion of light and does not allow the formation of high-resolution spots. 
       FIG. 21  is a cross-section-view diagram of a phosphor plate  2101  usable, for example, in combined low-beam/high-beam smart headlight with scanned laser-pumped illumination systems such as  1601 ,  1701 ,  1702 ,  1703 ,  1801  or  1901 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, a standard phosphor plate  2101  is made with a thin layer  2114  of organic phosphor, such as silicone phosphor, placed on top of a transparent substrate  2111 . In some embodiments, a portion of a short-wavelength (such as blue light) input beam  2121  is wavelength-converted to one or more longer wavelengths (such as yellow light). In some embodiments, another portion of the short-wavelength (such as blue light) input beam  2121  is converted and passes through as unconverted wavelengths of pump light (such as blue light), and the combination of wavelength-converted and unconverted pump light  2122  forms white light of the headlight beam. The thickness and concentration of such organic-phosphor layers  2114  are controlled by fabrication processes such as silk screening, heating, etc. The power-handling capacity of such a structure is limited because the organic materials burn at high temperatures caused when the high-power, focused laser beam is absorbed. 
       FIG. 22  is a cross-section-view diagram of a phosphor plate  2201  usable, for example, in combined low-beam/high-beam smart headlight with scanned laser-pumped illumination systems such as  1601 ,  1701 ,  1702 ,  1703 ,  1801  or  1901 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, phosphor plate  2201  includes a piece of glass phosphor  2214  bonded to a transparent substrate  2211  by glass-to-glass bonding or by high-temperature optical glue  2213  with low absorption such that a much higher laser intensity can be handled without producing damage, allowing high-power operations. In some embodiments, the thickness of the glass phosphor  2214  is adjusted by polishing after bonding. In some embodiments, a thickness of the glass phosphor portion  2214  as low as a few tens (10&#39;s) of microns can be fabricated. 
       FIG. 23  is a cross-section-view diagram of a phosphor plate assembly  2301  usable, for example, in combined low-beam/high-beam smart headlight with scanned laser-pumped illumination systems such as  1601 ,  1701 ,  1702 ,  1703 ,  1801  or  1901 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, phosphor plate assembly  2301  includes a piece of phosphor  2312  (e.g., low-temperature phosphor layer) bonded to a transparent substrate  2311 , and a glass or ceramic phosphor plate  2313  (optionally mounted on a transparent substrate (not shown) by glass-to-glass bonding or by high-temperature optical glue (not shown) with low absorption such that a much higher laser intensity can be handled without producing damage, allowing high-power operations. In some embodiments, a combination of a low-temperature phosphor  2312  and a high-temperature-capable crystal phosphor  2313  are present together, forming a phosphor plate assembly that can be used to produce a hot-spot headlight. A secondary laser beam  2322  is used to pump a center portion of phosphor plate  2313 , creating a hot spot at the crystal-phosphor plate  2313  where it has a much higher power capacity. The crystal phosphor  2313  is transparent relative to the emitted and transmitted light from phosphor  2312  and has minimal effect on the emission from the original organic-phosphor layer emission of phosphor  2312 . Since the hot spot is for distance illumination, it does not require a high-resolution spot for standard smart headlight functions. 
     In some embodiments, the present invention provides an apparatus that includes: a first single-mirror MEMS scanner; a laser-phosphor smart headlight that includes a blue-light laser and a target phosphor plate; and a LiDAR laser system that includes a pulsed infrared laser and redirection optics, wherein the laser-phosphor smart headlight and the LiDAR laser system both use the first single-mirror MEMS scanner to reflect respective laser beams of the blue-light laser onto the target phosphor plate and the pulsed infrared laser towards the redirection optics. 
     In some embodiments, the present invention provides a first apparatus that includes: a LiDAR device, the LiDAR device including: a laser (e.g.,  420  of  FIG. 4, 520  of  FIG. 5, 620  of  FIG. 6 ) that outputs a pulsed LiDAR laser signal; a DMD (e.g.,  412  of  FIG. 4, 512  of  FIG. 5, 612  of  FIG. 6 ) having a plurality of individually selectable mirrors arranged on a first major surface of the DMD; first optics (e.g., lens  430  of  FIG. 4, 530  of  FIG. 5, 630  of  FIG. 6 ) configured to capture light from an entire scene and to focus the captured light to a focal plane located at the first surface of the DMD; a light detector (e.g.,  418  of  FIG. 4, 514  of  FIG. 5, 614  of  FIG. 6 ); and a first light dump (e.g.,  412  of  FIG. 4, 518.2  of  FIG. 5, 618  of  FIG. 6 ), wherein each respective one of the plurality of mirrors of the DMD is switchable to selectively reflect a respective portion of the captured light to one of a plurality of angles including a first angle that directs the reflected light toward the light detector and a second angle that directs the reflected light toward the first light dump. 
     Some embodiments of the first apparatus further include: an optical-spread element configured to spread the pulsed LiDAR laser signal so as to illuminate the entire scene. 
     Some embodiments of the first apparatus further include: a scan mirror (e.g.,  460  of  FIG. 4, 560  of  FIG. 5 ) configured to selectively point a narrow beam of the pulsed LiDAR laser signal to a plurality of successively selected XY angles; and a controller (e.g.,  490  of  FIG. 4 , or  590  of  FIG. 5 ) operatively coupled to the DMD to control a tilt direction of each one of the plurality of mirrors of the DMD and operatively coupled to the scan mirror to control the successively selected XY angles toward which the narrow beam of the pulsed LiDAR laser is pointed, wherein the controller controls the plurality of individually selectable mirrors of the DMD to direct light from those mirrors at one or more selected XY locations on the DMD corresponding to the plurality of successively selected XY angles to the light detector and to direct light from others of the plurality of individually selectable mirrors toward the first light dump. 
     In some embodiments of the first apparatus, the first light dump includes a heat sink having black non-reflective surface. 
     Some embodiments of the first apparatus further include: a second light dump (e.g.,  518 . 1  of  FIG. 5 ); a scan mirror (e.g.,  560  of  FIG. 5 ) configured to selectively point a narrow beam of the pulsed LiDAR laser signal toward a plurality of successively selected XY angles; and a controller (e.g.,  590  of  FIG. 5 ) operatively coupled to the DMD to control selectable tilt directions of each one of the plurality of mirrors of the DMD and operatively coupled to the scan mirror to control the successively selected XY angles toward which the narrow beam of the pulsed LiDAR laser is pointed, wherein the plurality of individually selectable mirrors of the DMD are configured to direct light from those mirrors corresponding to the plurality of successively selected XY angles to the light detector and to direct light from others of the plurality of individually selectable mirrors toward the first light dump; and a scene-illumination source of light operatively configured to direct scene-illumination light onto the DMD, wherein the plurality of individually selectable mirrors of the DMD is configured to direct scene-illumination light from those mirrors corresponding to a plurality of simultaneously selected XY angles toward the first optics, wherein the first optics configured to output selected portions of the scene-illumination light for output as a headlight beam, and wherein the plurality of individually selectable mirrors of the DMD is configured to direct light from others of the plurality of individually selectable mirrors toward the second light dump. In some such embodiments, of the first apparatus, the selectable tilt directions of each one of the plurality of mirrors of the DMD includes a first tilt angle relative to the first major surface of the DMD and a second tilt angle relative to the first major surface of the DMD, and wherein the first tilt angle directs light from the scene toward the light detector and the second tilt angle directs light from the scene toward the first light dump. In some embodiments, the first tilt angle directs light from the scene-illumination source of light toward the scene and the second tilt angle directs light from the scene-illumination source of light toward the second light dump. In some embodiments, the scene-illumination source of light is pulsed such that the pulses from the scene-illumination source of light are interleaved in time with the pulsed LiDAR laser signal. In some embodiments, the selectable tilt directions of each one of the plurality of mirrors of the DMD includes a first tilt angle relative to the first major surface of the DMD and a second tilt angle relative to the first major surface of the DMD, and wherein the first tilt angle directs light from the scene toward the light detector and the second tilt angle directs light from the scene toward the first light dump, and wherein the first tilt angle is a positive angle relative to a reference line on the first major surface of the DMD and the second tilt angle is a negative angle relative to the reference line on the first major surface of the DMD. 
     Some embodiments of the first apparatus further include: a controller operatively coupled to the DMD to control a tilt direction of each one of the plurality of mirrors of the DMD, wherein the pulsed LiDAR laser signal is a wide-angle beam that is spread across the entire scene, and wherein the controller controls the plurality of individually selectable mirrors of the DMD to direct light from those mirrors successively selected at one or more selected XY locations on the DMD corresponding to the plurality of successively selected XY angles to the light detector and to direct light from others of the plurality of individually selectable mirrors toward the first light dump. 
     Some embodiments of the first apparatus further include: a controller operatively coupled to the DMD to control a tilt direction of each one of the plurality of mirrors of the DMD, wherein the pulsed LiDAR laser signal is a wide-angle beam that is spread across the entire scene, and wherein the controller controls the plurality of individually selectable mirrors of the DMD to direct light from those mirrors successively selected at one or more selected XY locations on the DMD corresponding to the plurality of successively selected XY angles to the light detector, and to direct light from others of the plurality of individually selectable mirrors toward the first light dump, and wherein how many of the mirrors that are selected to direct light to the light detector is variable based on signal strength. 
     In some embodiments, the present invention provides a first method that includes: outputting a pulsed LiDAR laser signal from a laser toward a scene; collecting and focusing reflected light from the pulsed LiDAR laser signal onto a focal plane located at a first surface of a DMD having a plurality of individually selectable mirrors arranged on the first major surface of the DMD; controlling a first selected subset of plurality of individually selectable mirrors to reflect a selected portion of the collected and focused reflected light from the pulsed LiDAR laser signal onto a light detector; and controlling a second selected subset of plurality of individually selectable mirrors to reflect a remaining portion of the collected and focused reflected light from the pulsed LiDAR laser signal onto a first light dump. 
     Some embodiments of the first method further include controlling a scan mirror to selectively point a narrow beam of the pulsed LiDAR laser signal to a plurality of successively selected XY angles; and controlling a tilt direction of each one of the plurality of mirrors of the to direct light from those mirrors at one or more selected XY locations on the DMD corresponding to the plurality of successively selected XY angles to the light detector, and to direct light from others of the plurality of individually selectable mirrors toward the first light dump. 
     In some embodiments of the first method, the first light dump includes a heat sink having black non-reflective surface. 
     Some embodiments of the first method further include controlling a scan mirror to selectively point a narrow beam of the pulsed LiDAR laser signal toward a plurality of successively selected XY angles; controlling a tilt direction of each one of the plurality of mirrors of the to direct light from those mirrors at one or more selected XY locations on the DMD corresponding to the plurality of successively selected XY angles to the light detector, and to direct light from others of the plurality of individually selectable mirrors toward the first light dump; directing scene-illumination light onto the DMD; controlling the plurality of individually selectable mirrors of the DMD to direct scene-illumination light from those mirrors corresponding to a plurality of simultaneously selected XY angles toward the scene; and controlling selected ones of the DMD output selected portions of the scene-illumination light as a headlight beam, and controlling others of the plurality of individually selectable mirrors do direct other portions of the scene-illumination light toward a second light dump. In some such embodiments of the first method, the selectable tilt directions of each one of the plurality of mirrors of the DMD includes a first tilt angle relative to the first major surface of the DMD and a second tilt angle relative to the first major surface of the DMD, and wherein the first tilt angle directs light from the scene toward the light detector and the second tilt angle directs light from the scene toward the first light dump. In some embodiments of the first method, the selectable tilt directions of each one of the plurality of mirrors of the DMD includes a first tilt angle relative to the first major surface of the DMD and a second tilt angle relative to the first major surface of the DMD, and wherein the first tilt angle directs light from the scene-illumination source of light toward the scene and the second tilt angle directs light from the scene-illumination source of light toward the second light dump. In some embodiments of the first method, the scene-illumination source of light is pulsed such that the pulses from the scene-illumination source of light are interleaved in time with the pulsed LiDAR laser signal. 
     In some embodiments of the first method, the selectable tilt directions of each one of the plurality of mirrors of the DMD includes a first tilt angle relative to the first major surface of the DMD and a second tilt angle relative to the first major surface of the DMD, and wherein the first tilt angle directs light from the scene toward the light detector and the second tilt angle directs light from the scene toward the first light dump, and wherein the first tilt angle is a positive angle relative to a reference line on the first major surface of the DMD and the second tilt angle is a negative angle relative to the reference line on the first major surface of the DMD. 
     Some embodiments of the first method further include spreading the pulsed LiDAR laser signal into a wide-angle beam that is spread across the entire scene, and controlling a tilt direction of each one of the plurality of mirrors of the DMD to direct light from those mirrors successively selected at one or more selected XY locations on the DMD corresponding to the plurality of successively selected XY angles to the light detector and to direct light from others of the plurality of individually selectable mirrors toward the first light dump. 
     Some embodiments of the first method further include spreading the pulsed LiDAR laser signal into a wide-angle beam that is spread across the entire scene, and controlling a tilt direction of each one of the plurality of mirrors of the DMD to direct light from those mirrors successively selected at one or more selected XY locations on the DMD corresponding to the plurality of successively selected XY angles to the light detector and to direct light from others of the plurality of individually selectable mirrors toward the first light dump, and wherein how many of the mirrors that are selected to direct light to the light detector is variable based on signal strength. 
     In some embodiments, the present invention provides a second apparatus (e.g.,  701  of  FIG. 7 ) for automatically adjusting a spatial shape of a vehicle headlight beam as projected onto a scene. This second apparatus includes: a first pump-light source that generates a first pump light (such as a pump laser and/or other pump-light source generating pump light from one or more LEDs or other sources of pump light); a first plate made of glass having a phosphor therein operatively coupled to receive the first pump light and to emit wavelength-converted light from areas of the glass first plate illuminated by the first pump light; projection optics operatively coupled to receive the wavelength-converted light from the first plate and an unconverted portion of the first pump light and configured to project a headlight beam toward the scene, wherein the headlight beam is based on the received wavelength-converted light and the unconverted portion of the first pump light; a digital imager configured to obtain image data of the scene; a LiDAR sensor configured to obtain a plurality of distance measurements of objects in the scene; and control logic operatively coupled to receive and combine the image data and the plurality of distance measurements and configured, based on the combined image data and distance measurements, to generate headlight control data that is used to adjust the spatial shape of the headlight beam. 
     In some embodiments of the second apparatus, the first pump-light source includes a first pump laser. Some embodiments of this second apparatus further include: a second pump laser that generates a second pump laser beam; and a second plate having a phosphor therein operatively coupled to receive the second pump laser beam and to emit wavelength-converted light from areas of the second plate illuminated by the second pump laser beam, wherein the wavelength-converted light from the second plate propagates to the projection optics and is combined with the wavelength-converted light from the glass first plate. 
     In some embodiments of the second apparatus, the projection optics includes a parabolic reflector. 
     In some embodiments of the second apparatus, the projection optics includes an elliptical reflector. 
     In some embodiments of the second apparatus, the projection optics includes: an elliptical reflector configured to generate a low-beam headlight beam, and a mask structure, wherein the mask structure defines a cut-off line that limits an amount of light above the cut-off line. 
     In some embodiments of the second apparatus, the projection optics includes a parabolic reflector that forms a high-beam headlight beam and an elliptical reflector and a mask structure that generates a low-beam headlight beam, wherein the mask structure defines a cut-off line that limits an amount of light above the cut-off line. 
     Some embodiments of the second apparatus further include: a set of one or more LEDs generates a second pump light; and a second plate having a phosphor therein operatively coupled to receive the second pump light and to emit wavelength-converted light from areas of the second plate illuminated by the second pump light, wherein the wavelength-converted light from the second plate propagates to the projection optics and is combined with the wavelength-converted light from the glass first plate. 
     In some embodiments of the second apparatus, the first pump-light source includes a first pump laser, and this second apparatus further includes: a set of one or more LEDs generates a second pump light; and a second plate having a phosphor therein operatively coupled to receive the second pump light beam and to emit wavelength-converted light from areas of the second plate illuminated by the second pump light beam, wherein the wavelength-converted light from the second plate is propagated to the projection optics and is combined with the wavelength-converted light from the glass first plate, wherein the first pump laser generates a hot spot in the projected headlight beam. 
     Some embodiments of the second apparatus further include: a MEMS assembly having at least a first two-dimensional scan mirror operatively coupled to the control logic to scan the first pump laser beam to selected areas of glass first plate to control a lateral extent of the headlight beam. 
     Some embodiments of the second apparatus further include: a MEMS assembly having only one two-dimensional scan mirror operatively coupled to the control logic to scan the first pump laser beam to selected areas of glass first plate to control a lateral extent of the headlight beam. 
     In some embodiments, the present invention provides a second method for automatically adjusting a spatial shape of a vehicle headlight beam as projected onto a scene. The second method includes: generating a first pump light; and using the first pump light, illuminating a first phosphor plate made of glass having a phosphor therein to pump the phosphor to emit wavelength-converted light from areas of the glass first phosphor plate illuminated by the first pump light; projecting, as a headlight beam toward the scene, the wavelength-converted light from the first phosphor plate and an unconverted portion of the first pump light; obtaining digital image data of the scene; using a LiDAR sensor configured to obtain a plurality of distance measurements of objects in the scene; and receiving and combining the image data and the plurality of distance measurements and, based on the combined image data and distance measurements, generating headlight-control data that is used to adjust the spatial shape of the headlight beam. 
     In some embodiments of the second method, the first pump light includes light from a first pump laser, and the method further includes: generating a second pump laser beam from a second pump laser; and directing the second pump laser beam onto a second phosphor plate having a phosphor therein to pump the phosphor in the second plate to emit wavelength-converted light from areas of the second phosphor plate illuminated by the second pump laser beam, wherein the wavelength-converted light from the second phosphor plate is combined with the wavelength-converted light from the glass first phosphor plate. 
     In some embodiments of the second method, the projecting includes reflecting light using a parabolic reflector. 
     In some embodiments of the second method, the projecting includes reflecting light using an elliptical reflector. 
     In some embodiments of the second method, the projecting includes reflecting light using an elliptical reflector configured to generate light of a low-beam headlight beam, and the method further includes masking the light of the low-beam headlight beam at a cut-off line that limits an amount of light above the cut-off line. 
     In some embodiments of the second method, the projecting includes reflecting light using a parabolic reflector that forms a high-beam headlight beam and using an elliptical reflector and a mask structure to form a low-beam headlight beam, wherein the mask structure defines a cut-off line that limits an amount of light above the cut-off line. 
     Some embodiments of the second method further include: generating a second pump light from a set of one or more LEDs; and directing the second pump light onto a second phosphor plate having a phosphor therein configured to receive the second pump light and to emit wavelength-converted light from areas of the second phosphor plate illuminated by the second pump light, wherein the wavelength-converted light from the second phosphor plate is combined with the wavelength-converted light from the first phosphor plate. 
     Some embodiments of the second method further include: generating a second pump light from a set of one or more LEDs; and directing the second pump light onto a second phosphor plate having a phosphor therein configured to receive the second pump light and to emit wavelength-converted light from areas of the second phosphor plate illuminated by the second pump light, wherein the wavelength-converted light from the second phosphor plate is combined with the wavelength-converted light from the first phosphor plate, wherein the first pump light includes a laser beam that generates a hot spot in the projected headlight beam. 
     In some embodiments of the second method, the first pump light includes a first laser beam, and the second method further includes controlling a micro-electrical-mechanical system (MEMS) assembly that includes at least a first two-dimensional scan mirror to scan the first pump laser beam to selected areas of first phosphor plate to control a lateral extent of the headlight beam. 
     Some embodiments of the second method further include: using a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) assembly having only one two-dimensional scan mirror operatively coupled to the control logic to scan the first pump laser beam to selected areas of first phosphor plate to control a lateral extent of the headlight beam. 
     In some embodiments, the present invention provides a third apparatus (e.g.,  1701  of  FIG. 17A, 1702  of  FIG. 17B, 1703  of  FIG. 17C, 1801  of  FIG. 18 ) for vehicle-headlight illumination and LiDAR scanning a scene. This third apparatus includes: a first MEMS scanner (e.g.,  1713  of  FIG. 17A, 1733  of  FIG. 17B, 1733  of  FIG. 17C, 1813  of  FIG. 18 ) that includes a first two-dimensional scan mirror; a laser-phosphor smart headlight that includes: a blue-light laser (e.g.,  1712  of  FIG. 17A, 1712  of  FIG. 17B, 1712  of  FIG. 17C, 1812  of  FIG. 18 ) that outputs a blue laser beam, and a target phosphor plate (e.g.,  1714  of  FIG. 17A, 1735  of  FIG. 17B, 1737  of  FIG. 17C, 1814  of  FIG. 18 ); and a LiDAR laser system (e.g.,  1714  of  FIG. 17A, 1735  of  FIG. 17B, 1737  of  FIG. 17C, 1814  of  FIG. 18 ) that includes: a pulsed infrared laser that outputs a pulsed infrared laser beam, and redirection optics, wherein the laser-phosphor smart headlight and the LiDAR laser system both use the first mirror of the first MEMS scanner to respectively reflect the blue laser beam of the blue-light laser onto the target phosphor plate and the pulsed infrared laser beam towards the redirection optics. 
     In some embodiments, the present invention provides a fourth apparatus for vehicle-headlight illumination and LiDAR scanning a scene. This third apparatus includes (see  FIGS. 17B and 17C ): a first MEMS scanner that includes a first mirror; a laser-phosphor smart headlight that includes: a blue-light laser that outputs a blue laser beam, and a target phosphor plate; and a LiDAR laser system that includes a pulsed infrared laser, wherein the laser-phosphor smart headlight and the LiDAR laser system both use the first mirror of the MEMS scanner to reflect respective laser beams of the blue-light laser along an optical path that impinges on the target phosphor plate and the pulsed infrared laser towards the scene. 
     In some embodiments, the present invention provides a fourth apparatus for vehicle-headlight illumination and LiDAR scanning a scene. This fourth apparatus includes (see  FIG. 17A ): a first MEMS scanner that includes a first mirror; a laser-phosphor smart headlight that includes: a pump laser that outputs a pump laser beam, and a target phosphor plate configured to receive the pump laser beam and convert a wavelength of the pump laser beam to a converted wavelength; and a LiDAR laser system that includes: a pulsed LiDAR laser that outputs a pulsed LiDAR laser beam to be scanned across the scene, and redirection optics, wherein the laser-phosphor smart headlight and the LiDAR laser system both use the first mirror of the first MEMS scanner to respectively reflect the pump laser beam of the pump laser along an optical path that impinges on the target phosphor plate and the pulsed LiDAR laser beam along an optical path that impinges on the redirection optics. 
     In some embodiments, the present invention provides a fifth apparatus for vehicle-headlight illumination and LiDAR scanning a scene. This fifth apparatus includes (see  FIGS. 17A, 17B, and 17C ): a first MEMS scanner that includes a first two-dimensional (2D) scanner mirror; a laser-phosphor smart headlight that includes: a pump laser that outputs a pump laser beam; and a target phosphor plate configured to receive the pump laser beam and convert a wavelength of the pump laser beam to a converted wavelength light; and a LiDAR laser system that includes: a pulsed LiDAR laser that outputs a pulsed LiDAR laser beam to be scanned across the scene, wherein the laser-phosphor smart headlight and the LiDAR laser system both use the first 2D scanner mirror to respectively reflect the pump laser beam of the pump laser along an optical path that impinges on the target phosphor plate and the pulsed LiDAR laser beam along an optical path towards the scene. 
     Some embodiments of the fifth embodiment further include LiDAR-beam redirection optics located along an optical path between the first 2D scanner mirror and the scene, wherein the redirection optics are configured to redirect the LiDAR laser beam to scan at least a portion of the scene illuminated by light propagating from the target phosphor plate. 
     Some embodiments of the fifth embodiment further include a LiDAR-beam redirection prism located along an optical path between the first 2D scanner mirror and the scene, wherein the redirection prism is configured to redirect the LiDAR laser beam to scan at least a portion of the scene illuminated by light propagating from the target phosphor plate. 
     Some embodiments of the fifth embodiment further include a LiDAR-beam redirection reflector system located along an optical path between the first 2D scanner mirror and the scene, wherein the redirection reflector system includes a plurality of reflectors configured to redirect the LiDAR laser beam to scan at least a portion of the scene illuminated by light propagating from the target phosphor plate. 
     Some embodiments of the fifth embodiment further include a projection lens located along an optical path between the first 2D scanner mirror and the scene; and a LiDAR-beam redirection reflector system located along the optical path between the first 2D scanner mirror and the scene, wherein the redirection reflector system includes a plurality of reflectors configured to redirect the LiDAR laser beam to scan at least a portion of the scene illuminated by light propagating from the projection lens. 
     In some embodiments of the fifth embodiment, the pump laser beam has a blue-color wavelength in the range of 420 nm to 480 nm inclusive, and wherein the converted wavelength light has a yellow color. 
     In some embodiments of the fifth embodiment, the pump laser beam has a blue-color wavelength of about 445 nm, and wherein the converted wavelength light has a yellow color. 
     In some embodiments of the fifth embodiment, the laser-phosphor smart headlight further includes: a second pump laser that outputs a second pump laser beam, and wherein the target phosphor plate assembly is configured to receive the second pump laser beam on a second area of the target phosphor plate assembly and convert a wavelength of the first pump laser beam to a converted-wavelength light; and a projection lens located along an optical path between the target phosphor plate assembly and the scene, wherein the projection lens is configured to form a headlight beam that includes a portion of unconverted light of the first pump laser beam and converted wavelength light from the first area of the target phosphor plate assembly and a portion of unconverted light of the second pump laser beam and converted wavelength light from the second area of the target phosphor plate assembly. 
     In some embodiments of the fifth embodiment, the laser-phosphor smart headlight further includes: a controller operably coupled to the first pump laser to modulate the first pump laser beam; and a projection lens located along an optical path between the target phosphor plate assembly and the scene, wherein the projection lens is configured to form a headlight beam that includes a portion of unconverted light of the first pump laser beam and converted wavelength light from the first area of the target phosphor plate assembly, and wherein the controller modulates the first pump laser beam to adjust a shape of the headlight beam. 
     In some embodiments of the fifth embodiment, the laser-phosphor smart headlight further includes: a controller operably coupled to the first pump laser to modulate the first pump laser beam; and a projection lens located along an optical path between the target phosphor plate assembly and the scene, wherein the projection lens is configured to form a headlight beam that includes a portion of unconverted light of the first pump laser beam and converted wavelength light from the first area of the target phosphor plate assembly, and wherein the controller modulates the first pump laser beam to form symbols in the headlight beam. 
     In some embodiments, the present invention provides a third method for vehicle-headlight illumination and LiDAR scanning of a scene. The third method includes: outputting a first pump laser beam from a first pump laser; using a first two-dimensional (2D) scanner mirror of a first MEMS scanner to scan the first pump laser beam across a first area of a surface of a target phosphor plate assembly containing a phosphor in order to pump the phosphor to convert a wavelength of the first pump laser beam to a converted wavelength light; using the first two-dimensional (2D) scanner mirror of a first MEMS scanner to also scan a pulsed LiDAR laser beam across the scene; and projecting converted wavelength light and an unconverted portion of the first pump laser beam as a headlight beam towards the scene. 
     Some embodiments of the third method further include: locating LiDAR-beam redirection optics along an optical path between the first 2D scanner mirror and the scene; and redirecting the LiDAR laser beam using the redirection optics to scan at least a portion of the scene illuminated by light projected from the target phosphor plate assembly. 
     Some embodiments of the third method further include: locating a redirection prism along an optical path between the first 2D scanner mirror and the scene; and redirecting the LiDAR laser beam using the redirection prism to scan at least a portion of the scene illuminated by light propagating from the target phosphor plate. 
     Some embodiments of the third method further include: locating a plurality of reflectors along an optical path between the first 2D scanner mirror and the scene; and redirecting the LiDAR laser beam using the plurality of reflectors to scan at least a portion of the scene illuminated by light propagating from the target phosphor plate. 
     Some embodiments of the third method further include: locating a projection lens along an optical path between the target phosphor plate assembly and the scene, wherein the projection lens is configured to form a headlight beam that includes a portion of unconverted light of the first pump laser beam and converted wavelength light from the first area of the target phosphor plate assembly; and locating a LiDAR-beam redirection reflector system along the optical path between the first 2D scanner mirror and the scene, wherein the redirection reflector system includes a plurality of reflectors configured to redirect the LiDAR laser beam to scan at least a portion of the scene illuminated by light propagating from the projection lens. 
     In some embodiments of the third method, the pump laser beam has a blue-color wavelength in the range of 420 nm to 480 nm inclusive, and wherein the converted wavelength light has a yellow color. 
     In some embodiments of the third method, the pump laser beam has a blue-color wavelength of about 445 nm, and wherein the converted wavelength light has a yellow color. 
     Some embodiments of the third method further include: outputting a second pump laser beam from a second pump laser; directing the second pump laser beam onto a second area of the target phosphor plate assembly and to pump phosphor in the second area to convert a wavelength of the second pump laser beam to a converted-wavelength light; and locating a projection lens along an optical path between the target phosphor plate assembly and the scene, wherein the projection lens is configured to form a headlight beam that includes a portion of unconverted light of the first pump laser beam and converted wavelength light from the first area of the target phosphor plate assembly and a portion of unconverted light of the second pump laser beam and converted wavelength light from the second area of the target phosphor plate assembly. 
     Some embodiments of the third method further include: controlling the first pump laser to modulate the first pump laser beam; and projecting a headlight beam that includes a portion of unconverted light of the first pump laser beam and converted wavelength light from the first area of the target phosphor plate assembly, wherein the controlling modulates the first pump laser beam to adjust a shape of the headlight beam. 
     Some embodiments of the third method further include: controlling the first pump laser to modulate the first pump laser beam; and projecting a headlight beam that includes a portion of unconverted light of the first pump laser beam and converted wavelength light from the first area of the target phosphor plate assembly, wherein the controlling modulates the first pump laser beam to form symbols in the headlight beam. 
     It is to be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative, and not restrictive. Although numerous characteristics and advantages of various embodiments as described herein have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of various embodiments, many other embodiments and changes to details will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. The scope of the invention should be, therefore, determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. In the appended claims, the terms “including” and “in which” are used as the plain-English equivalents of the respective terms “comprising” and “wherein,” respectively. Moreover, the terms “first,” “second,” and “third,” etc., are used merely as labels, and are not intended to impose numerical requirements on their objects.