A compelling reason for me to own stock in Ouster is their extensive IP portfolio. Here is a partial list of applications, grants, and a link.
patents.justia.com
Patents Assigned to Ouster, Inc.
ROTATING COMPACT LIGHT RANGING SYSTEM
Publication number: 20250355088
Abstract: A light ranging system including a shaft having a longitudinal axis; a light ranging device configured to rotate about the longitudinal axis of the shaft, the light ranging device including a light source configured to transmit light pulses to objects in a surrounding environment, and detector circuitry configured to detect reflected portions of the light pulses that are reflected from the objects in the surrounding environment and to compute ranging data based on the reflected portion of the light pulses; a base subsystem that does not rotate about the shaft; and an optical communications subsystem configured to provide an optical communications channel between the base subsystem and the light ranging device, the optical communications subsystem including one or more turret optical communication components connected to the detector circuitry and one or more base optical communication components connected to the base subsystem.
Type: Application
Filed: April 16, 2025
Publication date: November 20, 2025
Applicant: Ouster, Inc.
Inventors: Angus PACALA, Mark FRICHTL, Marvin SHU, Eric YOUNGE
Optical system for full frame flash solid state LIDAR system
Patent number: 12468015
Abstract: A solid-state optical system comprising: a sensor array having a field of view; an emitter array comprising a plurality of emitter units mounted on a surface of a common substrate and arranged in a two-dimensional array, wherein each emitter unit in the plurality of emitter units is spaced apart from its adjacent emitter units by a first distance and emits pulses of light having a predetermined beam divergence; an optical element comprising a plurality of lenses corresponding in number to the plurality of emitter units and arranged in a two-dimensional array in which adjacent optical elements in the two-dimensional array are spaced apart from each other by the first distance, wherein the optical element is positioned adjacent to the emitter array such that each lens in the plurality of lenses is spaced apart from and receives the pulses of light emitted from a corresponding one of the emitter units in the plurality of emitter units and is configured to reduce the angle of divergence of the pulses of light emi
Type: Grant
Filed: October 28, 2022
Date of Patent: November 11, 2025
Assignee: Ouster, Inc.
Inventors: Michael Bryan Borden, Mark Frichtl, Jamie Stokes
Accurate Photo Detector Measurements For Lidar
Publication number: 20250189670
Abstract: A light ranging system can include a laser device and an imaging device having photosensors. The laser device illuminates a scene with laser pulse radiation that reflects off of objects in the scene. The reflections can vary greatly depending on the reflecting surface shape and reflectivity. The signal measured by photosensors can be filtered with a number of matched filter designed according to profiles of different reflected signals. A best matched filter can be identified, and hence information about the reflecting surface and accurate ranging information can be obtained. The laser pulse radiation can be emitted in coded pulses by allowing weights to different detection intervals. Other enhancements include staggering laser pulses and changing an operational status of photodetectors of a pixel sensor, as well as efficient signal processing using a sensor chip that includes processing circuits and photosensors.
Type: Application
Filed: November 19, 2024
Publication date: June 12, 2025
Applicant: Ouster, Inc.
Inventors: Angus PACALA, Mark FRICHTL
OPTICAL SYSTEM FOR COLLECTING DISTANCE INFORMATION WITHIN A FIELD
Publication number: 20250180708
Abstract: Optical systems and methods for collecting distance information are disclosed. An example optical system includes a first transmitting optic, a plurality of illumination sources, a pixel array comprising at least a first column of pixels and a second column of pixels, each pixel in the first column of pixels being offset from an adjacent pixel in the first column of pixels by a first pixel pitch, the second column of pixels being horizontally offset from the first column of pixels by the first pixel pitch, the second column of pixels being vertically offset from the first column of pixels by a first vertical pitch; and a set of input channels interposed between the first transmitting optic and the pixel array.
Type: Application
Filed: October 16, 2024
Publication date: June 5, 2025
Applicant: Ouster, Inc.
Inventors: Angus PACALA, Mark FRICHTL, Marvin SHU, Eric YOUNGE
Rotating compact light ranging system
Patent number: 12320926
Abstract: A light ranging system including a shaft having a longitudinal axis; a light ranging device configured to rotate about the longitudinal axis of the shaft, the light ranging device including a light source configured to transmit light pulses to objects in a surrounding environment, and detector circuitry configured to detect reflected portions of the light pulses that are reflected from the objects in the surrounding environment and to compute ranging data based on the reflected portion of the light pulses; a base subsystem that does not rotate about the shaft; and an optical communications subsystem configured to provide an optical communications channel between the base subsystem and the light ranging device, the optical communications subsystem including one or more turret optical communication components connected to the detector circuitry and one or more base optical communication components connected to the base subsystem.
Type: Grant
Filed: April 18, 2024
Date of Patent: June 3, 2025
Assignee: Ouster, Inc.
Inventors: Angus Pacala, Mark Frichtl, Marvin Shu, Eric Younge
Multispectral ranging and imaging systems
Patent number: 12320696
Abstract: A multispectral sensor array can include a combination of ranging sensor channels (e.g., LIDAR sensor channels) and ambient-light sensor channels tuned to detect ambient light having a channel-specific property (e.g., color). The sensor channels can be arranged and spaced to provide multispectral images of a field of view in which the multispectral images from different sensors are inherently aligned with each other to define an array of multispectral image pixels. Various optical elements can be provided to facilitate imaging operations. Light ranging/imaging systems incorporating multispectral sensor arrays can operate in rotating and/or static modes.
Type: Grant
Filed: July 11, 2024
Date of Patent: June 3, 2025
Assignee: Ouster, Inc.
Inventors: Angus Pacala, Mark Frichtl
Light Ranging Device Having An Electronically Scanned Emitter Array
Publication number: 20250147181
Abstract: Embodiments describe a solid state electronic scanning LIDAR system that includes a scanning focal plane transmitting element and a scanning focal plane receiving element whose operations are synchronized so that the firing sequence of an emitter array in the transmitting element corresponds to a capturing sequence of a photosensor array in the receiving element. During operation, the emitter array can sequentially fire one or more light emitters into a scene and the reflected light can be received by a corresponding set of one or more photosensors through an aperture layer positioned in front of the photosensors. Each light emitter can correspond with an aperture in the aperture layer, and each aperture can correspond to a photosensor in the receiving element such that each light emitter corresponds with a specific photosensor in the receiving element.
Type: Application
Filed: October 29, 2024
Publication date: May 8, 2025
Applicant: Ouster, Inc.
Inventors: Angus Pacala, Mark Frichtl
PROCESSING SYSTEM FOR LIDAR MEASUREMENTS
Publication number: 20250138193
Abstract: An optical measurement system may improve the accuracy with which it estimates distances to surrounding objects by upgrading various aspects of its data path. Spatial resolution may be increased by subdividing histogram buckets or integration registers based on spatial location. Saturation at any point in the data path can be detected and used to stop counting photons in individual pixels, which can then be normalized after a measurement is over. Multiple peaks can be detected using recursive or iterative techniques to identify a largest remaining peak at each stage. Instead of iterating through the histogram memory multiple times, a threshold can be pre-calculated based on an estimated ambient noise level, and peaks can be detected in a single pass.
Type: Application
Filed: January 2, 2025
Publication date: May 1, 2025
Applicant: Ouster, Inc.
Inventors: Angus Pacala, Marvin Shu
LIDAR system with fog detection and adaptive response
Patent number: 12270950
Abstract: A LIDAR system can automatically determine, based on analysis of data collected from the sensor channels during operation, whether fog is present. If fog is present, the LIDAR system can operate in a fog mode, and if fog is not present, the LIDAR system can operate in a “clear-air” mode. The two modes can differ from each other with respect to the emitter signals and/or the signal processing applied to the sensor data.
Type: Grant
Filed: April 13, 2021
Date of Patent: April 8, 2025
Assignee: Ouster, Inc.
Inventor: Angus Pacala
Optical system for collecting distance information within a field
Patent number: 12200183
Abstract: An optical system for collecting distance information within a field is provided. The optical system may include lenses for collecting photons from a field and may include lenses for distributing photons to a field. The optical system may include lens tubes that collimate collected photons, optical filters that reject normally incident light outside of the operating wavelength, and pixels that detect incident photons. The optical system may further include illumination sources that output photons at an operating wavelength.
Type: Grant
Filed: March 22, 2024
Date of Patent: January 14, 2025
Assignee: Ouster, Inc.
Inventors: Angus Pacala, Mark Frichtl
MULTISPECTRAL RANGING AND IMAGING SYSTEMS
Publication number: 20250012629
Abstract: A multispectral sensor array can include a combination of ranging sensor channels (e.g., LIDAR sensor channels) and ambient-light sensor channels tuned to detect ambient light having a channel-specific property (e.g., color). The sensor channels can be arranged and spaced to provide multispectral images of a field of view in which the multispectral images from different sensors are inherently aligned with each other to define an array of multispectral image pixels. Various optical elements can be provided to facilitate imaging operations. Light ranging/imaging systems incorporating multispectral sensor arrays can operate in rotating and/or static modes.
Type: Application
Filed: July 11, 2024
Publication date: January 9, 2025
Applicant: Ouster, Inc.
Inventors: Angus PACALA, Mark FRICHTL
Processing system for LIDAR measurements
Patent number: 12189038
Abstract: An optical measurement system may improve the accuracy with which it estimates distances to surrounding objects by upgrading various aspects of its data path. Spatial resolution may be increased by subdividing histogram buckets or integration registers based on spatial location. Saturation at any point in the data path can be detected and used to stop counting photons in individual pixels, which can then be normalized after a measurement is over. Multiple peaks can be detected using recursive or iterative techniques to identify a largest remaining peak at each stage. Instead of iterating through the histogram memory multiple times, a threshold can be pre-calculated based on an estimated ambient noise level, and peaks can be detected in a single pass.
Type: Grant
Filed: August 5, 2020
Date of Patent: January 7, 2025
Assignee: Ouster, Inc.
Inventors: Angus Pacala, Marvin Shu
ROTATING COMPACT LIGHT RANGING SYSTEM
Publication number: 20240418833
Abstract: A light ranging system including a shaft having a longitudinal axis; a light ranging device configured to rotate about the longitudinal axis of the shaft, the light ranging device including a light source configured to transmit light pulses to objects in a surrounding environment, and detector circuitry configured to detect reflected portions of the light pulses that are reflected from the objects in the surrounding environment and to compute ranging data based on the reflected portion of the light pulses; a base subsystem that does not rotate about the shaft; and an optical communications subsystem configured to provide an optical communications channel between the base subsystem and the light ranging device, the optical communications subsystem including one or more turret optical communication components connected to the detector circuitry and one or more base optical communication components connected to the base subsystem.
Type: Application
Filed: April 18, 2024
Publication date: December 19, 2024
Applicant: Ouster, Inc.
Inventors: Angus PACALA, Mark FRICHTL, Marvin SHU, Eric YOUNGE
Accurate photo detector measurements for LIDAR
Patent number: 12153134
Abstract: A light ranging system can include a laser device and an imaging device having photosensors. The laser device illuminates a scene with laser pulse radiation that reflects off of objects in the scene. The reflections can vary greatly depending on the reflecting surface shape and reflectivity. The signal measured by photosensors can be filtered with a number of matched filter designed according to profiles of different reflected signals. A best matched filter can be identified, and hence information about the reflecting surface and accurate ranging information can be obtained. The laser pulse radiation can be emitted in coded pulses by allowing weights to different detection intervals. Other enhancements include staggering laser pulses and changing an operational status of photodetectors of a pixel sensor, as well as efficient signal processing using a sensor chip that includes processing circuits and photosensors.
Type: Grant
Filed: July 31, 2023
Date of Patent: November 26, 2024
Assignee: Ouster, Inc.
Inventors: Angus Pacala, Mark Frichtl
Independent per-pixel integration registers for LIDAR measurements
Patent number: 12153133
Abstract: An optical measurement system includes a photosensor that includes one or more photosensitive elements. Each of the photosensitive elements may generate signals when a photon is detected, and the number of photons detected for each photosensor may be accumulated in an integration register. The integration register may accumulate photon counts independent of a parallel data path that stores photon counts in time bins based on photon arrival times to form a histogram representation. The total photon count in the integration register can be used to estimate ambient background light and properly set signal thresholds for detecting reflected light signals represented in the histogram.
Type: Grant
Filed: April 26, 2019
Date of Patent: November 26, 2024
Assignee: Ouster, Inc.
Inventors: Angus Pacala, Marvin Liu Shu
Light ranging device having an electronically scanned emitter array
Patent number: 12146954
Abstract: Embodiments describe a solid state electronic scanning LIDAR system that includes a scanning focal plane transmitting element and a scanning focal plane receiving element whose operations are synchronized so that the firing sequence of an emitter array in the transmitting element corresponds to a capturing sequence of a photosensor array in the receiving element. During operation, the emitter array can sequentially fire one or more light emitters into a scene and the reflected light can be received by a corresponding set of one or more photosensors through an aperture layer positioned in front of the photosensors. Each light emitter can correspond with an aperture in the aperture layer, and each aperture can correspond to a photosensor in the receiving element such that each light emitter corresponds with a specific photosensor in the receiving element.
Type: Grant
Filed: July 6, 2023
Date of Patent: November 19, 2024
Assignee: Ouster, Inc.
Inventors: Angus Pacala, Mark Frichtl
Optical system for collecting distance information within a field
Patent number: 12140704
Abstract: Optical systems and methods for collecting distance information are disclosed. An example optical system includes a first transmitting optic, a plurality of illumination sources, a pixel array comprising at least a first column of pixels and a second column of pixels, each pixel in the first column of pixels being offset from an adjacent pixel in the first column of pixels by a first pixel pitch, the second column of pixels being horizontally offset from the first column of pixels by the first pixel pitch, the second column of pixels being vertically offset from the first column of pixels by a first vertical pitch; and a set of input channels interposed between the first transmitting optic and the pixel array.
Type: Grant
Filed: August 17, 2022
Date of Patent: November 12, 2024
Assignee: Ouster, Inc.
Inventors: Angus Pacala, Mark Frichtl, Marvin Shu, Eric Younge
SUBFRAMES AND PHASE SHIFTING FOR LIDAR ACQUISITION
Publication number: 20240302502
Abstract: Systems, methods, and apparatus that can spread peak power dissipation (such as emitter power) in a lidar system over an increased range of time. Spreading the emitter power over time can provide several advantages. Dispersing the power supply noise and current spikes can reduce the load or stress on power supply components such as power transistors, decoupling capacitors, and others. Power supply noise and voltage drops can be reduced by allowing power supply decoupling capacitors time to recover between bursts of pulses. This can allow the use of lower-power transistors, smaller capacitors, and other changes that can conserve resources. Component heating, for example in the emitter array, can be reduced by providing time between bursts of pulses for device cooling.
Type: Application
Filed: March 8, 2024
Publication date: September 12, 2024
Applicant: Ouster, Inc.
Inventor: Richmond G. Hollen
OPTICAL SYSTEM FOR COLLECTING DISTANCE INFORMATION WITHIN A FIELD
Publication number: 20240305767
Abstract: An optical system for collecting distance information within a field is provided. The optical system may include lenses for collecting photons from a field and may include lenses for distributing photons to a field. The optical system may include lens tubes that collimate collected photons, optical filters that reject normally incident light outside of the operating wavelength, and pixels that detect incident photons. The optical system may further include illumination sources that output photons at an operating wavelength.
Type: Application
Filed: March 22, 2024
Publication date: September 12, 2024
Applicant: Ouster, Inc.
Inventors: Angus PACALA, Mark FRICHTL
Multispectral ranging and imaging systems
Patent number: 12072237
Abstract: A multispectral sensor array can include a combination of ranging sensor channels (e.g., LIDAR sensor channels) and ambient-light sensor channels tuned to detect ambient light having a channel-specific property (e.g., color). The sensor channels can be arranged and spaced to provide multispectral images of a field of view in which the multispectral images from different sensors are inherently aligned with each other to define an array of multispectral image pixels. Various optical elements can be provided to facilitate imaging operations. Light ranging/imaging systems incorporating multispectral sensor arrays can operate in rotating and/or static modes.
Type: Grant
Filed: June 2, 2023
Date of Patent: August 27, 2024
Assignee: Ouster, Inc.
Inventors: Angus Pacala, Mark Frichtl
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