Sony patents laser timing system for faster light switching
Sony describes a laser drive device that uses a secondary circuit to short-circuit the laser element, speeding up how quickly the light turns off. The system includes automatic timing adjustments to ensure the main drive and assist signals stay perfectly synchronized.
In the filing’s own words
Provided is a laser drive device including a drive circuit that drives a light emitting element by a vertical cavity surface emitting laser to emit light on the basis of a drive control signal, an assist circuit that short-circuits both ends of the light emitting element on the basis of an assist control signal to speed up a fall time of the light emitting element, a timing adjustment unit that performs mutual timing adjustment between the drive control signal and the assist control signal on the basis of a timing adjustment signal, a phase detection unit that detects a phase difference between the drive control signal and the assist control signal, and a timing control unit that generates the timing adjustment signal on the basis of a phase difference detection result of the phase detection unit.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A laser drive device, comprising: a drive circuit configured to drive a candidate light emitting element of at least one light emitting element based on a drive control signal, wherein the candidate light emitting element of the at least one light emitting element comprises two ends, and the drive circuit comprises a drive transistor configured to receive the drive control signal as a first pulse signal of a first voltage; an assist circuit configured to short-circuit the two ends of the candidate light emitting element of the at least one light emitting element based on an assist control signal, wherein the assist circuit comprises an assist transistor configured to receive the assist control signal as a second pulse signal having a second voltage, and the second voltage is higher than the first voltage; a timing adjustment unit configured to mutually adjust timing of each signal of the drive control signal and the assist control signal based on a timing adjustment signal; a phase detection unit configured to: extract the assist control signal from a gate node of the assist transistor, wherein the assist control signal is level-shifted to the first voltage; extract the drive control signal from a gate node of the drive transistor; and detect a phase difference between the drive control signal and the assist control signal; and a timing control unit configured to generate the timing adjustment signal based on the detected phase difference.
Facts
- Company
- Sony (SONY SEMICONDUCTOR SOLUTIONS CORPORATION)
- Official title
- Laser drive device, sensing module, and timing adjustment method
- Patent number
- US12736674B2
- Application number
- 17627902
- Filed
- Jun 12, 2020
- Granted
- Sep 15, 2026
- Inventors
- 3
- Claims
- 12
Classified under
G01S 17/26 Physics & computingG01S 7/484 Physics & computingG01S 7/4863 Physics & computingG01S 7/4865 Physics & computingMore from Sony in Chips & hardware
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.