US Patent 9739609 Time-of-flight sensor with configurable phase delay

Techniques to determine a distance associated with a surface using time-of-flight (ToF) of pulses of light occurring at a predetermined frequency. A ToF camera may include a light emitter that emits light according to one or more phase delays relative to the configured of a first storage device of multiple storage devices of the ToF camera to receive light, convert to current, and store a charge corresponding to current. For instance, a light emitter may emit pulses at a 0° phase delay (i.e., simultaneously with the opening of the first storage device), a 90° phase delay, a 180° phase delay, and a 270° phase delay. Light captured and stored as energy in the storage devices may be then be analyzed to estimate a distance to a surface of an object in an environment. After estimating a distance between the ToF camera and a surface, the ToF camera may optimize its phase delay to reduce the error associated with a subsequent distance measurement.