ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 29 -- United States Patent no. 12,210,207, issued on Jan. 28, was assigned to Waymo LLC (Mountain View, Calif.).
"Lens retainer ring with compliant element" was invented by Matthew Last (San Jose, Calif.), John Henrie (Los Altos, Calif.), Chandra Kakani (Fremont, Calif.), Ralph Shepard (Menlo Park, Calif.) and Drew Ulrich (San Francisco).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The technology relates to lens assemblies for sensor units that provide a low but consistent preload force over the entire operational temperature range of the device. Consistent preloading helps to avoid cracking and plastic deformation. In particular, a compliant structure of a polymeric material is able t...