Abstract: The ranging accuracy of pulsed laser rangefinders is highly dependent on the measurement accuracy of laser flight time. Breakthroughs in related patent technologies in high-precision compensation and intelligent anti-interference fields such as high-end manufacturing, autonomous driving and UAVs, aerospace and national defense, and smart cities and infrastructure are of great significance. Based on the results of retrieving error generation mechanisms from patent databases, this paper analyzes the changes in patent application volume, evolution paths, distribution, and core technologies. It finds that patent applications mainly focus on four types of error generation mechanisms: time measurement errors, environmental interference errors, system noise errors, and motion errors. The future development will tend to three major directions: chip-level integration, AI-quantum technology fusion, and multi-physics field collaborative optimization. Silicon photonics technology, quantum sensing, and edge computing will drive ranging accuracy towards the submillimeter level. With the in-depth application in fields such as autonomous driving and aerospace exploration, laser ranging technology will become a key pillar of intelligent perception systems.

Key words: Laser Ranging; Measurement Error; Patent; Time of Flight; Error Mechanism; Technological Evolution