The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 13, 2020
Filed:
Jul. 07, 2016
Konica Minolta, Inc., Chiyoda-ku, JP;
Ryouta Ishikawa, Hino, JP;
Konica Minolta, Inc., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A light source emits light having a thin shape in a cross section viewed in the beam direction of the light. A light receiver includes a plurality of avalanche photodiodes each having a light receiving face that receives reflected light. The light receiving faces are disposed in an array at a predetermined interval along a longitudinal direction of the thin shape and the light receiver has a surface including the light receiving faces. An optical system guides the reflected light to the light receiver so that a focus point for a direction in which the light receiving faces are arrayed is set before the surface and a focus point for a perpendicular direction is set on the surface, the perpendicular direction being perpendicular to both the direction in which the light receiving faces are arrayed and the beam direction of the reflected light.