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:
Mar. 21, 1995
Filed:
Apr. 19, 1994
Hideo Taka, Yokohama, JP;
Kazuyuki Maeda, Yokohama, JP;
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A distance measurement device includes a light projection unit for projecting light towards plural objects in different areas of a scene to measure respective distances to the objects. A photo-sensing unit receives reflected light from the different areas of the scene. Also provided is a processing unit which has a first mode and a second mode. The first mode is for measuring the respective distances to the objects based on a first photo-sense output of the photo-sensing unit corresponding to light projected to the different areas of the scene and reflected by the objects. The second mode is for judging, based on a second photo-sense output of the photo-sensing unit corresponding to light projected to a specific area and reflected by at least one of the objects, whether the at least one object is located outside of a distance measuring area within which a distance to the at least one object can be measured using the first mode. A selecting unit selects one of the first and second modes such that the first and second modes operate independently of each other.