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:
Apr. 28, 1998
Filed:
Oct. 22, 1996
Applicant:
Inventor:
Bret A Herscher, Cupertino, CA (US);
Assignee:
Power Spectra, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G04F / ; G01S / ; G01C / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
368118 ; 342 94 ; 342103 ; 356-508 ;
Abstract
An exclusively digital timing engine that measures extremely short time intervals for use in time of flight systems such as laser range finding systems. This exclusively digital timing engine minimizes the use of high speed, high cost components by employing a novel time multiplexing scheme to execute each of the primary time of flight functions: frequency synthesis, range gating, and time of flight interval measurement. In addition, the timing engine incorporates a random time delay scheme which enhances the resolution of the time interval measurement.