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:
Dec. 22, 1998
Filed:
May. 15, 1997
Masahiko Kato, Akiruno, JP;
Olympus Optical Co., Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A distance measuring apparatus measures the time an emitted optical pulse requires to go and return the distance to a target before being received by using the emission time and the reception time of the optical pulse, and obtains the distance to the target from the measured time. A converter converts an optical pulse received by a photodetector into an electrical signal. A divider divides the electrical signal pulse into two signal pulses. A delay element delays only one signal pulse. Both the undelayed and delayed pulses are applied to a threshold generator. The threshold generator generates and holds the value of signal intensity at the intersection of waveforms of the two pulses as a threshold value of the received signal pulse. A comparator generates a digital signal pulse indicating the reception time from the received signal pulse by using the generated threshold value.