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:
Jul. 20, 1999
Filed:
Jul. 29, 1996
Didier Charlot, Paris, FR;
Yann Malet, Saint Cyr l'Ecole, FR;
Le Conoscope SA, Paris, FR;
Abstract
An optical device for generating a signal based on a distance of an object from the optical device. The optical device includes a first polarizer, a birefringent crystal positioned optically downstream from the first polarizer, and a second polarizer arranged optically downstream from the birefringent crystal. The second polarizer creates a pair of interferograms by adjusting a phase of the light. Two outputs are generated by separately integrating an amount of light of at least a part of each of the pair of interferograms. Finally, the two outputs are combined such that the signal, depending only on the distance between the object and the optical system, is obtained.