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. 05, 1999
Filed:
Oct. 18, 1993
Motohiro Nakanishi, Osaka, JP;
Hiroshi Ootsuka, Osaka, JP;
Minolta Co., Ltd., Osaka, JP;
Abstract
A distance measuring system of the active type wherein a distance ranging from a short distance to a great distance can be measured with a high degree of accuracy in accordance with a ratio between outputs of two light receiving elements. The system comprises light emitting means which emits light twice to an object, three or more light receiving elements, and selecting means which selects output signals of different pairs of the light receiving elements when the light emitting means emits light for the first and second times for measurement of distances within short and long distance ranges, respectively. The selected output signals in each pair are compared with each other to take a ratio between them, and distances are calculated based on the ratios thus obtained. Finally, a distance to the object is determined based on the calculated two distances. Where the distance measuring system is incorporated in a camera, the lens of the camera is actuated in accordance with the distance value measured by the system.