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:
Nov. 16, 2004
Filed:
Feb. 05, 2003
Satoru Arita, Kasugai, JP;
Wataru Ishio, Seto, JP;
OMRON Corporation, Kyoto, JP;
Abstract
A distance measuring apparatus includes components for transmitting electromagnetic waves such as laser light to scan a detection area, and receiving reflected waves. The detection area is partitioned into standard areas of a fixed width and signals corresponding to waves received from different standard areas are stored separately. Mutually adjacent standard areas are combined to form a single combined area, if the corresponding signals each fail to exceed a specified threshold value, and these signals are cumulatively added. Conditions of a target object, such as its presence and its position, may be judged on the basis of combined areas thus created such that the detection can be made with increased sensitivity although the resolving power is adversely affected. An upper limit may be introduced for the number of standard areas over which cumulative addition of signals may be made. The threshold value may be made variable according to an average of signal values to be used for detection judgment or the noise component, or time-dependent so as to decrease as the delay time until the reflected waves are received increases.