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:
Aug. 23, 2005
Filed:
Oct. 08, 2003
Naoto Inaba, Hiratsuka, JP;
Masaya Nagasawa, Tokyo, JP;
Naoto Inaba, Hiratsuka, JP;
Masaya Nagasawa, Tokyo, JP;
Nikon Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A ranging apparatuscomprises a laser light emitterfor emitting pulsed laser light, a reflected light receiverfor receiving reflected light, a distance computerfor finding the distance from the elapsed time until the reflected light is received, and a distance displayfor displaying this distance. The distance computerhas a counterfor counting the frequency when the reflected light satisfies a specific condition, a table production componentfor producing a frequency distribution table corresponding to distance by adding up the counts, a distance determinerfor determining as the distance to the object of measurement the point when the frequencies in the frequency distribution table exceed a threshold, and a distance selectorfor selecting a specific distance when a plurality of distances are determined, and displaying this distance on the distance display. As a result, when a plurality of distances are calculated, these distances can be appropriately displayed, improving the flexibility and functionality.