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:
Mar. 22, 2011
Filed:
Dec. 18, 2008
Douglas L. Milne, Dundee, GB;
Douglas L. Milne, Dundee, GB;
NCR Corporation, Duluth, GA (US);
Abstract
An optical sensor comprises: a light source located on one side of a transport path; a variable current drive, an optical receiver in communication with the variable current drive, and located on an opposite side of the transport path to the light source and aligned therewith to detect light output therefrom; and a memory coupled to the variable current drive. The variable current drive is suitable for energising the light source so that the light intensity from the light source increases with increasing current. The variable current drive includes (i) a drive circuit for applying a pulse of current to the light source, during which pulse the light source is energised; and (ii) a counter for increasing the amount of current applied by the drive circuit during a pulse of current. The memory may be arranged to store a value from the counter indicative of a number of media items present in the transport path.