Methods and devices for reducing eye safety minimum distances in conjunction with illumination laser radiation

A method for adjusting parameters of an illumination laser, the method comprising the steps of:

• measuring a distance of a target to be illuminated by the illumination laser;
• determining parameters of the illumination laser as a function of the measured distance;
• emitting at least one laser radiation pulse, directed to the target, of the illumination laser operated with the determined parameters;
• detecting whether laser radiation of the emitted laser radiation pulse is reflected to an optical sensor;
• and
• if this is the case, determining a distance of an object that reflected the laser pulse as a function of the reflected and detected laser radiation, wherein the distance of the object is compared with the distance of the target and in that, if the distance of the object is less than the distance of the target, parameters of the illumination laser are modified in such a way that an exposure limit value (EGW) at a location of the object is not exceeded by the laser radiation of the illumination laser impinging there,
• wherein the at least one laser radiation pulse is one of a plurality of laser radiation pulses emitted by the illumination laser, and wherein modifying the parameters of the illumination laser comprises using a reflection with a smallest determined distance to define an average power value at which the exposure limit value (EGW) at the location of the object is not exceeded, and reducing a repetition rate of the plurality of laser radiation pulses to be less than or equal to a maximum repetition rate determined from the average power value and a pulse energy of each of the plurality of laser radiation pulses.