Photographic camera with focussing system which time-multiplexes the signals from plural photodetectors

In the focussing system of a photographic camera having an exposure objective and subject-distance adjusting means for adjusting the subject-distance setting of the exposure objective, in combination, transmitter means emitting a pulsed beam of electromagnetic radiation from the camera towards a subject to be photographed, so that such beam be reflected from the subject back towards the camera;

• a receiver structure for receiving the reflected-back beam, including a plurality of light detectors arranged side-by-side and located to receive the reflected-back beam, optical means located in the path of the beam incident upon the light detectors, and means coupled to the adjusting means for effecting relative movement between the optical means and the side-by-side light detectors in dependence upon the subject-distance setting of the adjusting means;
• and circuit means operative for receiving the signals produced by the light detectors and converting such signals into focus-control information, including shared signal-processing means for processing the signals produced by the plurality of light detectors, digital storage means registering the processed signals, and time-division-multiplexing means operative for effecting time-division-multiplexed transmission of the signals from the plurality of light detectors through the shared signal-processing means to the digital storage means.