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US 5,962,841 AGranted
Detecting mechanism having selectable sensitivity levels for detecting at least three levels of transmissivity
AssigneeOlympus Optical Co., Ltd.
InventorsYoichiro Okumura, Michio Nagai, Hiroshi Terada, Atsushi Maruyama
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A detecting mechanism has a sensor for detecting different levels of transmissivity to provide an output signal representative of the transmissivity level detected. The detecting mechanism is provided with circuitry for changing its sensitivity.
Claims19
A detecting mechanism comprising:
- a photoelectric sensor:
- a movable member having sections to be detected by said sensor having at least three kinds of transmissivity to be detected when aligned with the sensor;
- and
- a driving circuit coupled to said sensor for changing a sensitivity of said photoelectric sensor, to one of at least two different sensitivity states.
1 more element
A detecting mechanism comprising:
- a photoelectric sensor;
- a section to be detected having at least three different transmissivity levels;
- and
- sensor driving means including a photoelectric sensor circuit and a sensor driving circuit, said sensor driving circuit having a first state to enable the photoelectric sensor circuit to be capable of detecting a portion of said section to be detected having a first given transmissivity and a second state enabling said sensor driving circuit to be capable of detecting another portion of said section which has at least second and third different transmissivities which have transmissivities different from one another and from said first given transmissivity.
1 more element
A state detecting mechanism comprising:
- a photoelectric sensor having a light projecting element and a light receiving element, means for supplying a first predetermined current level to said light projecting element when in a first state and a second state for supplying a second current different from said first current level;
- and
- a movable member having sections to be detected by said sensor when said sections are aligned with said sensor and whose reflectance level is detected by said photoelectric sensor, said sections to be detected being such that levels of a reflecting light upon said light receiving element of said photoelectric sensor are different from each other.
A state detecting mechanism comprising:
- a photoelectric sensor having a light projecting element and a light receiving element, said photoelectric sensor having a first detecting state in which a predetermined output is produced with respect to incidence of unit light intensity to said light receiving element, and a second detecting state which produces an output different from said predetermined output with respect to incidence of unit light intensity;
- and
- a section having a plurality of portions to be detected whose light level is detected by said photoelectric sensor to identify the portion being detected, said portions to be detected being such that a level of a reflecting light incident upon the light receiving element of said photoelectric sensor due to one of the portions to be detected is different from reflected light levels of all remaining portions to be detected.
A detecting mechanism comprising:
- a photoelectric sensor;
- a section be detected by said sensor having at least three different reflectance to be detected;
- and
- a driving circuit coupled to said sensor for changing a sensitivity of said photoelectric sensor, to one of at least two different sensitivity states.
1 more element
A detecting mechanism comprising:
- a photoelectric sensor;
- a movable section having three portions thereof for detection by said sensor wherein said three portions are at three different distances from said sensor, said sensor generating a signal according to the section being aligned therewith;
- and
- a driving circuit coupled to said sensor for changing a sensitivity of said photoelectric sensor, to one of at least two different sensitivity states.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.