Distance measuring apparatus and method
AssigneeSony Corporation
InventorKazuyoshi Hayashi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention intends to precisely measure the distance to an object. A CCD opens an electronic shutter for a proper period of time under control of a timing generator to receive a laser beam reflected by an object, converts the amount of light entering the CCD during that period of time, after passing a corresponding beam splitter, into an electric signal (voltage), and then outputs the electric signal to a distance calculating circuit. The distance calculating circuit calculates the distance from a laser telemeter to the object using a dark voltage VD, a reflection voltage VR and a total voltage VA inputted from the CCD.
Claims19
A distance measuring apparatus for measuring the distance to an object using a laser beam, comprising:
- laser beam emitting means for emitting a laser beam;
- light receiving means comprising at least one light receiving device for receiving the laser beam reflected by the object;
- control means for controlling said laser beam emitting means to emit the laser beam, and controlling said light receiving means to receive the laser beam reflected by the object during a first period of time and to receive the laser beam reflected by the object during a second period of time;
- and
- calculating means for producing a measured value corresponding to the amount of light received during the first period of time and a reference value corresponding to the amount of light received during the second period of time, normalizing the measured value with the reference value, and calculating the distance to the object based on the normalized measured value.
A distance measuring method for measuring the distance to an object using a laser beam, comprising the steps of:
- a laser beam emitting step of controlling a laser beam emitting unit to emit a laser beam;
- a first light receiving step of making control to receive the laser beam reflected by the object during a first period of time by a light receiving unit comprising at least one light receiving device;
- a second light receiving step of making control to receive the laser beam reflected by the object during a second period of time by said light receiving unit;
- and
- a calculating step of producing a measured value corresponding to the amount of light received during the first period of time and a reference value corresponding to the amount of light received during the second period of time, normalizing the measured value with the reference value, and calculating the distance to the object based on the normalized measured value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.