Real-Time Processing Method and System
First Claim
1. Apparatus comprising an optical range finder comprising:
- a light source adapted to produce illumination which impinges on a target;
a detector adapted to receive a reflection of the illumination from the target;
a range code generator adapted to pulse the light source and to generate a range code indicative of the range of the target from the range finder for each pulse;
a signal processor including a content addressable memory adapted to receive the range codes and count a frequency of identical range codes in a predetermined interval to identify the range code with a highest count, said range code with the highest count being indicative of the range of the target from the range finder.
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Abstract
An optical range finder includes a light source adapted to produce illumination which impinges on a target. A detector receives a reflection of the illumination from the target, and a range code generator generates from the detected reflection a range code indicative of the range of the target from the range finder for each pulse. A signal processor receive plural range codes over a predetermined interval. A content addressable memory is used to count how many identical range codes are received during the predetermined interval. An identification is then made of the range code with the highest count, and that range code with the highest count is output as indicative of the range of the target from the range finder.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. Apparatus comprising an optical range finder comprising:
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a light source adapted to produce illumination which impinges on a target; a detector adapted to receive a reflection of the illumination from the target; a range code generator adapted to pulse the light source and to generate a range code indicative of the range of the target from the range finder for each pulse; a signal processor including a content addressable memory adapted to receive the range codes and count a frequency of identical range codes in a predetermined interval to identify the range code with a highest count, said range code with the highest count being indicative of the range of the target from the range finder. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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- 11. A processing circuit including a content addressable memory adapted to receive code values and count a frequency of identical code values in a predetermined interval to identify the code value with a highest count.
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18. A method of measuring the range of a target from an optical range finder of the type comprising a light source;
- a detector;
a range code generator; and
a signal processor, the method comprising the steps of;pulsing the light source illuminating the target; receiving reflected illumination from the target at the detector; generating a range code indicative of the range of the target from the range finder for each pulse; counting the frequency of identical range codes in a predetermined interval to identify the range code with the highest count which range code with the highest count is indicative of the range of the target from the range finder. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 23, 24)
- a detector;
- 21. The method of claim 21, further comprising counting the number of each range code in a plurality of counters in the read access memory, each counter being associated with one of the memory locations.
Specification