Light-wave distance meter based on light pulses
First Claim
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1. A distance meter comprising:
- a light source device for emitting light pulses at nominally equal emission time intervals;
a light radiator device optically coupled to the light source device for radiating the emitted light pulses to a reflective measurement target at a distance to be determined;
a light receiver device configured and disposed for receiving light pulses reflected from the measurement target and converting the reflected light pulses into reception signals;
a data former device operatively coupled to the light receiver device for forming, from the reception signals, data representing frequency of occurrence of the reflected light pulses at nominally equal sampling time intervals, the data former device comprising a sampler device for sampling into the reception signals to produce sampled values and a cumulative memory device for cumulating the sampled values and storing the cumulated values as the frequency of occurrence of the reflected light pulses;
a timer device operatively coupled to the light source device and/or the data former device for applying a dither within a prescribed dither range to the emission time intervals and/or the sampling time intervals; and
a distance calculator device operatively coupled to the data former device for using the data to determine the distance to the measurement target.
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Abstract
In a light-wave distance meter based on light pulses, a light pulse radiation device radiates light pulses emitted by a light source device to a target of measurement, a light reception device receives reflected light pulses from the target, a sampling device samples reception signals, a timing device applies a dither of a certain range to the light pulse emission timing and sampling timing, a cumulative memory device stores sampled signals at a certain interval cumulatively, and a computation device calculates the distance to the target. The distance meter is capable of measuring the position of received light pulses at a resolution higher than the sampling timing.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A distance meter comprising:
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a light source device for emitting light pulses at nominally equal emission time intervals; a light radiator device optically coupled to the light source device for radiating the emitted light pulses to a reflective measurement target at a distance to be determined; a light receiver device configured and disposed for receiving light pulses reflected from the measurement target and converting the reflected light pulses into reception signals; a data former device operatively coupled to the light receiver device for forming, from the reception signals, data representing frequency of occurrence of the reflected light pulses at nominally equal sampling time intervals, the data former device comprising a sampler device for sampling into the reception signals to produce sampled values and a cumulative memory device for cumulating the sampled values and storing the cumulated values as the frequency of occurrence of the reflected light pulses; a timer device operatively coupled to the light source device and/or the data former device for applying a dither within a prescribed dither range to the emission time intervals and/or the sampling time intervals; and a distance calculator device operatively coupled to the data former device for using the data to determine the distance to the measurement target. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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4. A distance meter comprising:
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a light source device for emitting light pulses at nominally equal emission time intervals, with each light pulse comprising a measurement light pulse and a reference light pulse; a light radiator device optically coupled to the light source device for radiating the measurement light pulses to a reflective measurement target at a distance to be determined; a light receiver device configured and disposed for receiving light pulses reflected from the measurement target, receiving the reference light pulses, and converting the received light pulses into reception signals; a data, former device operatively coupled to the light receiver device for forming, from the reception signals, data representing frequency of occurrence of the received light pulses at nominally equal sampling time intervals, the data former device comprising a sampler device for sampling the reception signals to produce sampled values and a cumulative memory devices for cumulating the sampled values and storing the cumulated values as the frequency of occurrence of the reflected light pulses; a timer device operatively coupled to the light source device and/or the data former device for applying a dither within a prescribed dither range to the emission time intervals and/or the sampling time intervals; and a distance calculator device operatively coupled to the data former device for using he data to determine the distance to the measurement target. - View Dependent Claims (5, 9)
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Specification