Ranging apparatus
First Claim
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1. A ranging apparatus comprising:
- an illumination means for illuminating a scene with a projected two dimensional array of light spots;
a detector for detecting the location of each of said spots in the scene; and
a processor adapted to determine, from the detected location of said spots in the scene, the range to those spots, wherein the illumination means comprises a light source arranged to illuminate only part of the input face of a light guide, the light guide comprising a tube having substantially reflective sides and being arranged together with projection optics so as to project an array of distinct light spots towards the scene.
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Abstract
This invention relates to a ranging apparatus capable of ranging simultaneously to a three dimensional scene. An illumination means (22) illuminates a scene with a two dimensional array of spots (12). A detector (6) is located near to the illumination means (22) and arranged to look toward the scene. A processor (7) responds to the output from the detector (6) and, from the location of a spot in the image of the scene, determines the range to that spot. A variety of techniques are used to resolve ambiguity in determining which projected spot is being considered.
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Citations
52 Claims
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1. A ranging apparatus comprising:
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an illumination means for illuminating a scene with a projected two dimensional array of light spots; a detector for detecting the location of each of said spots in the scene; and a processor adapted to determine, from the detected location of said spots in the scene, the range to those spots, wherein the illumination means comprises a light source arranged to illuminate only part of the input face of a light guide, the light guide comprising a tube having substantially reflective sides and being arranged together with projection optics so as to project an array of distinct light spots towards the scene. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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Specification