Patent ID: 11885874
Assignee: SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 17:
18. An acoustic distance measuring circuit, comprising:
a frequency generator having an output for providing a chirp signal having a chirp signal frequency slope;
a transmitter amplifier having an input coupled to the output of the frequency generator, and an output adapted to be coupled to an acoustic transducer;
a sensing circuit having an input adapted to be coupled to the acoustic transducer, for determining a frequency slope of an input signal; and
a controller coupled to the sensing circuit having an input for receiving the frequency slope of the input signal, wherein the controller is operable to compare the frequency slope of the input signal to the chirp signal frequency slope and to detect an object in response to the frequency slope of the input signal being approximately equal to the chirp signal frequency slope, wherein the controller is also operable to determine a distance of the object corresponding to a frequency shift of the frequency slope of the input signal and an extrapolated chirp signal frequency slope extended from the chirp signal.