Patent ID: 11914039
Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 0:
1. A range finding device comprising:
a light-emitter including a plurality of light-emitting regions arranged in a two-dimensional array to emit light from each of the plurality of light-emitting regions;
a light-receiver to receive light reflected from a target object existing in a ranue finding area when the light emitted from the light-emitter hits the target object and reflects from the target object, the light-receiver being divided into a plurality of light receiving regions; and
circuitry configured to
control light emission amount of each of the plurality of light-emitting regions of the light-emitter;
measure an amount of light received at each of the light receiving regions of the light-receiver to obtain a measured output;
measure a distance to the target object for each of the light receiving regions of the light-receiver by based on the measured output;
cause the light-emitter to emit the light as a preliminary light emission stage;
control the light emission amount of each of the plurality of light-emitting regions of the light-emitter to be used for a main light emission stage corresponding to a range finding operation of the target object based on the amount of light reflected from the target object existing in the range finding area when the light emitted from the light-emitter hits the target object and reflects from the target object at the preliminary light emission stage; and
measure the distance to the target object for each of the light receiving regions of the light-receiver by performing the range finding operation at the main light emission stage.