Patent ID: 9678168
Date: 2017-06-13
CPC Classifications: G01B,G01R

Claim:
1. A system comprising: a sensor circuit configured to provide a sensed signal that corresponds to a distance between the sensor circuit and an object; comparison circuitry configured to receive an input signal that corresponds to the sensed signal and to provide output signals that switch state at different levels of the input signal to indicate different distances between the sensor circuit and the object, wherein the comparison circuitry comprises: three hysteresis comparators, wherein the output signals comprise three output signals, with each hysteresis comparator providing one of the three output signals; and a logic circuit that receives the three output signals and provides two logic circuit outputs based on the three output signals, wherein the two logic circuit outputs together provide four binary logic states, wherein each of the four binary logic states indicates one of four different ranges of distances between the sensor circuit and the object.