Patent ID: 6680750
Filing Date: 2004-01-20
Classification: G01T

Abstract:
Device for collection, digital encoding, and processing of signals from plural photo-detectors in a camera, comprising:plural digital encoding units, each digital encoding unit of the plural encoding units being associated with an individual photo-detector in the plural photo-detectors, and each encoding unit comprising, in order starting from an associated photo-detector, an analog-digital converter with a resolution equal to or greater than 7 bits, configured to convert an analog detection signal output by the associated photo-detector into a digital detection signal, a deconvolution unit, a digital adder configured to summate the digital detection signal and to output a sum signal to a common digital processing unit connected individually to each encoding unit, and a gate controlled by a control unit to direct a sliding sum of samples to the common digital processing unit each time that a given number of samples of a pulse is summated, the control unit comprising a signal comparator configured to compare the digital detection signal with a noise threshold, a sample comparator configured to compare a value of sample N+1 with a value of a previous sample N while the signal is above the noise threshold, and a counter configured to verify that a duration of detected pulses corresponds to a determined standard physical shape.