Patent ID: 7039549

Claim:
A sensor system for determining a distance, comprising: a sensor unit that operates in different detection areas during a detection cycle and generates, as a function of at least one of the detection areas, at least one sensor signal, a value of the at least one sensor signal being affected by an object located in the at least one of the detection areas; a controllable amplifier unit for amplifying the at least one sensor signal to produce an amplified sensor signal as a function of a value of a gain parameter; and a gain predefining unit for predefining different values for the gain parameter during the detection cycle, wherein: the gain predefining unit sets a constant gain parameter for the at least one of the detection areas as a function of the at least one of the detection areas to be examined, the gain predefining unit predefines different threshold values during the detection cycle, the different threshold values being different for a plurality of consecutive detection areas, and as a function of a result of a comparison of the amplified sensor signal to the different threshold values, whether the object located in the at least one of the detection areas is of a certain size is determined.