Patent ID: 7012539

Claim:
A method of producing a positive or a negative object detection signal in dependence on the presence or non-presence of an object in a foreground region or a background region of a monitored region of an optoelectronic sensor, wherein, during an operating phase, transmitted light is transmitted in the direction of the monitored region; a plurality of received signals are produced in dependence on the reflected and the received transmitted light which are associated with the foreground region or the background region; and a difference of the received signals is compared with a differential threshold to produce the positive or the negative object detection signal; wherein a switching hysteresis is formed for a change between the positive and the negative object detection signal, and wherein the association of at least one of the received signals to the foreground region and to the background region is changed in reaction to each change between the positive object detection signal and the negative object detection signal to form the switching hysteresis.