Patent ID: 7655895

Claim:
A vehicle operating on land and including an arrangement for monitoring exterior objects about the vehicle, comprising: a source from which illumination is emitted into an area about the vehicle; a receiver arranged to receive illumination reflected from an object in the path of the illumination; a light-regulating component arranged in front of said receiver to regulate reception of illumination by said receiver; and circuitry coupled to said source, said receiver and said light-regulating component and arranged to obtain information about objects from which the received illumination has been reflected other than distance information, said circuitry being arranged to coordinate the emission of illumination from said source and opening and closing of said light-regulating component to allow for reception of illumination by said receiver at a time interval between the opening and closing of said light-regulating component and after the emission of the illumination from said source by determining a range from said receiver from which illumination is sought to be received and then the times of opening and closing of said light-regulating component based on a time of emission of illumination from said source such that said light-regulating component allows reception of illumination by said receiver which has been reflected by any objects in the determined range, said circuitry obtaining the information about the objects causing the reflected illumination other than the distance information only from illumination received during the time interval between the opening and closing of said light-regulating component and after the emission of the illumination from said source and thereby associating the information about the objects with the determined range between said receiver and the objects.