Patent ID: 8022692

Claim:
A sensor responsive to the movement of a detection target, comprising: a back-bias magnet; a magnetic field transducer operative to provide a magnetic field signal proportional to a magnetic field associated with the detection target and the back-bias magnet; a peak detector for tracking positive and negative peaks of the magnetic field signal to generate a tracking signal; and a comparator having a first input responsive to the magnetic field signal, a second input responsive to an input signal related to the tracking signal, and an output at which is provided an output signal comprising first pulses having a first pulse width when the detection target moves in a first direction and second pulses having a second pulse width when the detection target moves in a second direction, wherein the detection target is positioned in a target plane and the sensor is mountable in a mounting plane and wherein the mounting plane is substantially parallel to the target plane, and wherein the detection target affects the magnetic field only due to the passing of the detection target in the vicinity of the transducer.