Patent ID: 7106431

Claim:
A sensor for determining the angular position of a radiating point source in two dimensions, comprising: a) a point source of light located in a prescribed space; b) a one-dimensional light detector comprising a single linear row or column of active elements adjacent said space; c) a two dimensional mask interposed between said detector and said space, said mask having a two dimensional pseudo-random surface pattern defining a prescribed degree of transmissivity, said surface pattern comprising a plurality of V-shapes, at least some of said V-shapes overlapping one another, non-overlapping portions of said pattern having a first degree of transmissivity and overlapping portions of said pattern having a second degree of transmissivity; d) whereby light from said source travels through said mask and onto said detector, said surface pattern causing said detector to sense two correlation signal peaks usable to indicate incident angle between said source and detector in two dimensions.