Patent ID: 7492398

Claim:
A three-dimensional input apparatus comprising: a projector for irradiating a detection light beam on an object; a scanning mechanism for scanning said object by deflecting the direction of irradiation of said detection light beam; an image sensing device with an image sensing surface including a plurality of two-dimensionally arranged light-receiving elements, for receiving the detection light beam reflected on said object; and a controller for controlling an electric charge accumulation time of said plurality of light-receiving elements such that the scanning mechanism moves the detection light beam for each sampling period and a plurality of types of outputs with different electric charge accumulation times are produced by each of said light-receiving elements in one light-receiving area for each sampling period, discriminating whether at least one of said plurality of types of output signals is saturated for each one of the two-dimensionally arranged light-receiving elements or for each part of the two-dimensionally arranged light-receiving elements, and selecting non-saturated signals among said plurality of types of output signals for each one of the plurality of two-dimensionally arranged light-receiving elements or for each part of the plurality of two-dimensionally arranged light-receiving elements, based on the result of the discrimination, wherein the controller controls said image sensing device so as to output a signal corresponding to the accumulated electric charge upon lapse of a first accumulation time and continue to accumulate electric charge while maintaining said accumulated electric charge until a second charge accumulation time, and wherein the controller outputs a signal by multiplying an output value during a first accumulation time by a multiple derived from a ratio between accumulation times.