Patent ID: 6903328

Claim:
A sensor for use with automatic doors and operable to determine the presence or absence of an object within an object detection area, said sensor comprising: a plurality of sensor sets, each of said sensor sets comprising a transmission means for transmitting light and a receiving means for receiving light located to oppose each other across the object detection area so that said sensor is operable to determine the presence or absence of an object within the object detection area depending on whether light emitted from each transmission means is received by an opposing receiving means; data acquisition means for acquiring light acceptance data sent from a first receiving means of said plurality of receiving means of said plurality of sensor sets and light acceptance data sent from a second receiving means of said plurality of receiving means of said plurality of sensor sets; and data exchange means for exchanging the light acceptance data from said first receiving means with the light acceptance data from said second receiving means, such that said data acquisition means is operable to acquire predetermined light acceptance data based on light emitted from one of said transmission means and that is received by an opposing receiving means, wherein said data exchange means is operable to exchange light acceptance data when said data acquisition means fails to acquire the predetermined light acceptance data, provided that one of said transmission means emits light in the absence of an object within the object detection area.