Patent ID: 7456815

Claim:
Optoelectronic device for detecting the position and/or movement of an object, the device comprising: a plurality of transmitters for emitting radiation, wherein each of said plurality of transmitters is disposable in at least one of a plurality of different groups of transmitters, said different groups being configured to emit radiation both simultaneously and/ time shifted, at least one receiver configured to receive the radiation emitted by the transmitters and reflected back by the object or the radiation emitted from transmitters associated with the object, wherein the radiation is transmittable between any and each of the transmitters and any and each the at least one receiver; a plurality of mutually different radiation paths, which are formed between at least a part of the transmitters, the object and the at least one receiver or between transmitters associated with the object and the at least one receiver, a timing circuit for cycled switching of the transmitters of the different radiation paths, an evaluation device, which converts the signals received by the at least one receiver for the different radiation paths into values for detection of the position and/or movement of the object along a line or in a surface, wherein for three-dimensional detection of the position and/or movement of the object, the timing circuit switches the plurality of or at least a part of the transmitters and/or the at least one receiver in at least one further cycle such that the space, into which the transmitters emit, is illuminated nearly uniformly, and that the evaluation device determines a value for determination of a distance of the object from the line or surface on the basis of the radiation radiated or radiated back by the object during the further cycle.