Patent ID: 7391505

Claim:
A range sensing system comprising: at least one energy source adapted to emit energy capable of reflection by one or more targets within a region, and at least one receiver having a plurality of sensing elements configured to sense the reflection of emitted energy from a plurality of targets within said region, and an activation system associated with said at least one energy source, said activation system being adapted to activate and deactivate an energy source in a cycleic pattern with a selected source frequency, and a shielding system associated with said at least one receiver, said shielding system being configured to block the sensing of reflected energy from the plurality of targets by said at least one receiver, said shielding system being activated and deactivated in a cyclic pattern with a selected receiver frequency, said source frequency and receiver frequencies being selected from different frequency values, and wherein each sensing element of said at least one receiver generates an output signal with a frequency substantially equal to the frequency difference between said receiver frequency and said source frequency, and said output signal is compared with a reference signal to determine a range value for each of the sensing elements of said at least one receiver, where phase differences between said output signal and the said reference signal indicate a range value, and wherein the system indicates from the range values of the sensing elements a range value for each target of the plurality of targets sensed by the at least one receiver, substantially at the same time.