Patent ID: 6934012

Claim:
A ranging apparatus comprising: a measurement light emitter for emitting pulsed measurement light toward an object of measurement; a reflected light receiver for receiving light reflected back from the above-mentioned object of measurement; a distance computer for finding the distance to the above-mentioned object of measurement on the basis of the elapsed time from when the above-mentioned measurement light is emitted until the above-mentioned reflected light is received; and a distance display for displaying the distance to the above-mentioned object of measurement, wherein the above-mentioned distance computer comprises: a counter for counting the frequency corresponding to distance when the above-mentioned reflected light satisfies a specific condition; a table production component for producing a frequency distribution table corresponding to distance by adding up the above-mentioned frequencies with respect to the above-mentioned measurement light repeatedly emitted a specific number of times; a distance determiner for determining as the distance to the above-mentioned object of measurement the point when the total count in the above-mentioned frequency distribution table exceeds a specific threshold; and a distance selector for selecting (a) specific distance(s) from among a plurality of distances when the above-mentioned distance determiner determines a plurality of distances to the above-mentioned object of measurement, and displaying the selected distance on the above-mentioned distance display.