Patent ID: 7495746

Claim:
Optical device for measuring the distance from an obstacle, including: a unit to emit a radiation and to conform the irradiated beam, an acquisition unit to acquire information relating to the image of the scene situated in front of said optical device, an electronic control and processing unit to receive signals leaving said acquisition unit in order to determine the distance between said optical device and an obstacle which is part of the scene in front of the optical device, wherein said emission unit is predisposed to emit a beam having a transverse section of a form elongated along an axis, said axis being progressively rotated for transverse sections of the beam progressively more distant from the emission unit, in such a manner that the distance of the optical device from one or more obstacles illuminated by the beam is calculated by said electronic control and processing unit as a function of the angular position of said axis on the section of the beam intercepted by the obstacle, as acquired by said means of acquisition.