Patent ID: 7129490

Claim:
An apparatus for detecting the presence of an object and for use with an object processing system, comprising: (a) an infrared emitter for emitting a plurality of optical pulses, the emitter including at least one LED; (b) an infrared detector for receiving the optical pulses from the emitter, the detector including at least one phototransistor; and (c) a controller connected to the emitter and the detector, the controller comprising: (i) a pulse generator communicatively connected to the emitter; (ii) an output circuit communicatively connected to the detector; and (iii) a microcontroller communicatively connected to the pulse generator and to the output circuit; whereby the controller compares a difference between at least one pulse received at the detector and at least one other pulse received at the detector with a threshold to detect the presence of an object between the emitter and detector.