Patent ID: 8149391

Claim:
A distance measuring instrument comprising: at least one light source; at least one light detector; optics to direct measuring light emitted from the at least one light source towards an object and to direct measuring light received back from the object to the at least one detector; a signal delay module; a first signal analyzer; a second signal analyzer; and a variable gain amplifier; wherein: an output of the at least one light detector is connected to an input of the signal delay module; the output of the at least one light detector is connected to a signal input of the first signal analyzer; an output of the signal delay module is connected to a signal input of the variable gain amplifier; an output of the first signal analyzer is connected to a gain setting input of the variable gain amplifier an output of the variable gain amplifier is connected to a first signal input of the second signal analyzer; and the output of the first signal analyzer is connected to a second signal input of the second signal analyzer.