Patent ID: 8269964

Claim:
A cost-effective and accurate photon measurement system for human tissue comprising: a memory device configured to store a plurality of values corresponding to a plurality of Golay code patterns wherein said plurality of values is located by a plurality of cell addresses; a code selector configured to select a Golay code pattern from said plurality of Golay code patterns during operation of said photon measurement system; an address sequencer coupled to said memory device and said code selector configured to provide a cell address from said plurality of cell addresses corresponding to said selected Golay code pattern; a Golay code signal generator coupled to the code selector configured to generate a Golay code output in accordance with said selected Golay code pattern; a continuous wave light source coupled to the Golay code signal generator configured to generate a Golay modulated optical wave modulated in accordance with said Golay code output from the Golay code signal generator; delivery optics coupled to the continuous wave light source to direct the Golay modulated optical wave at a human tissue translucent material; an optical splitter coupled to the delivery optics between the delivery optics and the translucent material; the optical splitter coupled to an optical detector configured to direct the Golay modulated optical wave to the optical detector; the optical detector configured to generate a Golay optical reference signal; the optical detector coupled to a signal detector such that when the Golay optical reference signal is generated it is communicated to the signal detector; a corresponding detector configured to detect scattered optical waves from the translucent material; the corresponding detector having as an output a signal indicative of a characteristic of the detected scattered optical wave; the corresponding detector output signal communicated to the signal detector; the signal detector configured to generate and provide an output indicative of a characteristic of the translucent material, based in part on the Golay optical reference signal; a correlator coupled to the signal detector configured to generate a correlation of said signal indicative of said characteristic of the detected scattered optical wave with said Golay optical reference signal; and a processor coupled to said correlator configured to calculate photon time-of-flight information of said scattered optical wave based on said correlation.