Patent ID: 6876457

Claim:
A light grid comprising: a predetermined number of pairs of transmitters that emit light rays and receivers, said pairs of transmitters and receivers forming beam axes wherein the light rays emitted by a respective transmitter impinge on a respective receiver of a pair if the beam path for a beam axis is clear; and a control unit for controlling the transmitters and for evaluating the receiving signals present at the output of the receivers, wherein an object detection signal is generated in dependence on the signals received when an object interferes with at least one of the beam axes, and wherein the control unit assigns a separate bit word to each beam axis, each separate bit word including at least a first bit and a second bit, where the beam axes are divided into a number of predetermined regions via at least one first bit of the bit words, the object detection mode within a region of the number of predetermined regions being preset by selecting the bit value of at least one second bit for the bit words of the beam axes within the respective region of the number of predetermined regions.