SPATIAL INFORMATION DETECTING APPARATUS USING INTENSITY MODULATED LIGHT

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a spatial information detecting apparatus that detects spatial information at a high SN ratio by discarding a residual charge not used as a signal charge out from the charge generated at a photosensitive section. SOLUTION: A light source 2 radiates light intensity-modulated with a modulation signal of a predetermined modulation frequency to space. The photosensitive section 11 provided at an image sensor 1 receives the intensity-modulated light, and generates a charge of a quantity corresponding to the received light intensity. In a condition where transfer of the charge from the photosensitive section 11 to a charge storage section 12 is possible by applying a control voltage to a control electrode 12a, only a necessary charge out from the charge generated by the photosensitive section 11 is transferred to the charge storage section 12 by applying a discarding voltage to a discarding electrode 14a at a timing synchronized to the cycle of the modulation signal to discard the residual charge. A signal charge stored in the charge storing section 12 is delivered to an evaluating section 5 through a charge taking-out section 13 to derive the distance to an object Ob at the evaluating section 5. COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT