Optoelectronic device for observing and/or aiming at a scene, comprising a rangefinder, and related range-finding method

1. Opto-electronic device for observing and/or aiming at a scene comprising a target (C), comprising:

an observation module ( 1 ) comprising

an image sensor ( 10 ) and

a stabiliser ( 11 ) for a line of sight ( 100 ) towards the target (C); and

a telemeter ( 2 ) comprising

a multi-shot pulsed laser ( 20 ) for emitting a plurality of outward laser pulses (An) in the direction of the target (C) to be telemetered, and

a detector ( 21 ) for a plurality of return laser echoes (Rn) reflected by the scene in order to generate an electrical signal for each return laser echo (Rn) in order to effect a measurement of distance to the target (C), each return laser echo (Rn) corresponding to an outward laser pulse (An);

said opto-electronic device further comprising:

a sensor ( 3 ) of angular movement of the device with respect to the stabilised line of sight ( 100 ) in order to determine an angular radius (ρn) of each outward laser pulse (An) with respect to the stabilised line of sight ( 100 ); and

a selector ( 4 ) for processing each electrical signal, corresponding to a return laser echo (Rn), according to the angular radius (ρn) of the corresponding outward laser pulse (An).

2. Device according to claim 1 , in which the selector ( 4 ) is adapted so as to take into account only the electrical signals corresponding to the return laser echoes Rn the outward laser pulses An of which satisfy the following condition:

ρn≦ρ 0   (I1)

where ρn is the angular radius of the n th outward laser pulse An; and

ρ 0 is a characteristic angular radius.

3. Device according to claim 2 , in which the selector ( 4 ) is adapted for

making a plurality of analyses of a telemetry of the target (C), taking into account only the electrical signals where the outward laser pulse An satisfies the condition (I 1 ), for a plurality of different ρs, and

determining a ρ 0 optimum for optimising a signal to noise ratio of the echo of the target in the global echo signal.

4. Device according to claim 2 , in which the selector ( 4 ) is adapted to

store at least one zone of interest (Z) around the target (C), by default; and/or

accept a manual parameterising of a zone (Z) of interest by an operator of the device; and/or

automatically determine a zone (Z) of interest around the target (C).

5. Device according to claim 3 or claim 4 , in which the selector ( 4 ) is adapted to effect a mapping of the scene in a mapping zone (Zc) by making a plurality of analyses of a telemetry in the mapping zone (Zc).

6. Device according to claim 1 , in which the selector is adaptor to allocate a weighting coefficient to each electrical signal corresponding to a return laser echo (Rn).

7. Device according to claim 1 , in which the selector ( 4 ) is adapted to process the electrical signals in real time or during post-processing.

8. Device according to claims 1 , in which the angular movement sensor ( 3 ) comprises:

at least one gyrometer; and/or

at least one differential accelerometer; and/or

at least one module for processing images issuing from the image sensor ( 10 ).

9. Device according to claim 1 , forming portable binoculars or a portable telescopic sight.

10. Method for the telemetry of a target (C) present in a scene, wherein it is implemented on a device according to claim 1 .