Nike, Inc.

Valve Corporation

Reidford, Tristan

Sawyer, David

Barnett, Kenneth

Leiby, Aaron

Birdwell, Kenneth

Vlachos, Alexander C.

Ridgway, Emily

Kenneth Birdwell

Bruce J Kilgore

David Alan Boone

Aaron Leiby

Tristan Reidford

David Sawyer

Kenneth Barnett

Robert E Borchers

Alexander C Vlachos

Emily Ridgway

Eric D Rosenthal

A device and method is provided for quickly and accurately obtaining surface contour information from an object without the need for precisely aligning and calibrating mechanical structures or optics elements, and without moving parts. In various embodiments, the invention includes steps of projecting a plurality of parallel planes of laser light through a transparent plate onto a surface of the object, receiving a reflection from the object in a digital camera, and performing image processing on the reflected image to reconstruct the three-dimensional surface of the object therefrom. The image processing includes steps of subtracting an image of the object in its non-illuminated state from an image of the object illuminated by the plurality of parallel planes of light, performing a thresholding operation on the subtracted image, and generating a line array containing lines having curvature deformations due to surface deviations on the object. The line array is transformed into a three-dimensional image by applying a transformation matrix previously obtained by processing an image of a calibration gauge placed on the transparent plate. Both single-image and multiple-image projection systems may be implemented.

Object imaging device and method using line striping

Growing community of inventors

Belleview, WA, United States of America

Kenneth Birdwell