The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 18, 2023
Filed:
Jul. 28, 2021
Align Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Align Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
An apparatus for measuring a surface topography of a patient's teeth may include an optical probe, a light source configured to generate incident light, and focusing optics configured to focus one or more wavelengths of the incident light to a fixed focal position external to the optical probe, wherein the fixed focal position is fixed relative to the optical probe. The apparatus may further include a light sensor configured to measure a characteristic of returned light generated by illuminating the patient's teeth with the incident light and a processing unit operable to determine the surface topography of the patient's teeth based on the measured characteristic of the returned light.