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:
Oct. 16, 1990
Filed:
May. 01, 1989
John L Schneiter, Latham, NY (US);
Nelson R Corby, Jr, Scotia, NY (US);
General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY (US);
Abstract
A variable depth triangulation ranging system is reconfigurable in real time in the sense that any two of the three performance measures, standoff distance, depth of field, and range resolution at a point within the depth of field, are selected by the user and the system geometrically reconfigures itself to provide the requested performance. The system is composed of a light beam emitting component such as a laser, a linear photodetector, and an imaging lens component. Any of these components has a fixed location and the other two are movable and positioned so that the Scheimpflug condition to guarantee blur-free imaging of reflected target returns is satisfied; the laser beam, a plane axis through the imaging lens component, and an image line through the photodetector all intersect at a common point. A scanner assembly is added to scan the laser beam along a line and over an area.