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:
Jun. 30, 1992
Filed:
Dec. 03, 1990
Israel Amir, Ewing, NJ (US);
Frank P Higgins, Trenton, NJ (US);
AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ (US);
Abstract
A three-dimensional image of the surface (12) on an object (14) is obtained in real time by a system (10) which includes first and second reflective surfaces (32,38). The first reflective surface successively reflects a separate one of the first and second lines of light (26,28) onto the surface of the object so that each line of light strikes a first strip of area (34) at an acute angle. The second reflective surface reflects the field of view of a linescan camera (40) onto the object's surface so that the camera captures the image of a second strip of area (41) contiguous with the first strip. The first and second reflective surfaces are rapidly rotated in unison by one or more actuators (50,52) such that the object's surface is spanned by the camera each time the surface is spanned by a successive one of the first and second lines of light. A three-dimensional image of each successive second strip imaged by the camera is obtained from a predetermined relationship between the intensity sensed by the camera for that strip when the corresponding first strip is successively illuminated by the first and second lines of light.