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:
May. 16, 1995
Filed:
Jun. 22, 1993
Kazunari Yoshimura, Hirakata, JP;
Kuninori Nakamura, Hirakata, JP;
Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd., Osaka, JP;
Abstract
A light beam is emitted to a target point on a target, so that the reflected light beam from the target point forms an illumination spot on a array sensor. The array sensor comprises a plurality of light receiving elements. The receiving elements are divided into a plurality of repeating units consisting of the same number of the receiving elements. The receiving elements in each of the repeating units are assigned respectively to different indexes. The receiving elements having the same index are commonly coupled so as to provide a single output indicative of the same index when the reflected light beam hits any one of the receiving elements. A method for determination of a three-dimensional profile of an object includes a first step of detecting a series of reference spots on the array sensor with respect to individual points obtained by scanning the light beam on a reference surface, and defining detection ranges respectively with respect to the individual reference spots, and a second step of detecting within the detection ranges a series of object spots obtained by scanning the light beam on an object surface and analyzing a positional deviation between the object spot and the corresponding reference spot within each of the detection range to determine the three-dimensional profile of the object in accordance with thus obtained positional deviations.