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. 13, 1995
Filed:
Aug. 17, 1993
James L Nettles, Arlington, TX (US);
Arthur S Bornowski, Garland, TX (US);
Loral Vought Systems Corporation, Grand Prarie, TX (US);
Abstract
An improved system for using reflected energy signals sensed by light detecting optics to identify flat surfaces that are orthogonal to the detecting optics. A light source generates a laser light beam, the beam is scanned across a target scene, and a reflected signal is sensed by light detecting optics to produce an electrical representation of the reflected signal. The representation is stored in an array in the form of a plurality of data elements. The data elements are sequentially analyzed by comparing the range of each data element with the ranges of a selected number of neighboring elements, and giving the data element under analysis a corresponding 'index.' Data elements whose ranges closely match neighboring data elements are assigned higher indices. Neighboring data elements with high indices therefore signify proximate points on a flat surface, which is orthogonal to the detecting optics. The data elements may be further analyzed by distinguishing elements with higher indices from those with lower indices, to highlight the flatter, more orthogonal surfaces.