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. 28, 2002
Filed:
Jun. 25, 1999
David C. MacPherson, Conifer, CO (US);
Jon G. Dishler, Englewood, CO (US);
Other;
Abstract
A surface contouring system may be provided with a topographer to measure the surface contours. The topographer may be a laser topographer that measures the surface contours using superheterodyne synthetic wavelength interferometry. The maximum vertical step size dictated by the limits of conventional laser interferometry may be increased by creating laser signals with synthetically-generated longer effective wavelengths. The topographer may perform sequential scans rapidly so that measurement feedback can be used to interactively control the shape of the surface being measured. The interferometer may use counter-rotating optical wedges to create a rotating, radially looping scan pattern that concentrates measurement density in the center portions of the target surface. Different embodiments of the topographer may be applied to diverse uses such as corneal ablation procedures, precision machining operations, and vibration analysis.