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:
Nov. 28, 2006
Filed:
Sep. 17, 2004
Gregory A. Dahlen, Santa Barbara, CA (US);
William Foreman, Santa Barbara, CA (US);
Gregory A. Dahlen, Santa Barbara, CA (US);
William Foreman, Santa Barbara, CA (US);
Veeco Instruments Inc., Woodbury, NY (US);
Abstract
A method of extracting the shape of a probe tip of a probe-based instrument from data obtained by the instrument is provided. The method employs algorithms based on the principle that no reconstructed image points can physically occupy the same region as the tip during imaging. Sequential translates of the tip shape or volume sweep out an area or volume that is an 'exclusion zone' similar to morphological erosion. The embodiments of the alternative method use either the region defined by the tip boundary or simply the tip boundary.