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:
Apr. 06, 2010
Filed:
Mar. 15, 2004
Barry Raymond Hill, St Helens, GB;
Simon Peter Aldred, Tarleton, GB;
Barry Raymond Hill, St Helens, GB;
Simon Peter Aldred, Tarleton, GB;
PILKINGTON plc, St. Helens, Merseyside, GB;
Abstract
A method of forming a shadowgraph image is described, comprising the steps of illuminating a glazing (), e.g., a vehicle windscreen, with light from a localized light source (), said light being expanded and collimated by a lens optical system () or a mirror optical system, forming a virtual shadowgraph image of the glazing in a virtual image plane (), which may be positioned behind or in front of the glazing: and imaging the virtual image onto a CCD camera (). The glazing may be moving relative to the light source or may be stationary. Furthermore, a method of glazing inspection is described, comprising forming a shadowgraph image as outlined above; processing the shadowgraph image to exclude measurement points corresponding to obscure areas of the glazing as non-valid measurement points: obtaining a processed image by determining an illumination value for each valid measurement point; constructing a reference image by scanning a convolution window point by point over the processed image; and comparing the illumination value of the corresponding point of the reference image.