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:
Aug. 11, 2015
Filed:
Feb. 28, 2013
Yoshihiro Oba, Miyagi, JP;
Satoru Sugawara, Miyagi, JP;
Toshihiro Ishii, Miyagi, JP;
Fumikazu Hoshi, Miyagi, JP;
Yoshihiro Oba, Miyagi, JP;
Satoru Sugawara, Miyagi, JP;
Toshihiro Ishii, Miyagi, JP;
Fumikazu Hoshi, Miyagi, JP;
RICOH COMPANY, LTD., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An optical sensor includes an irradiation system emitting linearly polarized light of a first polarization direction toward a surface of an object from an incident direction inclined with respect to a normal to the surface; a first light detection system including a first light detector placed on a light path of light emitted from the irradiation system and specularly reflected by the object; and a second light detection system including a separation optical element placed on a light path of light diffusely reflected by the object, on a plane of incidence of the object, and extracting a linearly polarized light component of the first polarization direction included in the light diffusely reflected by the object, a second light detector receiving the linearly polarized light component of the first polarization direction extracted by the separation optical element and a third light detector receiving the light diffusely reflected by the object.