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.

Date of Patent:
Dec. 08, 2015

Filed:

Feb. 14, 2014
Applicant:

Palo Alto Research Center Incorporated, Palo Alto, CA (US);

Inventors:

Joerg Martini, San Francisco, CA (US);

Marshall W. Bern, San Carlos, CA (US);

Noble M. Johnson, Menlo Park, CA (US);

Peter Kiesel, Palo Alto, CA (US);

Doron Kletter, San Mateo, CA (US);

Bowen Cheng, Atherton, CA (US);

Michael I. Recht, Mountain View, CA (US);

Assignee:
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01B 11/04 (2006.01); G01B 11/06 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G01B 11/046 (2013.01); G01B 11/0691 (2013.01);
Abstract

A device includes a spatial filter arranged in a Cartesian coordinate system having orthogonal x, y, and z axes. The spatial filter has mask features that are more light transmissive and mask features that are less light transmissive. The mask features are arranged along the x-axis in the flow direction of a flow path. A detector is positioned to detect light emanating from at least one object in the flow path, the object having a width along the y-axis, a thickness along the z-axis, and a length along the x-axis. Light emanating from the object is time modulated according to the mask features as the object moves along the flow path. The detector is configured to generate a time-varying electrical signal in response to the detected light that includes information about the width or thickness of the object.


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