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. 06, 1996
Filed:
Jun. 16, 1993
Ken K Lee, Los Altos, CA (US);
Ultrapointe Corporation, , US;
Abstract
Surface image data representing a three-dimensional surface is extracted from a three-dimensional set of data representing characteristics of a volume in space (volumetric data) that encompasses the surface of an object, so that the surface image data can be used to display the surface. The volumetric data can comprise any data set in which comparisons between data can be used to ascertain points on a surface. In one embodiment of the invention, each of the pieces of volumetric data represents the intensity of light reflected in a particular direction from a point in space on or near the surface of an object. For example, the light intensity data can represent the intensity of laser light reflected back through an optical path of a laser imaging system after the laser light has been directed toward the surface of an object such as a semiconductor wafer. The surface image data can be used to generate a three-dimensional display of the surface, or portions of the surface image data can be used to generate surface profiles or contours. Additionally, the surface image data can be used to generate a surface light intensity map.