Optical articles and systems interacting with the same

US11651179B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• 3M INNOVATIVE PROPERTIES COMPANY · US

Inventors

• Michael A. McCoy · Battle Ground, US
• Glenn E. Casner · Woodbury, US
• Anne C. Gold · South St. Paul, US
• Silvia Geciova-Borovova Guttmann · Okabena, US
• Charles A. Shaklee · Somerset, US
• Robert W. Shannon · Stillwater, US
• Gautam Singh · Woodbury, US
• Guruprasad Somasundaram · Minneapolis, US
• Andrew H. Tilstra · Luverne, US
• John A. Wheatley · Stillwater, US
• Caroline M. Ylitalo · Stillwater, US
• Arash Sangari · Frisco, US
• Alexandra R. Cunliffe · Okabena, US
• Jonathan D. Gandrud · Woodbury, US
• Kui Chen-Ho · Woodbury, US
• Travis L. Potts · Woodbury, US
• Maja Giese · Erkelenz, DE
• Andreas M. Geldmacher · Dormagen, DE
• Katja Hansen · Düsseldorf, DE
• Markus G. W. Lierse · Genhülsen, DE
• Neeraj Sharma · Woodbury, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Sep 27, 2017
• Grant date: May 16, 2023
• Expiry date: Sep 27, 2037

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06K2019/0629
• WIPO field: Optics
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

The present disclosure includes in one instance an optical article comprising a data rich plurality of retroreflective meats that are configured in a spatially defined arrangement, where the plurality of retroreflective elements comprise retroreflective elements having at least two different retroreflective properties, and where data rich means information that is readily machine interpretable. The present disclosure also includes a system comprising the previously mentioned optical article, an optical system, and an inference engine for interpreting and classifying the plurality of retroreflective elements wherein the optical system feeds data to the inference engine.