Process and apparatus for optically exploring the surface of a body
US4146926A · kind A · utility
27Cited by
2References
11Claims
0Family size
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 1, 1977 |
| Grant date | Mar 27, 1979 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 1, 1997 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG03B35/08
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
In order to determine the positions in space of certain points on the surface of a body, a laser beam is trained upon a selected punctiform area of that surface and two sets of reflected light rays, traveling along divergent paths, are intercepted and focused by one or two objectives upon one or two receiving surfaces to form a pair of image points thereon. The receiving surface or surfaces may be part of a television camera. The location of each image point with respect to a reference point is numerically coded for utilization in a calculator which mathematically determines the desired position.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.