Method and apparatus for three-dimensional non-contact shape sensing
US5198877A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 15, 1990 |
| Grant date | Mar 30, 1993 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 15, 2010 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01S17/86
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
This method and apparatus optically samples numerous points on the surface of an object to remotely sense its shape utilizing two stages. The first stage employs a moveable non-contact scanner, which in normal operation sweeps a narrow beam of light across the object, illuminating a single point of the object at any given instant in time. The location of that point relative to the scanner is sensed by multiple linear photodetector arrays behind lenses in the scanner. These sense the location by measuring the relative angular parallax of the point. The second stage employs multiple fixed but widely separated photoelectronic sensors, similar to those in the scanner, to detect the locations of several light sources affixed to the scanner, thereby defining the absolute spatial positions and orientations of the scanner. Individual light sources are distinguished by time-multiplexing their on-off states. A coordinate computer calculates the absolute spatial positions where the scanner light beam is incident on the object at a given instant and continuously on a real time basis to generate a computer model of the object.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.