Patent · US Expired

Method for measuring the contour of a surface

US5500737A · kind A · utility

51Cited by
15References
1Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJul 21, 1993
Grant dateMar 19, 1996
Priority date
Expiry dateJul 21, 2013

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06T7/521
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A method for measuring the contour of a surface using a high intensity light source, optics for projecting a line of light on the surface to illuminate a selected contour feature of the surface, an optical detector which generates an image of the selected contour feature, and a processing unit which fits at least one contour segment to the image of the selected contour feature and determines contour characteristics from the contour segment. The method includes a calibration step which corrects for distortion and keystone effect in the image caused by off-axis imaging of the illuminated contour feature by adjusting vertical and horizontal grid lines of an electronically created image with the off-axis image of the contour surface.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.