Intraoral scanner with improved ray footprint
AssigneeAlign Technology, Inc.
InventorsYossef Atiya, Tal Verker, Nir Makmel
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Abstract
An intraoral scanner comprises a light source for generating light, an optics system for focusing the light, and a light-guiding part having an entrance and an exit. The light source, the optics system and the light-guiding part are arranged such that the light passes through the optics system, enters the light-guiding part via the entrance, and exits the light-guiding part via the exit. The optics system is configured such that, upon entering the light-guiding part, an outermost chief ray of the light with respect to an optical axis of the optics system is divergent to the optical axis and an outermost marginal ray of the light with respect to the optical axis is parallel or divergent to the optical axis.
Claims22
An apparatus for intraoral imaging, the apparatus comprising:
- a light source for generating light;
- an optics system for focusing the light;
- and
- a light-guiding part having an entrance and an exit,
- wherein the light source, the optics system and the light-guiding part are arranged such that the light passes through the optics system, enters the light-guiding part via the entrance, and exits the light-guiding part via the exit, and
- wherein the optics system is configured such that, upon entering the light-guiding part, an outermost chief ray of the light with respect to an optical axis of the optics system is divergent to the optical axis and an outermost marginal ray of the light with respect to the optical axis is parallel or divergent to the optical axis.
An apparatus for confocal imaging, the apparatus comprising:
- a light source for generating light;
- an optics system for focusing the light;
- and
- a light-guiding part having an entrance and an exit,
- wherein the light source, the optics system and the light-guiding part are arranged such that chief rays of the light before entering the light-guiding part are divergent to each other, and
- wherein an off-axis chief ray of the light diverges at a divergence angle with respect to an optical axis and an outer marginal ray of the light converges at an angle with respect to the off-axis chief ray that is complementary to the divergence angle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.