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US 12,754,140 B2Granted
Tilt and focusing adjustment for consistent gem imaging
AssigneeGemological Institute of America, Inc. (GIA)
InventorsTsung-Han Tsai, Hiroshi Takahashi, Mehdi Toosi, Muhammed Bagdigen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods here may be used for automated alignment and focus adjustment for one or multiple sample gemstones on a stage, including determining gemstone sample tilt based on image data, automatically moving a stage to align the tilted sample, determining a focal plane that overlaps a focal point of a camera with the gemstone, and automatically moving a stage to the focal plane.
Claims19
A method comprising:
- by a computer with a processor and memory, in communication with a digital camera, a motorized adjustable aperture mounted on the digital camera, a light source, and at least one rotation motor to adjust pitch and roll of a stage,
- sending an instruction to the light source to generate a source of light that is directed toward a surface of the gemstone, wherein the light source is disposed offset from the digital camera and directs the light to a beam splitter to partially reflect the source of light toward the surface of the gemstone;
- determining if the gemstone on the stage is aligned with the digital camera, by analyzing a captured digital image of the gemstone taken by the digital camera,
- if the gemstone is not aligned, by the computer, aligning the gemstone with the digital camera by:
- opening the adjustable aperture to receive reflected light reflected from the surface of the gemstone and capturing, by the digital camera, an initial image of the gemstone;
- determining a location and a tilt of the gemstone based on the initial image by:
- determining a center pixel of an area of saturated pixels in the initial image;
- and
- determining a pixel shift that equates to a number of pixels between the center pixel of the area of saturated pixels and a center pixel of a field of view of the digital camera;
- sending an instruction to the motor to automatically rotate the stage on at least one of the pitch and roll axis based on the determined pixel shift to align the gemstone with the digital camera so that a table of the gemstone is nearly perpendicular to the digital camera, and the table and a table reflection is visible in a field of view of the digital camera;
- automatically reducing the adjustable aperture from an initial width to a reduced width to confine the reflected light to a smaller portion of the field of view of the digital camera;
- and
- capturing, by the digital camera, an image of the gemstone that includes the table reflection.
10 more elements
A system comprising:
- a computer with a processor and a memory, the computer in communication with a digital camera and at least one motor configured to rotate a stage,
- the digital camera having a motorized adjustable aperture and being mounted with a field-of-view covering at least a portion of the stage where a gemstone may be received for analysis;
- a light source disposed offset from the digital camera and configured to generate a source of light;
- and
- a beam splitter that is positioned to reflect a portion of the source of light from the light source toward a surface of the gemstone and to transmit to the adjustable aperture and the digital camera a reflected light reflected from the surface of the gemstone;
- and
- the computer is configured to:
- determine a location and a tilt of the gemstone based on an initial image captured by the digital camera by:
- determining a center pixel of an area of saturated pixels in the initial image;
- and
- determining a pixel shift that equates to a number of pixels between the center pixel of the area of saturated pixels and a center pixel of a field of view of the digital camera;
- send instruction to the at least one motor to rotate the stage on at least one of the pitch or roll axis using the determined pixel shift to align the tilt of the gemstone with the digital camera so that the table of the gemstone is perpendicular to the digital camera, and the table and a table reflection is visible in a field of view of the digital camera;
- automatically reduce the adjustable aperture from an initial width to a reduced width to confine the reflected light to a smaller portion of the field of view of the digital camera;
- send instruction to the at least one motor to move the stage in at least one of the X, Y and Z direction to center the table reflection within the field of view of the digital camera;
- and
- cause a capturing of, by the digital camera, an image of the gemstone that includes the table reflection.
13 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.