Detecting tool orientation, alignment, depth, and leveling

An apparatus, comprising:

• a tool;
• and
• a depth detector mounted on said tool, wherein said depth detector includes:
• one or more laser sources adapted to provide one or more laser beams;
• and
• one or more optical elements each aligned to receive a respective laser beam in said one or more laser beams, wherein:
• said one or more optical elements are adapted to convert said one or more laser beams into one or more sets of laser outputs,
• said one or more sets of laser outputs form one or more sets of patterns on an incident surface;
• and
• a spatial relationship between a first set of patterns in said one or more sets of patterns and a second set of patterns in said one or more sets of patterns changes in a predefined manner as a distance between said one or more optical elements and said incident surface changes.

An apparatus, comprising:

• a tool;
• and
• a level detector mounted to said tool, wherein said level detector includes:
• one or more laser sources adapted to provide one or more laser beams;
• and
• one or more optical elements each aligned to receive a respective laser beam in said one or more laser beams, wherein:
• said one or more optical elements are adapted to provide a set of laser planes,
• said set of laser planes includes a first laser plane intersecting a second laser plane at an intersection line, and
• said intersection line appears on an incident surface if said incident surface has a predefined topographical condition.

An alignment detector, comprising:

• one or more laser sources adapted to provide one or more laser beams;
• and
• one or more optical elements each aligned to receive a respective laser beam in said one or more laser beams, wherein:
• said one or more optical elements are adapted to convert said one or more laser beams into a plurality of laser planes,
• said plurality of laser planes form a predefined pattern on an incident surface when said incident surface has a predefined relationship to said alignment detector, and
• said one or more sets of laser planes includes:
• a first set of laser planes having a first laser plane and a second laser plane, and
• a second set of laser planes having a third laser plane and a fourth laser plane.

A depth detector, comprising:

• one or more laser sources adapted to provide one or more laser beams;
• and
• one or more optical elements each aligned to receive a respective laser beam in said one or more laser beams, wherein:
• said one or more optical elements are adapted to convert said one or more laser beams into one or more sets of laser outputs,
• said one or more sets of laser outputs form one or more sets of patterns on an incident surface;
• and
• a spatial relationship between a first set of patterns in said one or more sets of patterns and a second set of patterns in said one or more sets of patterns changes in a predefined manner as a distance between said one or more optical elements and said incident surface changes.

A level detector, comprising

• one or more laser sources adapted to provide one or more laser beams;
• and
• one or more optical elements each aligned to receive a respective laser beam in said one or more laser beams, wherein:
• said one or more optical elements are adapted to provide a set of laser planes,
• said set of laser planes includes a first laser plane intersecting a second laser plane at an intersection line, and
• said intersection line appears on an incident surface if said incident surface has a predefined topographical condition.