# US 2010/0165358 A1 · Method and apparatus for imaging three-dimensional structure > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2010/0165358 A1 - Document ID: US20100165358A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 12/654,699 - Filed: 2009-12-29 - Published: 2010-07-01 - Earliest claimed: 1998-08-05 - Assignees: Cadent Ltd. - Inventors: Noam Babayoff; Isaia Glaser-Inbari - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20100165358A1 ## CPC - A61C 9/0066: {Depth determination through adaptive focusing} - A61B 1/00096: {Optical elements} - A61B 1/0625: {for multiple fixed illumination angles} - A61B 1/24: for the mouth, i.e. stomatoscopes, e.g. with tongue depressors; Instruments for opening or keeping open the mouth - A61B 5/0064: {Body surface scanning} - A61B 5/0088: {for oral or dental tissue} - A61B 5/1077: {Measuring of profiles} - A61C 5/77: Methods or devices for making crowns - A61C 9/0053: {Optical means or methods, e.g. scanning the teeth by a laser or light beam} - A61C 13/0004: {Computer-assisted sizing or machining of dental prostheses} - G01B 11/24: for measuring contours or curvatures - G01B 11/25: by projecting a pattern, e.g. {one or more lines,} moiré fringes on the object (G01B11/255 takes precedence {; image analysis for depth or shape recovery G06T7/50}) - A61B 5/4547: {Evaluating teeth} - G16H 20/40: relating to mechanical, radiation or invasive therapies, e.g. surgery, laser therapy, dialysis or acupuncture - A61C: DENTISTRY; APPARATUS OR METHODS FOR ORAL OR DENTAL HYGIENE (non-driven toothbrushes A46B; {tongue scrapers A61B17/24;} preparations for dentistry A61K6/00; preparations for cleaning the teeth or mouth A61K8/00, A61Q11/00) - A61B: DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION (usefulness limited to only animals A61D) - G01B: MEASURING LENGTH, THICKNESS OR SIMILAR LINEAR DIMENSIONS; MEASURING ANGLES; MEASURING AREAS; MEASURING IRREGULARITIES OF SURFACES OR CONTOURS - G16H: HEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA ## Abstract An apparatus for determining surface topology of a portion of a three-dimensional structure is provided, that includes a probing member, an illumination unit, a light focusing optics, a translation mechanism, a detector and a processor. ## Claims ### Claim at position 1 -17. (canceled) ### Claim 18 An apparatus for determining surface topology of a portion of a three-dimensional structure, comprising: a probing member with a sensing face; an illumination unit for providing an array of incident light beams transmitted towards the structure along an optical path through said probing unit to generate illuminated spots on said portion; a light focusing optics defining one or more focal planes forward said probing face at a position changeable by said optics, each light beam having its focus on one of said one or more focal plane; a translation mechanism for displacing said focal plane relative to the structure along an axis defined by the propagation of the incident light beams; a detector having an array of sensing elements for measuring intensity of each of a plurality of light beams returning from said spots propagating through an optical path opposite to that of the incident light beams; and a processor coupled to said detector for determining for each light beam a spot-specific position, being the position of the respective focal plane of said one or more focal planes yielding maximum measured intensity of the returned light beam, and based on the determined spot-specific positions, generating data representative of the topology of portion. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein said illumination unit comprises a source emitting a parent light beam and a beam splitter for splitting the parent beam into said array of incident light beams. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The apparatus according to claim 19, wherein said illumination unit comprises a grating or microlens array. ### Claim 21 (depends on 18) The apparatus according to claim 18, comprising a polarizer for polarizing said incident light beams are polarized. ### Claim 22 (depends on 21) The apparatus according to claim 21, comprising a polarization filter for filtering out from the returned light beams light components having the polarization of the incident light beams. ### Claim 23 (depends on 18) The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the illumination unit comprises at least two light sources and each of said incident beams is composed of light components from the at least two light sources. ### Claim 24 (depends on 23) The apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the at least two light sources each emit a light component of different wavelength. ### Claim 25 (depends on 24) The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein said light directing optics defines a different focal plane for each light component and the detector independently detects intensity of each light component. ### Claim 26 (depends on 25) The apparatus according to claim 25, wherein the at least two light sources are located so as to define optical paths of different lengths for the incident light beams emitted by each of the at least two light sources. ### Claim 27 (depends on 18) The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein said focusing optics operates in a telecentric confocal mode. ### Claim 28 (depends on 18) The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein said light directing optics comprises optical fibers. ### Claim 29 (depends on 18) The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein said sensing elements are an array of charge coupled devices (CCD). ### Claim 30 (depends on 29) The apparatus according to claim 29, wherein said detector unit comprises a pinhole array, each pinhole corresponding to one of the CCDs in the CCD array. ### Claim 31 (depends on 18) The apparatus according to claim 18, comprising a unit for generating data for transmission to CAD/CAM device. ### Claim 32 (depends on 31) The apparatus according to claim 31, comprising a communication port of a communication medium. ### Claim 33 (depends on 18) The apparatus according to claim 18, for determining surface topology of a teeth portion, comprising an optical probing member for placing proximal to the teeth.