Measurement machine utilizing a barcode to identify an inspection plan for an object
AssigneeFaro Technologies, Inc.
InventorsMarkus Grau, David H. Parker
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a measurement machine for measuring an object, and more particularly to a measurement machine such as a portable articulated arm coordinate measuring machine or a laser tracker that measures an object according to a measurement or inspection plan that is identified by a machine readable information symbol located on the object to be measured or on a drawing (e.g., a CAD drawing) of the object.
Claims24
A method for inspecting a part according to an inspection plan, the method using a portable articulated arm coordinate measuring machine (AACMM) having a base;
- a manually positionable arm portion having opposed first and second ends, the second end of the arm portion being coupled to the base, the arm portion including a plurality of connected arm segments, each arm segment including at least one position transducer for producing a position signal;
- a measurement device coupled to the first end of the arm portion;
- and an electronic circuit which receives the position signal from the at least one position transducer and provides data corresponding to a position of the measurement device;
- the method comprising the steps of:
- generating an inspection plan for a part to be inspected to determine at least one characteristic of the part;
- generating a first machine readable information symbol that includes information that identifies the generated inspection plan;
- associating the first generated machine readable information symbol with the part;
- reading the first machine readable information symbol from the part with a reader device configured to translate the first machine readable information symbol to determine the information contained therein, the reader device being coupled to communicate with the AACMM;
- and
- measuring the at least one part characteristic according to the generated inspection plan identified by the first machine readable symbol.
A method for inspecting a part according to an inspection plan, the method using a laser tracker having a light source that emits a light beam towards a target located within an environment, and a reader device that captures the light beam reflected back to the laser scanner from the target located within the environment;
- the method comprising the steps of:
- generating an inspection plan for a part to be inspected to determine at least one characteristic of the part;
- generating a first machine readable information symbol that identifies the generated inspection plan;
- associating the generated first machine readable information symbol with the part;
- reading the first machine readable information symbol with the reader device associated with the laser tracker;
- and
- inspecting the part according to the generated inspection plan identified by the first machine readable information symbol read by the reader device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.