Key scanning

A key scanning apparatus, comprising:

• at least one light source arranged to direct a beam of light towards a blade of a key;
• a camera arranged to capture at least a portion of the beam of light reflected by the blade of the key;
• memory storing at least one computer program comprising computer program instructions;
• and
• at least one processor that, when executing the computer program instructions, is configured to:
• determine, at least in part from stored key replication data, a plurality of decoding positions at which the blade of the key is to be scanned in order to decode the key;
• adjust a position of the light source in order to cause the light source to direct the beam of light towards the blade of the key at each of the plurality of decoding positions, wherein, for each decoding position, the position of the light source is adjusted to direct the beam of light towards the blade of the key at one or more positions that are offset from the decoding position;
• obtain at least one image, from the camera, of at least a portion of the beam of light reflected from the blade of the key at each of the plurality of decoding positions, and obtain, for each decoding position, at least one image, from the camera, of the blade of the key at the one or more offset positions based on at least a portion of the beam of light reflected by the blade of the key;
• and
• determine, for each decoding position, one or more properties of a shape of the blade of the key by analysing the images of the beam of light at the decoding positions and the one or more offset positions for each decoding position, in order to decode the key.

An apparatus, comprising:

• memory storing at least one computer program comprising computer program instructions;
• and
• at least one processor that, when executing the computer program instructions, is configured to:
• cause a camera to capture at least one image depicting an outline of a key having a length in a length dimension and a width in a width dimension, the key comprising a head and a blade;
• identify the blade in the at least one image;
• process the at least one image to simulate reconstruction of at least one edge of the blade of the key along the length dimension and thereby form a reconstructed key;
• determine a travel distance, for the reconstructed key in the length dimension, into each of a plurality of two-dimensional areas by comparing a width of the reconstructed key with a width of a two-dimensional area at multiple positions along a length of the reconstructed key from a tip of the reconstructed blade, wherein the travel distance corresponds with a distance from the tip of the reconstructed blade to a position along the length dimension at which the width of the reconstructed key becomes greater than the width of the two-dimensional area, and wherein each two-dimensional area corresponds with a blade of a key blank;
• determine, for each two-dimensional area, a width of the reconstructed key at a position along the length dimension that corresponds, at least approximately, with the travel distance;
• determine, for each two-dimensional area, whether the travel distance of the reconstructed key in the length dimension matches, at least approximately, the length of the two-dimensional area and determine, for each two-dimensional area, whether the determined width of the reconstructed key, at a position along the length of the reconstructed key based on the travel distance, at least approximately matches the width of the two-dimensional area;
• and
• identify one or more key blanks associated with one or more of the two-dimensional areas that have a length that matches, at least approximately, the travel distance and a width that matches, at least approximately, the width of the reconstructed key at a position along the length dimension that corresponds, at least approximately, with the travel distance.

An apparatus, comprising:

• memory storing at least one computer program comprising computer program instructions;
• and
• at least one processor that, when executing the computer program instructions, is configured to:
• cause at least one image of a key to be captured, the image depicting a blade of the key that includes cuts in an edge of the blade, wherein the blade in the at least one image has a length in a length dimension and a width in a width dimension;
• determine, at least in part from stored key replication data, a plurality of decoding positions for the cuts in the blade;
• determine a plurality of examining positions, for each decoding position, at which to examine each of the cuts in the edge of the blade depicted in the image, wherein each examining position in a plurality of examining positions for a decoding position has a corresponding examining position in each of the other plurality of examining positions for the other decoding positions, each corresponding examining position being the same distance from its decoding position, wherein corresponding examining positions form a set of examining positions;
• for each set of examining positions, examine the cuts in the edge of the blade by determining, for each corresponding examining position in a set of examining positions, how long the edge of the blade remains substantially parallel to the length dimension;
• determine at least one value to store, for each set of examining positions, corresponding with how long the edge of the blade remains substantially parallel to the length dimension;
• determine, from the stored values, an optimum set of examining positions at which to determine, from the at least one image, a size of each cut in the blade of the key;
• and
• decode the key at least in part by determining a size of a cut in the blade of the key at each of the examining positions in the optimum set of examining positions.