Back to results
US 5,177,556 AGranted
Three dimensional color imaging
AssigneeNational Research Council of Canada
InventorMarc Rioux
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Loading patent…
Loading patent…
AssigneeNational Research Council of Canada
InventorMarc Rioux
Estimating the term…
Three dimensional digital imaging of the profile of a surface of an object is improved to include the collection of data on the color of the surface, this result being achieved with only minor changes to a monochromatic 3-D camera and without the complications of multiple detectors or multiple color filters. The surface is scanned with an incident beam of light that contains a plurality of wavelengths including at least one well defined wavelength, e.g. either three well defined wavelengths corresponding respectively to the primary colors, or a continuum of visible light plus one well defined wavelength outside such continuum. The return beam that is analyzed to generate the digital profile data is dispersed into a plurality of separate return beams according to wavelength, the relative intensities of such separate return beams providing the color data.
An optical method of determining the color and profile of a target surface, comprising
An optical method of determining the color and profile of a target surface, comprising scanning the surface with an incident beam of light and imaging a return beam reflected from the surface onto detecting means for generating signals representative of said profile, the detecting means including a position sensitive detector, characterised in that
An optical apparatus for determining the color and profile of a target surface, comprising
Apparatus for determining the color and profile of a target surface, comprising a source for producing an incident beam of light, means for scanning said beam over the target surface, detecting means including a position sensitive detector for connection to a microprocessor, an optical system for imaging a return beam of light reflected back from the surface onto the detecting means, the return beam being indicative of the ranges of points on the surface and hence of the profile of the surface, characterized in that the source produces a plurality of wavelengths including at least one well defined wavelength, and further characterized by means for dispersing the return beam into a plurality of separate return beams according to wavelength to enable the color of the surface to be determined by the microprocessor by measuring the relative intensities of signals received from the position sensitive detector corresponding to respective ones of said plurality of separate return beams.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.