Control systems and methods for diffuse illumination
AssigneeMitutoyo Corporation
InventorPaul G. Gladnick
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A light pattern generator generates a pattern of continuous wave, modulated and/or pulsed light onto a face of a collimator. The light pattern is collimated by an optical element and directed to a focusing element which focuses the collimated light pattern onto a sample. A controller controls the pattern generator and the light source to determine a shape of the illuminated pattern on the face of the collimator. The controller also controls the frequency, positional phase angle and pulse width of the light source. Additionally, the controller may control the color of the light so that the color varies over time.
Claims43
An apparatus for controllably illuminating a sample diffusely, the apparatus comprising:
- a light pattern generation system that controllably generates a pattern of light, the pattern of light having at least one illumination area, each illumination area having at least one of an angle of incidence, a positional phase angle and an arc length;
- a collimator that receives and collimates the pattern of light;
- a focusing element that focuses the collimated pattern of light onto a sample;
- and
- a controller that controls the light pattern generation system to generate the pattern of light.
A method for controllably illuminating a sample diffusely, the method comprising:
- controllably generating a pattern of light, the pattern of light having at least one illumination area, each illumination area having at least one of an angle of incidence, a positional phase angle and an arc length;
- collimating the pattern of light;
- and
- focusing the collimated pattern of light onto the sample.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.