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US 7,355,721 B2Granted
Optical coherence tomography imaging
AssigneeD4D Technologies, LLC
InventorsMark Quadling, Henley Quadling, Alan Blair
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A digitized image of an object may include representations of portions of the object that are obscured, occluded or otherwise unobservable. The image may be a multi-dimensional visual representation of dentition. Characteristics of the dentition and its surfaces, contours, and shape may be determined and/or analyzed. A light may be directed toward and reflected from the dentition. The reflected light may be combined with a reference to determine characteristics of the dentition, including obscured areas such as subgingival tissue.
Claims18
An intra-oral digitizer, comprising:
- a light source configured to generate a beam of structured light having constituent components;
- a reference arm configured to generate a reference beam of light based on the beam of structured light;
- a projector configured to project the beam of structured light toward an object and to detect a reflection of at least a portion of the beam, the beam being projected toward the object as a dot that traverses a two dimensional (2D) pattern across a three dimensional (3D) outer surface associated with the object to generate reflection data representing the 3D outer surface associated with the object;
- a coupler configured to combine the reference beam and the reflection to generate a superimposed interference light pattern;
- a sensor configured to generate a signal that represents the superimposed interference light pattern;
- and
- a processor configured to generate a dataset representative of the three dimensional (3D) outer surface of the object, wherein the dataset is generated from information consisting essentially of the reflection data.
4 more elements
An imaging system, comprising:
- a projector configured to project a beam of structured light toward an object having a three dimensional (3D) outer surface and to detect a reflection of at least a portion of the beam of structured light from the three dimensional outer surface of the object, wherein the beam of structured light is projected toward the object as a dot that traverses a two dimensional (2D) pattern to generate reflection data representing a 3D outer surface of the object;
- a coupler configured to generate a superimposed interference pattern including the reflection and a baseline reference beam of light, the baseline reference beam of light being based on the structured beam of light;
- and
- a processor configured to generate a dataset representative of the three dimensional outer surface of the object based on the superimposed interference pattern, wherein the dataset is generated from information consisting essentially of the reflection data.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.