System and method for estimating the height of an object using tomosynthesis-like techniques

A system to estimate the height profile of an object, said system comprising:

• means for acquiring a plurality of raw images of an object to be characterized, where said plurality of raw images are representative of a plurality of spatial shifts between said means for acquiring and said object to be characterized occurring parallel to a surface that the object to be characterized is resting upon;
• means for processing said plurality of raw images to generate a plurality of composite images, where each composite image of said plurality of composite images corresponds to a unique image shift between spatially adjacent raw images and is made up of a plurality of image pixel locations;
• means for calculating a volatility parameter value within a neighborhood of at least one same image pixel location of said plurality of image pixel locations for each of said plurality of composite images;
• means for determining which composite image of said plurality of composite images has a largest volatility parameter value for said at least one same image pixel location;
• means for transforming said unique image shift, corresponding to said composite image having said largest volatility parameter value, into a height value representative of a height dimension of said at least one same image pixel location;
• means for generating a height value for each image pixel location of said plurality of image pixel locations to form a height profile image of said object to be characterized;
• and
• means for comparing said height profile image to at least one reference image to find any defects in said object to be characterized.

An apparatus to estimate the height profile of an object, said apparatus comprising:

• at least one imaging device configured to acquire a plurality of raw images of an object to be characterized, where said plurality of raw images are representative of a plurality of spatial shifts between said at least one imaging device and said object to be characterized occurring parallel to a surface that the object to be characterized is resting upon;
• and
• a vision engine operatively connected to said at least one imaging device and configured to:
• process said plurality of raw images to generate a plurality of composite images, where each composite image of said plurality of composite images corresponds to a unique image shift between spatially adjacent raw images and is made up of a plurality of image pixel locations;
• calculate a volatility parameter value within a neighborhood of at least one same image pixel location of said plurality of image pixel locations for each of said plurality of composite images,
• determine which composite image of said plurality of composite images has a largest volatility parameter value for said at least one same image pixel location,
• transform said unique image shift, corresponding to said composite image having said largest volatility parameter value, into a height value representative of a height dimension of said at least one same image pixel location,
• generate a height value for each image pixel location of said plurality of image pixel locations to form a height profile image of said object to be characterized, and
• compare said height profile image to at least one reference image to find any defects in said object to be characterized.