IMAGING SYSTEM AND METHOD
First Claim
1. An apparatus comprising a projection system for projecting a beam of energy onto a target surface, a receiving system for receiving reflected beam energy from the target surface, a detector for detecting the received energy;
- wherein the projection system comprises a beam expander for receiving a beam of energy and expanding the width of the beam, and a focusing device for focusing the projected beam.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus for measuring the coordinates of a point on the surface of an object comprises a projection system for projecting a beam of energy onto the surface of the object, a receiving system for receiving reflected beam energy from the target surface, and a detector for detecting the received energy. The projection system comprises a beam expander for expanding the width of the beam, and a focussing device for focussing the projected beam. The position of the reflected beam energy at the detector provides a measure of the range of the point on the target surface using triangulation and the direction of the projected beam provides the x and y coordinates. The focussing device can be controlled to vary the focal length of the projected beam and to control the beam size at the target object to vary the area of the target surface illuminated by the beam and thereby to control the resolution of the measurements.
112 Citations
113 Claims
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1. An apparatus comprising a projection system for projecting a beam of energy onto a target surface, a receiving system for receiving reflected beam energy from the target surface, a detector for detecting the received energy;
wherein the projection system comprises a beam expander for receiving a beam of energy and expanding the width of the beam, and a focusing device for focusing the projected beam. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 111, 112, 113)
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43. An apparatus comprising a projection system for projecting a beam of energy onto a target object, a receiving system for receiving reflected beam energy from the target object, a detector for detecting the received energy;
wherein said projection system comprises a focusing device for focusing the projected beam and wherein the width of the beam exiting said focusing device is 5 millimeters or more, 10 millimeters or more, 15 millimeters or more, 20 millimeters or more or 25 millimeters or more.
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44. An apparatus comprising a projection system for projecting a beam of energy onto a target object, a receiving system for receiving reflected beam energy from the target object, a detector for detecting the received energy;
wherein said projection system comprises a focusing device for focusing said projected beam to a beam width of 500 microns or less, 400 microns or less, 300 microns or less, 200 microns or less, 100 microns or less, 75 microns, 50 microns or less, or 25 microns or less.
- 45. An apparatus comprising a projection system for projecting a beam of energy onto a target object, a receiving system for receiving reflected beam energy from the target object, a detector for detecting the received energy, wherein said projection system comprises a focusing device for focusing the projected beam, a beam steering system comprising a first device for moving said beam along a first direction and a second device for moving said beam along a second direction orthogonal to said first direction, said first and second devices being spaced apart and a reflector between said first and second devices for reflecting a beam introduced along a plane transverse to the direction in which said first and second devices are spaced apart and between said first and second devices, towards said first device.
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47. An apparatus comprising a projection system for projecting a beam of energy onto a target object, a receiving system for receiving reflected beam energy from the target object, a detector for detecting the received energy;
wherein said projection system comprises a variable focusing device for varying the focal length of the projected beam and for focusing the beam onto the target object. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85)
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86. A method of obtaining information about a target object comprising the steps of:
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projecting a beam of energy onto a target object, measuring a parameter for use in focusing the beam onto the object, controlling the focal length of the beam based on said parameter to control the beam size at the target object, receiving beam energy reflected from said object, detecting the position of the reflected beam energy, and based on said detected position, determining the position of the beam on said target along a z-direction extending between said object and a reference position spaced from said object. - View Dependent Claims (87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108)
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109. A method of obtaining information about a target surface comprising generating from said surface first data containing information about said target surface,
identifying a feature from said first data, and generating from said target surface second data containing information about said feature, wherein the second data contains different information about said feature than said first data.
Specification