Color measuring spectrophotometer
First Claim
1. A digital, abridged spectrophotometer comprising:
- a detecting head with a housing defining a roughly spherical, reflective internal surface, a light source mounted for illuminating said internal surface, a viewing port for receiving a sample image to be analyzed, a plurality of photo-responsive devices each mounted for receiving light over the whole of said sort, a plurality of light filters each removing incident light except from a different band and each mounted so that output light is incident on one of said photoresponsive devices, anddigital computer means for determining the electrical conditions of said photo-responsive devices and calculating color values.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A digital, abridged spectrophotometer with a detecting head defining a roughly spherical, reflective inner surface broken by a viewing port and a light source port with a number of filtered photodiodes mounted in the head for each receiving light from a sample or standard in the viewing port. A standard sheet of vitrolite is mounted on the housing for movement with a plunger, which trips a switch, to cover the viewing port, while a standard black sheet can be pivoted to cover the viewing port for the calibration which precedes each reading. A digital computer calculates the tristimulus values from the signals produced by the photodiodes and provides signals for a display of the color values.
-
Citations
64 Claims
-
1. A digital, abridged spectrophotometer comprising:
-
a detecting head with a housing defining a roughly spherical, reflective internal surface, a light source mounted for illuminating said internal surface, a viewing port for receiving a sample image to be analyzed, a plurality of photo-responsive devices each mounted for receiving light over the whole of said sort, a plurality of light filters each removing incident light except from a different band and each mounted so that output light is incident on one of said photoresponsive devices, and digital computer means for determining the electrical conditions of said photo-responsive devices and calculating color values. - 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. A digital, abridged spectrophotometer comprising:
-
a detecting head having a housing providing a viewing port for receiving a sample to be color analyzed, means, including substantially more than five photo-responsive devices each having light receiving means mounted inside said housing to receive incident light from said port with said devices being responsive to a different color band, for simultaneously providing exteriorly of said housing a corresponding number of output signals varying as a function of the respectively received incident light, standardizing means including at least one standard color sample, means for moving said standardizing means between a sample off port position and a sample port covering position, and digital computer means for interrogating each of said photo-responsive devices and determining the color values of material over said viewing port including recalibration means responsive to each of said output signals for calculating the present reflectance equations respectively for said different color bands after said standardizing means has been moved to said port covering position and means operative automatically then on the basis of said present reflectance equations for determining in response to the instant output signals then received from said-photo-responsive devices the reflectance and color quantifier values of an unknown color sample of material covering said port. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
-
-
43. A digital abridged spectrophotometer for determining color values of material of unknown color comprising:
-
detecting means including a detecting head having a viewing port for receiving said material to be color analyzed, said detecting means including source means for providing light over the visible spectrum inside said head and substantially more than five photo-responsive devices each having light receiving means mounted inside said head for receiving incident reflected light from said port with said devices being responsive over all said spectrum respectively to a different color band for simultaneously providing exteriorly of said head a corresponding number of signals varying as a function of the respectively received incident light, standardizing means including two differently colored standard samples, means for alternately moving each of said samples between a sample off port position and a sample port covering position during calibrating times and for moving one of said samples to said port covering position with said material therebetween during color analyzing times, control means for interrogating each of said photoresponsive devices including digital computer means for calibrating from signals derived by said photo-responsive devices effectively viewing said standard samples alternately once for each color analyzing time, means for alternately establishing said calibrating and analyzing times, and means in said digital computer for calculating the color values from the signals received from said photoresponsive devices during said color analyzing times. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
-
-
51. A digital abridged spectrophotometer comprising:
-
a detecting head including a plurality of photoresponsive devices each mounted for receiving incident light over a different color band and providing an output signal varying as a function of received light, control means for interrogating each of said photoresponsive devices including means for calibrating from signals derived by said photo-responsive devices viewing a standard sample prior to each sample reading, means for providing a given time after calibration for sample reading, and means for calculating the color values from the signals received from said photo-responsive devices during a sample reading, wherein said detecting head further includes a housing, movable member means, means mounting said movable member means on said housing for movement from a rest position to a position immediately over said viewing port, a sheet of standard color material mounted on said movable member means for covering said viewing port when said member means is immediately, over said viewing port, and switch means mounted adjacent said member for operating said control means when said standard sheet is covering said viewing port. - View Dependent Claims (52)
-
-
53. A digital abridged spectrophotometer comprising:
-
a detecting head including a plurality of photoresponsive devices each mounted for receiving incident light over a different color band and providing an output signal varying as a function of received light, control means for interrogating each of said photoresponsive devices including means for calibrating from signals derived by said photo-responsive devices viewing a standard sample prior to each sample reading, means for providing a given time after calibration for sample reading, and means for calculating the color values from the signals received from said photo-responsive devices during a sample reading, wherein said detecting head further includes a housing, movable member means, means mounting said movable member means on said housing for movement from a rest position to a position immediately over said viewing port, a sheet of standard color material mounted on said movable member means for covering said viewing port when said member means is immediately over said viewing port, and means for mounting said photo-responsive devices in said housing concentrically about an axis which substantially perpendicularly intersects the center of said viewing port. - View Dependent Claims (54)
-
-
55. A digital abridged spectrophotometer comprising:
-
a detecting head including a plurality of photoresponsive devices each mounted for receiving incident light over a different color band and providing an output signal varying as a function of received light, control means for interrogating each of said photoresponsive devices including means for calibrating from signals derived by said photo-responsive devices viewing a standard sample prior to each sample reading, means for providing a given time after calibration for sample reading, and means for calculating the color values from the signals received from said photo-responsive devices during a sample reading wherein said detecting head further includes a housing, movable member means on said housing for movement from a rest position to a position immediately over said viewing port, and a sheet of standard color material mounted on said movable member means for covering said viewing port when said member means is immediately over said viewing port, wherein said housing has a light port for receiving light from said source, said detecting head includes means for mounting said light source adjacent said light port, and said light source mounting means includes a plurality of fins for cooling.
-
-
56. A digital abridged spectrophotometer comprising:
-
a detecting head including a plurality of photoresponsive devices each mounted for receiving incident ligh over a different color band and providing an output signal varying as a function of received light, control means for interrogating each of said photoresponsive devices includng means for calibrating from signals derived by said photo-responsive devices viewing a standard sample prior to each sample reading. means for providing a given time after calibration for sample reading, and means for calculating the color values from the signals received from said photo-responsive devices during a sample reading, wherein said detecting head further includes a housing, movable member means, means mounting said movable member means on said housing for movement from a rest position to a position immediately over said viewing port, and a sheet of standard color material mounted on said movable member means for covering said viewing point when said member means is immediately over said viewing port, wherein said housing has a light port for receiving light from said source and wherein said detecting means includes means for mounting said light source adjacent said light port, and further including means for circulating air through said light source mounting means and past said housing for cooling.
-
-
57. A digital abridged spectrophotometer comprising:
-
a detecting head including a plurality of photoresponsive devices each mounted for receiving incident light over a different color band and providing an output signal varying as a function of received light, control means for interrogating each of said photoresponsive devices including means for calibrating from signals derived by said photo-responsive devices viewing a standard sample prior to each sample reading, means for providing a given time after calibration for sample reading, and means for calculating the color values from the signals received from said photo-responsive devices during a sample reading, wherein said detecting head further includes a housing, movable member means, means mounting said movable member means on said housing for movement from a rest position to a position immediately over said viewing port, and a sheet of standard color material mounted on said movable member means for covering said viewing port when said member means is immediately over said viewing port, and said housing is provided with cooling fins.
-
-
58. A digital abridged spectrophotometer comprising:
-
a detecting head including a plurality of photoresponsive devices each mounted for receiving incident light over a different color band and providing an output siganl varying as a function of received light, control means for interrogating each of said photoresponsive devices including means for calibrating from signals derived by said photo-responsive devices viewing a standard sample prior to each sample reading, means for providing a given time after calibration for sample reading, and means for calculating the color values from the signals received from said photo-responsive devices during a sample reading, wherein said detecting head further includes a housing, movable member means, means mounting said movable member means on said housing for movement from a rest position to a position immediately over said viewing port, and a sheet of standard color material mounted on said movable member means for covering said viewing port when said member means is immediately over said viewing port, and said housing includes means for mounting said housing on a table.
-
-
59. A digital abridged spectrophotometer comprising:
-
a detecting head including a plurality of photoresponsive devices each mounted for receiving incident light over a different color band and providing an output signal varying as a function of received light, control means for interrogating each of said photoresponsive devices including means for calibrating from signals derived by said photo-responsive devices viewing a standard sample prior to each sample reading, means for providing a given time after calibration for sample reading, and means for calculating the color values from the signals received from said photo-responsive devices during a sample reading, wherein said detecting head further includes a housing, movable member means, means mounting said movable member means on said housing for movement from a rest position to a position immediately over said viewing port, and a sheet of standard color material mounted on said movable member means for covering said viewing port when said member means is immediately over said viewing port, and wherein said photo-responsive devices are photo-diodes. - View Dependent Claims (60)
-
-
61. A method of measuring the color of a sample comprising the steps of:
-
calibrating by color analyzing a standard sheet of material, establishing a predetermined time window following said calibration, calculating the color values for a sample only if the sample is analyzed within said time window. - View Dependent Claims (62, 63)
-
-
64. A digital, abridged spectrophotometer comprising:
-
a detecting head having a housing providing a viewing port, a plurality of photo-responsive devices each mounted in said housing for receiving incident light and being responsive to a different color band for providing an output signal varying as a function of the received light, a sheet of standard color material, means mounted on said housing for moving said standard sheet from a rest position to a position immediately over said port, said moving means including a manually operated plunger member and means mounting said plunger member for movement from a rest position to a position immediately over said viewing port, and digital computer means for interrogating each of said photo-responsive devices and determining the color values of material over said port.
-
Specification