Electro-optical sensors with fiber optic bundles
DCFirst Claim
1. A method of determining the dimension, location, orientation, presence, or identity of at least a portion of an object, said method comprising the steps of:
- imaging at least a portion of an object onto an end of an at least partially non-coherent optical fiber bundle whereby the image incident on said end of said fiber bundle is transmitted to the other end thereof;
transferring said image from said other end of said non-coherent optical fiber bundle onto a photodetector comprising a plurality of discrete photodetector elements;
determining, from the output of said photodetector elements, a characteristic of the lighted or unlighted portion at the other end of said non-coherent fiber bundle; and
determining, from said characteristic, said dimension, location, orientation, presence, or identity of at least said portion of said object.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for determining the dimension, location, orientation, presence, or identity of at least a portion of an object. An object or a portion thereof is imaged onto an end of an at least partially non-coherent optical fiber bundle whereby the image incident on said end of said fiber bundle is transmitted to the other end thereof. The image is transferred from the other end of the non-coherent optical fiber bundle onto a photodetector comprising a plurality of discrete photodetector elements. The output of the photodetector elements is utilized to determine a characteristic of the lighted or unlighted portion at the other end of the non-coherent fiber bundle, and the characteristic is used to determine a dimension, location, orientation, presence, or identity of the object or portion thereof.
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Citations
71 Claims
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1. A method of determining the dimension, location, orientation, presence, or identity of at least a portion of an object, said method comprising the steps of:
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imaging at least a portion of an object onto an end of an at least partially non-coherent optical fiber bundle whereby the image incident on said end of said fiber bundle is transmitted to the other end thereof; transferring said image from said other end of said non-coherent optical fiber bundle onto a photodetector comprising a plurality of discrete photodetector elements; determining, from the output of said photodetector elements, a characteristic of the lighted or unlighted portion at the other end of said non-coherent fiber bundle; and determining, from said characteristic, said dimension, location, orientation, presence, or identity of at least said portion of said object. - 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)
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39. Apparatus for determining the dimension, location, orientation, presence or identity of at least a portion of an object comprising:
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means for imaging at least a portion of an object onto an end of an at least partially non-coherent optical fiber bundle whereby the image incident on said end of said fiber bundle is transmitted to the other end thereof; means for transferring said image from said other end of said non-coherent optical fiber bundle onto a photodetector comprising a plurality of discrete photodetector elements; means for determining, from the output of said photodetector elements, a characteristic of the lighted or unlighted portion at the other end of said non-coherent optical fiber bundle; and means for determining, from said characteristic, said dimension, location, orientation, presence or identity of at least said portion of said object. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71)
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Specification