Handheld color measurement instrument

• US 6,262,804 B1
• Filed: 05/15/2000
• Issued: 07/17/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: X-Rite Incorporated (Danaher Corporation)
• Original Assignee: X-Rite Incorporated (Danaher Corporation)
• Inventors: Peterson, Steven H., Friend, Timothy R., Baker, Douglas V.
• Primary Examiner(s): EVANS, FANNIE L
• Application Number:
  US09/570,718
• Time in Patent Office: 428 Days
• Field of Search: 356/402, 356/405, 356/406, 356/407, 356/72, 235/462.45, 235/472.01
• US Class Current: 356/402
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/02 Details
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/0272 Handheld
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/0291 Housings; Spectrometer accessories; Spatial arrangement of elements, e.g. folded path arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/50 using electric radiation detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/524 Calibration of colorimeters

Abstract

The specification discloses a handheld color measurement instrument including a housing adapted to be held by a human hand. A plurality of support rollers support the housing for movement in a linear direction. A color measurement engine is contained within the housing and includes an aperture opening through the bottom of the housing. The housing includes a pair or pairs of elements defining a line parallel to the linear direction and aligned with the aperture to facilitate alignment of the instrument for scanning. The color measurement engine within the housing includes photodetectors on only one side of the aperture, enabling the aperture to be positioned adjacent the nose of the housing. The support rollers are proximate the perimeter of the housing, and an encoder wheel is inward of the support rollers and proximate the aperture. The instrument is capable of reading barcodes, for example for configuring the instrument, and of reading color samples.

Claims

1. A handheld color measurement instrument comprising:

a housing having a bottom;

wheel means for supporting said housing for rolling movement in a linear direction;

a color measurement engine within said housing and having an aperture through said bottom; and

line definition means on said housing for defining a line parallel to said linear direction and aligned with said aperture.

2. A handheld color measurement instrument as defined in claim 1 wherein said line definition means comprises said housing including a pair of wings extending from the remainder of said housing.

3. A handheld color measurement instrument as defined in claim 1 wherein said line definition means comprises said housing defining a pair of notches.

4. A handheld color measurement instrument as defined in claim 1 wherein said line definition means comprises a pair of lights supported by said housing.

5. A handheld color measurement instrument comprising:

a housing adapted to be grasped by a human hand, said housing having a bottom;

an optical assembly within said housing and having an aperture through said bottom of said housing;

means within said bottom for supporting said housing for movement in a linear direction only; and

line definition means on said housing for visually defining a line extending through said aperture and parallel to said linear direction, whereby said line definition means can be used in aligning said aperture with a target so that said aperture can be accurately moved over the target.

6. A handheld color measurement instrument as defined in claim 5 wherein said line definition means comprises a pair of lights supported by said housing.

7. A handheld color measurement instrument as defined in claim 5 wherein said line definition means comprises said housing defining a pair of notches.

8. A handheld color measurement instrument as defined in claim 5 wherein said line definition means comprises said housing including a pair of wings extending from the remainder of said housing.

9. A handheld color measurement instrument comprising:

a housing have a blunt nose and a bottom;

a color measurement engine within said housing and having an aperture extending through said bottom proximate said blunt nose, said engine having a plurality of photodetectors arranged in an arc of 180 degrees or less around said aperture, the distance between any one of said photodetectors and said blunt nose being the same or greater than the distance between said aperture and said blunt nose.

10. A handheld color measurement instrument comprising:

a housing adapted to be grasped by a human hand, said housing have a blunt nose and a bottom;

a color measurement engine within said housing and including an aperture opening through said bottom and proximate said blunt nose, said engine further including a plurality of photodetectors arranged about said aperture, each of said photodetectors being at least as far from said blunt nose as said aperture is from said blunt nose.

11. A handheld color measurement instrument comprising:

a housing have a bottom having a perimeter;

a color measurement engine within said housing and having an aperture through said bottom;

at least four rolling elements within said bottom for supporting said housing for rolling movement on a surface, all of said rolling elements being proximate said perimeter of said bottom; and

an encoder wheel within said bottom, said encoder wheel being interior of any of said rolling elements, said encoder wheel being proximate said aperture.

12. A handheld color measurement instrument comprising:

a housing;

means for supporting said housing for movement over a surface having at least one of a barcode and a color target;

a single color measurement engine within said housing for detecting light reflected by barcodes and color targets on the surface; and

processing means within said housing for processing the signals generated by said single color measurement engine as said instrument is moved over the surface, said processing means being capable of reading a barcode and generating signals indicative of the information content of the barcode, said processing means further being capable of and reading a color target and generating signals indicative of the color content of the target.

13. A handheld color measurement instrument as defined in claim 12 wherein said processing means is further capable of reading different bar codes of different colors or combinations of colors.

14. A handheld color measurement instrument comprising:

a housing;

a single color measurement engine within said housing;

means for supporting said housing for movement over a surface; and

processing means connected to said single color measurement engine for reading and decoding a barcode and for reading a color sample and generating color information related to the color sample.

15. A handheld color measurement instrument as defined in claim 14 wherein said processing means is for reading and decoding different bar codes of different colors or combinations of colors.

16. A handheld color measurement instrument as defined in claim 14 wherein said instrument further comprises:

roller means for rotatably supporting said housing for movement in a linear direction only; and

line definition means for defining a line parallel to the linear direction and aligned with the color measurement engine, whereby said line definition means facilitates alignment of said instrument with a target to be scanned.