Method and apparatus for determining the coordinates of an object
First Claim
1. An apparatus for determining the coordinates of an object, comprising:
- (a) a modulated light source having pixels whose light intensity may be individually modulated, wherein said light source is directed toward said object;
(b) an image detector having a plurality of pixels for receiving light reflected from said object; and
(c) means for determining the coordinates of points wherefrom pixels of light are reflected from the surface of said object, wherein the determination is responsive to the relative location and intensity of pixels registered on said imaging detector such that the relative intensities are mathematically correlated with the modulation of the light source to resolve the proportional loss of light intensity and the position of said pixels at said modulated light source and from which the location of the associated point of reflection may be determined by triangulation.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus is described for determining the coordinates on the surface of an object which is illuminated by a beam having pixels which have been modulated according to predetermined mathematical relationships with pixel position within the modulator. The reflected illumination is registered by an image sensor at a known location which registers the intensity of the pixels as received. Computations on the intensity, which relate the pixel intensities received to the pixel intensities transmitted at the modulator, yield the proportional loss of intensity and planar position of the originating pixels. The proportional loss and position information can then be utilized within triangulation equations to resolve the coordinates of associated surface locations on the object.
33 Citations
33 Claims
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1. An apparatus for determining the coordinates of an object, comprising:
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(a) a modulated light source having pixels whose light intensity may be individually modulated, wherein said light source is directed toward said object;
(b) an image detector having a plurality of pixels for receiving light reflected from said object; and
(c) means for determining the coordinates of points wherefrom pixels of light are reflected from the surface of said object, wherein the determination is responsive to the relative location and intensity of pixels registered on said imaging detector such that the relative intensities are mathematically correlated with the modulation of the light source to resolve the proportional loss of light intensity and the position of said pixels at said modulated light source and from which the location of the associated point of reflection may be determined by triangulation. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. An apparatus for determining the coordinates of an object by sensing reflected illumination intensities, comprising:
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(a) means for emitting an illuminating beam toward an object, said beam having an area defined by a plurality of pixels;
(b) means for modulating the intensity of individual pixels in said illuminating beam;
(c) means for detecting the illumination intensity of the illuminating beam which has been reflected from points on said object; and
(d) means for resolving the proportional loss of light intensity and the position of each pixel at the point of modulation from detected pixel illumination intensities, from which the coordinates of said object may be resolved by triangulation. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An apparatus for determining the coordinates of points on an illuminated object by sensing the intensity of reflected illumination, comprising:
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(a) a source of illumination having a plurality of pixels whose intensity In may be individually modulated according to at least three mathematical relationships;
(b) an image sensor positioned to receive said source of illumination as it reflects from the object; and
(c) a computer processor coupled to said intensity modulator and said image sensor, said computer processor solving simultaneous equations relating illumination intensity to pixel position such that the proportional loss of light intensity and associated location at the point of modulation of each registered pixels is resolved and from which the coordinates of object points may then be determined by triangulation. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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13. An apparatus as recited in claim 12, wherein determining the position of the illumination source is performed by solving differentiable functions n(x0,y0) where n represents exemplified functions f, g, h:
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14. An apparatus as recited in claim 8, wherein the illumination intensity In is modulated at a point of modulation P(x0,y0), to express the following relationships, in which α
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1, α
2, α
3 are non-zero constants, and x0, y0 are non-zero;
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1, α
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15. An apparatus as recited in claim 14, wherein the computer processor performs computations on pixel intensity and location as received by the sensor at location (CCD,x0,y0), wherein the following equations are solved for measured illumination intensity to determine position P(x0,y0) and proportional loss of light intensity D(x0,y0) for the point of modulation, as given by:
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from which the coordinates of the object may then be calculated by geometric triangulation.
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16. An apparatus for determining the coordinates of an object, comprising:
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(a) a source of illumination;
(b) an optical intensity modulator, said optical intensity modulator configured to receive illumination from said illumination source, said optical intensity modulator having pixels whose transmissivity may be set according to a mathematical relationship with pixel position within the modulator;
(c) a computer that is adapted to interface with the optical intensity modulator and is configured to output a control signal to the optical intensity modulator, wherein the control signal is related to said mathematical relationship and is adapted to set said transmissivity of each one of said pixels so that each one of said pixels can be distinguished from other ones of said pixels;
(d) a first lens system, positioned to receive illumination which passes through said optical intensity modulator;
(e) a second lens system, positioned to receive illumination originating from the source of illumination that has reflected from an area on the surface of the object whose surface coordinates are to be determined;
(f) an imaging device positioned to receive illumination from the second lens system, said imaging device having pixels capable of registering the intensity of the illumination received; and
(g) means for determining the coordinates on the surface of said object by resolving a sequence of intensity patterns created by the optical intensity modulator with the intensity patterns received upon the imaging device. - View Dependent Claims (17)
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18. A method for determining the coordinates of an object, comprising:
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projecting a light through an optical intensity modulator onto the object, wherein the optical intensity modulator comprises a plurality of pixels whose transmissivity may be individually set;
using a computer to generate a computer-derived output signal related to a mathematical relationship, wherein the transmissivity of each one of said pixels is modulated according to the computer-derived output signal to create a sequence of light intensity patterns so that each one of said pixels can be distinguished from other ones of said pixels;
receiving said light which has been reflected from said object onto an imaging device; and
determining the coordinates on said object at least in part by resolving the mathematical relationships between the sequence of mathematical light intensity patterns transmitted through the optical intensity modulator with the light intensities received at the imaging device, wherefrom the object position may be then determined by triangulation.
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19. A method of obtaining object coordinates by sensing reflected illumination, comprising:
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illuminating an object with a beam of electromagnetic radiation having a plurality of pixels whose intensity is individually modulated according to at least three mathematical functions of pixel position within the beam;
registering the location and intensity of the electromagnetic radiation reflected from the object at a sensor in response to the intensity of each of the modulated pixels;
determining the associated position for each pixel at the point of intensity modulation and the proportion loss of light intensity for the pixels by resolving the simultaneous equations relating pixel illumination intensity at the sensor location; and
determining object coordinates from the computed proportion loss of light intensity and pixel position by geometric triangulation. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23)
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21. A method as recited in claim 20, wherein the position of the pixels within the illumination source are determined by solving the differentiable functions n(x0,y0) where n is exemplified by functions f, g, and h:
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22. A method as recited in claim 19, wherein pixel modulation provides at least three intensity levels In at each pixel position P(x0,y0) according to the following three equations in which α
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1, α
2, α
3 are non-zero constants, and x0, y0 are non-zero;
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1, α
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23. A method as recited in claim 22, wherein determining the position of the pixel modulation P(x0,y0) and the proportion loss of light intensity D(x0,y0), comprises registering illumination intensity and position at a sensor located at (CCD,x0,y0), the illumination intensity being associated with the mathematical relationship of pixel position within the illumination beam, such that the proportional loss of light intensity and position of pixel modulation are resolved by the following equations:
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24. An apparatus for determining the coordinates of points on an illuminated object by sensing the intensity of reflected illumination, comprising:
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(a) a source of illumination having a plurality of pixels whose intensity In may be individually modulated according to at least three mathematical relationships;
(b) an image sensor positioned to receive said source of illumination as it reflects from the object; and
(c) a computer processor coupled to said intensity modulator and said image sensor, said computer processor solving simultaneous equations relating illumination intensity to pixel position such that the proportional loss of illumination intensity and associated location at the point of modulation of each registered pixels is resolved and from which the coordinates of object points may then be determined by triangulation;
(d) wherein the illumination intensity In is modulated at a point of modulation P(x0,y0), to express the following relationships, in which α
1, α
2, α
3 are non-zero constants, and x0, y0 are non-zero;
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25. A method of obtaining object coordinates by sensing reflected illumination, comprising:
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(a) illuminating an object with a beam of electromagnetic radiation having a plurality of pixels whose intensity is individually modulated according to at least three mathematical functions of pixel position within the beam;
(b) registering the location and intensity of the electromagnetic illumination reflected from the object at a sensor in response to the intensity of each of the modulated pixels;
(c) determining the associated position for each pixel at the position pixel intensity modulation and the proportional loss of illumination intensity for the pixels by resolving the simultaneous equations relating pixel illumination intensity at the sensor location; and
(d) determining object coordinates from the computed proportional loss of light intensity and pixel position by geometric triangulation;
(e) wherein pixel modulation provides at least three intensity levels In at each pixel position P(x0,y0) according to the following three equations in which α
1, α
2, α
3 are non-zero constants, and x0, y0 are non-zero;
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26. A system for determining the coordinates of an object, comprising:
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(a) a source of illumination;
(b) an optical intensity modulator, said optical intensity modulator configured to receive illumination from said illumination source, said intensity modulator having pixels whose transmissivity may be set according to a mathematical relationship with pixel position within the modulator, wherein said pixels are varied according to mathematical relationships of pixel position;
(c) a first lens system, positioned to receive illumination which passes through said optical intensity modulator;
(d) a second lens system, positioned to receive illumination originating from the source of illumination that has reflected from an area on the surface of the object whose surface coordinates are to be determined;
(e) an imaging device positioned to receive illumination from the second lens system, said imaging device having pixels capable of registering the intensity of the illumination received; and
(f) means for determining the coordinates on the surface of said object by resolving a sequence of intensity patterns created by the optical intensity modulator with the intensity patterns received upon the imaging device, wherein said means further comprises means for determining proportional intensity loss and relative location of the modulated pixels at the intensity modulator and using the distance and position information to solve for coordinate positions by triangulation.
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27. A system for determining the coordinates of an object, comprising:
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an optical intensity modulator that is adapted to receive light from a light source and that has a plurality of pixels with variable respective transmissivity such that the relative transmissivity of each pixel is determined and set according to a computer-derived mathematical relationship with pixel position within the optical intensity modulator;
wherein the optical intensity modulator is further adapted to project the light onto the object with a variable intensity pattern related to the variably transmissive pixels, such that the surface coordinates of the object may be determined based upon reflectance of the light from the object and further based upon the computer-derived mathematical relationship.
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28. A system for determining the coordinates of an object by projecting an intensity-modulated light signal onto the object and measuring a parameter of the light signal reflected from the object, comprising:
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a computer that is configured to interface with and output a control signal to an optical intensity modulator having a plurality of pixels with variable relative transmissivities and positions, respectively;
wherein the control signal is related to a computer-derived mathematical relationship between the transmissivity and position of the respective pixels and is adapted to set said transmissivity of each one of said pixels so that each one of said pixels can be distinguished from other ones of said pixels;
whereby interfacing the computer with such an optical- intensity modulator and setting the transmissivity of the pixels with the control signal, the coordinates of the object may be determined based upon reflectance of the modulated light from the surface and further based upon the computer-derived mathematical relationship.
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29. A system for determining the coordinates of an object by projecting an intensity-modulated light signal onto the object and measuring a parameter of the light signal reflected from the object, comprising:
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an imaging device positioned to receive the light signal reflected from the object and having pixels capable of registering the intensity of the light received;
wherein the system is further adapted to determine the coordinates of said object by resolving a sequence of projected intensity patterns related to the intensity-modulated light signal projected onto the object with the intensity patterns of the reflected light received upon the imaging device and further according to a computer-generated mathematical relationship between the variable intensity across the projected intensity pattern at various respective positions across the intensity pattern.
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30. A system for determining the coordinates of an object by projecting an intensity-modulated light signal onto the object and measuring a parameter of the light reflected from the object, comprising:
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a computer; and
means associated with said computer for determining the coordinates of said object by resolving a sequence of projected intensity patterns related to the intensity-modulated light signal projected onto the object with the intensity patterns of the reflected light received upon the imaging device and further according to a computer-derived mathematical relationship between the variable respective intensities across the projected intensity pattern and a plurality of various respective positions across the intensity pattern.
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31. A method for determining the coordinates of an object using an optical intensity modulator having a plurality of pixels having variable respective transmissivities that may be individually set, comprising:
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setting the transmissivity of each one of the pixels of the optical intensity modulator according to the computer-derived output signal related to a mathematical relationship between pixel transmissivity and position such that each one of said pixels can be distinguished from other ones of said pixels;
whereby transmitting a light through the pixels of the optical intensity modulator and onto the object, reflected light from the object may be received by an imaging device and the coordinates of the object may be determined by triangulation based at least in part upon the computer-derived mathematical relationship.
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32. A method for determining the coordinates of an object using an optical intensity modulator having a plurality of pixels having variable respective transmissivities that may be individually set, comprising:
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using a computer to generate a computer-derived output signal related to a mathematical relationship, wherein the transmissivity of each one of said pixels may be modulated according to the computer-derived output signal to create a sequence of light intensity patterns so that each one of said pixels can be distinguished from other ones of said pixels;
whereby setting the transmissivity of the pixels according to the computer-derived output signal and transmitting a light through the pixels of the optical intensity modulator and onto the object, reflected light from the object may be received by an imaging device and the coordinates of the object may be determined by triangulation based at least in part upon the computer-derived mathematical relationship.
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33. A method for determining the coordinates of an object using an optical intensity modulator having a plurality of pixels with variable respective transmissivities that may be individually set, comprising:
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determining the coordinates on said object at least in part by resolving mathematical relationships between a sequence of light intensity patterns transmitted through an optical intensity modulator onto the object and reflected light intensities received by an imaging device;
wherein said resolving uses a computer-derived mathematical relationship between relative positions and transmissivities of the pixels, and wherefrom the object position may be then determined by triangulation.
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Specification