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METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY COMPENSATING FOR VIEWING-ANGLE DISTORTION IN DIGITAL LINEAR IMAGES OF OBJECT SURFACES MOVING PAST A PLANAR LASER ILLUMINATION AND IMAGING (PLIIM) BASED CAMERA SYSTEM AT SKEWED VIEWING ANGLES

  • US 6,830,184 B2
  • Filed: 04/30/2002
  • Issued: 12/14/2004
  • Est. Priority Date: 06/07/1999
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A method of automatically compensating for viewing-angle distortion occurring in digital linear images captured by a planar laser illumination and imaging (PLIIM) based camera system including (i) a linear imaging subsystem having a linear image detection array with an adjustable line rate for producing digital linear images of an object surface, (ii) a laser-based object profiling subsystem for measuring the range of sampled points on an object surface, and (iii) a camera control computer for controlling the operation of said PLIIM based camera system, said method comprising the steps of:

  • (a) using said laser-based object profiling subsystem to measure the range of a set of sample points on a surface of an object moving past said PLIIM based camera system;

    (b) using said measured ranges of said set of sample points to compute the slope (i.e. surface gradient) of said object surface; and

    (c) using said camera control computer to adjust the line rate of said linear image detection array, in proportion to the computed slope of said object surface, so as to automatically compensate for viewing-angle distortion occurring in digital linear images detected by said linear image detection array.

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