Systems and methods for the evaluation of scintillation in gemstones

• US 8,098,369 B2
• Filed: 12/09/2008
• Issued: 01/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gemological Institute of America Incorporated
• Original Assignee: American GEM Society
• Inventors: Sasian, Jose, Quick, Jason, Caudill, James, Yantzer, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): LAUCHMAN, LAYLA G
• Application Number:
  US12/330,758
• Publication Number:
  US 20090153835A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,134 Days
• Field of Search: 356/30, 702/35, 705/1
• US Class Current: 356/30
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/87 Investigating jewels G01N21/88 takes precedence

Abstract

Systems and methods, for the evaluation, grading, and presentation of evaluation results, of the scintillation of gemstones, such as diamonds. Specifically, there are discussed systems and methods for determining when a scintillation event in a gemstone is likely to occur and for mapping such events to a presentation.

Claims

1. A method to evaluate scintillation in gemstones, the method comprising:

acquiring the angular spectrum of a gemstone by tracing rays to the gemstone from a point of observation in relation to the gemstone;

propagating the rays in the stone till they exit the stone;

determining a region of a hemisphere arranged about said gemstone that said rays intersect; and

coding an image of a virtual facet propagating said ray according to said region that said rays intersect.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said gemstone is a diamond.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said point of observation is located above a table of said gemstone.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said region is located at a polar angle of between about 45 degrees and about 75 degrees.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein said region is one of a plurality of regions within said polar angle range.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein said regions in said plurality are arranged as concentric arcs.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein said regions in said plurality are arranged as truncated pie sections.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein said plurality of regions comprises 6 regions.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said coding comprises color coding.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

tilting said gemstone relative said point of observation; and

repeating said steps of propagating, determining and coding.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

presenting the results of said coding in a matrix of images where each of said images in said matrix corresponds to a different tilt of said gemstone.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

presenting said matrix of images in a sequence to provide an animation.

13. A system for evaluating scintillation in gemstones, the system comprising:

a computer, said computer being provided with a virtual image of a gemstone;

means in said computer for acquiring the angular spectrum of a gemstone by tracing rays to the gemstone from a point of observation in relation to the gemstone;

means in said computer for determining a region of a virtual hemisphere arranged about said gemstone that said rays intersect; and

means in said computer for coding an image of a virtual facet propagating each of said rays according to said region that said rays intersect.

14. A method for generating a graphical display of scintillation potential of a gemstone wherein the display comprises a color-coded image, the method comprising:

providing an image of a gemstone, said image showing virtual facets of said gemstone;

acquiring the angular spectrum of a gemstone by tracing rays to the gemstone from a point of observation in relation to the gemstone;

determining a region of a virtual hemisphere arranged about said gemstone that each of said rays intersect; and

color coding said image of a virtual facet propagating said ray according to said region that said ray intersects.

15. The display of claim 14 further comprising:

a plurality of color-coded images, each of said images being generated by providing, acquiring, determining, and color-coding said gemstone with a different point of observation.

16. The display of claim 15 wherein said images are presented in a matrix.

17. The display of claim 15 wherein said images are presented sequentially in an animation.

18. A method for generating a graphical display of scintillation potential of a gemstone wherein the display comprises a color-coded image, the method comprising:

acquiring the angular spectrum of a gemstone by tracing rays to the gemstone from a point of observation to said gemstone;

determining a region of a virtual hemisphere arranged about said gemstone that each of said rays intersect;

selecting a source on said virtual hemisphere;

coding an image according to how many rays intersect that region;

repeating said steps of selecting and coding for a plurality of sources.

19. A method for evaluating the scintillation of a gemstone, the method comprising:

acquiring the angular spectrum of a gemstone by tracing rays to the gemstone from a point of observation to said gemstone;

determining a region of a virtual hemisphere arranged about said gemstone that each of said rays intersect;

selecting a source on said virtual hemisphere;

determining how many rays intersect that source;

repeating said steps of selecting and determining for a plurality of sources on said hemisphere; and

evaluating the scintillation of said gemstone based on said repeating.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein said evaluation comprises determining the average number of intersections across all said sources.

21. The method of claim 19 wherein an image of said hemisphere is coded based on the number of rays that intersect each said source.