Inspection of hidden structure
First Claim
1. An apparatus to inspect a region of interest for physical structure through a surface therein, the apparatus comprising:
- at least one sensor configured to generate a characteristic signal as the sensor is moved across the surface in the region of interest, the sensor defining a contact area on the surface over which at least one physical characteristic at each measurement location on the surface to which the sensor is moved is characterized by an attribute of the characteristic signal;
a memory comprising storage locations logically-arranged in accordance with a coordinate system to represent map locations of a data map;
a processor configured to;
determine the map locations representing the contact area in the coordinate system of the data map for each measurement location;
estimate values of a structural characteristic of the physical structure from the quantified attribute of the characteristic signal for the map locations representing the contact area at the measurement location at which the characteristic signal was generated; and
store the computed values at the respective map locations of the data map; and
a display to generate a two-dimensional visual image from the data map.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An inspection apparatus determines information indicative of structure that may be hidden behind an obscuring boundary, such as a wall. A processor collects measurements of properties characterizing the hidden structure and measurements of location of the apparatus. The collected data are mapped to produce an image of intensity in the characteristic measurements. Each intensity value in the image reflects a measure of density, of material type, or of some other specific information by which hidden structure can be discerned. The intensity changes indicating the hidden structure are displayed to a user via color-coded pixels or the like.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. An apparatus to inspect a region of interest for physical structure through a surface therein, the apparatus comprising:
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at least one sensor configured to generate a characteristic signal as the sensor is moved across the surface in the region of interest, the sensor defining a contact area on the surface over which at least one physical characteristic at each measurement location on the surface to which the sensor is moved is characterized by an attribute of the characteristic signal; a memory comprising storage locations logically-arranged in accordance with a coordinate system to represent map locations of a data map; a processor configured to; determine the map locations representing the contact area in the coordinate system of the data map for each measurement location; estimate values of a structural characteristic of the physical structure from the quantified attribute of the characteristic signal for the map locations representing the contact area at the measurement location at which the characteristic signal was generated; and store the computed values at the respective map locations of the data map; and a display to generate a two-dimensional visual image from the data map. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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2. A method of characterizing physical structure through a surface in a region of interest, the method comprising:
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establishing a data map in a memory having map locations logically arranged in accordance with a predetermined coordinate system; generating a characteristic signal by at least one sensor as the sensor is moved over the surface, the characteristic signal having an attribute quantifying a physical characteristic over a contact area defined by the sensor on the surface at each measurement location at which the sensor is moved; determining, by a processor, the map locations representing the contact area in the coordinate system of the data map for each measurement location; estimating, by the processor, values of a structural characteristic of the physical structure from the quantified attribute of the characteristic signal for the map locations representing the contact area in the data map for the measurement location at which the characteristic signal was generated; storing the estimated values of the structural characteristic at the respective map locations of the data map; and displaying, on a display, a two-dimensional image of pixels arranged per the predetermined coordinate system and assigned pixel values corresponding to the estimated structural characteristic values in the data map. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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15. An apparatus to inspect a region of interest for physical structure through a surface therein, the apparatus comprising:
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a position sensor configured to generate a positioning signal by which a measurement location is determined relative to other measurement locations in a predetermined coordinate system; an inspection sensor configured to generate a characteristic signal at each measurement location on the surface to which the sensor is moved, the characteristic signal quantifying a physical characteristic of the physical structure by an attribute thereof; a memory comprising storage locations logically-arranged in accordance with the coordinate system to represent map locations of a data map; a processor configured to store values of a structural characteristic of the physical structure estimated from the quantified attribute of the characteristic signal for the map locations representing the measurement location determined from the positioning signal. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification