Multispectral detection and presentation of an object's characteristics
First Claim
1. An apparatus for capturing a multispectral image of a deep internal structure of an object, said apparatus comprising:
- means to transmit a beam of light comprising two or more different wavelengths, said two or more different wavelengths configured to determine one or more characteristics of the internal structure;
means to scan said beam of light in a plurality of optical paths to produce a two dimensional scan pattern;
an array of photo detectors distributed around the object;
each said photo detector configured to detect said scanned two or more wavelengths of light after being differentially absorbed by the internal structure and the surrounding areas, and to output a signal of a contrast formed by the absorption spectrum of said two or more wavelengths by the internal structure, said means to transmit further configured to also transmit one or more visible wavelengths of light, by using said signal from said photodetectors, to selectively project the one or more characteristics of the internal structure onto the surface of the object;
a memory;
a comparator configured to receive the output of said photo detectors, and to provide one bit of data for each pixel of the photo detector output to indicate whether its brightness is too bright or too dark, said bit of pixel brightness data being stored in said memory and being incrementally updated for said selective projection, said stored pixel brightness data used to adjust power to said means to transmit light, on a pixel-by-pixel basis, for said selective projection to provide improved contrast sensitivity for said projected image.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus for capturing a multispectral image of an object is described. The apparatus includes one or more means for transmitting a beam of laser light at a first wavelength and a beam of laser light at one or more additional wavelengths different from the first wavelength. There is a means for causing the beams of laser light to travel in a coaxial path and a moving mirror. The beams of light bounce off the mirror thereby producing a two dimensional projection pattern. This pattern travels from the mirror along a first path to an object and wherein some of the laser light penetrates the object and travels to an internal structure of the object. The reflection of the laser light returns to a photo detector along a path different from said first path.
106 Citations
26 Claims
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1. An apparatus for capturing a multispectral image of a deep internal structure of an object, said apparatus comprising:
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means to transmit a beam of light comprising two or more different wavelengths, said two or more different wavelengths configured to determine one or more characteristics of the internal structure; means to scan said beam of light in a plurality of optical paths to produce a two dimensional scan pattern; an array of photo detectors distributed around the object;
each said photo detector configured to detect said scanned two or more wavelengths of light after being differentially absorbed by the internal structure and the surrounding areas, and to output a signal of a contrast formed by the absorption spectrum of said two or more wavelengths by the internal structure, said means to transmit further configured to also transmit one or more visible wavelengths of light, by using said signal from said photodetectors, to selectively project the one or more characteristics of the internal structure onto the surface of the object;a memory; a comparator configured to receive the output of said photo detectors, and to provide one bit of data for each pixel of the photo detector output to indicate whether its brightness is too bright or too dark, said bit of pixel brightness data being stored in said memory and being incrementally updated for said selective projection, said stored pixel brightness data used to adjust power to said means to transmit light, on a pixel-by-pixel basis, for said selective projection to provide improved contrast sensitivity for said projected image. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A trans-illumination imaging system comprising:
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two or more lasers configured to sequentially turn on to emit different wavelengths of light for a respective frame, said different wavelengths configured to determine a characteristic of the object; a beam combiner configured to combine said sequentially projected beams of light from said two or more lasers to produce a sequenced multispectral beam of light; a biaxial moving mirror, said moving mirror configured to direct said sequenced multi-spectral beam of laser light at the object along a plurality of optical paths, to produce a two-dimensional projection pattern; an array of photo detectors distributed around the object to have each respective field of view (FOV) not be along said plurality of optical paths, said array of photo detectors configured to detect said sequential frames of multi-spectral light reflected off of the deep internal structure of the object; a memory, said memory configured to receive and store said reflected multi-spectral frames of output by said array of photodetectors within corresponding memory locations; a projection laser configured to receive said photodetector output from said memory and to selectively project a beam of light at a visible wavelength to reveal the characteristic, said visible wavelength of said projection laser being different than said emitted wavelengths of light from said two or more lasers, said beam combiner configured to receive and combine said beam of visible light from said projection laser with said sequenced multispectral beam of light; a comparator configured to receive the output of said photo detectors, and to provide one bit of data for each pixel of the photo detector output to indicate whether each pixel brightness is above or below a comparator threshold value, said bit of pixel brightness data being stored in said memory and being updated for each said frame;
said stored pixel brightness data used to adjust power to said laser on a pixel-by-pixel basis for each said frame to provide improved contrast sensitivity for said projection of the revealed characteristic. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A trans-illumination imaging system, for use in capturing a multispectral image of a deep internal structure of an object with reduced noise from surface reflections, to produce a high contrast-ratio image of deep internal structure using high laser power, said trans-illumination imaging system comprising:
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means to transmit a beam of light comprising two or more different wavelengths; means to scan said beam of light in a first direction and in a second direction, with a first maximum angle between said beam of light at a beginning and an end of said first scan direction, and with a second maximum angle between said beam of light at a beginning and an end of said second scan direction, to scan said beam of light along a plurality of optical paths in a two dimensional scan pattern upon the object; an array of photo detectors; an optical element for each said photo detector, each said optical element configured to restrict a respective field of view (FOV) of each said photo detector; a memory; a comparator, said comparator configured to receive said output of said photo detectors, and to provide one bit of data for each pixel of the photo detector output to indicate whether each pixel brightness is above or below a comparator threshold value, said bit of pixel brightness data being stored in said memory and being incrementally updated for said selective projection, said stored pixel brightness data used to adjust power to said means to transmit light, on a pixel-by-pixel basis, for said selective projection to provide improved contrast sensitivity for said projected image; wherein said first maximum angle of said scan pattern is configured so that said scanned light falls on a substantially small portion of the object in the first direction, and said restricted FOV of each said photo detector is not aligned with said plurality of optical paths of said scan pattern; and wherein each said restricted FOV photo detector is thereby configured to detect said scanned two or more wavelengths of light after being differentially absorbed by the internal structure and the surrounding areas, with reduced noise from surface reflections;
each said photo detector further configured to output a signal of a contrast formed by the absorption spectrum of said two or more wavelengths by the internal structure, with said means to transmit further configured to project one or more visible wavelengths of light, and by using said output signal from said photodetectors, to selectively project said contrast onto the surface of the object. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26)
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Specification