EP0318249A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Ranging system
Assignee: General Electric Co
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Filing: 1988-11-22
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2008-11-22
Abstract
Abstract High speed readout is achieved in a triangulation ranger by a coded aperture light detector (17) which provides a direct digital representation of the range or height of a surface (12) from the ranger. A light spot (19) reflected from the surface (12) is optically spread (20) into a line segment (21) so it can be shared among a number of light detection channels (26-1 to 26-4). The line of light falls on a coded aperture (26) in front of a segmented fiber optic bundle (28-1 to 28-4) and the light transmitted by each channel is led to a separate photomultiplier or solid state detector (29-1 to 29-4). Every coded channel (26-1 to 26-3) is constructed to give one bit of the digital address of the range position, and a reference light value is obtained from another channel (26-4). Background and secondary reflections may be filtered out by focusing light scattered from the surface to a spot and passing it through a slit aperture (45, Fig. 8) oriented in the plane of triangulation before being spread to a line segment.
Inventors
- 👤 Carl Murray Penney
- 👤 Nelson Raymond Corby, Jr.
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-10 00:59
CPC Classifications
G; G01; G01S; G01S17/00; G01S17/02; G01S17/06; G01S17/46; G01S17/48; G01B; G01B11/00; G01B11/02; G01B11/026; G01S7/00; G01S7/48; G01S7/481; G01S7/4816
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 16
Claim 1
Independent Claim
71 words
A triangulation ranging system comprising: means to project onto a coded aperture light detecting means a line segment of light whose position along a coded aperture is related to range to an object surface; said light detecting means having a plurality of coded channels which transmit light to separate detectors and said coded aperture at the front of said channels provides a digital representation of the position of said line segment.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
71 words
A triangulation ranging system comprising: means to project onto a coded aperture light detecting means a line segment of light whose position along a coded aperture is related to range to an object surface; said light detecting means having a plurality of coded channels which transmit light to separate detectors and said coded aperture at the front of said channels provides a digital representation of the position of said line segment.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
91 words
A triangulation ranging system comprising: means to project a light beam onto a surface whose range is to be measured; means to spread a spot of light scattered from said surface into a line segment that is incident on all channels of a coded aperture light detecting means; said light detection means being comprised of a plurality of said channels each transmitting light to a separate detector and having a spatially coded aperture such that each channel contributes to one bit of a digital address of a light spot height position.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
91 words
A triangulation ranging system comprising: means to project a light beam onto a surface whose range is to be measured; means to spread a spot of light scattered from said surface into a line segment that is incident on all channels of a coded aperture light detecting means; said light detection means being comprised of a plurality of said channels each transmitting light to a separate detector and having a spatially coded aperture such that each channel contributes to one bit of a digital address of a light spot height position.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
34 words
The system of Claim 2 wherein said means for spreading a light spot into a line segment is an optical system of spherical and cylindrical lenses or of spherical and cylindrical lenticular plate lenses.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
17 words
The system of Claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein said channels comprise individual noncoherent fiber optic bundles.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
21 words
The ranging system of Claim 4 wherein a patterned mask in front of said fiber optic bundles provides said coded aperture.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
111 words
A triangulation ranging system comprising: means to project a light beam onto an object surface; an optical system to spread a spot of light scattered from said surface into a line segment that is incident on all channels of a light detecting means having a coded aperture at the front of said channels, the position of said line segment along said coded aperture being related to range to said surface; said light detection means having a plurality of coded and reference channels that transmit light to separate detectors and are formed of noncoherent fiber optic bundles, said coded channels each providing one bit of a digital address of a range position.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
111 words
A triangulation ranging system comprising: means to project a light beam onto an object surface; an optical system to spread a spot of light scattered from said surface into a line segment that is incident on all channels of a light detecting means having a coded aperture at the front of said channels, the position of said line segment along said coded aperture being related to range to said surface; said light detection means having a plurality of coded and reference channels that transmit light to separate detectors and are formed of noncoherent fiber optic bundles, said coded channels each providing one bit of a digital address of a range position.
Claim 10
Independent Claim
13 words
The system on any preceding claim wherein said detectors comprise photomultipliers or photodiodes.
Claim 11
Independent Claim
15 words
The system of any preceding claim wherein said coded channels have opaque and clear cells.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
14 words
The system of Claim 8 wherein the cells are arranged in a binary pattern.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
24 words
The system of any preceding claim wherein the light detecting means has a reference light value channel that transmits light to a reference detector.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
26 words
The system of any preceding claim further comprising optical means to filter out background and secondary reflections that may interfere with a correct measurement of range.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
40 words
The system of Claim 9 wherein said optical means includes a lens to focus the spot of light scattered from said surface into a second light spot that passes through a slit aperture before being spread into said line segment.
Claim 16
Independent Claim
30 words
The system of any preceding claim comprising a computer and wherein said detectors generate separate electrical signals in parallel that are fed to the computer which calculates the range values.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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