Claims
- 1. A laser digitizer comprising:
a light source having collimating optics configured to generate a collimated beam of light; a scanner optically coupled to the light source and configured to scan the collimated beam along at least two axes towards an object to be imaged; an image capture instrument having an optical axis at an angle θ with respect to the scanner and configured to detect a reflection of the scanned beam from the object and to generate data representative of a surface of the object based on the reflected beam; a processor coupled to the scanner and the image capture system configured to generate a three-dimensional image of the object based on the data.
- 2. The laser digitizer of claim 1 where the light source comprises a laser LED.
- 3. The laser digitizer of claim 1 further comprising a flat-field scan lens having an optical axis and configured to focus the scanned beam of light to a point on the object to be imaged.
- 4. The laser digitizer of claim 3 where the image capture instrument comprises:
an image sensor configured to detect a triangulation image of the object, the triangulation image based on a plurality of curves generated by scanning the beam of light on the object during an exposure period; and a telecentric lens configured to focus the plurality of curves on the image sensor.
- 5. The laser digitizer of claim 4 further comprising an object positioning system configured to position the object within a field of projection of the scanner.
- 6. The laser digitizer of claim 5 where the object positioning system is configured to move the object to various positions and angles with respect to a field of view of the image sensor instrument and the scanner.
- 7. The laser digitizer of claim 6 where the processor is programmed to merge multiple images of the object to create a three-dimensional map of the object.
- 8. The laser digitizer of claim 8 where the object comprises any one of a dental model, a dental mold, or a dental casting.
- 9. The laser digitizer of claim 1 where the scanner comprises multiple mirrors, where each mirror is positioned substantially orthogonally with respect each other.
- 10. The laser digitizer of claim 1 where the scanner comprises a rotatable mirror and a spinning polygon mirror.
- 11. The laser digitizer of claim 1 where the scanner further comprises a programmable position controller configured to control the scan of the collimated laser beam to a programmed scan sequence.
- 12. The laser digitizer of claim 1 where the known pattern comprises a plurality of curves where each of the plurality of curves is substantially parallel to each other.
- 13. A dental imaging system, comprising:
means for generating a collimated laser beam of light; scanner means for generating a multi-axis collimated light beam; beam focusing means for focusing the collimated light beam to a point on an object to be images; image capturing means for detecting reflections of the a focused beam projected on an object; and processor means coupled to the scanner means and the image capturing means for generating a three-dimensional image of the object.
- 14. The laser digitizer of claim 12 where the scanning means scans the dot across the surface of the object via the focusing means in a selected pattern.
- 15. The laser digitizer of claim 12 where the image capturing means comprises:
an image sensor configured to detect a triangulation image of the object, where the triangulation image is based on a pattern of scanned lasers dots across the surface of the object during an exposure period; and an imaging lens.
- 16. The laser digitizer of claim 14 further comprising object positioning means configured to position the object within a field of projection of the scanner.
- 17. A method that generates a three-dimensional visual image of a physical object comprising:
generating a multi-axis collimated beam of light; positioning the object in a first position; scanning the multi-axis collimated beam of light in a predetermined pattern, where the pattern includes a plurality of substantially parallel curves; focusing the scanned collimated beam of light on the physical object; capturing an image of the focused collimated beam of light on the object during an exposure period; and determining a map of the surface of the object based on the captured image.
- 18. The method of claim 17 where the act of scanning comprises scanning the beam of light in a direction substantially perpendicular to the optical axis of the lens.
- 19. The method of claim 17 further comprising the acts of:
re-positioning the object to a second orientation; capturing an image of the focused beam on the object positioned in the second position; and merging the image of the focused beam on the object positioned in the first position with the image of the focused beam on the object in the second position.
- 20. The method of claim 17 where the plurality of curves each comprise a plurality of curvilinear segments.
PRIORITY AND CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of co-pending provisional application Serial No. 60/437,373 filed Dec. 31, 2002, which is incorporated in its entirety herein by reference.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60437373 |
Dec 2002 |
US |