Patent ID: 9557166
Date: 2017-01-31
CPC Classifications: G01B

Claim:
1. A time-of-flight (TOF) dimensioning system, comprising: an illumination subsystem configured to generate and project a light beam along an optical axis toward an item of interest, the light beam's spatial extent in a plane transverse to the optical axis being limited by an adjustable aperture; an imager positioned and configured for capturing images of the item of interest; a TOF sensor subsystem positioned and configured for capturing range images from the light beam as reflected from the item of interest; and a control subsystem communicatively coupled to the adjustable aperture, the imager, and the TOF sensor subsystem, the control subsystem configured (i) to determine, from the captured images, an illumination region corresponding to the size, shape, and/or position of the item of interest, (ii) to control the adjustable aperture's size, shape, and/or position to limit the light beam's spatial extent to conform with the illumination region, and (iii) to determine from the range images an at least approximate dimension measurement of the item of interest.