Patent ID: 6115674
Filing Date: 2000-09-05
Classification: G01N

Abstract:
A method for automatically and autonomously characterizing the surface of a test material, said test material attached to a support structure, comprising:(a) generating electromagnetic point-ordered signals as a function of the surface contour of said test material, said point-ordered signals characterized by electromagnetic impedance, said impedance comprising a resistive component and a reactive component;(b) receiving and enhancing said point-ordered signals by combining said resistive and reactive impedance components into one signal and removing any base variations from the signal;(c) identifying signal points corresponding to said test material edges by constructing a signal amplitude from the impedance components, removing straight sections at the ends of the signal, decomposing the signal into resolution-based components using a filter, performing a morphological analysis to place the signal in the region corresponding to said test material, and calculating the position of said test material edges;(d) scanning for point anomalies by dividing the signal into two intervals, the first corresponding to support structure locations and the second corresponding to in-between support structure locations, wherein said second interval is further processed by constructing a one dimensional signal from the impedance components, removing coarse resolution behavior, resolution-decomposing the signal and analyzing the resulting peak/trough indications, and wherein the first interval is further analyzed to remove the support structure signal pattern while preserving detectable anomaly signal;(e) outputting information about the identity and location of all detected signal features.