Patent ID: 6820032
Filing Date: 2004-11-16
Classification: G01B,G05B,G06K,G06Q,G06T,Y02P

Abstract:
A method for scanning for an object within a region, comprising:scanning the region using a conformal scanning scheme, said scanning comprising: determining a characteristics geometry of the region; performing a conformal mapping between the characteristic geometry of the region and a first scanning curve to generate a conformal scanning curve based on said characteristic geometry, wherein the first scanning curve is comprised in a first geometry, wherein the first geometry is different from the characteristic geometry of the region, wherein the first scanning curve comprises a sequence of points in the first geometry, and wherein said performing a conformal mapping between a characteristic geometry of the region and a first scanning curve comprises: determining a mapping function which maps each point in the first geometry to a corresponding point in the characteristic geometry; and applying the mapping function to each point in the sequence of points in the first geometry to generate a corresponding sequence of points in the characteristic geometry, wherein the sequence of points in the characteristic geometry comprises the conformal scanning curve; and measuring the region at a plurality of points along the conformal scanning curve using one or more sensors; determining one or more characteristics of the object in response to said scanning; and generating output indicating the one or more characteristics of the object.