Patent ID: 6166811
Filing Date: 2000-12-26
Classification: G01S

Abstract:
An apparatus for determining three-dimensional measurement data for the surface of an object, comprising:a movable member;a controller for causing said movable member to move in relation to the surface of the object;a non-contact sensor disposed on said movable member for collecting image data representative of a portion of the surface of the object;a position reporting device for reporting position data representative of the position of said non-contact sensor;a timing signal generator for periodically generating and transmitting a synch signal, said position reporting device electrically connected to said timing signal generator and reporting position data in response to each of said synch signals, and said non-contact sensor being electrically connected to said timing signal generator and collecting image data in response to each of said synch signals; anda data processor adapted to retrieve image data from said non-contact sensor and position data from said position reporting device, and being operable to synchronize the image data with the position data, thereby generating a three-dimensional representation of the object.