Patent ID: 8780182

Claim:
A system for imaging a contoured surface comprising: a light source configured to project a beam of partially coherent electromagnetic radiation onto the contoured surface, wherein the projected beam-generates first radiation scattered from a first portion of the contoured surface to form a speckle pattern, and second radiation scattered from a second portion of the contoured surface to form a pattern which is substantially uniform in intensity; an optical detector configured to receive the first and second scattered radiation from the contoured surface, wherein a coherence length of the light source is greater than a depth of the first portion of the contoured surface and less than a depth of the second portion of the contoured surface, when imaged within a single pixel of the optical detector; and a processor configured to (1) generate a plurality of images from the first and second scattered radiation, with each image being generated using different coherence length electromagnetic radiation from the light source, and (2) generate a 3-D image of the contoured surface from the plurality of images.