Patent ID: 8345261

Claim:
A method of imaging a dental object, comprising: obtaining a digitizer comprising: a light source configured to generate a beam of structured light; a reference arm configured to generate a reference beam of light based on the beam of structured light; a projector configured to project the beam of structured light toward an object and to detect a reflection of at least a portion of the beam, the beam being projected toward the object as a dot that traverses a two dimensional (2D) pattern across a three dimensional outer surface of the object to generate reflection data representing the three dimensional outer surface of the object; a coupler configured to combine the reference beam and the reflection to generate a superimposed interference light pattern; and a processor configured to generate a dataset representative of the three dimensional outer surface of the object based on the superimposed interference light pattern and the reflection data; and utilizing the digitizer to project a beam of structured light toward the dental object, detect a reflection of at least a portion of the beam projected toward the dental object, and generate a dataset representative of a three dimensional outer surface of the dental object.