Patent ID: 7369244

Claim:
An optical measuring apparatus adapted for use in measuring reflection characteristics of an object surface comprising: an illumination system including a toroidal mirror having a concave reflecting surface formed by circularly rotating a parabolic curve or its approximate curve around an axis with the focal point of the parabolic curve or the substantial light focusing point of the approximate curve forming a focal point arc, and a plurality of light emitters of which light emitting portions are arranged on or in the vicinity of the focal point arc such that the beams emanated from the light emitting portions are reflected by the toroidal mirror in parallel with each other in the direction of a parabolic shape towards the axis in different directions; a light detecting system which detects light beams reflected by the object surface in a specific direction; a controller for controlling the operation of the optical measuring apparatus to successively turn on the illuminators, and detect the light beams reflected by the object surface in respective illuminating directions of the light emitters; and a calculator for calculating the reflection characteristics of the object surface in the respective illuminating directions.