Patent ID: 7406181

Claim:
A method of detecting an object, comprising: a. setting an exposure time for a process of generating an image signal; b. generating an image signal representative of a first image of the object, wherein said image signal is generated by a camera at a first location, and said image signal is generated responsive to said exposure time; c. projecting from a second location at least one beam of light across at least a portion of the object so as to provide for generating at least one image of at least one light stripe of a plurality of light stripes across said object, wherein said second location is displaced from said first location, an intensity of each light stripe of said plurality of light stripes is less than a first threshold, and said first threshold corresponds to an intensity level that is safe for direct viewing by a human eye; d. generating at least one image signal representative of at least one second image from said camera, wherein said at least one second image is responsive to said at least one beam of light projected on said object; e. subtracting said first image from said at least one second image so as to form at least one difference image signal of at least one difference image; f. processing said at least one difference image so as generate a corresponding at least one fourth image, wherein a signal level of at least a portion of said at least one fourth image associated with said at least one light stripe in said at least one fourth image is boosted relative to a corresponding signal level in said at least one second image, wherein the operation of processing said at least one difference image so as to generate said corresponding at least one fourth image comprises: i. forming a binned image value of a binned image by accumulating a plurality of pixel values within a region of said at least one difference image; and ii. repeating the operation of forming said binned image value for a plurality of adjacent regions of said at least one diffference image; and g. determining at least one profile of said object responsive to said at least one fourth image.