Patent ID: 7092106

Claim:
A method for determining the 3-D configuration of obscured portions of a structure in motion comprising: employing a source of electromagnetic energy to project electromagnetic energy; employing a device to modulate said projected electromagnetic energy; establishing contrasting portions of electromagnetic energy on said structure by utilizing projections from said source of electromagnetic energy as modulated by said device; providing a collector positioned off-axis from said source; moving said obscured portions of structure adjacent said at least one device in one direction at a time, wherein, as seen by said collector, said projecting of said directed electromagnetic energy results in at least one distorted portion of reflections of said directed electromagnetic energy from said structure wherever said structure has a vertical component perpendicular to the plane parallel to the direction of movement of said structure; using said at least one off-axis collector to collect, at a pre-specified sampling rate, said reflections from said structure; providing at least one pre-specified algorithm; and using said at least one pre-specified algorithm, processing said reflections, wherein said processing yields at least one three dimensional representation of said obscured structure.