Patent ID: 7489391

Claim:
A method of generating an image of a deformation of a surface, comprising: applying light to said surface at a position to be examined for said deformation, said light having an angle of incidence with said surface in such a way that the specularly reflected component of the light from the light source by the surface or by the deformation will be captured by an observing camera; receiving light reflected by said surface and/or by a deformation on said surface in said observing camera after said light at said angle of incidence has interacted with said surface and said deformation; generating at least two images of said reflected light received by said camera from the surface and/or the deformation; processing said at least two images to extract first and second polarization parameters; and displaying an image of said deformation, where the image pixel values represent the contours of the deformation on the surface at said position and comprise said first and/or said second polarization parameters of said reflected light from said surface at said position.