Patent ID: 7886642

Claim:
A system for monitoring a saw blade comprising: a light source positioned to illuminate a sawn portion of a piece of wood, the sawn portion adjacent a saw blade and positioned between the light source and the saw blade, a first exposed surface of the saw blade to a first side of the sawn portion, and a second exposed surface of the saw blade to a second side of the sawn portion; an image generator positioned to generate an image of the sawn portion, the first exposed surface and the second exposed surface substantially concurrently, wherein the light source and image generator are positioned substantially perpendicular to a plane through which the saw blade passes through the portion of the piece of wood being sawn; and a computing device coupled to the image generator to receive data from the image generator and configured to determine at least one geometric characteristic of the sawn portion and at least one geometric characteristic of the saw blade based on the received data.