Did You Know...
...that Charles Goodyear performed some of his experiments on rubber while in debtor's prison? He was there so often he referred to it as his "hotel". Chronically in debt because of poor business sense and ill health, Goodyear depended on the generosity of friends and family. Even after he unlocked the secret to vulcanizing rubber, he was unable to improve his financial situation. When he died, his estate was $200,000 in debt.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8134691 | Lens configuration for a thermally compensated chromatic confocal point sensor A chromatically dispersive lens configuration including thermal compensation may be utilized in chromatic confocal point sensor optical pens for chromatic range sensing. The lens configuration may include a negative power doublet lens and a positive power lens porti... | 03/13/2012 |
| 7990522 | Dynamic compensation of chromatic point sensor intensity profile data selection In a chromatic point sensor, distance measurements are based on a distance-indicating subset of intensity profile data, which is selected in a manner that varies with a determined peak position index coordinate (PPIC) of the profile data. The PPIC indexes the positi... | 08/02/2011 |
| 7535554 | Displacement measuring method, displacement measuring instrument, displacement measuring target and civil structure A target having a reflective part for a laser beam is located at the measuring object position of a bridge girder in such a way that the reflective part includes with respect to the displacement measuring direction and a laser rangefinder is located at the pier. A l... | 05/19/2009 |
| 7421195 | Apparatus for acquiring focussing information and method of acquiring focusing information A storage unit is configured to store beforehand a table that shows a relation between spread parameters and command values supplied to a control unit to acquire a focused image of an object, and information that designates a command value corresponding to an inflec... | 09/02/2008 |
| 7327441 | Distance measuring system A distance measuring system, comprising a laser light source for projecting a pulsed laser beam to an object to be measured, a photodetection element for receiving an external light reflected by the object to be measured and an internal light which is a divided part... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7317513 | Absolute distance measuring device An external cavity laser has an external cavity that is formed between a target surface and a laser diode facet located farthest from the target surface. A chromatic dispersive element is disposed in the external cavity, and focuses light from the laser diode such t... | 01/08/2008 |
| 7312854 | Position sensitive photoelectric sensor and method of setting reference distance in the same In a position sensitive photoelectric sensor that calculates a distance to a target based on a triangular range finding using a light and outputs a result compared with a reference distance, first the reference distance Dref is set roughly by using a light receiving... | 12/25/2007 |
| 7307699 | Light wave distance measuring method and light wave distance measuring system A light wave distance measuring method, using a light wave distance measuring system with a focusing function, comprising a step of comparing a reference distance to an object to be measured obtained based on a position of a focusing lens with a measuring distance o... | 12/11/2007 |
| 7230685 | Apparatus, method, and program for generating range-image-data First image data including a first pixel value according to the intensity of background light is obtained by means of only exposure. Second image data including a second pixel value according to the intensity of the light reflected or scattered by an object is obtai... | 06/12/2007 |
| 7206062 | Readout integrated circuit (ROIC) for laser detection and ranging (LADAR) system and method for using same Disclosed is a LADAR system and a method for operating same. The LADAR system includes circuitry for generating the electrical signal with an optical signal detector using N discrete samples; a bank of M parallel sample/hold circuit unit cells individual ones of whi... | 04/17/2007 |
| 7196776 | Distance-measuring system A distance-measuring system, which comprises a light source unit for emitting a distance-measuring light, a photodetection optical system having a photodetection optical axis, a projecting optical system having a projecting light optical axis and for projecting the ... | 03/27/2007 |
| 7193731 | Optical displacement sensor Optical displacement sensor may possess light-emitting element(s) for projecting light onto distance measurement target(s), and light-receiving element(s) capable of receiving light reflected from distance measurement target(s) and disposed such that light-receiving... | 03/20/2007 |
| 7177013 | Ranging apparatus, ranging method, and ranging program A ranging apparatus which determines distances to objects by using planar positions of the objects in images which are obtained by cameras which take the images, plural distortion correction tables used to correct distortion of images taken by the cameras wherein th... | 02/13/2007 |
| 7087877 | Auto focus for a flow imaging system A pair of optical gratings are used to modulate light from an object, and the modulated light from either grating is used to determine the velocity of the object. Each optical grating is offset from a reference focal point by the same distance, one grating being off... | 08/08/2006 |
| 7081978 | Beam combining device for multi-spectral laser diodes A system and method for combining a predetermined number of laser beams. The system (30) includes a collimating lens (34) for receiving and collimating the laser beams and a holographic device (36) positioned to receive beams from the collimatin... | 07/25/2006 |
| 7054062 | Double confocal scanning microscope The present invention concerns a double confocal scanning microscope (1) having an illuminating beam path (2) of at least one light source (3), and a detected beam path (4) of at least one detector (5), and in order to achieve almo... | 05/30/2006 |
| 7038184 | Image sensor with diffraction grating array An image sensor (100) includes a diffraction grating array (130), a microlens array (140), a light receiving cell (170), and a signal transacting circuit board (190). The diffraction grating array includes a plurality of round grat... | 05/02/2006 |
| 7025454 | Extended depth of field optics for human vision The present invention provides extended depth of field to human eyes by modifying contact lenses, intraocular implants, and/or the surface of the eye itself. This may be accomplished by applying selected phase variations to these optical elements (e.g., by varying s... | 04/11/2006 |
| 6937321 | Distance measuring method and image input device with distance measuring function A distance measuring technology capable of stably and accurately performing distance measurement of an object without any highly accurate focus control mechanism is provided. A distance measuring apparatus has a mask for restricting light so as to pass through two o... | 08/30/2005 |
| 6927886 | Reconfigurable image surface holograms The invention provides systems and methods for generating and displaying computational holographic stereograms having a hologram surface and a spatially distinct image surface. A three-dimensional object or scene is captured or synthesized as a stack of views. The h... | 08/09/2005 |
| 6738131 | Distance measuring method and image input device with distance measuring function A distance measuring technology is capable of stably and accurately performing measurement of the distance to the distance to an object without use of a highly accurate focus control mechanism. The distance measurement is performed by an apparatus having a mask for ... | 05/18/2004 |
| 6700651 | Ranging device A distance/defocus device has a plurality of areas in an observing frame, and time sequentially determines the distance to an object or an amount of defocus for each area by performing a correlation calculation while shifting images of the object with res... | 03/02/2004 |
| 6677568 | Surveying instrument having a phase-difference detection type focus detecting device A surveying instrument includes a sighting telescope having an objective lens and an eyepiece; a Porro-prism erecting system; a semitransparent surface formed on a reflection surface of the Porro-prism erecting system; a beam splitting prism adhered to th... | 01/13/2004 |
| 6580385 | Object detection system An object detection system, in particular for a motor vehicle, is described where the object detection system is a combination of at least three object detectors, each having a different detection zone and/or a different detection range.... | 06/17/2003 |
| 6344893 | Super-resolving imaging system A super-resolving imaging apparatus employs diffractive optical elements placed on the imaging lens. This element, and the use of a modified Scheimpflug arrangement allow the conversion of degrees of freedom in one axis of a field of view to a larger degr... | 02/05/2002 |
| 6115111 | Semiconductor laser based sensing device A system for determining a distance to a target object or a displacement of a target object monitors electrical characteristics of a semiconductor laser aimed at the object. Light emitted from the laser is reflected from a surface of the object back into ... | 09/05/2000 |
| 6108435 | Method of detecting phase difference between a pair of images A method of detecting a phase difference between a pair of images of an object which are formed on a pair of optical sensor arrays through different optical paths, with presence of flare in one of the images, is disclosed. The method includes the steps of... | 08/22/2000 |
| 5900927 | Variable target autofocusing and range finder for measuring distance to a subject An image pickup frame is divided into a plurality of areas. A contrast at each area is measured. An area where a main subject is located is detected by comparing contrasts at areas. A distance to a subject in the area where the main subject is located is ... | 05/04/1999 |
| 5900975 | Ghost image extinction in an active range sensor An apparatus is provided that includes a plate beamsplitter having a first surface coated with a partially reflective coating, and a second surface coated with an anti-reflective coating, and a polarizing filter, oriented with respect to the plate beamspl... | 05/04/1999 |
| 5790242 | Chromatic optical ranging sensor A three dimensional sensor includes an illumination source that produces broadband, high intensity optical energy. This optical energy includes a number of individual wavelength components. The individual wavelength components are impinged in a spot on a ... | 08/04/1998 |
| 5703677 | Single lens range imaging method and apparatus A single lens range sensor comprises a camera 27 having a pair of plano-convex lenses 28a and 28b, an optical mask 30, an imaging sensor 32, a digitizer 34 and a computer 36. The optical mask 30 may be implemented with a liquid crystal array having spatia... | 12/30/1997 |
| 5534687 | Focus detecting optical system with an off-axis light source and light projecting lens In order to provide a focus detecting optical system of the active type which is capable of effecting good focus detection and enables a space to be effectively used, the focus detecting optical system of the present invention is a focus detecting optical... | 07/09/1996 |
| 5076687 | Optical ranging apparatus An optical ranging apparatus is provided which resolves the depth of objects in an object field of a main lens. Light is directed by the main lens to a lenticular array consisting of an array of lenticules each of which generates an image of the lens surf... | 12/31/1991 |
| 4993830 | Depth and distance measuring system Apparatus for determining the relative distance or depth to an object. A light source projects light at an object whose distance is to be determined. A lenticular prismatic screen responds to light reflected from the object and generates two distinct imag... | 02/19/1991 |
| 4897536 | Optical axis displacement sensor with cylindrical lens means Disclosed herewith is an optical axis displacement sensor, which has a convex lens having a hole on the optical axis, a light shielding plate having a hole on the optical axis and two parallel straight slits, a laser light source for irradiating a laser b... | 01/30/1990 |
| 4884888 | Method and device for contactless optical measurement of distance changes A method and device for contactless optical measurement of distance changes, in which two light beams (5, 6) are directed from a measuring table (1) through an optical system (9) in such a manner that they intersect on the surface of the object (11) and i... | 12/05/1989 |
| 4825239 | Distance detection method and apparatus A distance detection apparatus comprising: a distance detection unit for detecting information on a distance to an object, a controller for operating the detection means a plurality of times, and for processing a plurality of information on the distance a... | 04/25/1989 |
| 4743771 | Z-axis height measurement system This invention concerns an optical system for use with a television camera for detecting the surface location of an object. A preferred optical image having a distinct, unique, recognizable pattern is projected on a surface along a defined path that ultim... | 05/10/1988 |
| 4733609 | Laser proximity sensor A laser proximity sensor for a projectile includes a laser diode having front and rear facets. The diode generates a main laser signal and directs a first portion thereof out of the front facet as a source beam. Focusing means focuses the source beam on a... | 03/29/1988 |
| 4725722 | Automatic focusing method and apparatus utilizing contrasts of projected pattern A method of auto-focusing suitable for fine patterns of LSIs and an apparatus therefor, particularly applied for checking the geometry of a circuit pattern of a semiconductor device formed on an LSI wafer. A stripe pattern is projected on a specified loca... | 02/16/1988 |
