Famous Patents
William F. Semple, a dentist, was awarded the first US Patent on chewing gum in 1869. His recipe contained powdered chalk.
PatentStorm News
Make the Most of PatentStorm
See this month's Top Inventors and Most Cited Patents.
Stay on top of the latest patents by subscribing to an RSS feed.
Got questions? Ask a Patent Expert!
Registered users: Manage your profile, comments and alerts.
US Patent 4695156 - Range finding method and apparatus
US Patent Issued on September 22, 1987
Estimated Patent Expiration Date:
July 3, 2006Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.
Estimated Patent Expiration Date:
July 3, 2006Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.AbstractA range finding apparatus includes a pair of spaced apart cameras which provide signals that are digitalized, stored in frame buffers, and provided to a computer that provides a range map of a target object viewed by the cameras. The computer optimizes a disparity function by minimizing a cost functional, thereby finding the range at different points on the surface of the target object based on variations in illumination, reflectivity, and texture. | InventorAssigneeApplicationNo. 06/882006 filed on 07/03/1986US Classes:356/3.14, Using at least a pair of viewing axes348/139, Multiple cameras on baseline (e.g., range finder, etc.)356/611, By stereo901/47OpticalField of Search356/2CONTOUR PLOTTINGExaminersPrimary: Buczinski, Stephen C.Attorney, Agent or FirmUS Patent References2933008, 3566139, 3578863, 3674369, 3752580, 3783294, 3811011, 3961851, Passive stereovision range finderIssued on: 06/08/1976 Inventor: Gerharz4054782, Device for counting and calculating Issued on: 10/18/1977 Inventor: Weibel4078171, Digital auto focus Issued on: 03/07/1978 Inventor: Stauffer4099880, Method and an apparatus for stereoscopic measurement utilizing a three-dimensional image Issued on: 07/11/1978 Inventor: Kano4178098, Range detecting method and apparatus Issued on: 12/11/1979 Inventor: Asano , et al.4189232, Range detecting method and apparatus Issued on: 02/19/1980 Inventor: Asano , et al.4525858, Method and apparatus for reconstruction of three-dimensional surfaces from interference fringes Issued on: 06/25/1985 Inventor: Cline , et al.4539701, Photogrammetric stereoplotter Issued on: 09/03/1985 Inventor: Galbreath , et al.4561747Auto-focusing method Issued on: 12/31/1985 Inventor: Ohno , et al. International ClassesG01C 11/00 (20060101)G01C 11/06 (20060101) G01S 11/00 (20060101) G01S 11/12 (20060101) |
