A method for determining the position of an object includes: using a projector to project a marker pattern to a projection zone such that a first marker feature of the marker pattern is projected on a first surface portion, using a camera to capture an image of a viewing zone which at least partly overlaps the projection zone, and determining the position of said first surface portion by analyzing the captured image,
wherein the viewing zone surrounds the camera, and the image of the viewing zone is captured by forming an annular image of the viewing zone on an image sensor.

An inflatable booth for use in detecting dents on an automobile. The inflatable booth generally forms an archway or tunnel and has an exterior surface and an interior surface. Lights are mounted on the exterior surface of the booth. The exterior surface of the booth is transparent or clear at least in the areas where the lights are positioned. The interior surface has a repeating geometric pattern. To detect dents, an automobile is driven into the booth and the lights are turned on. The geometric pattern on the interior surface of the booth is reflected off the surface of the automobile forming a reflected pattern. Dents or mars in the surface of the automobile cause distortions in the reflected pattern, thus making them easy to detect and fix. The booth can be easily inflated, deflated, and transported.

A sensing apparatus includes a base substrate; a plurality of sensing units on the base substrate, a respective one of the plurality of sensing units including a first component configured to emit light and a second component configured to detect light; and an elastic layer on a side of the plurality of sensing units distal to the base substrate and configured to undergo a deformation upon a touch, at least a portion of light emitted from the first component being reflected by a surface of the elastic layer. The second component is configured to detect light reflected by the surface of the elastic layer and output a sensing signal, an intensity of which being correlated to a degree of the deformation of the elastic layer at a local position.

Disclosed are methods, circuits, optical assemblies, devices, systems and associated computer executable code for estimating for three dimensional imaging. According to some embodiments, there may be provided a projector operable to project a bi-dimensionally coded pattern to provide a first projection of the bi-dimensionally coded pattern and a second projection of the bi-dimensionally coded pattern. The first projection and the second projection may be offset or rigidly shifted with respect to one another, such that a first reflection off an object which is associated with the first projection and a second reflection off the object which is associated with the second projection are provided. A signal corresponding to the first reflection and a signal corresponding to the second reflection may be co-processed.

A method for measuring a spatial distortion of a target surface (110) of a workpiece (110A). Light is transmitted twice through a reference pattern-generator (104) and impinged upon a workpiece pattern-generator (108). Then, with an optical detector (116), first and second beams formed by the light as a result of interaction with two pattern-generators (104) (106) is acquired to produce a signal characterizing geometry of interference fringes formed at the detector (116) by the first and second beams. Indicia representing at least one of a type and a value of spatial distortion of the target surface (110) is generated and recorded. A system embodying the implementation of the method.

A structured light emitting module includes a light source and a diffractive optical component. The light source generates laser light. The diffractive optical component is arranged on an optical path of the laser light emitted by the light source for diffracting the laser light. There is no lens arranged on an optical path of the laser light emitted by the light source.

A method for calculating an earth pressure load on a tunnel includes the following steps: (1) taking interaction between external soil and a tunnel structure in an actual operation condition as an earth pressure load acting on the tunnel structure; (2) establishing a physical model for the tunnel structure; (3) designing, on the basis of the physical model for the tunnel structure, a plurality of structural loads in different operation conditions to obtain a plurality of different structural deformations; and (4) drawing an inference according Betti's theorem, and establishing a physical model for an original structure, such that a load on the original structure, namely an earth pressure load on the tunnel, can be directly calculated according to a load-deformation relationship of the physical model and deformation of the original structure. The above method can determine distribution and size of an actual earth pressure load on a tunnel.

A method for measuring the deformation of a reflective surface of an object is provided. The measuring device includes a lighting pattern containing spots of light, a camera and an image-analyzing device, the lighting pattern and the camera being arranged so that, in the measurement position, the virtual or real image of the lighting pattern is visible to the detector of the camera via the surface, the image being representative of the deformation of the lit region. The method comprises the following steps: measuring a distance between the images of two spots of light; computing the ratio between this measured distance and a reference distance; computing, from this ratio, the enlargement in a defined direction; computing the deformation of the reflective surface in the defined direction.

The present subject matter at-least provides a system for measurement of topography of specular surfaces. The system comprises a set of indexed light-sources and a controller configured to drive the set of light-sources for irradiating a specular-surface by sequentially illuminating a plurality of sub-sets of the light-sources in accordance with a pre-defined encoding criteria. Further, at least one camera is provided to capture reflected light-radiation from the specular-surface and thereby generate a plurality of images in accordance with the sequential-illumination, such that each of the generated-image corresponds to a particular sub-set of illuminated light sources. Further, a processing system is configured to process each generated image in accordance with an image-processing criteria specific to the encoding-criteria to determine one or more index of light-sources and thereby identify the light-sources within the images; and determine topography of the specular-surface at-least based on calculation of spatial-coordinates and the determined identity of each light-source.

An apparatus includes: a first image capture module, a second image capture module, and a first projector. The first image capture module has a first optical axis forming an angle from approximately 70 to approximately 87 with respect to the surface of a carrier. The second image capture module has a first optical axis forming an angle of approximately 90 with respect to the surface of the carrier. The first projector has a first optical axis forming an angle from approximately 40 to approximately 85 with respect to the surface of the carrier.