Importance

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Abstract

An apparatus for detecting contact between an object and the surface of a body, by utilizing various indices of refraction so that electromagnetic energy reaches a detector system only when there is optical contact. A body of transmissive material is irradiated with electromagnetic energy. That portion of the energy which enters the body through a first boundary surface is refracted, thereby striking the body surface leading to the detection system at angles of incidence sufficient to cause total reflection at that surface. Similarly, electromagnetic energy which passes through the body, strikes the object on the opposite side, and reenters the body is refracted upon reentry and totally reflected at the surface leading to the detector system. Contact between the object and the contact detecting surface produces diffusive reflection within the body at all points of actual contact. The incidence angle between the diffusive electromagnetic energy at each point of contact and the surface leading to the detection system is sufficiently low to permit passage of electromagnetic energy outward through surface and onto the detection system. Since the contact points and the detection system are geometrically related, contact locations or patterns may be recognized when they are being sought.

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First Claim