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Abstract

An optical structured light profiler for evaluating the surface shape of a workpiece along a particular cross section of interest. The profiler includes an illumination optical system which projects a sheet of light onto the workpiece surface along the cross sectional plane of interest. The viewing system has its optical axis perpendicular to the optical axis of the illumination systems such that it images the illuminated portion of the workpiece off-axis from its optical axis. In this manner the entire image illuminated on the workpiece surface is within the same depth-of-field plane of the viewing system, which provides advantages in selecting and designing the optics of the viewing system. In a first embodiment, a conventional wide angle lens is used in which only a portion of the lens is used to form an image. In accordance with a second embodiment, an optimized optical system for the viewing system is provided which images only in the off-axis region where the workpiece image is present. Many forms of the detector may be used including a two dimensional video camera or a translated linear detector array.

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First Claim