499results about "Electric/magnetic depth measurement" patented technology

A system determines the vertical position of an object and report that vertical position in a format suitable for use on a television broadcast, a radio broadcast, the Internet or another medium. One example of a suitable use for the system includes determining the height that a basketball player jumped and adding a graphic to a television broadcast that displays the determined height. The system includes two or more cameras that capture a video image of the object being measured. The object's position in the video images is determined and is used to find the three dimensional location of the object. The three dimensional location includes a height coordinate. In some cases, the height coordinate is the desired vertical position. In other cases, the height or size of the object may be subtracted from the height coordinate to determined the vertical position.

The present invention is directed to automated apparatuses and methods for measuring fastener hole depth, fastener length, countersink depth and / or hole diameters in a workpiece (or other object) in an automated and extremely rapid, efficient and accurate manner. The apparatuses may be operably connected with a power source and with one or a plurality of computers or other data collection devices to transmit fastener hole depth, countersink depth and / or hole diameter measurement data and / or information to them each time that a fastener hole is measured, while the apparatus is continuously measuring fastener holes (i.e., with no interruptions). Extremely advantageously, using only one hand, and by only squeezing a trigger only one time, an operator of such an apparatus may successfully and very rapidly and accurately perform more than one, or all three, of the following functions: (i) normalize the apparatus relative to one or a plurality of fastener holes and / or workpiece surfaces; (ii) make one or a plurality of accurate measurements; and (iii) transmit the one or more measurements from the apparatus to one or a plurality of computers and / or other data collection devices for, for example, recordation, storage, manipulation, other use and / or the like.

A system and method for locating buried cables, pipes and other utilities includes a man portable receiver / locator which is linked by a wireless mesh connection to a transmitter which either directly applies, or induces, a signal onto a buried utility.

An apparatus for measuring the weight of items on a conveyor includes a scale that generates a first signal corresponding to the weight of the items. A movable platform transports the items to the scale and generates a second signal corresponding to position of the items in relation to the scale. A dimensioner examines the items and generates a third signal representative of whether the items are singulated or nonsingulated. A processor receives the second and third signals and determines whether to associate the first signal with information stored in memory about a particular item based upon whether the particular item is singulated or nonsingulated.

An apparatus, method and program for outputting a present position that enables a user to be located with further accuracy even in a multi-level area. A control unit periodically sends a reference atmospheric pressure information obtaining request to a base station and obtains reference atmospheric pressure information including the atmospheric pressure and altitude of the base station from the base station and stores the obtained information in a data storage. The control unit uses the measurement value of atmospheric pressure obtained from a pressure sensor and an altitude calculation equation including the reference atmospheric pressure information to periodically calculate and record in the data storage the altitude of the present position. When an emergency button is pushed, the control unit issues to an emergency contact an emergency notification including the present altitude or the altitude recorded in the data storage.

A method and apparatus for deriving performance statistics from real time tracking of a sporting event. The method according to the present invention includes a step of obtaining a spatio-temporal trajectory corresponding to the motion of an athlete and based on real time tracking of the athlete. The trajectory is then broken down so that performance information corresponding to the motion of the athlete (such as speed, distance covered, acceleration, etc.) can be derived with respect to time. The information so obtained can be stored in a database or the like for later retrieval or can be used to graphically supplement a video broadcast of a sporting event. The apparatus includes a device for obtaining the trajectory, a computational device for obtaining the performance information based on the obtained trajectory, and a statistical device for compiling the performance information. In particular, the spatio-temporal trajectory may be obtained by an operation on a video image of the sporting event, in which motion regions in the image are identified, and feature points on the regions are tracked as they move, thereby defining feature paths. The feature paths, in turn, are associated in clusters, which clusters generally correspond to the motion of some portion of the athlete (e.g., arms, legs, etc.). The collective plurality of clusters corresponds with the motion of the athlete as a whole.

The present invention is directed to automated apparatuses and methods for measuring fastener hole depth, fastener length, countersink depth and / or hole diameters in a workpiece (or other object) in an automated and extremely rapid, efficient and accurate manner. The apparatuses may be operably connected with a power source and with one or a plurality of computers or other data collection devices to transmit fastener hole depth, countersink depth and / or hole diameter measurement data and / or information to them each time that a fastener hole is measured, while the apparatus is continuously measuring fastener holes (i.e., with no interruptions). Extremely advantageously, using only one hand, and by only squeezing a trigger only one time, an operator of such an apparatus may successfully and very rapidly and accurately perform more than one, or all three, of the following functions: (i) normalize the apparatus relative to one or a plurality of fastener holes and / or workpiece surfaces; (ii) make one or a plurality of accurate measurements; and (iii) transmit the one or more measurements from the apparatus to one or a plurality of computers and / or other data collection devices for, for example, recordation, storage, manipulation, other use and / or the like.

A tread depth measurement system for measuring a depth of a tread provided to a tire on a vehicle. The system includes an energy source for emitting a wireless signal to be transmitted to the tire; a sensor for detecting a return wireless signal emitted from the tire to be transmitted in response to the wireless signal from the energy source; and a housing over which the tire is to roll while attached to the vehicle, said housing separating the sensor from the tire while the tread depth is being measured. A control unit is operatively coupled to the sensor for determining the depth of the tread as a function of at least the return wireless signal detected by the sensor.

A method for determining a height (i.e., elevation above ground level) at which a communication device having an electronic processor and a sensor is located may include obtaining a reference height of a first location, the reference height being a known height relative to ground level, the reference height having a corresponding reference pressure; obtaining, with the sensor, a pressure measurement at a second location; and calculating, with the electronic processor, a height at the second location based on the pressure measurement, the reference height, and the reference pressure. The height may also be based on temperature data, location data, motion data, and / or the like.

A tread depth measurement system for measuring a depth of a tread provided to a tire on a vehicle. The system includes an energy source for emitting a wireless signal to be transmitted to the tire; a sensor for detecting a return wireless signal emitted from the tire to be transmitted in response to the wireless signal from the energy source; and a housing over which the tire is to roll while attached to the vehicle, said housing separating the sensor from the tire while the tread depth is being measured. A control unit is operatively coupled to the sensor for determining the depth of the tread as a function of at least the return wireless signal detected by the sensor.

The present invention is directed to a method for custom fitting an article to a human being having the steps of defining a first set of human body dimensions to be reported by the human being, defining a second set of human body dimensions to be inferred from said first set of human body dimensions, providing a first mathematical model relating said second set of human body dimensions to said first set of human body dimensions, wherein said mathematical model has been generated by statistical analysis of a human anthropometric database, obtaining a first set of values of said first set of body dimensions by report of the human being, computing a second set of values of said second set of human body dimensions from said first set of values of said first set of human body dimensions by using said first mathematical model, defining a set of article dimensions, providing a second mathematical model relating said article dimensions to said first set of human body dimensions and said second set of human body dimensions, computing a third set of values of said set of article dimensions from said first set of values of said first set of human body dimensions and said second set of values of said second set of human body dimensions by using said second mathematical model.

An automated system for tool mark analysis includes an acquisition mechanism for acquiring 3D data of tool marks left on the surfaces of specimens by tools, a signature generation module for generating tool mark signatures from the acquired data, an analysis unit for comparing pairs of the tool mark signatures to obtain a numerical similarity value reflective of their similarity, and a database in which the similarity values are stored. An automated method for tool mark analysis involves the steps of acquiring the 3D data of tool marks, generating the tool mark signature, statistically evaluating pairs of the tool mark signatures, and providing a numerical similarity value for each pair of tool mark signatures reflecting the degree of similarity between the tool mark signatures of each pair. The method is carried out with automated assistance of a computer.

A method used for determining a profile depth or wear on a tread of a tire of a vehicle, and / or a tire characteristic, a magnetic field being detected by a magnetic field sensor disposed in the interior of the tire, particularly in the area of the tread on the tire interior, or at a distance from the tire, particularly in the area of a wheel housing or a wheel well of the vehicle, the magnetic field being transmitted or changed by at least one indicator element disposed in the tread on the tire exterior. The current wear state of the tread and / or the tire characteristic, particularly a tire type and / or permissible top speed, is determined based on output signals of the magnetic field sensor. The invention further relates to tires.

A transit-time fill-level measuring device for measuring the fill level of a filling material in a container is stated, in which transit-time fill-level measuring device information about the topography of the filling material surface is determined on the basis of the shape of a single echo curve of the receiving signal. From this the fill volume can then be derived.

An instrument for measuring the depth of a hole in a bone or other tissue electronically, and for providing a convenient display of information relating to the depth. The surgical depth gauge comprises a probe insertable into the hole with an indented hook for positioning the distal end of the probe against a distal surface of the bone, and a reciprocating member slidably connected to the probe and positionable against a proximal surface of the bone. The probe cooperates with a sensor in an electronic circuit connected to the reciprocating member to produce an electronic signal that changes with the distance between the first surface and the second surface. The electronic circuit comprises a power source and a display. The instrument is robust to contamination and sterilization, and is designed for use by both left and right-handed surgeons.

A linear measuring machine is provided, the linear measuring machine having a base (11), a column (12) disposed on the base, a slider (14) elevatable along the column and an elevation driving mechanism (44) including a motor for lifting and lowering the slider. The linear measuring machine further includes a touch-and-back mechanism for driving the elevation driving mechanism in a direction for a probe (13) to move away from a measurement surface of the workpiece after fetching a detection value of a displacement sensor (45) when the probe touches the measurement surface of the workpiece and for stopping the elevation driving mechanism.

Methods and apparatus to perform wavefront analysis, including phase and amplitude information, and 3D measurements in optical systems, and in particular those based on analyzing the output of an intermediate plane, such as an image plane, of an optical system. Measurement of surface topography in the presence of thin film coatings, or of the individual layers of a multilayered structure is described. Multi-wavelength analysis in combination with phase and amplitude mapping is utilized. Methods of improving phase and surface topography measurements by wavefront propagation and refocusing, using virtual wavefront propagation based on solutions of Maxwell's equations are described. Reduction of coherence noise in optical imaging systems is achieved by such phase manipulation methods, or by methods utilizing a combination of wideband and coherent sources. The methods are applied to Integrated Circuit inspection, to improve overlay measurement techniques, by improving contrast or by 3-D imaging, in single shot imaging. Data supplied from the esp@cenet database—Worldwide

A system (10) for directly measuring the depth of a high aspect ratio etched feature on a wafer (80) that includes an etched surface (82) and a non-etched surface (84). The system (10) utilizes an infrared reflectometer (12) that in a preferred embodiment includes a swept laser (14), a fiber circulator (16), a photodetector (22) and a combination collimator (18) and an objective lens (20). From the objective lens (20) a focused incident light (23) is produced that is applied to the non-etched surface (84) of the wafer (80). From the wafer (80) is produced a reflected light (25) that is processed through the reflectometer (12) and applied to an ADC (24) where a corresponding digital data signal (29) is produced. The digital data signal (29) is applied to a computer (30) that, in combination with software (32), measures the depth of the etched feature that is then viewed on a display (34).

The invention provides a display screen and a crack detection method thereof. A detection signal wire is arranged between a GIP signal wire and the edge of a base plate; one end of the detection signal wire is connected with the GIP signal wire, and the other end of the detection signal wire is connected with a terminal part; and signals are provided for the GIP signal wire and the detection signal wire through the terminal part. Therefore whether cracks destroying the detection signal wire exist or not is judged; the detection can be performed by only adding the signal wire and a probe connected with the detection signal wire on a cell test tool; and crack detection and a cell test work procedure are simultaneously performed, so that the detection time and the detection cost are reduced.

A system and associated method for selecting or creating an area which meets meet a set of marking criteria, for example, corresponding to a minimum surface area; a maximum slope angle; and a minimum deviation from a specified height. A marking station is directed to mark the selected area that meets the marking criteria.

The invention relates to a deep defect quantifying method based on an eddy rotating probe signal. The method comprises the steps of 1, acquiring a calibrated defect impedance variation vector signal; 2, performing differential treatment for the defect signal; 3, normalizing the signal; 4, forming a calibration quantifying curved line; 5, acquiring an actual signal; 6, performing deep defect quantifying for the actual signal through the calibration quantifying curved line. With the adoption of the method, the problem of failure of quantifying of a rotating probe can be solved; the algorithm transformation is performed to solve the drifting problem of an absolute signal.

In illustrative implementations, a time-of-flight camera robustly measures scene depths, despite multipath interference. The camera emits amplitude modulated light. An FPGA sends at least two electrical signals, the first being to control modulation of radiant power of a light source and the second being a reference signal to control modulation of pixel gain in a light sensor. These signals are identical, except for time delays. These signals comprise binary codes that are m-sequences or other broadband codes. The correlation waveform is not sinusoidal. During measurements, only one fundamental modulation frequency is used. One or more computer processors solve a linear system by deconvolution, in order to recover an environmental function. Sparse deconvolution is used if the scene has only a few objects at a finite depth. Another algorithm, such as Wiener deconvolution, is used is the scene has global illumination or a scattering media.

Disclosed is a method and apparatus for setting threshold values for use by a radar level transmitter to detect reflected wave pulses corresponding to portions of a transmitted microwave pulse which reflect from interfaces contained in a container. The present invention estimates these threshold values based upon various parameters. Some of these parameters can relate to properties of the materials forming the interfaces while others relate to properties of the antenna and user-defined parameters.

A micro-hardness measurement method for calculating the hardness of a test sample by pushing an indenter in the test sample and forming an indentation thereon, including: a loading step for extracting load data showing the relationship between load L applied to the indenter and a depth δ to which the indenter is pushed in from the surface of the test sample; an unloading step of extracting unloading data showing the relationship between the load L applied to the indenter after the load is unloaded and the depth δ; a first step of judging, by comparing the unloading data with the load data, the load fluctuation amount from the maximum depth δ0 when unloading the load; and a second step of judging the load at the depth δ1 (δ1<δ0) when unloading the load or the load fluctuation amount in the vicinity of the depth δ1.

An electronic component mounting apparatus includes a beam projector for projecting a laser beam, a beam receiver which is placed in opposition to the beam projector and which receives a laser beam projected from the beam projector, a light-reception-sensitivity setting unit for adjusting light-reception sensitivity of the beam receiver, a projection-side orifice provided in the beam projector to narrow a projection spot diameter of the laser beam, and a reception-side orifice provided in the beam receiver to narrow a light-reception spot diameter, where the light-reception sensitivity of the beam receiver is improved. As a result, an electronic component mounting apparatus capable of accurately detecting height size of small components by using a relatively inexpensive photoelectric sensor can be provided.

The invention provides a low-power consumption intelligent three-dimensional magnetic leakage detecting probe, which is applied to magnetic leakage detecting equipment for defects such as the corrosion, the cracks and the like of a long-distance transmission pipeline, can realize high-precision multi-sensor detection (1,500 to 4,000 sensors) and low power consumption (one thirtieth to one two hundredths of the conventional equipment), and solves the key problem of the battery capacity of a magnetic leakage detector. The probe consists of a Hall sensor array, a time-sharing power supply module, a signal processing module and an intelligent controller, wherein the Hall sensor array is used for measuring magnetic leakage intensity in an X direction, a Y direction and a Z direction; the time-sharing power supply module is used for only supplying power to sampling sensors in a time-sharing mode so as to realize the low power consumption; the signal processing module is used for signal filtering, analogue / digital conversion and the like; the intelligent controller is a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), realizes time-sharing power supply control, data acquisition, data transmission and communication, and has high interference resisting capability.

The invention discloses a silicon through-hole test structure which comprises a semi-conductor substrate, a silicon through hole, insulation layers, conducting materials, a heavily doped area, a dielectric layer and metal interconnection layers, wherein the silicon through hole is located inside the semi-conductor substrate, the insulation layers are located on the side wall and the bottom surface of the silicon through hole, the conducting materials are filled into the silicon through hole and located on the surfaces of the insulation layers, the heavily doped area is arranged to surround the silicon through hole and located inside the semi-conductor substrate, the dielectric layer is located on the surface of the semi-conductor substrate, and the metal interconnection layers are located on the surface of the dielectric layer. The conducting materials in the silicon through hole is in electricity connection with a first metal interconnection layer, and the heavily doped area is in electricity connection with a second metal interconnection layer, and the conducting materials in the silicon through hole is in electricity isolation with the heavily doped area. When polarization voltages are applied across the conducting materials of the silicon through hole and the heavily doped area, and then whether the insulation layers are judged complete or not through that whether leakage currents are measured between the conducting materials and the heavily doped area or not, and the depth of the silicon through hole is judged to reach a standard value or not through a measured capacitance value between the conducting materials and the heavily doped area, and the test process is simple and convenient.

A system and associated method for selecting or creating an area which meets meet a set of marking criteria, for example, corresponding to a minimum surface area; a maximum slope angle; and a minimum deviation from a specified height. A marking station is directed to mark the selected area that meets the marking criteria.