1. An apparatus for transferring images to a wooden support, of the type comprising:
a. means for acquiring andor creating an image;
b. at least one source of a laser beam;
c. means for moving, either in rotation andor translation, the laser beam relative to said wooden support, or vice versa, for moving the wooden support relative to said laser beam, as well as for focusing said laser beam relative to said support;
d. at least one adjustment unit for the emission of said laser beam;
e. at least one control unit for said moving and focusing means; and
f. means for converting the information of said image into instructions for said at least one adjustment unit and said at least one control unit;
characterized in that said at least one adjustment unit adjusts the emission of said laser beam by directly varying the pumping of the active material andor by varying the operation of a modulator located within the resonant cavity of said source of a laser beam.
2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said image is in digital format, characterized in that said means for acquiring andor creating an image in digital format are configured for obtaining and storing bitmap or raster or vectorial images, in black and white andor shades of grey.
3. The apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said means for focusing and moving, in rotation andor translation, are of the type having a scan head with 2 or 3 axes for beam transmission.
4. The apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said means for acquiring andor creating an image comprise at least one processor and a software for image processing.
5. The apparatus according to claim 4, characterized in that it comprises at least one software for random generation of wood grain images.
6. The apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the means for acquiring andor creating an image and said means for converting the information of said one image into instructions for said adjustment unit and for said control unit, as well as said at least one adjustment unit and said at least one control unit comprise at least one processor provided with a CAD andor CAE andor CAM software system.
7. The apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the active material of said at least one laser beam source is selected from gaseous materials, solid state materials, or excimers with UV emissions.
8. The apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the power of the laser beam emitted from said at least one laser beam source ranges from 1 W and 1500 W.
9. The apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said at least one source emits a laser beam with a wavelength ranging from 0.1 and 20 micron.
10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the active material of said source of a laser beam is in the gaseous state and wherein said at least one adjustment unit for the laser beam emission comprises means for directly varying the excitation of the radio frequency pumped source.
11. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the active material of said source of a laser beam is a material in the solid state and wherein said at least one adjustment unit for the laser beam emission comprises a Q-Switch modulator placed inside the resonant cavity.
12. A method for transferring images to a wooden support by means of an apparatus provided with at least one source of a laser beam, means for focusing and moving the laser beam relative to this wooden support, as well as at least one adjustment unit for the emission of said laser beam, the method comprising the steps of:
a. acquiring andor creating an image to be transferred;
b. converting the information of this image into instructions for adjusting the emission, movement and focusing of the laser beam relative to said support;
c. operating said moving and focusing means and said at least one adjustment unit according to said instructions to reproduce said image on said wooden support;
characterized in that said at least one adjustment unit adjusts the emission of said laser beam by directly varying the pumping of the active material andor by varying the operation of a modulator placed within the resonant cavity of said at least one source of a laser beam.
13. The method according to claim 12, wherein said image, either acquired andor created, is an image in digital format.
14. The method according to claim 13, wherein said image is in the bitmap, raster, or vectorial format.
15. The method according to claim 1, wherein said image is acquired andor created in black and white or in shades of grey.
16. The method according to claim 12, wherein said image is an image of wood grains.
17. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that said image of wood grains is obtained by means of random generation.
18. The method according to claim 12, wherein said wooden support is selected from pistol or carbine grips, rifle butts andor forearms.
19. The method according to claim 12, wherein said instructions for adjusting the emission, movement, and focusing of the laser beam relative to said support allow said laser beam to penetrate within said wooden support by a thickness ranging from 0.1 and 1 mm.
20. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that said instructions for adjusting the emission, movement, and focusing of the laser beam relative to said support provide that a laser beam is emitted such as to irradiate the surface of said support with an energy per surface unit ranging from 0 jcm2 to 43.7 jcm2.
21. The method according to claim 20, characterized in that said support is locally subjected to irradiation by means of said laser beam, with an energy per surface unit ranging from 2.35 jcm2 to 43.7 jcm2, in order to blacken the surface portion of the support being subjected to said local irradiation.
22. The method according to claim 12, wherein said wooden support is treated by means of additives for accelerating the carbonization and bleaching thereof, prior to said step of operating said moving and focusing means and said at least one adjustment unit according to said instruction for reproducing said image on said wooden support.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method of determining the magnification Mref for a line scan camera that transports a work piece to be imaged in orthogonal x and y axis directions while at a fixed height along a z axis normal to the x-y plane containing the x and y axes, the method comprising the steps of:
(a) transporting at a fixed location zcal along the z axis and in the y axis direction a calibration target having opaque edges parallel to the x and y axes and both opaque edges in a plane parallel to the x-y plane;
(b) while performing step (a), illuminating the calibration target with actinic radiation emanating in a generally uniform conical pattern from a point source and in a direction toward the calibration target and then further toward a multiple element detector of the actinic radiation disposed upon a detection plane parallel to the x-y plane, the conical pattern having an axis normal to the detection plane, and the multiple element detector having a plurality of xi detection elements responsive to the actinic radiation along a line parallel to the x axis;
(c) while performing step (b), collecting and storing at regular intervals of transport motion in step (a) the plurality of detection element outputs Yj\u03b1@Xi that, at successive locations yj \u0394y apart along the y axis, are the respective outputs \u03b1 of an ith detection element xi of the multiple element detector having some location along the x axis within the detection plane;
(d) while performing step (b), collecting and storing at regular intervals of transport motion in step (a) the plurality of detection element outputs Xi\u03b1@Yj that, at successive locations \u0394x apart along the x axis, are the respective outputs \u03b1 of each ith detection element xi of the multiple element detector having some location along the y axis within the detection plane;
(e) selecting an arbitrary trial magnification value Mi from among a range of possible magnification values;
(f) while a trial magnification value Mi is in effect:
(f1) subsequent to each instance of step (e), for each zi in a range from a selected zmin along the z axis and by steps of a \u0394z toward a selected zmax along the z axis, zmin<zcal<zmax, reconstructing the image at the height zi;
(f2) subsequent to each instance of step (f1), inspecting the reconstructed image for Mi for a value zx of zi that exhibits a sharp x axis edge and a value zy of zi that exhibits a sharp y axis edge;
(f3) subsequent to each associated instances of steps (f1) and (f2), saving a value ei that is indicative of the difference between the associated zx and zy;
(f4) subsequent to steps (f1), (f2) and (f3), selecting an unused next value for Mi until a selected number of different Mi have been in effect;
(g) fitting a function e=f (M) to the set of data {(ei), (Mi)}; and
(h) finding the y intercept Mj of e=f (M) and taking Mj to be the value of Mref.
2. A method as claim 1 wherein step (a) comprises motion in a serpentine pattern having legs parallel to the y direction and that are each a step apart in the x direction.
3. A method of determining the magnification Mref for a line scan camera that transports a work piece to be imaged in orthogonal x and y axis directions while at a fixed height along a z axis normal to the x-y plane containing the x and y axes, the method comprising the steps of:
(a) transporting at a fixed location zcal along the z axis and in the y axis direction a calibration target having opaque edges parallel to the x and y axes and both opaque edges in a plane parallel to the x-y plane;
(b) while performing step (a), illuminating the calibration target with actinic radiation emanating in a generally uniform conical pattern from a point source and in a direction toward the calibration target and then further toward a plurality of multiple element detectors of the actinic radiation arranged in a detection plane parallel to the x-y plane, the conical pattern having an axis normal to the detection plane, and each multiple element detector having a plurality of xi detection elements responsive to the actinic radiation along a line parallel to the x axis;
(c) for each multiple element detector and while performing step (b), collecting and storing at regular intervals of transport motion in step (a) the plurality of detection element outputs Yj\u03b1@Xi that, at successive locations yj \u0394y apart along the y axis, are the respective outputs \u03b1 of an ith detection element xi of the multiple element detector having some location along the x axis within the detection plane;
(d) for each multiple element detector and while performing step (b), collecting and storing at regular intervals of transport motion in step (a) the plurality of detection element outputs Xi\u03b1@Yj that, at successive locations \u0394x apart along the x axis, are the respective outputs \u03b1 of each ith detection element xi of the multiple element detector having some location along the y axis within the detection plane;
(e) selecting an arbitrary trial magnification value Mi from among a range of possible magnification values;
(f) while a trial magnification value Mi is in effect;
(f1) subsequent to each instance of step (e), for each zi in a range from a selected zmin along the z axis and by steps of a \u0394z toward a selected zmax along the z axis, zmin<zcal<zmax, reconstructing the image at the height zi;
(f2) subsequent to each instance of step (f1), inspecting the reconstructed image for Mi for a value zx of zi that exhibits a sharp x axis edge and a value zy of zi that exhibits a sharp y axis edge;
(f3) subsequent to each associated instances of steps (f1) and (f2), saving a value ei that is indicative of the difference between the associated zx and zy;
(f4) subsequent to steps (f1), (f2) and (f3), selecting an unused next value for Mi until a selected number of different Mi have been in effect;
(g) fitting a function e=f (M) to the set of data {(ei), (Mi)}; and
(h) finding the y intercept Mj of e=f (M) and taking Mj to be the value of Mref.
4. A method as in claim 3 wherein step (b) comprises illuminating the calibration target with actinic radiation that comprises x-rays.
5. A method as in claim 4 wherein the calibration target comprises a sheet of tungsten.
6. A method as in claim 5 wherein the sheet of tungsten comprises an orificethat is a right isosceles triangle.
7. A method as in claim 3 wherein steps (a), (b), (c) and (d) further comprise the respective steps of transporting, illuminating, collecting and storing for a workpiece comprising a printed circuit assembly and a step (i) of forming reconstructed images thereof at selected values of zi by using shifts and accumulation upon Y\u03b1@Xi and X\u03b1i@Yi that are thus formed.
8. A method as in claim 7 wherein step (b) comprises illuminating the workpiece with actinic radiation that comprises x-rays.
9. A method as in claim 7 wherein the workpiece is transparent to at least some wavelengths of visible light and wherein step (b) comprises illuminating the workpiece with visible light.
10. A method as in claim 3 wherein the plurality of multiple element sensors comprises a generally circular arrangement of multiple element sensors disposed upon the detection plane at known locations relative to each other.
11. A method as in claim 3 wherein the plurality of multiple element sensors comprises a regular arrangement of multiple element sensors disposed upon the detection plane at known locations relative to each other, and wherein the regular arrangement comprises the vertices of a regular geometric figure.
12. A method as in claim 3 wherein the plurality of multiple element sensors comprises an arbitrary arrangement of multiple element sensors disposed upon the detection plane at known locations relative to each other.
13. A method as in claim 3 wherein step (a) comprises motion in a serpentine pattern having legs parallel to the y direction and that are each a step apart in the x direction.
14. A method as in claim 3 wherein the plurality of multiple element sensors comprises time domain integration sensors.