Laser measurement of a vehicle frame

Abstract

A laser measurement system operates to measure portions of a vehicle, such as a vehicle frame. The measurements are used, for example, to determine if the portions of the vehicle are bent or damaged. The measurement system includes a laser scanner and at least one target assembly that can be connected to a point of the vehicle. The laser scanner emits a laser beam that is detected by the target. Time and laser position information detected by the target are used to determine the location of the target, as well as the location of the point of the vehicle. The location of the point is then compared to an original location of the point to determine if damage has occurred.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A laser measurement system comprising:
 a scanner device including a laser device that generates a laser beam; and   a target including a detector that detects when the laser beam is directed at the target, and further including a three dimensional position indicator system that visually indicates the relative position of a point on a vehicle frame with respect to a desired position in each of the three dimensions.   
     
     
         2 . The laser measurement system of  claim 1 , wherein the three dimensional position indicator system includes at least three position indicators including a height dimension indicator, a width dimension indicator, and a length dimension indicator. 
     
     
         3 . The laser measurement system of  claim 2 , wherein each position indicator is configured to generate at least three outputs, each output indicative of a distance between the point on the vehicle frame and the desired position in one of the three dimensions. 
     
     
         4 . The laser measurement system of  claim 1 , further comprising a stem including a connector and a resistive element, the resistive element having a resistance that is detectable by the target, the resistance being associated with a length of the stem. 
     
     
         5 . A method of operating a laser measurement system, the method comprising:
 detecting a laser beam emitted from a rotating scanner device with a target device, the target device being associated with a position of a part of a vehicle; and   wirelessly transmitting data from the target device to the scanner device after detecting the laser beam.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein detecting a laser beam comprises detecting at least two laser beams, and further comprising storing a time value and a position value in memory for each detected laser beam. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising automatically turning on the target device upon connection of a stem to the target device. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising automatically detecting with the target device a resistance associated with the stem, and identifying a length of the stem based on the detected resistance. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein identifying a length of the stem comprises retrieving data from a lookup table stored in memory of the target device. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising processing the data received from the target device with the scanner device. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein processing further comprises computing a three-dimensional coordinate for the position with the scanner device. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising:
 receiving data from the scanner device with the target device; and   for each of three dimensions, generating with the target device a visual indication of whether the position is proper for that dimension after receiving the data from the scanner device.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 detecting movement of the position; and   generating with the target device a different visual indication if movement is in a wrong direction.