US 12,169,748 B2
Optical articles and systems interacting with the same
Michael A. McCoy, St. Paul, MN (US); Glenn E. Casner, Woodbury, MN (US); Anne C. Gold, South St. Paul, MN (US); Silvia Geciova-Borovova Guttmann, St. Paul, MN (US); Charles A. Shaklee, Stillwater, MN (US); Robert W. Shannon, Stillwater, MN (US); Gautam Singh, Woodbury, MN (US); Guruprasad Somasundaram, St. Paul, MN (US); Andrew H. Tilstra, Shoreview, MN (US); John A. Wheatley, Stillwater, MN (US); Caroline M. Ylitalo, Stillwater, MN (US); Arash Sangari, Frisco, TX (US); Alexandra R. Cunliffe, St. Paul, MN (US); Jonathan D. Gandrud, Woodbury, MN (US); Kui Chen-Ho, Woodbury, MN (US); Travis L Potts, Woodbury, MN (US); Maja Giese, Erkelenz (DE); Andreas M. Geldmacher, Dormagen (DE); Katja Hansen, Düsseldorf (DE); Markus G. W. Lierse, Moenchengladbach (DE); and Neeraj Sharma, Woodbury, MN (US)
Filed by 3M INNOVATIVE PROPERTIES COMPANY, St. Paul, MN (US)
Filed on Apr. 4, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/295,461.
Application 18/295,461 is a continuation of application No. 16/486,311, granted, now 11,651,179, previously published as PCT/US2017/053632, filed on Sep. 27, 2017.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/536,654, filed on Jul. 25, 2017.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/461,041, filed on Feb. 20, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2023/0306222 A1, Sep. 28, 2023
Int. Cl. G06K 19/06 (2006.01); G02B 5/12 (2006.01); G02B 5/124 (2006.01); G02B 5/30 (2006.01)
CPC G06K 19/06037 (2013.01) [G02B 5/12 (2013.01); G02B 5/124 (2013.01); G02B 5/305 (2013.01); G02B 5/3025 (2013.01); G06K 2019/0629 (2013.01)] 13 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system comprising:
a) an optical article that is deformable in the form of shrinking or expanding or both, comprising a data rich plurality of retroreflective elements that are configured in a spatially defined arrangement, wherein the plurality of retroreflective elements comprise retroreflective elements having at least two different retroreflective properties, wherein data rich means information that is readily machine interpretable;
b) an optical system; and,
c) an inference engine for interpreting and classifying the plurality of retroreflective elements wherein the optical system feeds data to the inference engine.