ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 23 -- United States Patent no. 12,366,686, issued on July 22, was assigned to Datalogic IP Tech S.r.l. (Calderara di Reno, Italy).
"Optical systems and methods for active autofocus" was invented by Francesco D'Ercoli (Bologna, Italy), Matteo Del Castello (Capua, Italy) and Marco Cumoli (Monte San Pietro, Italy).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Systems and methods for autofocus may include a light source for generating a light wave and a varifocal lens arranged in front of the light source. The varifocal lens may receive the light wave and generate a Fourier transform of a known semi-transparent pattern positioned on the rear focal plane (or input plane) of the varifocal len...