System and method for computerized evaluation of gemstones

Abstract

A system and method for computerized grading of the cut of a gemstone. The system includes a gemstone model and an illumination model. The gemstone model defines the cut of the gemstone in three dimensions with reference to the facets of the gemstone. The illumination model defines light projected onto the gemstone. The method includes the steps of determining a beam of light refracted into the gemstone from the illumination model for at least one of the facets, tracing reflections of the beam of light within the gemstone, and measuring at least one light beam refracted out of the gemstone model. The measurements of the refracted light are used to evaluate the gemstone.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1.0 Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to gemstones, and more particularly to a computer-based system and method for evaluation of a gemstone by modeling light propagating through the gemstone.

2.0 Related Art

Very few subjects have plagued the diamond industry more than the subject of cut. The basis for conventional cut grading of gemstones was established in 1919 by Marcel Tolkowsky, an industrious Antwerp diamond cutter. In his mathematical dissertation entitled “Diamond Design, A Study of the Reflection and Refraction of Light in a Diamond,” Tolkowsky established mathematically an optimal brilliant cut for a diamond that is still widely used today. The Tolkowsky cut defined certain dimensions (that is, table diameter, crown height and pavilion depth) of the diamond as percentages of its girdle diameter. Thus, the Tolkowsky cut is scalable, and so can be used for a different sizes of this style of cut.

Although Tolkowsky's cut represented a milestone in the industry, it is based upon a two-dimensional profile, and so does not account for three-dimensional reflective and refractive effects. Furthermore, the Tokowsky model doesn't account for differences or variations in facet types, sizes or positions, or assymetries present in some cuts.

Further, Tolkowsky apparently relied upon a single incident light ray to create the Tolkowski cut. This lighting model, therefore, has some shorfalls due to the fact that an actual gemstone is normally illuminated from a myriad of directions. Despite the shortcomings of the Tolkowsky cut, it is still in use today. Many gemstone cut grades continue to be based on deviations from the proportions of the Tolkowsky cut.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed toward a system and method for modeling and evaluating the propagation of light through an optical system. More specifically, in a preferred embodiment, the present invention provides a system and method for evaluating properties of a gemstone using a gemstone model. A key feature of the invention is that it provides a computer-based system and method for evaluating and grading the cut of a gemstone which can be used for determining an ideal or near-ideal cut. Thus, the invention can be used to grade the cut of an existing cut stone or to determine ideal dimensions for a stone to be cut.

Data describing the stone to be evaluated is collected into a data set. The data in the data set includes the material characteristics of the stone. This data also includes geometrical cut data, such as information regarding an existing cut or a proposed cut. The cut data can include, for example, without limitation, data regarding the number, type and placements of facets, and cut dimensions (e.g., pavillion, crown and table percentages). The data set represents a three-dimensional model of a gemstone with an existing or proposed cut.

According to the invention, an illumination model comprised of one or more light sources is used to “illuminate” the stone. Light beams from the light sources are traced or modeled as they enter the stone, are reflected among the various facets inside the stone, and exit the stone. One or more attributes of the light exiting the stone is measured to determine the quality of the cut. These attributes can include, for example, intensity, dispersion, scintillation, and other attributes.

Preferably, numerous measurements of the exiting light are taken at a plurality of points surrounding the crown of the stone. As a result, the light exiting the stone is evaluated at various viewing angles and from various locations on the model. Attributes of the light exiting the stone are measured and these measurements are used to evaluate the cut of the gemstone.

One advantage of the present invention is that the grade of a gemstone can be determined based on the propagation of light within the gemstone.

Another advantage of the present invention is that an accurate measure of composite brilliance for a gemstone is obtained.

Further features and advantages of the present invention, as well as the structure and operation of various embodiments of the present invention, are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the drawing in which the reference number first appears.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a scenario where a light beam is refracted into a gemstone and is reflected off of a facet within the gemstone.

FIG. 2 is an operational flow diagram illustrating a process for evaluating a gemstone according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b) are an operational flow diagram illustrating an example process for evaluating and grading a gemstone according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example architecture for the system according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is an operational flow diagram depicting one process for performing facet extraction according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating one example process for building a master zone list according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example process for creating a camera model according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 8 depicts an example arrangement of cameras according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart depicting an example process for building a camera-specific copy of the master zone list for a camera according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 10 depicts an example spherical diffuse illumination model.

FIG. 11 depicts an example conicular illumination model.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart depicting one process for computing the indices of refraction for various dispersion components according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 13(a) and 13(b) are a flowchart describing an example process for illuminating a gemstone model according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart describing a global coordinate system representation of the light vector according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating one process for reflecting light within the gemstone model according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart depicting an example process for creating the bounding boxes according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating an example process for comparing the projected bounding box to the facet bounding box according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating an example process for comparing a vertex of one rectangle to the sides of a second rectangle according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart depicting an example process for comparing sides of a facet rectangle to sides of a projected rectangle according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 20 depicts a scenario where the facet rectangle and the projection rectangle overlap.

FIG. 21 depicts a complementary scenario to that shown in FIG. 20, where the facet rectangle is of greater x extent and lesser y extent than the projection rectangle.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart depicting an example process for creating a reflected light beam, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart depicting an example process for propagating refracted light to one or more cameras, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart illustrating an example process for locating the cameras illuminated by a refracted beam according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 25 depicts the projection of the light beam onto a viewing plane according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 26 is a flowchart illustrating an example process for capturing refracted beam data using an illuminated camera according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 27 is a flowchart depicting an example process for projecting a refracted beam onto its viewing plane according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 28(a) through 28(d) illustrate four scenarios for interaction of a beam projection with a facet boundary.

FIGS. 29(a) and 29(b) illustrate scenarios where one or more (but not all) vertices of one boundary lie within the opposite boundary.

FIG. 30 is an operational flow diagram illustrating an example process for determining boundaries of a child beam as a result of a reflection or refraction of its parent beam from a facet according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 31 depicts the intersection of segments of a facet with segments of a beam projection.

FIG. 32 is an operational flow diagram illustrating an example process for determining the segments of a projection of a beam onto a facet according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 33 is an operational flow diagram illustrating repetition of a process for vertices of a facet to determine facet segments according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 34 is an operational flow diagram illustrating an example process for determining whether a vertex of the boundary of the projection of the beam lies within the boundaries of the receiving facet according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 35 illustrates a beam projection boundary overlapping a facet boundary.

FIG. 36 is a diagram illustrating an example of a possible scenario where a vertex of a beam projection lies within the boundaries of a facet.

FIG. 37 is an operational flow diagram illustrating an example embodiment for implementing a process for determining whether a vertex is inside or outside an opposite boundary according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 38 is an operational flow diagram illustrating an example embodiment for implementing a process for determining whether a vertex is inside or outside an opposite boundary according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 39 is an operational flow diagram illustrating an example embodiment for implementing a process for determining whether a vertex is inside or outside an opposite boundary according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 40 is an operational flow diagram illustrating an example process by which the range of y values is determined according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 41 describes an example process for assigning vertices to segments of the overlap boundary according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 42 is an operational flow diagram illustrating one embodiment for determining which intersection point to assign as a vertex of a segment of the overlap boundary.

FIG. 43 illustrates an example scenario where segments of each boundary lie outside the opposite boundary, yet the segments overlap.

FIG. 44 illustrates a scenario where two of the segments of a facet boundary have one vertex outside of the projection boundary and the other vertex inside the projection boundary.

FIG. 45 is an operational flow diagram illustrating an example process for ordering the segments of the overlap boundary according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 46 is an operational flow diagram illustrating an example process for ordering the vertices in a linked list according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 47 is an operational flow diagram illustrating an example process for ordering the vertices in a linked list according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 48 is a flowchart depicting an example process for grading camera data, according to the preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 49 is a flowchart depicting an example process for computing the flux density for each zone and each camera according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 50 is a flowchart depicting an example process for computing the absolute flux density for the gemstone model, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 51 is a flowchart depicting an example process for computing the absolute dispersion for the gemstone model, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 52 is a flowchart depicting an example process for computing the absolute refraction count for the gemstone model, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 53 is an operational flow diagram illustrating an example process for determining maximum attribute values by modeling various gemstone cuts according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 54 is an operational flow diagram illustrating an example process for determining maximum attribute values by modeling various gemstone cuts according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 55 is an operational flow diagram illustrating an example process for determining maximum attribute values by modeling various gemstone cuts according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 56 is an operational flow diagram depicting an example computer system on which the invention can be implemented in one embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

1.0 Overview and Discussion of the Invention

The present invention is directed toward a system and method for modeling and evaluating the propagation of light through an optical system. More specifically, in a preferred embodiment, the present invention provides a system and method for evaluating properties of a gemstone using a gemstone model. A key feature of the invention is that it provides a computer-based system and method for evaluating and grading the cut of a gemstone which can be used for determining an ideal or near-ideal cut. Thus, the invention can be used to grade the cut of an existing cut stone or to determine ideal dimensions for a stone to be cut.

Generally speaking, in accordance with the invention, data on the stone to be evaluated is collected into a data set. The data in the data set includes the material characteristics of the stone. This data also includes cut data, such as information regarding an existing cut or a proposed cut. The cut data can include, for example, without limitation, data regarding the number, type and placements of facets, and cut dimensions (e.g., pavillion, crown and table percentages).

The data set represents a three-dimensional model of a gemstone with an existing or proposed cut. Any of several different data structures can be used for this data set. One such data structure, and variants thereof, are described in this document. After reading this document, it will become apparent to a person skilled in the relevant art how to implement the invention using alternative data structures.

According to the invention, an illumination model comprised of one or more light sources is used to “illuminate” the stone. Light beams from the light sources are traced or modeled as they enter the stone, are reflected among the various facets inside the stone, and exit the stone. One or more attributes of the light exiting the stone are measured to determine the quality of the cut. These attributes can include, for example, intensity, dispersion, scintillation, and other attributes.

Preferably, numerous measurements of the exiting light are taken at a plurality of points surrounding the crown of the stone. As a result, the light exiting the stone is evaluated at various viewing angles and from various locations on the model. Attributes of the light exiting the stone are measured and these measurements are used to evaluate the cut of the gemstone.

For ease of discussion, the operation of the present invention is described in evaluating a gemstone with a round cut. Of course, the invention can be used to evaluate gemstones with other types of cuts (such as brilliant, emerald, marquis, pear, etc.) without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

2.0 Example Environment

Before describing the invention in great detail, it is useful to describe an example environment in which the invention can be implemented. In a broad sense, the invention can be implemented to model the propagation of light through any optical system, and to evaluate the performance of the optical system based on the modeled propagation. Such an optical system may have a plurality of lenses, mirrors, surfaces, or other devices which can interact with and potentially alter the properties of light in the optical system.

In an alternative environment, the propagation of light is modeled through a gemstone. One or more properties or attributes of the light exiting the gemstone are measured to evaluate the gemstone.

For ease of discussion, the present invention is described in terms of the example environment of the gemstone. Description in these terms is provided for convenience only. It is not intended that the invention be limited to application in this example environment. In fact, after reading the following description, it will become apparent to a person skilled in the relevant art how to implement the invention in alternative environments.

3.0 Light Propagation in Gemstones

As stated above, in a preferred implementation, the invention models the propagation of light in a gemstone to evaluate the characteristics of the stone. Before describing the invention in detail, it is useful to describe an example scenario of a light beam being refracted into, reflected within and refracted out of a simple gemstone.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a scenario where a light beam is refracted into a gemstone and is reflected off of a facet within the gemstone. Referring to FIG. 1, a stone 100 is illuminated by a light source 104. In FIG. 1 a facet 108 on the crown of stone 100 is illuminated by light source 104. A light beam 112 is refracted into stone 100 by facet 108.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 1, light beam 112 impinges upon a facet 116 on the pavilion of the stone. Depending on the angle of incidence, this creates a reflected beam 120, or a refracted beam 124 out of the stone, or both.

In this document, each beam, and its resultant reflected or refracted beam are referred to as a parent beam and a child beam for ease of description. For example, in the example illustrated in FIG. 1, beam 112 is referred to as the parent beam of child beam 120. For a subsequent reflection of child beam 120, child beam 120 is then referred to as the parent beam of the resultant reflected beam.

Also for ease of description, facets are referred to as either a sending facet or a receiving facet. In the example illustrated in FIG. 1, facet 108 is the sending facet for beam 112. Facet 116 is referred to as the receiving facet for beam 112. Similarly, facet 116 is the sending facet for beam 120.

The area of the beam which overlaps the area of the facet is referred to as the overlap area. For example, for beam 112 and facet 116, the overlap area is the cross hatched area illustrated. The overlap area can be described as a projection of beam 112 onto receiving facet 116.

Note that for simplicity, light beam 112 is only illustrated as impinging on a single facet in the pavilion. In reality, light beam 112 may actually impinge upon several facets, or portions thereof, within the stone resulting in a plurality of child beams. The shape of the resultant child beams is dictated by the shape of the overlap area of the parent beam with the receiving facet (which is the sending facet of the child beam).

In order to aid in the description of complex processes disclosed herein, many of these processes are described in terms of simple examples. These examples are valuable aids in allowing the reader to better grasp the techniques described. However, after reading this description it will become apparent to a person skilled in the relevant art that the invention is not limited to application to the described examples.

4.0 Evaluation of a Gemstone

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a process for evaluating a gemstone according to one embodiment of the invention. In a step 204, a model of the gemstone to be evaluated is constructed. This model describes the characteristics of the gemstone which are useful in tracing light beam propagation within the stone. The model can include data which describes the cut of the gemstone, as well as other physical characteristics of the material, such as dispersion.

Cut data can include parameters such as the type of cut (round, emerald, princess, etc.), the facet types (break, main, star, etc.), the number and location of the various facet types, and the dimensions of the stone. Cut proportion can be used to determine the physical locations of the facets.

The cut data can include data on an existing cut of an already-cut stone, or data on a proposed cut for a stone to be cut. Cut data can be obtained using a variety of techniques. For example, cut data can be entered by a user, read from a file or other memory or storage, or downloaded from another machine. For existing cuts, there are numerous existing automated techniques and devices for measuring the characteristics of a cut stone. One such device, for example, is the Sarin Diamensia measuring machine. Using a simple interface, data from such devices can be directly downloaded to the invention. Such downloaded data can be supplemented with additional data entered by the user.

One example of a physical characteristic of the gemstone used to model the propagation of light in the gemstone is dispersion. Physical characteristics can be entered by the user or stored in a file, table or other data record. In a preferred embodiment, there are a plurality of stored records for various types of materials. The user selects the type of stone from a menu screen and the physical characteristics for the material of that stone (e.g., diamond) are retrieved from memory.

In a step 208 the gemstone model is illuminated using an illumination model. The illumination model represents a set of one or more light sources used to model an illumination of the gemstone. In a preferred embodiment, the illumination model is comprised of a plurality of light sources arranged in an array uniformly over the crown of the stone. For example, for a round-cut stone, the illumination model in the preferred embodiment is comprised of a plurality of evenly-spaced light sources arranged in a hemispherical array about the crown.

Other illumination models having one or more light sources arranged in other configurations can be used in accordance with the invention. For example, if a stone is to be modeled in a particular environment having known lighting conditions (e.g., a room having a known number of lights of a given color at known locations, or in a particular setting which does not allow light to enter from certain isa, Poynting Pointing vector of that dispersion component.

When a beam is refracted by a facet (that is, light exits the gemstone), the light is projected onto a “viewing plane” that is normal to the Poynting Pointing vector of the light beam. The viewing plane is used to measure the dispersion characteristics of the light. Two points are calculated on the plane: one for each of two selected dispersion components. The two points describe the intersections of the direction vectors of the two selected dispersion components with the viewing plane. The x axis of the local coordinate system for the viewing plane is a vector passing through both points. The y axis of the viewing plane local coordinate system also lies in the viewing plane.

The difference between the minimum and maximum y values of the projection of the refracted beam onto the viewing plane is known as the path width. The path width for the refracted beam is stored in the “pathwid” element. The “ang_dev” element stores the angle between the Poynting Pointing vectors for the red and ultraviolet dispersion components of the refracted beam. The “area_r” element contains the area of the refracting facet illuminated by the beam exiting that facet.

Each dispersion component in the refracted beam can be characterized by two measures of intensity: electric intensity and magnetic intensity. The “xsec_int” element is an eight-element array containing the average of these two intensities for each dispersion component. The “area_x” element is an eight-element array containing the area of the viewing plane illuminated by each dispersion component and the cross-sectional area of the white beam projected onto the camera's viewing plane. The “ampls” element is a two-element array that contains the amplitudes of the electric and magnetic components of the white monochromatic component. The “ampls” element is used to measure the brilliance component of the cut grade, and is also used to determine whether the refraction should be processed by the cameras. In one embodiment, when the “ampls” value for a particular refraction is below a predetermined threshold value, that refraction is discarded because further processing of that refraction would not significantly affect the grade. The “deg_pol” element contains a measure of the relative intensities of the electric and magnetic components of the white monochromatic component; this measure is known as the “degree of polarization.”

Before leaving the stone, the refracted beam traverses a certain volume of gemstone material within the gemstone. The “volum” element contains a measure of this traversed volume. This measure can be used in conjunction with an absorption component to determine the color grade of the gemstone.

As light beams are propagated and reflected within the gemstone, a data structure is required to capture the data describing these light beams. Therefore, the present invention provides a data structure called “ltbeam”. As described above, the light beam calculation proceeds bounce by bounce. Within a particular bounce, each light beam is described by a “ltbeam” data structure. When a light beam in a first bounce is reflected to create one or more light beams in a second bounce, the data elements of the light beam data structures in the second bounce are derived from the data elements of the light beam data structure in the first bounce. Once the light beams in the second bounce are calculated, the light beam data structure in the first bounce can be released. Using this technique, light beam data structures are required simultaneously in a maximum of only two bounces. Previous light beam data structures can be released, resulting in a highly efficient memory resource allocation technique. The light beam data structure is presented below.

typedef struct ltbeam{
struct ltbeam *next;
struct facet *inface;
struct facet *outface;
struct facet *parent;
struct resbuf *verts;
struct resbuf *path;
ads_real domain[3][2];
ads_real dircos[8][3];
ads_real index;
ads_real area_r
ads_real area_x
ads_real xsec_intp;
ads_real xsec_ints;
ads_real ampls[2];
ads_real disp_int[7];
ads_real deg_pol;
ads_real volum;
};

The light beam data structure is a linked list. The “ltbeam *next” element is a pointer to the next light beam data structure in the linked list. Beams in different bounces are not linked to each other; only beams in the same bounce are linked together. The “facet_*inface” element is a pointer to the data structure for the facet through which the light in the beam originally entered the gemstone. The “facet *outface” element is a pointer to the data structure for the facet through which the previous refraction of the beam occurred. The “facet *parent” element contains a pointer to the data structure for the facet from which the light beam was just reflected (termed the “parent” facet for the beam). The “resbuf*verts” data structure is a pointer to a linked list of vertices of a polygon describing the portion of the parent facet illuminated by the reflected light beam. The “resbuf *path” element is a pointer to a linked list of vertices for a polygon describing the projection of the reflection of the light beam onto the parent facet. The “domain” element is a 3×2 array describing the coordinates of the bounding box for the reflection of the light beam. The “dircos” element is an 8×3 array containing the direction cosines (with respect to the axes of the global coordinate system) for the dispersion components of the light beam. The “index” element is the index of refraction for the gemstone material in which the reflecting facet of the light beam lies. The “area_r” element contains the area of the reflection of the light beam in the reflecting facet. The “area_x” element contains the cross sectional area of the light beam. This quantity is calculated by multiplying the cosine of the angle of incidence of the light beam upon the reflecting facet by the area_r. The intensities of the magnetic and electric components of the white monochromatic components of the light beam are stored in the “xsec_intp” and “xsec_ints” elements, respectively. When a light beam is refracted, these two values are averaged to create the values stored in the “xsec_int” element of the “refract” data structure. The “ampls” element is a 2-element array that stores the amplitudes of the electric and magnetic components of the white monochromatic component of the light beam, as described above with respect to the “refract” data structure. The “ampls” element is used to limit the “lifetime” of a beam within the gemstone. In one embodiment, when the “ampls” value for a particular light beam falls below a predetermined threshold value, that lightbeam is discarded because further processing of the light beam would not significantly affect the grade. The “disp_int” element is a 7-element array that contains the intensities for all of the dispersion components except the white monochromatic components. The “deg_pol” element contains the degree of polarization of the white monochromatic component of the light beam, calculated as described above with respect to the “refract” data structure. The “volume” element contains a running total of the volume of gemstone material traversed by the light beams and its parent light beams since entering the gemstones.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a data structure is established to contain the data describing each wavelength that is tracked in order to calculate dispersion.

typedef struct dispbuf{
struct dispbuf *next;
int index;
ads_real indexr;
ads_real wavlen;
ads_real n_min;
ads_real n_max;
ads_real wv_min;
ads_real wv_max;
};

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, eight dispersion components are monitored. Therefore, eight “dispbuf” data structures are required. The “dispbuf” data structure is a linked list. The “dispbuf *next” element points to the next data structure in the linked list. The “index” element contains the integer index value assigned to the dispersion component described by the data structure. For example, referring to the variable definitions above, the “index” value for the green dispersion component is three. The “indexr” data element is the absolute index refraction for the wavelength of the dispersion component. The “wavlen” data element contains the actual wavelength of the dispersion component. The minimum and maximum indices of refraction for this wavelength are stored in the “n_min” and “n_max” data elements, respectively. The minimum and maximum wavelengths for the dispersion component are stored in the “wv_min” and “wv_max” data elements, respectively.

As described above, when light exits the gemstone, the data describing that light is captured in the “refract” data structure. As part of gemstone cut grading, the data collected by the “refract” data structures is processed by the cameras. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a data structure is established to contain not only data describing the camera but also data captured by the camera. That data structure, called “camera,” is presented below.

typedef struct camera{
struct camera *next;
struct zone *zones;
ads_real inspt[3];
ads_real acs[4][3];
ads_real maxhang;
ads_real minhang;
ads_real maxvang;
ads_real minvang;
ads_real maxhrang;
ads_real minhrang;
ads_real maxvrang;
ads_real minvrang;
ads_real v_area
ads_real r_area[8];
ads_real intens[8];
ads_real power[8];
ads_real spectdens;
ads_real intens_dur;
ads_real enr_dens;
ads_real d_enr_dens;
ads_real volume;
ads_real vol_dens;
int noviszon;
int no_ref;
};

The camera data structure is a linked list data structure. The “camera *next” data element points to the next camera data structure in the linked list. As described above, for each facet of the gemstone that is visible to a camera, a “zone” is established. The “zone *zones” data element points to a linked list of zones for the camera. The “inspt” data element contains the global coordinates for the insertion point for the camera. In one embodiment of the present invention, the insertion point of the camera is the global origin. As described above, the origin of the global coordinate system is at the geometric center of the girdle at the intersection of the girdle and the pavilion.

The “acs” data element describes the orientation and position of the local camera local coordinate system with respect to the global coordinate system. As described above, the “acs” element is a four-by-three array containing the direction cosines of each axis of the local coordinate system with respect to each axis of the global coordinate system, and the global coordinates of the origin of the local coordinate system. The z axis of the camera local coordinate system points toward the origin of the global coordinate system.

As seen from the global origin, the camera “lens” is a bounded plane that can be described in terms of minimum and maximum horizontal and vertical angles measured at the global origin. The maximum and minimum horizontal angles are stored in the “maxhang” and “minhang” data elements. The maximum and minimum vertical angles for the camera are stored in the “maxvang” and “minvang” data elements.

In some applications, it is desirable to permit camera lenses to overlap. Therefore, the camera data structure includes data elements to describe the extent of the overlap, which can be described as a bounded plane somewhat larger than the camera lens. The maximum and minimum horizontal angles for this section are stored in the “maxhrang” and “minhrang” data elements, respectively. The maximum and minimum vertical angles for the section are stored in the “maxvrang” and “minvrang” data elements.

The “V_area” data element contains the total area of the facets visible to a camera when projected onto the viewing plane of the camera The “r_area” data element is an array containing one value for each dispersion component; each value contains the total area occupied by refracted beams for that dispersion component, as projected onto the viewing plane of the camera. The “intens” element is an array containing one element for each dispersion intensity component; each element contains the total intensity visible to the camera for that dispersion component. As noted above, only light refracted by facets in the crown is measured.

The “power” data element contains the total optical power visible to the camera for each dispersion component. In one embodiment a measure of the ratio of the dispersed energy to the surface area of the refracting facet, also known as the “spectral density” of the beam, summed for all dispersion components, is used as a grading component; this value is stored as the “spectdens” element The “intens_dur” data element is a measure of the dispersion of the beam for all facets visible to the camera. This quantity is determined by multiplying the path-length, intensity, and cosine of the angle of deviation for each dispersion component and summing the products. This quantity is a measure of the dispersion, or “fire,” of the gemstone.

The “enr_dens” data element is a direct measure of the brilliance of the gemstone, and contains a measure of the total energy density emanating from all crown facets visible to the camera. The “d_enr_dens” is a measure of the total dispersed energy density for all crown facets visible to the camera. The “volume” data element is a measure of the total volume of gemstone material traversed by the refracted beam, as described above. The “vol_dens” data element is a measure of the volumetric density visible to the camera (that is, the total volume of the beam divided by the area of the refraction as seen by the camera. The integer data element “noviszon” is the total number of zones visible to is the camera. The integer data element “no_ref” is the number of refracted beams visible to the camera.

The zone data structure is presented below. There is one such data structure for each zone, for each camera. A particular facet can have many corresponding zones: one for each camera to which the facet is visible. These zones need not have the same data element values.

typedef struct zone{
struct zone *next;
struct refract *images;
struct refract *last;
struct facet *face;
ads_real z_area
ads_real cov_perc;
ads_real r_area[8];
ads_real intens[8];
ads_real power[8];
ads_real spectdens;
ads_real intens_dur;
ads_real enr_dens;
ads_real d_enr_dens;
ads_real av_angdev;
ads_real volume;
ads_real vol_dens;
int no_ref;
int visible;
int count;
};

The zone data structure is a linked list. The “zone *next” data element is a pointer to the next zone data structure in the linked list. The “refract *images” data element is a pointer to one or more data elements for rendering graphic images for displaying the gemstone model to a user. The “refract *last” data element is a pointer to the last such graphics image in memory. The “facet *face” data element is a pointer to the facet data structure for the facet that corresponds to the zone.

The “z_area” data element is the area of the projection of the zone onto the viewing plane of the camera. The “cov_perc” data element is z_area divided by the total area of all visible zones projected on the viewing plane of the camera, expressed as a percentage. The “r_area” component is an array containing the area for each dispersion component; each element contains the total area illuminated by refractions within the zone for that dispersion component. The “intens” data element is an array containing the total intensity visible to the camera for the zone for each dispersion component. The “power” data element is an array containing the total optical power visible to the camera for the zone for each dispersion component.

The “spectdens”, “intens_dur”, “enr_dens”, and “d_enr_dens” data elements are as described for the camera data structure, but limited to the particular zone. Corresponding values are summed to provide the values for the camera. For example, the “spectdens” value for a camera is derived by summing the “spectdens” values for each crown zone visible to the camera.

The “av_angdev” data element represents the average angle of deviation, and is calculated by dividing the sum of the angles of deviation by the number of such angles (i.e., the number of refractions). The “volume” and “vol_dens” data elements represent the total volume and total volumetric density for the refracted beams visible to the camera from the zone. The “no_ref” data element is the total number of refractions visible to the camera from the zone. The “visible” data element is a boolean value that represents whether the zone is visible to the camera. The “count” data element is an integer representing the cardinal number assigned to this zone for this camera.

As part of the grading algorithm, data is collected for all of the facets of a particular type (e.g., break, main, table). The data structure used for this collection, called “zone_nams”, is presented below.

typedef struct zone_nams{
struct zone_nams *next;
char name[20];
int number;
ads_real r_total;
ads_real r_mean;
ads_real r_dev;
int i_total;
int i_mean;
int i_dev;
};

This data structure is a linked list. The “zone-nams *next” data element is a pointer to the next data structure in the linked list. There is one “zone_namns” data structure for each facet type. The “char name” data element is a string containing the name of the type of facet (for example, break, main, star, etc.). The “number” data element is a unique integer assigned to the zone type. The “r_total,” “r_mean,” and “r_dev” data elements contain the total, mean and standard deviation for the zone areas of the specified zone type. The “i_total,” “i_mean,” and “i_dev” data elements contain the total, mean and standard deviation for the intensities collected by the zones of the specified zone type.

In one embodiment, a data structure is provided to collect data regarding the illumination model selected. The “vector” data structure is used to describe each light vector incident on the gemstone. The “vector” data structure is presented below.

typedef struct vector{
struct vector *next;
ads_real srcpt[3];
ads_real tgtpt[3];
ads_real xintp;
ads_real xints;
};

The vector data structure is a linked list. The “vector *next” data element points to the next data structure in the linked list. The “srcpt” and “tgtpt” data elements are source and target points, respectively, for an illumination vector. The “xintp” and “xints” data elements describe the electric and magnetic intensities, respectively, of the illumination vector.

In another embodiment, a spherical diffuse illumination model is employed; a different data structure is used to describe the range of this lighting model. This data structure, called “angl_mg” is presented below.

typedef struct angl_rang{
struct angl_rang *next;
ads_real inspt[3];
ads_real minhor;
ads_real maxhor;
ads_real hresol;
ads_real minver;
ads_real maxver;
ads_real vresol;
};

This data structure is a linked list. The “angl_rng *next” data element points to the next data structure in the linked list. The “inspt” data element contains the insertion point for the illumination source. In a preferred embodiment, the insertion point is the global origin. The spherical diffuse illumination model is characterized by multiple point sources of illumination. The arrangement of the point sources is specified by values for minimum and maximum horizontal angles, horizontal resolution, minimum and maximum vertical angles, and vertical resolution, which are stored in the “minhor”, “maxhor”, “hresol”, “minver”, “maxver”, and “vresol” data elements.

A similar data structure is provided to describe the positions of the cameras. This data structure, called “cam_dat”, is presented below.

typedef struct cam_dat{
struct cam_dat *next;
ads_real inspt[3];
ads_real minhor;
ads_real maxhor;
ads_real hresol;
ads_real minver;
ads_real maxver;
ads_real vresol;
ads_real v_over
ads_real h_over
};

The “minhor,” “maxhor,” “hresol,” “minver,” and “maxver,” elements describe the angular extent of the camera lens, excluding overlap. The “v_over” and “h_over” elements describe the angular extent of the camera lens overlap.

Many of the calculation parameters for the present invention are user-selectable. These user-selectable configuration settings can be saved and retrieved for later use. The grade for particular gem cut is a function of these configurations. These configuration parameters are stored in a data structure called “config”, which is presented below.

typedef struct config{
int nobncs;
ads_real min_area;
ads_real min_ampl;
/*camera config*/
ads_real cinspt[3];
ads_real cminhor;
ads_real cmaxhor;
ads_real chresol;
ads_real cminver;
ads_real cmaxver;
ads_real cvresol;
ads_real cv_over;
ads_real ch_over;
/*lights config*/
ads_real slinspt[3];
ads_real slminhor;
ads_real slmaxhor;
ads_real slhresol;
ads_real slminver;
ads_real slmaxver;
ads_real slvresol;
};

The “nobncs” data element is an integer specifiing the maximum number of bounces that are to be processed. The processing of the model can also be limited by the area and/or the amplitude of the light beam. For example, when the cross-sectional area of a light beam falls below a certain threshold, that projection should not be subject to further processing. A user can select this minimum area, which is stored in the “min_area” data element. Likewise, the user can select an amplitude threshold below which beams should not be processed; this value is stored in the “min_ampl” data element.

This data structure also includes camera configuration settings. The “cinspt” data element contains the global coordinates for the camera insertion point. The remaining camera configuration parameters describe the positioning of the cameras, as described above.

This data structure also includes the configuration settings for the lighting model. The “slinspt” data element contains the global coordinates for the lighting insertion point, and the remaining lighting parameters describe the locations of the illumination point sources, as described above.

Finally, a data structure is provided to store the components of the gemstone grade. These components are “enr^—dens” for energy density (also known as brilliance), “spect^—lum” for spectral luminance (also known as dispersion), and scint” for scintillation.

26.0. Conclusion

While various embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not limitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A method for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising the steps of:

illuminating a computerized gemstone model using an a computerized illumination model, wherein said gemstone model is a full three-dimensional (3D) representation of said gemstone that defines the geometry and position of all of the gemstone facets, and wherein said illumination model produces a light beam;

refracting said light beam into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light beam, said refracted light beam via said first facet of said gemstone model is modeled with a three-dimensional shape and the three-dimensional shape of the refracted light beam is defined by an area of said first facet;

reflecting said refracted light beam within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light beam;

refracting said refracted light beam out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model;

refracting said refracted and reflected light beams beam out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light beam; and

measuring said exiting light beam.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of generating said gemstone model.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of: defining facet types and facet locations for the gemstone to be graded.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising the step of: considering cut proportion for the gemstone to be graded.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising the step of: defining said facet types and facet locations in a global coordinate system of the gemstone to be graded.

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising the step of: defining said facet types and facet locations in a linked list data structure.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of: generating said gemstone model to represent an existing cut or a proposed cut.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of: generating said illumination model.

9. The method of claim 8 1, further comprising the step of: defining a light source wherein refracting said refracted light beam out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model occurs when said refracted light beam reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of: defining a plurality of light sources arranged in an array above a crown of said gemstone model.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of: defining a light source to simulate specified lighting conditions for the gemstone to be evaluated.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said measuring step comprises the steps of:

generating a camera model having a camera;

projecting a given facet onto said camera when said given facet is visible to said camera to produce a zone;

dividing the flux of each light beam refracted out of the gemstone model by said given facet by the area of said zone to produce a plurality of flux densities; and

summing said flux densities for said given facet for said camera to produce a given facet camera flux density.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said camera model includes a plurality of cameras and said given facet is of a given facet type, and wherein said measuring step further comprises the step of:

summing said given facet camera flux densities for the given facet type for said plurality of cameras to produce a given facet type sum;

dividing said given facet type sum by the number of facets in said gemstone model of the given facet type to produce a given facet type average;

summing said facet type averages for all of the facet types in said gemstone model to produce a facet type average sum; and

dividing said facet type average sum by the number of facet types in said gemstone model to produce a composite flux density measurement for the gemstone.

14. The A method of claim 1, wherein for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising:

illuminating a computerized gemstone model using a computerized illumination model, wherein said gemstone model is a full three-dimensional (3D) representation of said gemstone that defines the geometry and position of all of the gemstone facets, and wherein said illumination model produces a light beam;

refracting said light beam into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light beam;

reflecting said refracted light beam within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light beam, said reflecting step comprises the steps of:

projecting said refracted light beam, along the direction of travel of said refracted light beam, onto the plane of said second facet of said gemstone model to produce a projection of said refracted light beam;,

computing the geometry of the intersection of said second facet and said projection of said refracted light beam;,and

computing a reflected direction of travel based on said direction of travel of said refracted light beam and the orientation of said second facet;,

whereby said reflected light beam is defined by said geometry and said reflected direction of travel;

refracting said refracted light beam out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model;

refracting said reflected light beam out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light beam; and

measuring said exiting light beam.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said gemstone model is defined in a coordinate space having three variables, and wherein said reflecting step comprises the steps of:

projecting the geometry of said second facet onto a coordinate plane defined by setting a first coordinate space variable to zero to produce a facet projection;

circumscribing said facet projection with a rectangle defined by the minimum and maximum second and third coordinate space variables of the vertices of said facet projection to produce a facet bounding box;

projecting said refracted light beam onto the plane of said facet to produce an illumination;

projecting the geometry of said illumination onto said coordinate plane to produce an illumination projection; and

circumscribing said illumination projection with a rectangle defined by the minimum and maximum second and third coordinate space variables of the vertices of said illumination projection to produce a projection bounding box;

wherein said refracted light beam illuminates said second facet when said facet bounding box and said projection bounding box overlap.

16. A method for modeling the propagation of light in an optical system, comprising the steps of:

projecting a beam of light at a first one of a plurality of surfaces of said optical system, wherein said beam of light is represented by an a computerized illumination model and said plurality of surfaces are represented by an a computerized optical system model;

modeling the propagation of light from said first one of said plurality of surfaces of said optical system through the optical system as defined by said optical system model, said beam of light having a cross sectional area and a direction of propagation; and

measuring the attributes of the light said beam of light at a predetermined point in the optical system.

17. A method for establishing maximum attribute values for a gemstone cut for use in evaluating gemstones having said gemstone cut comprising the steps of:

varying a proportion parameter, by a hardware processor, for the gemstone cut to obtain a plurality of gemstone models, each of said gemstone models having a different proportion permutation;

evaluating each of said gemstone models, by the hardware processor, to obtain a set of values for each attribute, at least one attribute being an amplitude value used to determine whether a refraction is to be processed in determining a grade of said each of said gemstone models; and

selecting the maximum value of each attribute from said set of attribute values to establish maximum attribute values for the gemstone cut.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said evaluating step comprises the steps of:

illuminating said gemstone models using an illumination model, wherein said illumination model produces a light beam;

refracting said light beam into said gemstone models through respective first facets of said gemstone models to produce corresponding refracted light beams;

reflecting said refracted light beams within said gemstone models from respective second facets of said gemstone models to produce corresponding reflected light beams;

refracting at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light beam out of said gemstone models through respective second and third facets of said gemstone models to produce corresponding exiting light beams; and

measuring attributes of said exiting light beams.

19. A system for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising:

means for illuminating a gemstone model using an illumination model, wherein said gemstone model is a full three-dimensional (3D) representation of said gemstone that defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets, and wherein said illumination model produces a light beam;

means for refracting said light beam into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light beam;

means for reflecting said refracted light beam within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light beam;

means for refracting at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light beams beam out of said gemstone model, and said reflected light beam being refracted through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light beam; and

means for measuring said exiting light beam, said exiting light beam is represented as stored information including a direction cosine of a dispersion component of said exiting light beam.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising:

means for generating said gemstone model.

21. The system of claim 20, further comprising:

means for generating data defining facet types and facet locations for the gemstone.

22. The system of claim 21, further comprising:

means for considering cut proportions for the gemstone.

23. The system of claim 21, further comprising:

means for defining said facet types and facet locations in a global coordinate system of the gemstone.

24. The system of claim 21, further comprising:

means for defining said facet types and facet locations in a linked list data structure.

25. The system of claim 20, further comprising:

means for generating said gemstone model to represent an existing cut or a proposed cut.

26. The system of claim 19, further comprising:

means for generating said illumination model.

27. The system of claim 26, further comprising:

means for defining a light source.

28. The system of claim 26, further comprising:

means for defining a plurality of light sources arranged in an array above a crown of said gemstone model.

29. The system of claim 26, further comprising:

means for defining a light source to simulate specified lighting conditions for the gemstone to be evaluated.

30. The system of claim 19, wherein said means for measuring comprises:

means for generating a camera model having a camera;

means for projecting a given facet onto said camera when said given facet is visible to said camera to produce a zone;

means for dividing the flux of each light beam refracted out of the gemstone model by said given facet by the area of said zone to produce a plurality of flux densities; and

means for summing said flux densities for said given facet for said camera to produce a given facet camera flux density.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein said camera model includes a plurality of cameras and said given facet is of a given facet type, and wherein said means for measuring further comprises:

means for summing said given facet camera flux densities for the given facet type for said plurality of cameras to produce a given facet type sum;

means for dividing said given facet type sum by the number of facets in said gemstone model of the given facet type to produce a given facet type average;

means for summing said facet type averages for all of the facet types in said gemstone model to produce a facet type average sum; and

means for dividing said facet type average sum by the number of facet types in said gemstone model to produce a composite flux density measurement for the gemstone.

32. The A system of claim 19, wherein for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising:

means for illuminating a gemstone model using an illumination model, wherein said gemstone model is a full three-dimensional (3D) representation of said gemstone that defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets, and wherein said illumination model produces a light beam;

means for refracting said light beam into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light beam;

means for reflecting said refracted light beam within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light beam, said means for reflecting comprises:

means for projecting said refracted light beam, along the direction of travel of said refracted light beam, onto the plane of said second facet of said gemstone model to produce a projection of said refracted light beam;

means for computing the geometry of the intersection of said second facet and said projection of said refracted light beam; and

means for computing a reflected direction of travel based on said direction of travel of said refracted light beam and the orientation of said second facet;

whereby said reflected light beam is defined by said geometry and said reflected direction of travel; and

means for refracting at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light beam out of said gemstone model, and said reflected light beam being refracted through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light beam;

means for measuring said exiting light beam.

33. The A system of claim 19, wherein for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising:

means for illuminating a gemstone model using an illumination model, wherein said gemstone model is a full three-dimensional (3D) representation of said gemstone that defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets and is defined in a coordinate space having three variables, and wherein said illumination model produces a light beam;

means for refracting said light beam into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light beam;

means for reflecting said refracted light beam within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light beam, said means for reflecting step comprises:

means for projecting the geometry of said second facet onto a coordinate plane defined by setting a first coordinate space variable to zero to produce a facet projection;

means for circumscribing said facet projection with a rectangle defined by the minimum and maximum second and third coordinate space variables of the vertices of said facet projection to produce a facet bounding box;

means for projecting said refracted light beam onto the plane of said facet to produce an illumination;

means for projecting the geometry of said illumination onto said coordinate plane to produce an illumination projection; and

means for circumscribing said illumination projection with a rectangle defined by the minimum and maximum second and third coordinate space variables of the vertices of said illumination projection to produce a projection bounding box;

wherein said refracted light beam illuminates said second facet when said facet bounding box and said projection bounding box overlap;

means for refracting at least one of said retracted light beam and said reflected light beam out of said gemstone model, and said reflected light beam being refracted through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light beam; and

means for measuring said exiting light beam.

34. A system for modeling the propagation of light in an optical system, comprising:

means for projecting a beam of light at one of a plurality of surfaces of the optical system, wherein said beam of light is represented by an illumination model and said plurality of surfaces are represented by an optical system model;

means for modeling the propagation of said beam of light within the optical system according to said optical system model; and

means for measuring said beam of light at a predetermined point in the optical system if an amplitude of said beam of light is greater than a minimum amplitude; and

means for discontinuing processing of attributes of said beam of light if the amplitude of said beam of light is less than the minimum amplitude.

35. A system for establishing maximum attribute values for a gemstone cut for use in evaluating gemstones having said gemstone cut, comprising:

means for varying a proportion parameter for the gemstone cut to obtain a plurality of gemstone models, each of said gemstone models having a different proportion permutation;

means for evaluating each of said gemstone models to obtain a set of values for each attribute, at least one attribute being an amplitude value used to determine whether a refraction is to be processed in determining a grade of said each of said gemstone models; and

means for selecting the maximum value of each attribute from said set of attribute values to establish maximum attribute values for the gemstone cut.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein said means for evaluating comprises:

means for illuminating said gemstone models using an illumination model wherein said illumination model produces a light beam;

means for refracting said light beam into said gemstone models through respective first facets of said gemstone models to produce corresponding refracted light beams;

means for reflecting said refracted light beams within said gemstone models from respective second facets of said gemstone models to produce corresponding reflected light beams;

means for refracting at least one of said refracted light beams and said reflected light beams out of said gemstone models through respective third facets of said gemstone models to produce corresponding exiting light beams; and

means for measuring attributes of said exiting light beams.

37. In a system for grading the cut of a gemstone, a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium for causing, when executed by a computer, the computer readable program code means causes an application program to execute on a said computer, said computer readable program code means comprising:

a first computer readable program code means for causing said computer to illuminate a gemstone model using an illumination model, wherein said gemstone model is a full three-dimensional (3D) representation of said gemstone that defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets, and wherein said illumination model produces a light beam;

a second computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract said light beam into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light beam;

a third computer readable program code means for causing said computer to reflect said refracted light beam within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light beam, said third computer readable program code means comprises:

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to project said refracted light beam, along the direction of travel of said refracted light beam, onto the plane of said second facet of said gemstone model to produce a projection of said refracted light beam,

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to compute the geometry of the intersection of said second facet and said projection of said refracted light beam,

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to compute a reflected direction of travel based on said direction of travel of said refracted light beam and the orientation of said second facet;

whereby said reflected light beam is defined by said geometry and said reflected direction of travel;

a fourth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light beams beam out of said gemstone model through said second facet and a third facet of said gemstone model respectively, said refracting of said reflected light beam to produce an exiting light beam; and

a fifth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to measure said exiting light beam.

38. The computer program product of claim 37, wherein said computer readable program code means further comprises:

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to generate said gemstone model.

39. The computer program product of claim 38, wherein said computer readable program code means further comprises:

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to generate data defining facet types and facet locations for the gemstone.

40. The computer program product of claim 39, wherein said computer readable program code means further comprises:

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to consider cut proportions for the gemstone.

41. The computer program product of claim 39, wherein said computer readable program code means further comprises:

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to define said facet types and facet locations in a global coordinate system of the gemstone.

42. The computer program product of claim 39, wherein said computer readable program code means further comprises:

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to define said facet types and facet locations in a linked list data structure.

43. The computer program product of claim 38, wherein said computer readable program code means further comprises:

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to generate said gemstone model to represent an existing cut or a proposed cut.

44. The computer program product of claim 37, wherein said computer readable program code means further comprises:

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to generate said illumination model.

45. The computer program product of claim 44, wherein said computer readable program code means further comprises:

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to define a light source.

46. The computer program product of claim 44, wherein said computer readable program code means further comprises:

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to define a plurality of light sources arranged in an array above a crown of said gemstone model.

47. The computer program product of claim 44, wherein said computer readable program code means further comprises:

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to define a light source to simulate specified lighting conditions for the gemstone to be evaluated.

48. The computer program product of claim 37, wherein said fifth computer readable program code means comprises:

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to generate a camera model having a camera;

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to project a given facet onto said camera when said given facet is visible to said camera to produce a zone;

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to divide the flux of each light beam refracted out of the gemstone model by said given facet by the area of said zone to produce a plurality of flux densities; and

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to sum said flux densities for said given facet for said camera to produce a given facet camera flux density.

49. The computer program product of claim 37, wherein said third computer readable program code means comprises:

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to project said refracted light beam, along the direction of travel of said refracted light beam, onto the plane of said second facet of said gemstone model to produce a projection of said refracted light beam;

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to compute the geometry of the intersection of said second facet and said projection of said refracted light beam; and

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to compute a reflected direction of travel based on said direction of travel of said refracted light beam and the orientation of said second facet;

whereby said reflected light beam is defined by said geometry and said reflected direction of travel.

50. The computer program product of claim 48, wherein said camera model includes a plurality of cameras and said given facet is of a given facet type, and wherein said fifth computer readable program code means further comprises:

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to sum said given facet camera flux densities for the given facet type for said plurality of cameras to produce a given facet type sum;

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to divide said given facet type sum by the number of facets in said gemstone model of the given facet type to produce a given facet type average;

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to sum said facet type averages for all of the facet types in said gemstone model to produce a facet type average sum; and

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to divide said facet type average sum by the number of facet types in said gemstone model to produce a composite flux density measurement for the gemstone.

51. The computer program product of claim 37, wherein said gemstone model is defined in a coordinate space having three variables, and wherein said third computer readable program code means comprises:

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to project the geometry of said second facet onto a coordinate plane defined by setting a first coordinate space variable to zero to produce a facet projection;

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to circumscribe said facet projection with a rectangle defined by the minimum and maximum second and third coordinate space variables of the vertices of said facet projection to produce a facet bounding box;

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to project said refracted light beam onto the plane of said facet to produce an illumination;

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to project the geometry of said illumination onto said coordinate plane to produce an illumination projection; and

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to circumscribe said illumination projection with a rectangle defined by the minimum and maximum second and third coordinate space variables of the vertices of said illumination projection to produce a projection bounding box;

wherein said refracted light beam illuminates said second facet when said facet bounding box and said projection bounding box overlap.

52. In a system for for modeling the propagation of light in an optical system, a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium for causing, when executed by a computer, the computer readable program code means causes an application program to execute on a said computer, said computer readable program code means comprising:

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to project a beam of light at one of a plurality of surfaces of the optical system, wherein said beam of light is represented by an illumination model and said plurality of surfaces are represented by an optical system model;

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to model the propagation of said beam of light within the optical system according to said optical system model; and

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to measure said beam of light at a predetermined point in the optical system if an amplitude of said beam of light is greater than a minimum amplitude; and

a computer readable program code means for discontinuing processing of attributes of said beam of light if the amplitude of said beam of light is less than the minimum amplitude.

53. In a system for establishing maximum attribute values for a gemstone cut for use in evaluating gemstones having said gemstone cut, a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium for causing, when executed by a computer, the computer readable program code means causes an application program to execute on a said computer, said computer readable program code means comprising:

a first computer readable program code means for causing said computer to vary a proportion parameter for the gemstone cut to obtain a plurality of gemstone models, each of said gemstone models having a different proportion permutation;

a second computer readable program code means for causing said computer to evaluate each of said gemstone models to obtain a set of values for each attribute, at least one attribute being an amplitude value used to determine whether a refraction is to be processed in determining a grade of said each of said gemstone models; and

a third computer readable program code means for causing said computer to select the maximum value of each attribute from said set of attribute values to establish maximum attribute values for the gemstone cut.

54. The system of claim 53, wherein said second computer readable program code means comprises:

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to illuminate said gemstone models using an illumination model, wherein said illumination model produces a light beam;

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract said light beam into said gemstone models through respective first facets of said gemstone models to produce corresponding refracted light beams;

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to reflect said refracted light beams within said gemstone models from respective second facets of said gemstone models to produce corresponding reflected light beams;

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract at least one of said refracted light beams out of said gemstone models through said respective second facets and reflected light beams out of said gemstone models through respective third facets of said gemstone models to produce corresponding exiting light beams; and

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to measure attributes of said exiting light beams.

55. A method for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising the steps of:

illuminating a computerized gemstone model with a computerized light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

refracting light from said light source into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

refracting said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model;

refracting said refracted and reflected lights light out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light; and

measuring said exiting light if the amplitude of said exiting light is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold and weighting said exiting light, based on a viewing angle of a first data collection element at which said exiting light is measured.

56. The method of claim 55, further comprising the step of generating said gemstone model for a gemstone to be graded, wherein said gemstone model comprises a data representation of the cut of the gemstone, and wherein the reflected light is light from said light source after being refracted into said gemstone model and reflected within said gemstone model.

57. The method of claim 56, further comprising the step of: defining said facet types and facet locations of the gemstone to be graded in a global coordinate system.

58. The method of claim 56, further comprising the step of: defining said facet types and facet locations in a linked list data structure.

59. The method of claim 55, further comprising the step of: generating said gemstone model to represent an existing cut or a proposed cut, and wherein the reflected light is light from said light source after being refracted into said gemstone model and reflected within said gemstone model.

60. The method of claim 55, further comprising the steps of:

illuminating said gemstone model using an illumination model, wherein said illumination model produces a light beam;

refracting said light beam into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light beam;

reflecting said refracted light beam within said gemstone model from a second facets of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light beam;

refracting said refracted and reflected light beams out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light beams; and

measuring attributes of said exiting light beam.

61. A system for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising:

means for illuminating a gemstone model with a light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets,

means for refracting said light into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

means for reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

means for refracting at least one of said refracted light and said reflected light out of said gemstone model, and said reflected light being refracted through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light; and

means for measuring said exiting light; and

means for discontinuing processing of said reflected light if a bounce threshold has been reached.

62. The system of claim 61, further comprising:

means for generating data defining facet types and facet locations for the gemstone.

63. The system of claim 62, further comprising:

means for defining said facet types and facet locations in a global coordinate system of the gemstone.

64. The system of claim 62, further comprising:

means for defining said facet types and facet locations in a linked list data structure.

65. The system of claim 61, further comprising;

means for defining a plurality of light sources arranged in an array above a crown of said gemstone model.

66. The system of claim 61, further comprising:

means for defining a light source to simulate specified lighting conditions for the gemstone to be evaluated.

67. In a system for grading the cut of a gemstone, a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium for causing, when executed by a computer, the computer readable program code means causes an application program to execute on a said computer, said computer readable program code means comprising:

a first computer readable program code means for causing said computer to illuminate a gemstone model, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

a second computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract said a light beam into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light beam;

a third computer readable program code means for causing said computer to reflect said refracted light beam within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

a fourth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light out of said gemstone model through said a third facet of said gemstone model respectively, said refracting of said reflected light to produce an exiting light; and

a fifth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to measure said exiting light; and

a sixth computer readable program code means for weighting at least one value associated with said measuring exiting light, said at least one value being weighted is associated with a brilliance attribute of said gemstone model.

68. Tie The computer program product of claim 67, wherein said computer readable program code means further comprises:

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to generate said gemstone model.

69. The computer program product of claim 68, wherein said computer readable program code means further comprises:

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to generate data defining facet types and facet locations for the gemstone.

70. The computer program product of claim 69, wherein said computer readable program code means further comprises:

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to define said facet types and facet locations in a global coordinate system of the gemstone.

71. The computer program product of claim 69, wherein said computer readable program code means ether comprises:

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to define said facet types and facet locations in a linked list data structure.

72. The computer program product of claim 67, wherein said computer readable program code means further comprises:

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to generate an illumination model to illuminate said gemstone model with a light beam.

73. The computer program product of claim 72 67, wherein said computer readable program code means further comprises:

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to define a plurality of light sources arranged in an array above a crown of said gemstone model.

74. The computer program product of claim 67, wherein said computer readable program code means further comprises:

a computer readable program code means for causing said computer to define a light source to simulate specified lighting conditions for the gemstone to be evaluated.

75. The method of claim 55, wherein said reflected light is modeled light from said light source after being refracted into said gemstone model and reflected within said gemstone model.

76. A method for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising the steps of:

illuminating a computerized gemstone model with a computerized light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

refracting light from said light source into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

refracting said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model;

refracting said reflected light out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light, said reflected light is modeled light from said light source after being refracted into said gemstone model and reflected within said gemstone model;

measuring said exiting light; and

weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light, said at least one value being weighted is associated with a brilliance attribute of said gemstone model.

77. The method of claim 76 wherein the brilliance attribute comprises a computed flux density of said exiting light.

78. The method of claim 75, wherein said at least one value being weighted comprises an intensity of said exiting light.

79. A method for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising the steps of:

illuminating a computerized gemstone model with a computerized light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

refracting light from said light source into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light

reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

refracting said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model;

refracting said reflected light out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light, said reflected light is modeled light from said light source after being refracted into said gemstone model and reflected within said gemstone model;

measuring said exiting light; and

weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light, said at least one value being weighted comprises a product of at least (i) an intensity of said exiting light and (ii) an illuminated area refracted onto a viewing plane that is associated with a path length between two dispersion vectors of said exiting light.

80. A method for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising the steps of:

illuminating a computerized gemstone model with a computerized light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

refracting light from said light source into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light

reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

refracting said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model;

refracting said reflected light out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light, said reflected light is modeled light from said light source after being refracted into said gemstone model and reflected within said gemstone model;

measuring said exiting light; and

weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light, said at least one value being weighted comprises a path area that is a computed result of a path width and a path length of an illuminated area associated with said exiting light refracted onto a viewing plane.

81. The method of claim 80, wherein said path width is a difference between a minimum measured value and a maximum measured value of a dispersion projection along a first axis and said path length is based on angles of deviation of direction vectors of a refracted dispersion component.

82. A method for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising the steps of:

illuminating a computerized gemstone model with a computerized light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

refracting light from said light source into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light

reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

refracting said reflected light out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light, said reflected light is modeled light from said light source after being refracted into said gemstone model and reflected within said gemstone model;

measuring said exiting light; and

weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light, said at least one value comprises a product of (i) an intensity of said exiting light, (ii) a cosine of an angle of deviation between neighboring dispersion components of said exiting light and (iii) a path area defined by a path width and a path length of said exiting light.

83. A method for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising the steps of:

illuminating a computerized gemstone model with a computerized light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

refracting light from said light source into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light

reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

refracting said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model;

refracting said reflected light out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light, said reflected light is modeled light from said light source after being refracted into said gemstone model and reflected within said gemstone model;

measuring said exiting light; and

weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light, said at least one value being weighted is associated with a fire attribute of said gemstone model.

84. The method of claim 83 wherein the fire attribute is determined by computing values associated with said exiting light refracted onto a viewing plane, the values are a product of (i) a path length of an illuminated area on said viewing plane by said exiting light, (ii) a path width of said illuminated area on said viewing plane by said exiting light, (iii) an intensity of each wavelength of said exiting light, and (iv) a cosine of the angle of deviance between each wavelength.

85. A method for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising the steps of:

illuminating a computerized gemstone model with a computerized light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

refracting light from said light source into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light

reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

refracting said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model;

refracting said reflected light out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light, said reflected light is modeled light from said light source after being refracted into said gemstone model and reflected within said gemstone model;

measuring said exiting light; and

weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light, said at least one value being weighted is associated with a scintillation attribute of said gemstone model.

86. The method of claim 85 wherein said measuring of said exiting light comprises generating a camera model including a plurality of rings of cameras, each ring of cameras having a different elevation angle and the scintillation attribute comprises a number of refractions seen by each camera.

87. The method of claim 76 wherein said at least one value being weighted is further associated with a fire attribute and a scintillation attribute where the brilliance attribute, the fire attribute, and the scintillation attribute are combined with other scaled attributes to arrive at final grades for each of said brilliance attribute, said fire attribute, and said scintillation attribute.

88. A method for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising the steps of:

illuminating a computerized gemstone model with a computerized light source, wherein said gemstone model is a full three-dimensional (3D) representation of the gemstone that defines a geometry and position of all of the gemstone facets;

refracting light from said light source into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

refracting said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model;

refracting said reflected light out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light, said reflected light being said light from said light source after being refracted into said gemstone model and reflected within said gemstone model; and

measuring said exiting light by computing a path length associated with said exiting light refracted onto a viewing plane, said path length is computed by measuring a difference between at least two distinct dispersion wavelength component vectors refracted onto said viewing plane.

89. The method of claim 88, wherein said light source is positioned at a location within a three-dimensional (3D) arrangement and provides said light from said location.

90. The method of claim 88, wherein said light source and a second light source are positioned at different locations within a three-dimensional (3D) arrangement and the second light source providing a different colored light than said light source.

91. The method of claim 75, wherein said reflected light is discontinued from subsequent reflections when an amplitude of said reflected light is less than a defined minimum amplitude.

92. A method for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising the steps of:

illuminating a computerized gemstone model with a computerized light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

refracting light from said light source into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

refracting said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model;

refracting said reflected light out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light, said reflected light is modeled light from said light source after being refracted into said gemstone model and reflected within said gemstone model;

measuring said exiting light;

weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light;

comparing an amplitude of said light after being refracted into said gemstone model and reflected from said second facet of said gemstone model with a defined minimum amplitude;

discontinuing processing of said light if the amplitude of said light falls below the defined minimum amplitude; and

selecting another facet of said gemstone model and continuing processing of said light if the amplitude of said light is greater than the defined minimum amplitude.

93. A method for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising the steps of:

illuminating a computerized gemstone model with a computerized light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

refracting light from said light source into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light

reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

refracting said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model;

refracting said reflected light out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light, said reflected light is modeled light from said light source after being refracted into said gemstone model and reflected within said gemstone model;

measuring said exiting light;

weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light;

reflecting said light being refracted through said third facet of said gemstone model to produce a second reflected light;

comparing an amplitude of said second reflected light with a defined minimum amplitude;

discontinuing processing of said second reflected light if the amplitude of said second reflected light falls below the defined minimum amplitude; and

selecting another facet of said gemstone model and continuing processing of said second reflected light if the amplitude of said second reflected light is greater than the defined minimum amplitude.

94. A method for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising the steps of:

illuminating a computerized gemstone model with a computerized light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

refracting light from said light source into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

refracting said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model;

refracting said reflected light out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light; and

measuring said exiting light by projecting said exiting light onto a viewing plane and determining an incident flux at said viewing plane, said incident flux is determined using at least (i) an intensity value of said exiting light and (ii) a path area defined by a path width and a path length of said existing light.

95. The method of claim 94, wherein said refracted and reflected lights is modeled light from said light source after being refracted into said gemstone model and reflected within said gemstone model.

96. The method of claim 95, wherein said measuring of said exiting light is conducted by computing a flux density total for said gemstone model as measured by a plurality of data collection elements distributed over a vertical range.

97. The method of claim 95, wherein said measuring of said exiting light is conducted by computing standard deviations of flux densities of said gemstone model as measured by a plurality of data collection elements vertically distributed.

98. A method for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising the steps of:

illuminating a computerized gemstone model with a computerized light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

refracting light from said light source into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

refracting said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model;

refracting said reflected light out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light;

measuring said exiting light; and

altering at least one value associated with said measured exiting light by weighting said at least one value based on a viewing angle of a first data collection element at which said exiting light is measured.

99. A method for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising the steps of:

illuminating a computerized gemstone model with a computerized light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

refracting light from said light source into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

refracting said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model;

refracting said reflected light out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light; and

measuring said exiting light; and

altering at least one value associated with said measured exiting light, said at least one value being altered is associated with a brilliance attribute of said gemstone model.

100. The method of claim 98, wherein the first data collection element is one of a plurality of data collection elements, the first data collection element is vertically oriented with respect to a different location associated with the gemstone that is defined by said gemstone model than a second data collection element of the plurality of data collection elements so that the viewing angle of the first data collection element is different than a viewing angle of the second data collection element.

101. A method for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising the steps of:

illuminating a computerized gemstone model with a computerized light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

refracting light from said light source into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

refracting said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model;

refracting said reflected light out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light; and

measuring said exiting light; and

altering at least one value associated with said measured exiting light, the altering of said at least one value is conducted by a first ring of data collection elements of a plurality of data collection elements that are evenly spaced from each other.

102. The method of claim 101, wherein the first ring of data collection elements are greater in number than a second ring of data collection elements oriented above the first ring of data collection elements, the first ring of data collection elements and the second ring of data collection elements are at least a part of the plurality of data collection elements.

103. A method for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising the steps of:

illuminating a computerized gemstone model with a computerized light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

refracting light from said light source into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

refracting said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model;

refracting said reflected light out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light; and

measuring said exiting light, said measuring of said exiting light comprises generating a camera model including a plurality of rings of cameras, each ring of cameras having a different elevation angle and measuring a flux density; and

altering at least one value associated with said measured exiting light.

104. The method of claim 103, wherein said altering of said at least one value associated with said measured exiting light comprises averaging a flux density determined for each of said plurality of rings of cameras and determining a total flux density value that represents a brilliance attribute of said gemstone model by summing the computed flux densities for said plurality of rings of cameras.

105. The method of claim 98 further comprising: grading said gemstone model by comparing measured light attributes of said exiting light to stored values to determine a grade for said gemstone model.

106. The method of claim 98, wherein the at least one value is one of a plurality of attributes of said exiting light.

107. The method of claim 106 further comprising:

storing a plurality of attributes of said exiting light; and

grading said gemstone model based on a comparison between the plurality of stored attributes and measured light attributes of said exiting light.

108. The method of claim 75 further comprising storing said at least one value determined upon measuring said exiting light.

109. The method of claim 108, wherein said at least one value determined upon measuring said exiting light is a brilliance attribute of said gemstone model.

110. The method of claim 108, wherein said at least one value determined upon measuring said exiting light is a fire attribute of said gemstone model.

111. The method of claim 108, wherein said at least one value determined upon measuring said exiting light is a scintillation attribute of said gemstone model.

112. The method of claim 108, wherein said at least one value determined upon measuring said exiting light is used for grading of said gemstone model.

113. A method for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising the steps of:

illuminating a computerized gemstone model with a computerized light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

refracting light from said light source into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light, said reflected light being the light from said light source after being refracted into said gemstone model and reflected within said gemstone model;

refracting said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model;

refracting said reflected light out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light; and

measuring said exiting light, said measuring of said exiting light is conducted by a plurality of modeled data collection elements, each of said plurality of modeled data collection elements having access to a created map of the gemstone with facets positioned relative to a location of said modeled data collection element; and

weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light.

114. A method for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising the steps of:

illuminating a computerized gemstone model with a computerized light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

refracting light from said light source into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light, said reflected light being the light from said light source after being refracted into said gemstone model and reflected within said gemstone model;

refracting said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model;

refracting said reflected light out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light; and

measuring said exiting light, said measuring of said exiting light comprises generating a camera model having a plurality of evenly spaced cameras arranged about a hemisphere to surround the gemstone defined by said gemstone model and measuring said exiting light by said camera model; and

weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light.

115. The method of claim 114, wherein said measuring of said exiting light further comprises measuring values associated with one or more attributes of said exiting light and weighting said at least one value based on which one of said plurality of cameras is measuring said exiting light.

116. A method for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising the steps of:

illuminating a computerized gemstone model with a computerized light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

refracting light from said light source into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light, said reflected light being the light from said light source after being refracted into said gemstone model and reflected within said gemstone model;

refracting said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model;

refracting said reflected light out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light; and

measuring said exiting light; and

weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light, the weighting is computed by a camera model representing data collection elements evenly spaced about a hemisphere surrounding the gemstone defined by said gemstone model.

117. A method for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising the steps of:

illuminating a computerized gemstone model with a computerized light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

refracting light from said light source into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light, said reflected light being the light from said light source after being refracted into said gemstone model and reflected within said gemstone model;

refracting said reflected light out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light;

measuring said exiting light; and

weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light, the weighting is computed by a camera model representing overlapping data collection elements positioned around the gemstone defined by said gemstone model.

118. A method for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising the steps of:

illuminating a computerized gemstone model with a computerized light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

refracting light from said light source into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light, said reflected light being the light from said light source after being refracted into said gemstone model and reflected within said gemstone model;

refracting said reflected light out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light;

measuring said exiting light, said measuring of said exiting light comprises generating a camera model including a plurality of rings of cameras, each ring of cameras having a different elevation angle and measuring a flux density measured so as to collectively measure a brilliance of the gemstone defined by said gemstone model; and

weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light.

119. The method of claim 75, wherein said light refracted into said gemstone model through said first facet of said gemstone model is modeled with a three-dimensional shape.

120. A method for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising the steps of:

illuminating a computerized gemstone model with a computerized light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

refracting light from said light source into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light, said light refracted into said gemstone model through said first facet of said gemstone model is modeled with a three-dimensional shape and the three-dimensional shape of the light is defined by an area of said first facet;

reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

refracting said reflected light out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light;

measuring said exiting light; and

weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light.

121. The method of claim 120, wherein the light refracted by said first facet has an n-sided polygon shape.

122. The method of claim 75, wherein said measuring of said exiting light comprises converting data associated with said exiting light into a graphic image and storing the graphic image for subsequent display.

123. The method of claim 1, wherein said reflected light beam is a resultant light beam modeled from said light beam after being refracted into said gemstone model and reflected within said gemstone model.

124. The method of claim 123, wherein said resultant light beam is modeled light having a cross sectional area and a direction of propagation.

125. The method of claim 124 further comprising:

weighting at least one value associated with said exiting light beam.

126. The method of claim 124, where said resultant light beam is represented as stored information including an amplitude of a white monochromatic component of said resultant light beam.

127. The method of claim 124, where said resultant light beam is represented as stored information including an area in said second facet of said gemstone model associated with said resultant light beam.

128. The method of claim 127, where said resultant light beam is represented as stored information further including the cross sectional area of said resultant light beam.

129. A method for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising the steps of:

illuminating a computerized gemstone model using a computerized illumination model, wherein said gemstone model is a full three-dimensional (3D) representation of said gemstone that defines the geometry and position of all of the gemstone facets, and wherein said illumination model produces a light beam;

refracting said light beam into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light beam;

reflecting said refracted light beam within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light beam;

refracting said refracted light beam out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model;

refracting said reflected light beam out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light beam, said reflected light beam is a resultant light beam modeled from said light beam after being refracted into said gemstone model and reflected within said gemstone model and the resultant light beam is modeled light having a cross sectional area and a direction of propagation;

measuring said exiting light beam, said exiting light beam is represented as stored information including a direction cosine of a dispersion component of said exiting light.

130. The method of claim 124, wherein said exiting light beam is represented as stored information including a brilliance value for said exiting light beam.

131. A method for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising the steps of:

illuminating a computerized gemstone model using a computerized illumination model, wherein said gemstone model is a full three-dimensional (3D) representation of said gemstone that defines the geometry and position of all of the gemstone facets, and wherein said illumination model produces a light beam;

refracting said light beam into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light beam;

reflecting said refracted light beam within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light beam;

refracting said refracted light beam out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model;

refracting said reflected light beam out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light beam, said refracted and reflected light beams is a resultant light beam modeled from said light beam after being refracted into said gemstone model and reflected within said gemstone model and the resultant light beam is modeled light having a cross sectional area and a direction of propagation;

measuring said exiting light beam, said exiting light beam is represented as stored information including an amplitude value that is used to determine whether a refraction should be processed in determining a grade of said gemstone model.

132. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

grading said gemstone model by comparing measured light attributes of said exiting light to stored values to determine a grade of said gemstone model.

133. The method of claim 132, wherein the stored values used in the grading of said gemstone model are ideal measurements being previously computed measurements of known standard cuts for a gemstone.

134. The method of claim 16, wherein the light is modeled with a three-dimensional shape.

135. The method of claim 134, wherein the three-dimensional shape of the light is defined by an area of a facet that is said first one of said plurality surfaces of said optical system.

136. The method of claim 135, wherein the light is represented as stored information including an area in said facet of said gemstone model associated with the light.

137. The method of claim 136, wherein the light is represented as stored information further including a cross sectional area of the light.

138. The method of claim 135, wherein the light refracted by the facet has an n-sided polygon shape and vertices of the n-sided polygon shape are stored as information representing the light.

139. The method of claim 16, wherein the light is represented as stored information including an amplitude of a white monochromatic component of the light.

140. The method of claim 17 further comprising storing a maximum attribute value for each attribute from said set of attribute values.

141. The method of claim 140, wherein said maximum attribute value is a maximum value for a brilliance attribute.

142. The method of claim 140, wherein said maximum attribute value is a maximum value for a fire attribute.

143. The method of claim 140, wherein said maximum attribute value is a maximum value for a scintillation attribute.

144. The method of claim 17, wherein said varying of said proportion parameter includes varying a table percentage.

145. The method of claim 17, wherein said varying of said proportion parameter includes varying a crown percentage.

146. The method of claim 17, wherein said varying of said proportion parameter includes varying a pavilion percentage.

147. The method of claim 17, wherein said varying of said proportion parameter includes varying facet numbers.

148. The method of claim 17, wherein said varying of said proportion parameter includes varying facet types.

149. The method of claim 17, wherein said varying of said proportion parameter includes varying facet locations.

150. The method of claim 17, wherein said varying of said proportion parameter includes varying facet proportions.

151. The method of claim 17, wherein said varying of said proportion parameter includes varying at least one of a plurality of proportion parameters that include said proportion parameter by a set range to establish all possible permutations of cut for the gemstone, the plurality of proportion parameters comprise (i) a table percentage, (ii) a crown percentage, (iii) a pavilion percentage, (iv) facet numbers, (v) facet types, and (vi) facet locations.

152. The system of claim 19 further comprising:

means for grading said gemstone model by comparing measured light attributes of said exiting light to stored values to determine a grade of said gemstone model.

153. The system of claim 19 further comprising:

means for weighting at least one value associated with said exiting light beam.

154. The system of claim 19, wherein said at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light beam is modeled light having a cross sectional area and a direction of propagation.

155. The system of claim 154 further comprising:

means for weighting at least one value associated with said exiting light beam.

156. The system of claim 19, where said at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light beam is represented as stored information including any of the following: (i) an amplitude of a white monochromatic component of said at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light beam, (ii) an area in said second facet of said gemstone model associated with said at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light beam, and (iii) a cross sectional area of said at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light beam.

157. The system of claim 153, wherein said exiting light beam is stored information including a brilliance value for said exiting light beam.

158. The system of claim 153, wherein said exiting light is represented as stored information including an amplitude value associated with a white monochromatic component of said exiting light beam.

159. The system of claim 158, wherein said amplitude value is used to determine whether a refraction should be processed in determining a grade of said gemstone model.

160. The system of claim 34, wherein said beam of light is modeled with a cross sectional area and a direction of propagation.

161. The system of claim 34, wherein said beam of light is modeled with a three-dimensional shape.

162. The system of claim 161, wherein the three-dimensional shape of said beam of light is defined by an area of a facet that is said first one of said plurality surfaces of said optical system.

163. The system of claim 162, wherein said beam of light is represented as stored information including an area in said facet of said gemstone model associated with said beam of light.

164. The system of claim 163, wherein said beam of light is represented as stored information further including at least one of a cross sectional area of said beam of light and an amplitude of a white monochromatic component of said beam of light.

165. The system of claim 34, wherein said beam of light refracted by a facet is one of said plurality surfaces of said optical system has an n-sided polygon shape and vertices of the n-sided polygon shape that are stored as information representing the light.

166. The system of claim 35 further comprising:

means for storing a maximum attribute value for each attribute from said set of attribute values.

167. The system of claim 166, wherein said maximum attribute value is a maximum value for a brilliance attribute.

168. The system of claim 166, wherein said maximum attribute value is a maximum value for a fire attribute.

169. The system of claim 166, wherein said maximum attribute value is a maximum value for a scintillation attribute.

170. The system of claim 35, wherein said means for varying of said proportion parameter for the gemstone cut alters a table percentage.

171. The system of claim 35, wherein said means for varying of said proportion parameter for the gemstone cut alters a crown percentage.

172. The system of claim 35, wherein said means for varying of said proportion parameter for the gemstone cut alters a pavilion percentage.

173. The system of claim 35, wherein said means for varying of said proportion parameter for the gemstone cut alters facet numbers for the gemstone cut.

174. The system of claim 35, wherein said means for varying of said proportion parameter for the gemstone cut alters facet types for the gemstone cut.

175. The system of claim 35, wherein said means for varying of said proportion parameter for the gemstone cut alters facet locations for the gemstone cut.

176. The system of claim 35, wherein said means for varying of said proportion parameter for the gemstone cut alters facet proportions.

177. The system of claim 35, wherein said means for varying of said proportion parameter includes means for varying at least one of a plurality of proportion parameters that include said proportion parameter by a set range to establish all possible permutations of cut for the gemstone, the plurality of proportion parameters comprise (i) a table percentage, (ii) a crown percentage, (iii) a pavilion percentage, (iv) facet numbers, (v) facet types, and (vi) facet locations.

178. The computer program product of claim 37 further comprising:

a sixth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to grade the cut by comparing measured light attributes of said exiting light beam to stored values to determine the grade.

179. The computer program product of claim 37 further comprising:

a sixth computer readable program code means for weighting at least one value associated with said exiting light beam.

180. The computer program product of claim 37, wherein said at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light beam comprises light modeled with a cross sectional area and a direction of propagation.

181. The computer program product of claim 180 further comprising:

a sixth computer readable program code means for weighting at least one value associated with said exiting light beam.

182. The computer program product of claim 37, wherein said at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light beam is represented as stored information including a pointer to a data structure for said second facet from which said at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light beam is most recently reflected.

183. The computer program product of claim 37, where said at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light beam is represented as stored information including a pointer to a data structure for a facet through which said light beam originally entered into the gemstone model.

184. The computer program product of claim 37, where said at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light beam is represented as stored information including any of the following: (i) an amplitude of a white monochromatic component of said at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light beam, (ii) an area in said second facet of said gemstone model associated with said at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light beam, and (iii) a cross sectional area of said at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light beam.

185. The computer program product of claim 179, wherein said exiting light beam is represented as stored information including a direction cosine of a dispersion component of said exiting light.

186. The computer program product of claim 179, wherein said exiting light beam is stored information including a brilliance value for said exiting light beam.

187. The computer program product of claim 179, wherein said exiting light beam is represented as stored information including an amplitude value associated with a white monochromatic component of said exiting light beam.

188. The computer program product of claim 187, wherein said amplitude value is used to determine whether a refraction should be processed in determining a grade of said gemstone model.

189. The computer program product of claim 52, wherein said beam of light is modeled with a cross sectional area and a direction of propagation.

190. The computer program product of claim 52, wherein said beam of light is modeled with a three-dimensional shape.

191. The computer program product of claim 190, wherein the three-dimensional shape of said beam of light is defined by an area of a facet that is said first one of said plurality surfaces of said optical system.

192. The computer program product of claim 190, wherein said beam of light is represented as stored information including an area in said facet of said gemstone model associated with said beam of light.

193. The computer program product of claim 52, wherein said beam of light is represented as stored information further including a cross sectional area of said beam of light.

194. The computer program product of claim 52, wherein said beam of light is represented as stored information including an amplitude of a white monochromatic component of said beam of light.

195. The computer program product of claim 52, wherein said beam of light refracted by a facet is one of said plurality surfaces of said optical system has an n-sided polygon shape and vertices of the n-sided polygon shape that are stored as information representing said beam of light.

196. The computer program product of claim 53 further comprising:

a fourth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to store a maximum attribute value for each attribute from said set of attribute values.

197. The computer program product of claim 196, wherein said maximum attribute value is a maximum value for a brilliance attribute.

198. The computer program product of claim 196, wherein said maximum attribute value is a maximum value for a fire attribute.

199. The computer program product of claim 196, wherein said maximum attribute value is a maximum value for a scintillation attribute.

200. The computer program product of claim 53, wherein said first computer readable program code means for causing said computer to vary said proportion parameter for the gemstone cut alters a table percentage.

201. The computer program product of claim 53, wherein said first computer readable program code means for causing said computer to vary said proportion parameter for the gemstone cut alters a crown percentage.

202. The computer program product of claim 53, wherein said first computer readable program code means for causing said computer to vary said proportion parameter for the gemstone cut alters a pavilion percentage.

203. The computer program product of claim 53, wherein said first computer readable program code means for causing said computer to vary said proportion parameter for the gemstone cut alters facet numbers for the gemstone cut.

204. The computer program product of claim 53, wherein said first computer readable program code means for causing said computer to vary said proportion parameter for the gemstone cut alters facet types for the gemstone cut.

205. The computer program product of claim 53, wherein said first computer readable program code means for causing said computer to vary said proportion parameter for the gemstone cut alters facet locations for the gemstone cut.

206. The computer program product of claim 53, wherein said first computer readable program code means for causing said computer to vary said proportion parameter for the gemstone cut alters facet proportions.

207. The computer program product of claim 53, wherein said first computer readable program code means for causing said computer to vary said proportion parameter for the gemstone cut includes code means for varying at least one of a plurality of proportion parameters that include said proportion parameter by a set range to establish all possible permutations of cut for the gemstone, the plurality of proportion parameters comprise (i) a table percentage, (ii) a crown percentage, (iii) a pavilion percentage, (iv) facet numbers, (v) facet types, and (vi) facet locations.

208. A system for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising:

means for illuminating a gemstone model with a light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets,

means for refracting said light into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

means for reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

means for refracting at least one of said refracted light and said reflected light out of said gemstone model, and said reflected light being refracted through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light;

means for measuring said exiting light; and

means for weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light, said at least one value being weighted is associated with a brilliance attribute of said gemstone model.

209. The system of claim 208 wherein the brilliance attribute comprises a computed flux density of said exiting light for said third facet.

210. The system of claim 61, wherein said at least one value being weighted comprises an intensity of said exiting light.

211. A system for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising:

means for illuminating a gemstone model with a light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets,

means for refracting said light into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

means for reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

means for refracting at least one of said refracted light and said reflected light out of said gemstone model, and said reflected light being refracted through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light;

means for measuring said exiting light; and

means for weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light, said at least one value being weighted comprises a product of at least (i) an intensity of said exiting light and (ii) an illuminated area refracted onto a viewing plane that is associated with a path length between two dispersion vectors of said exiting light.

212. A system for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising:

means for illuminating a gemstone model with a light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets,

means for refracting said light into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

means for reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

means for refracting at least one of said refracted light and said reflected light out of said gemstone model, and said reflected light being refracted through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light;

means for measuring said exiting light; and

means for weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light, said at least one value being weighted comprises a path area that is a computed result of a path width and a path length of an illuminated area associated with said exiting light refracted onto a viewing plane.

213. The system of claim 212, wherein said path width is a difference between a minimum measured value and a maximum measured value of a dispersion projection along a first axis and said path length is based on angles of deviation of direction vectors of a refracted dispersion component.

214. A system for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising:

means for illuminating a gemstone model with a light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets,

means for refracting said light into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

means for reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

means for refracting at least one of said refracted light and said reflected light out of said gemstone model, and said reflected light being refracted through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light;

means for measuring said exiting light; and

means for weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light, said at least one value comprises a product of (i) an intensity of said exiting light, (ii) a cosine of an angle of deviation between neighboring dispersion components of said exiting light and (iii) a path area defined by a path width and a path length of said exiting light.

215. A system for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising:

means for illuminating a gemstone model with a light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets,

means for refracting said light into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

means for reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

means for refracting at least one of said refracted light and said reflected light out of said gemstone model, and said reflected light being refracted through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light;

means for measuring said exiting light; and

means for weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light, said at least one value being weighted is associated with a fire attribute of said gemstone model.

216. The system of claim 215 wherein the fire attribute is determined by computing values associated with said exiting light refracted onto a viewing plane, the values are a product of (i) a path length of an illuminated area on said viewing plane by said exiting light, (ii) a path width of said illuminated area on said viewing plane by said exiting light, (iii) an intensity of each wavelength of said exiting light, and (iv) a cosine of the angle of deviance between each wavelength.

217. A system for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising:

means for illuminating a gemstone model with a light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets,

means for refracting said light into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

means for reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

means for refracting at least one of said refracted light and said reflected light out of said gemstone model, and said reflected light being refracted through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light;

means for measuring said exiting light; and

means for weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light, said at least one value being weighted is associated with a scintillation attribute of said gemstone model.

218. The system of claim 217 wherein said means for measuring of said exiting light comprises generating a camera model including a plurality of rings of cameras, each ring of cameras having a different elevation angle and the scintillation attribute comprises a number of refractions seen by each camera.

219. The system of claim 208 wherein said at least one value being weighted is further associated with a fire attribute and a scintillation attribute where the brilliance attribute, the fire attribute, and the scintillation attribute are combined with other scaled attributes to arrive at final grades for each of said brilliance attribute, said fire attribute, and said scintillation attribute.

220. A system for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising:

means for illuminating a gemstone model with a light source, wherein said gemstone model is a full three-dimensional (3D) representation of the gemstone that defines the geometry and position of all of the gemstone facets;

means for refracting said light into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

means for reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

means for refracting at least one of said refracted light and said reflected light out of said gemstone model through said second facet and a third facet of said gemstone model respectively, said refracting of said reflected light to produce an exiting light; and

means for measuring said exiting light if the amplitude of said exiting light is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold and weighting said exiting light, based on a viewing angle of a first data collection element at which said exiting light is measured.

221. The system of claim 220, wherein said light source is positioned at a location within the three-dimensional (3D) arrangement and provides said light from said location.

222. The system of claim 220, wherein said light source and a second light source are positioned at different locations within the three-dimensional (3D) arrangement and the second light source providing a different colored light than said light source.

223. A system for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising:

means for illuminating a gemstone model with a light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets,

means for refracting said light into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

means for reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light, said reflected light is discontinued from subsequent reflections when an amplitude of said reflected light is less than a defined minimum amplitude;

means for refracting at least one of said refracted light and said reflected light out of said gemstone model, and said reflected light being refracted through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light;

means for measuring said exiting light; and

means for weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light.

224. A system for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising:

means for illuminating a gemstone model with a light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets,

means for refracting said light into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

means for reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

means for comparing an amplitude of said light after being refracted into said gemstone model and reflected from said second facet of said gemstone model with a defined minimum amplitude;

means for discontinuing processing of said light if the amplitude of said light falls below the defined minimum amplitude; and

means for selecting another facet of said gemstone model and continuing processing of said light if the amplitude of said light is greater than the defined minimum amplitude;

means for refracting at least one of said refracted light and said reflected light out of said gemstone model, and said reflected light being refracted through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light;

means for measuring said exiting light; and

means for weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light.

225. A system for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising:

means for illuminating a gemstone model with a light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets,

means for refracting said light into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

means for reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

means for refracting at least one of said refracted light and said reflected light out of said gemstone model, and said reflected light being refracted through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light;

means for measuring said exiting light;

means for weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light;

means for reflecting said light being refracted through said third facet of said gemstone model to produce a second reflected light;

means for comparing an amplitude of said second reflected light with a defined minimum amplitude;

means for discontinuing processing of said second reflected light if the amplitude of said second reflected light falls below the defined minimum amplitude; and means for selecting another facet of said gemstone model and continuing processing of said second reflected light if the amplitude of said second reflected light is greater than the defined minimum amplitude.

226. A system for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising:

means for illuminating a gemstone model with a light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of all of the gemstone facets;

means for refracting said light into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

means for reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

means for refracting at least one of said refracted light and said reflected light out of said gemstone model, and said reflected light being refracted through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light; and

means for measuring said exiting light by projecting said exiting light onto a viewing plane and determining an incident flux at said viewing plane, said incident flux is determined using at least (i) an intensity value of said exiting light and (ii) a path area defined by a path width and a path length of said existing light.

227. The system of claim 226, wherein said at least one of said refracted light and said reflected light is modeled light having a cross sectional area and a direction of propagation after being refracted into said gemstone model and reflected within said gemstone model.

228. The system of claim 227, wherein said means for measuring of said exiting light is conducted by computing a flux density total for said gemstone model as measured by a plurality of data collection elements distributed over a vertical range.

229. The system of claim 227, wherein said means for measuring of said exiting light is conducted by computing standard deviations of flux densities of said gemstone model as measured by a plurality of data collection elements vertically distributed.

230. A system for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising:

means for illuminating a gemstone model with a light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

means for refracting light from said light source into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

means for reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

means for refracting at least one of said refracted light and said reflected light out of said gemstone model, and said reflected light being refracted through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light;

means for measuring said exiting light; and

means for altering at least one value associated with said measured exiting light by weighting said at least one value based on a viewing angle of a first data collection element at which said exiting light is measured.

231. The system of claim 230, wherein said at least one value being altered is associated with a brilliance attribute of said gemstone model.

232. The system of claim 230, wherein the first data collection element is one of a plurality of data collection elements, the first data collection element is vertically oriented with respect to a different location associated with the gemstone that is defined by said gemstone model than a second data collection element of the plurality of data collection elements so that the viewing angle of the first data collection element is different than a viewing angle of the second data collection element.

233. The system of claim 230, wherein said means for altering of said at least one value is conducted by a first ring of data collection elements of the plurality of data collection elements that are evenly spaced from each other.

234. The system of claim 233, wherein the first ring of data collection elements are greater in number than a second ring of data collection elements oriented above the first ring of data collection elements, the first ring of data collection elements and the second ring of data collection elements are at least a part of the plurality of data collection elements.

235. The system of claim 230, wherein said means for measuring of said exiting light comprises generating a camera model including a plurality of rings of cameras, each ring of cameras being a data collection element and having a different elevation angle and measuring a flux density.

236. The system of claim 234, wherein said means for altering of said at least one value associated with said measured exiting light comprises means for averaging a flux density determined for each of said plurality of rings of cameras and determining a total flux density value that represents a brilliance attribute of said gemstone model by summing the computed flux densities for said plurality of rings of cameras.

237. The system of claim 230 further comprising: means for grading said gemstone model by comparing measured light attributes of said exiting light to stored values to determine a grade for said gemstone model.

238. The system of claim 230, wherein the at least one value is one of a plurality of attributes of said exiting light.

239. The system of claim 238 further comprising:

means for storing a plurality of attributes of said exiting light; and

means for grading said gemstone model based on a comparison between the plurality of stored attributes and measured light attributes of said exiting light.

240. The system of claim 61 further comprising means for storing said at least one value determined upon measuring said exiting light.

241. The system of claim 240, wherein said at least one value determined upon measuring said exiting light is a brilliance attribute of said gemstone model.

242. The system of claim 240, wherein said at least one value determined upon measuring said exiting light is a fire attribute of said gemstone model.

243. The system of claim 240, wherein said at least one value determined upon measuring said exiting light is a scintillation attribute of said gemstone model.

244. The system of claim 240, wherein said at least one value determined upon measuring said exiting light is used for grading of said gemstone model.

245. A system for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising:

means for illuminating a gemstone model with a light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets,

means for refracting said light into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

means for reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

means for refracting said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model;

means for refracting said reflected light out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light;

means for measuring said exiting light, said means for measuring of said exiting light is conducted by a plurality of modeled data collection elements, each of said plurality of modeled data collection elements having access to a created map of the gemstone with facets positioned relative to a location of said modeled data collection element; and

means for weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light.

246. A system for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising:

means for illuminating a gemstone model with a light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets,

means for refracting said light into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

means for reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

means for refracting said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model;

means for refracting said reflected light out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light;

means for measuring said exiting light, said means for measuring of said exiting light comprises means for generating a camera model having a plurality of evenly spaced cameras arranged about a hemisphere to surround the gemstone defined by said gemstone model and means for measuring said exiting light by said camera model; and

means for weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light.

247. The system of claim 246, wherein said means for measuring of said exiting light further comprises means for measuring values associated with one or more attributes of said exiting light and means for weighting said at least one value based on which one of said plurality of cameras is measuring said exiting light.

248. A system for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising:

means for illuminating a gemstone model with a light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets,

means for refracting said light into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

means for reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

means for refracting said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model;

means for refracting said reflected light out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light;

means for measuring said exiting light; and

means for weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light, the weighting is computed by a camera model representing data collection elements evenly spaced about a hemisphere surrounding the gemstone defined by said gemstone model.

249. A system for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising:

means for illuminating a gemstone model with a light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets,

means for refracting said light into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

means for reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

means for refracting said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model;

means for refracting said reflected light out of said gemstone model through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light;

means for measuring said exiting light; and

means for weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light, the weighting is computed by a camera model representing overlapping data collection elements positioned around the gemstone defined by said gemstone model.

250. A system for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising:

means for illuminating a gemstone model with a light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets,

means for refracting said light into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

means for reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

means for refracting at least one of said refracted light and said reflected light out of said gemstone model, and said reflected light being refracted through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light; and

means for measuring said exiting light, said means for measuring of said exiting light comprises means for generating a camera model including a plurality of rings of cameras, each ring of cameras having a different elevation angle and means for measuring a flux density measured so as to collectively measure a brilliance of the gemstone defined by said gemstone model; and

means for weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light.

251. A system for grading the cut of a gemstone, comprising:

means for illuminating a gemstone model with a light source, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

means for refracting said light into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light, said refracted light is modeled with a three-dimensional shape that is defined by an area of said first facet;

means for reflecting said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

means for refracting at least one of said refracted light and said reflected light out of said gemstone model, and said reflected light being refracted through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light;

means for measuring said exiting light; and

means for weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light.

252. The system of claim 251, wherein the light refracted by said first facet has an n-sided polygon shape.

253. The system of claim 61, wherein said means for measuring of said exiting light comprises means for converting data associated with said exiting light into a graphic image and means for storing the graphic image for subsequent display.

254. The computer program product of claim 67 wherein the brilliance attribute comprises a computed flux density of said exiting light.

255. The computer program product of claim 67, wherein said at least one value being weighted further comprises a value that is associated with an intensity of said exiting light.

256. In a system for grading the cut of a gemstone, a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium, when executed by a computer, the computer readable program code means causes an application program to execute on said computer, said computer readable program code means comprising:

a first computer readable program code means for causing said computer to illuminate a gemstone model, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

a second computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract a light beam into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light beam;

a third computer readable program code means for causing said computer to reflect said refracted light beam within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

a fourth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light out of said gemstone model through said second facet and a third facet of said gemstone model respectively, said refracting of said reflected light to produce an exiting light;

a fifth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to measure said exiting light; and

a sixth computer readable program code means for weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light, said at least one value being weighted comprises a product of at least (i) an intensity of said exiting light and (ii) an illuminated area refracted onto a viewing plane that is associated with a path length between two dispersion vectors of said exiting light.

257. In a system for grading the cut of a gemstone, a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium, when executed by a computer, the computer readable program code means causes an application program to execute on said computer, said computer readable program code means comprising:

a first computer readable program code means for causing said computer to illuminate a gemstone model, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

a second computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract a light beam into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light beam;

a third computer readable program code means for causing said computer to reflect said refracted light beam within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

a fourth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light out of said gemstone model through said second facet and a third facet of said gemstone model respectively, said refracting of said reflected light to produce an exiting light;

a fifth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to measure said exiting light; and

a sixth computer readable program code means for weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light, said at least one value being weighted comprises a path area that is a computed result of a path width and a path length of an illuminated area associated with said exiting light refracted onto a viewing plane.

258. The computer program product of claim 257, wherein said path width is a difference between a minimum measured value and a maximum measured value of a dispersion projection along a first axis and said path length is based on angles of deviation of direction vectors of a refracted dispersion component.

259. In a system for grading the cut of a gemstone, a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium, when executed by a computer, the computer readable program code means causes an application program to execute on said computer, said computer readable program code means comprising:

a first computer readable program code means for causing said computer to illuminate a gemstone model, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

a second computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract a light beam into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light beam;

a third computer readable program code means for causing said computer to reflect said refracted light beam within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

a fourth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light out of said gemstone model through said second facet and a third facet of said gemstone model respectively, said refracting of said reflected light to produce an exiting light;

a fifth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to measure said exiting light; and

a sixth computer readable program code means for weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light, said at least one value comprises a product of (i) an intensity of said exiting light, (ii) a cosine of an angle of deviation between neighboring dispersion components of said exiting light and (iii) a path area defined by a path width and a path length of said exiting light.

260. The computer program product of claim 67, wherein said at least one value being weighted further comprises a value that is associated with a fire attribute of said gemstone model.

261. The computer program product of claim 260 wherein the fire attribute is determined by computing values associated with said exiting light refracted onto a viewing plane, the values are a product of (i) a path length of an illuminated area on said viewing plane by said exiting light, (ii) a path width of said illuminated area on said viewing plane by said exiting light, (iii) an intensity of each wavelength of said exiting light, and (iv) a cosine of the angle of deviance between each wavelength.

262. The computer program product of claim 67, wherein said at least one value being weighted further comprises a value that is associated with a scintillation attribute of said gemstone model.

263. The computer program product of claim 262 wherein said fifth computer readable program code means causes said computer to generate a camera model including a plurality of rings of cameras, each ring of cameras having a different elevation angle and the scintillation attribute comprises a number of refractions seen by each camera.

264. The computer program product of claim 67 wherein said at least one value being weighted is further associated with a fire attribute and a scintillation attribute where the brilliance attribute, the fire attribute, and the scintillation attribute are combined with other scaled attributes to arrive at final grades for each of said brilliance attribute, said fire attribute, and said scintillation attribute.

265. In a system for grading the cut of a gemstone, a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium, when executed by a computer, the computer readable program code means causes an application program to execute on the computer, said computer readable program code means comprising:

a first computer readable program code means for causing said computer to illuminate a gemstone model, wherein said gemstone model is a full three-dimensional (3D) representation of the gemstone and defines the geometry and position of all of the gemstone facets;

a second computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract a light beam into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light beam;

a third computer readable program code means for causing said computer to reflect said refracted light beam within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

a fourth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light out of said gemstone model through said second facet and a third facet of said gemstone model respectively, said refracting of said reflected light to produce an exiting light; and

a fifth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to measure said exiting light if the amplitude of said exiting light is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold and weighting said exiting light, based on a viewing angle of a first data collection element at which said exiting light, is measured.

266. The computer program product of claim 265, wherein a light source is positioned at a location directed to an area of the three-dimensional (3D) representation of the gemstone model and provides said light from said location.

267. The computer program product of claim 266, wherein said light source and a second light source are positioned at different locations within the three-dimensional (3D) representation and the second light source providing a different colored light than said light source.

268. In a system for grading the cut of a gemstone, a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium, when executed by a computer, the computer readable program code means causes an application program to execute on said computer, said computer readable program code means comprising:

a first computer readable program code means for causing said computer to illuminate a gemstone model, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

a second computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract a light beam into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light beam;

a third computer readable program code means for causing said computer to reflect said refracted light beam within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light, said reflected light is discontinued from subsequent reflections when an amplitude of said reflected light is less than a defined minimum amplitude;

a fourth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light out of said gemstone model through said second facet and a third facet of said gemstone model respectively, said refracting of said reflected light to produce an exiting light; and

a fifth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to measure said exiting light.

269. The computer program product of claim 268 further comprising:

a sixth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to compare an amplitude of said reflected light reflected from said second facet of said gemstone model with a defined minimum amplitude;

a seventh computer readable program code means for causing said computer to discontinue processing of said reflected light if the amplitude of said reflected light falls below the defined minimum amplitude; and

an eighth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to select another facet of said gemstone model and continue processing of said reflected light if the amplitude of said light is greater than the defined minimum amplitude.

270. The computer program product of claim 268 further comprising:

a sixth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to reflect light being refracted through said third facet of said gemstone model to produce a second reflected light;

a seventh computer readable program code means for causing said computer to compare an amplitude of said second reflected light with a defined minimum amplitude;

an eighth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to discontinue processing of said second reflected light if the amplitude of said second reflected light falls below the defined minimum amplitude; and

a ninth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to select another facet of said gemstone model and to continue processing of said second reflected light if the amplitude of said second reflected light is greater than the defined minimum amplitude.

271. In a system for grading the cut of a gemstone, a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium, when executed by a computer, the computer readable program code means causes an application program to execute on the computer, said computer readable program code means comprising:

a first computer readable program code means for causing said computer to illuminate a gemstone model, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

a second computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract a light beam into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light beam;

a third computer readable program code means for causing said computer to reflect said refracted light beam within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

a fourth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light out of said gemstone model, and said reflected light being refracted through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light; and

a fifth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to measure said exiting light by projecting said exiting light onto a viewing plane and determining an incident flux at said viewing plane, said incident flux is determined using at least (i) an intensity value of said exiting light and (ii) a path area defined by a path width and a path length of said existing light.

272. The computer program product of claim 271, wherein said at least one refracted and reflected light is light modeled after being refracted into said gemstone model from a modeled light source and reflected within said gemstone model.

273. The computer program product of claim 272, wherein said fifth computer readable program code means causing said computer to measure said exiting light by computing a flux density total for said gemstone model as measured by a plurality of data collection elements distributed over a vertical range.

274. The computer program product of claim 272, wherein said fifth computer readable program code means causing said computer to compute standard deviations of flux densities of said gemstone model as measured by a plurality of data collection elements vertically distributed.

275. In a system for grading the cut of a gemstone, a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium, when executed by a computer, the computer readable program code means causes an application program to execute on the computer, said computer readable program code means comprising:

a first computer readable program code means for causing said computer to illuminate a gemstone model, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

a second computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract a light beam into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light;

a third computer readable program code means for causing said computer to reflect said refracted light within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

a fourth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light out of said gemstone model, and said reflected light being refracted through a third facet of said gemstone model to produce an exiting light; and

a fifth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to measure said exiting light; and

a sixth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to alter at least one value associated with said measured exiting light by weighting said at least one value based on a viewing angle of a first data collection element at which said exiting light is measured.

276. The computer program product of claim 275, wherein said at least one value being altered is associated with a brilliance attribute of said gemstone model.

277. The computer program product of claim 275, wherein the first data collection element is one of a plurality of data collection elements, the first data collection element is vertically oriented with respect to a different location associated with the gemstone that is defined by said gemstone model than a second data collection element of the plurality of data collection elements so that the viewing angle of the first data collection element is different than a viewing angle of the second data collection element.

278. The computer program product of claim 275, wherein said sixth computer readable program code means comprises a first ring of data collection elements of the plurality of data collection elements that are evenly spaced from each other.

279. The computer program product of claim 278, wherein the first ring of data collection elements are greater in number than a second ring of data collection elements oriented above the first ring of data collection elements, the first ring of data collection elements and the second ring of data collection elements are at least part of the plurality of data collection elements.

280. The computer program product of claim 275, wherein said sixth computer readable program code means causing said computer to generate a camera model including a plurality of rings of cameras, each ring of cameras having a different elevation angle and measuring a flux density.

281. The computer program product of claim 279, wherein said sixth computer readable program code means causing said computer to average a flux density determined for each of said plurality of rings of cameras and determine a total flux density value that represents a brilliance attribute of said gemstone model by summing the computed flux densities for said plurality of rings of cameras.

282. The computer program product of claim 282 further comprising: a seventh computer readable program code means for causing said computer to grade said gemstone model by comparing measured light attributes of said exiting light to stored values to determine a grade for said gemstone model.

283. The computer program product of claim 275, wherein the at least one value is one of a plurality of attributes of said exiting light.

284. The computer program product of claim 283 further comprising:

means for storing a plurality of attributes of said exiting light; and

a seventh computer readable program code means for causing said computer to grade said gemstone model based on a comparison between the plurality of stored attributes and measured light attributes of said exiting light.

285. The computer program product of claim 67 further comprising means for storing said at least one value determined upon measuring said exiting light.

286. The computer program product of claim 285, wherein said at least one value determined upon measuring said exiting light is a brilliance attribute of said gemstone model.

287. The computer program product of claim 285, wherein said at least one value determined upon measuring said exiting light is a fire attribute of said gemstone model.

288. The computer program product of claim 285, wherein said at least one value determined upon measuring said exiting light is a scintillation attribute of said gemstone model.

289. The computer program product of claim 285, wherein said at least one value determined upon measuring said exiting light is used for grading of said gemstone model.

290. In a system for grading the cut of a gemstone, a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium, when executed by a computer, the computer readable program code means causes an application program to execute on said computer, said computer readable program code means comprising:

a first computer readable program code means for causing said computer to illuminate a gemstone model, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

a second computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract a light beam into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light beam;

a third computer readable program code means for causing said computer to reflect said refracted light beam within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

a fourth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light out of said gemstone model through said second facet and a third facet of said gemstone model respectively, said refracting of said reflected light to produce an exiting light; and

a fifth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to measure said exiting light, said fifth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to measure said exiting light comprises a plurality of modeled data collection elements, each of said plurality of modeled data collection elements having access to a created map of the gemstone with facets positioned relative to a location of said modeled data collection element.

291. In a system for grading the cut of a gemstone, a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium, when executed by a computer, the computer readable program code means causes an application program to execute on said computer, said computer readable program code means comprising:

a first computer readable program code means for causing said computer to illuminate a gemstone model, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

a second computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract a light beam into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light beam;

a third computer readable program code means for causing said computer to reflect said refracted light beam within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

a fourth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light out of said gemstone model through said second facet and a third facet of said gemstone model respectively, said refracting of said reflected light to produce an exiting light; and

a fifth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to measure said exiting light, said fifth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to measure said exiting light is configured to generate a camera model having a plurality of evenly spaced cameras arranged about a hemisphere to surround the gemstone defined by said gemstone model and measure said exiting light by said camera model.

292. The computer program product of claim 291, wherein said fifth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to measure said exiting light is configured to measure values associated with one or more attributes of said exiting light and weight said at least one value based on which one of said plurality of cameras is measuring said exiting light.

293. In a system for grading the cut of a gemstone, a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium, when executed by a computer, the computer readable program code means causes an application program to execute on said computer, said computer readable program code means comprising:

a first computer readable program code means for causing said computer to illuminate a gemstone model, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

a second computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract a light beam into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light beam;

a third computer readable program code means for causing said computer to reflect said refracted light beam within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

a fourth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light out of said gemstone model through said second facet and a third facet of said gemstone model respectively, said refracting of said reflected light to produce an exiting light;

a fifth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to measure said exiting light; and

a sixth computer readable program code means for weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light, the weighting is computed by a camera model representing data collection elements evenly spaced about a hemisphere surrounding the gemstone defined by said gemstone model.

294. In a system for grading the cut of a gemstone, a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium, when executed by a computer, the computer readable program code means causes an application program to execute on said computer, said computer readable program code means comprising:

a first computer readable program code means for causing said computer to illuminate a gemstone model, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

a second computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract a light beam into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light beam;

a third computer readable program code means for causing said computer to reflect said refracted light beam within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

a fourth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light out of said gemstone model through said second facet and a third facet of said gemstone model respectively, said refracting of said reflected light to produce an exiting light;

a fifth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to measure said exiting light; and

a sixth computer readable program code means for weighting at least one value associated with said measured exiting light, the weighting is computed by a camera model representing overlapping data collection elements positioned around the gemstone defined by said gemstone model.

295. In a system for grading the cut of a gemstone, a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium, when executed by a computer, the computer readable program code means causes an application program to execute on said computer, said computer readable program code means comprising:

a first computer readable program code means for causing said computer to illuminate a gemstone model, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

a second computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract a light beam into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light beam;

a third computer readable program code means for causing said computer to reflect said refracted light beam within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

a fourth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light out of said gemstone model through said second facet and a third facet of said gemstone model respectively, said refracting of said reflected light to produce an exiting light; and

a fifth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to measure said exiting light, said fifth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to measure said exiting light is configured to generate a camera model including a plurality of rings of cameras, each ring of cameras having a different elevation angle and measure a flux density measured so as to collectively measure a brilliance of the gemstone defined by said gemstone model.

296. In a system for grading the cut of a gemstone, a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium, when executed by a computer, the computer readable program code means causes an application program to execute on said computer, said computer readable program code means comprising:

a first computer readable program code means for causing said computer to illuminate a gemstone model, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

a second computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract a light beam into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light beam, said refracted light beam via said first facet of said gemstone model is modeled with a three-dimensional shape and the three-dimensional shape of the refracted light is defined by an area of said first facet;

a third computer readable program code means for causing said computer to reflect said refracted light beam within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

a fourth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light out of said gemstone model through said second facet and a third facet of said gemstone model respectively, said refracting of said reflected light to produce an exiting light; and

a fifth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to measure said exiting light.

297. The computer program product of claim 296, wherein said refracted light has an n-sided polygon shape.

298. In a system for grading the cut of a gemstone, a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium, when executed by a computer, the computer readable program code means causes an application program to execute on said computer, said computer readable program code means comprising:

a first computer readable program code means for causing said computer to illuminate a gemstone model, wherein said gemstone model defines the geometry and position of the gemstone facets;

a second computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract a light beam into said gemstone model through a first facet of said gemstone model to produce a refracted light beam;

a third computer readable program code means for causing said computer to reflect said refracted light beam within said gemstone model from a second facet of said gemstone model to produce a reflected light;

a fourth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to refract at least one of said refracted light beam and said reflected light out of said gemstone model through said second facet and a third facet of said gemstone model respectively, said refracting of said reflected light to produce an exiting light; and

a fifth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to measure said exiting light, said fifth computer readable program code means for causing said computer to measure said exiting light is configured to convert data associated with said exiting light into a graphic image and store the graphic image for subsequent display.

299. The method of claim 1, wherein said refracting of said refracted light beam out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model occurs when said refracted light beam reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

300. The method of claim 1, wherein said light beam is modeled with a n-sided polygon shape.

301. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

reflecting said reflected light beam to produce a second reflected light beam and subsequently reflected light beams originating from said second reflected light beam and refracting said second reflected light beam and said subsequently reflected light beams to produce corresponding resultant exiting lights; and

measuring each of said corresponding resultant exiting lights until a light amplitude of one of said subsequently reflected light beams is exhausted.

302. The method of claim 14, wherein said refracting of said refracted light beam out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model occurs when said refracted light beam reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

303. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

reflecting said reflected light beam to produce a second reflected light beam and subsequently reflected light beams originating from said second reflected light beam and refracting said second reflected light beam and said subsequently reflected light beams to produce corresponding resultant exiting lights; and

measuring each of said corresponding resultant exiting lights until a light amplitude of one of said subsequently reflected light beams is exhausted.

304. The system of claim 34, wherein the optical system is a gemstone.

305. The system of claim 34 is a special purpose computer that comprises one or more processors, a main memory and a secondary memory that includes executable code associated with means for projecting the beam of light, means for modeling the propagation of said beam of light, means for measuring said beam of light, and means for discontinuing processing of attributes of said beam of light.

306. The computer program product of claim 37, wherein said fourth computer readable program code means causing said computer to refract said refracted light beam out of said gemstone model through said second facet when said refracted light beam reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

307. The method of claim 55, wherein said refracting of said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model occurs when said refracted light reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

308. The method of claim 55 further comprising:

reflecting said reflected light to produce a second reflected light and subsequently reflected lights originating from said second reflected light and refracting said second reflected light and said subsequently reflected lights to produce corresponding resultant exiting lights; and

measuring each of said corresponding resultant exiting lights until a light amplitude of one of said subsequently reflected lights is exhausted.

309. The computer program product of claim 67, wherein said fourth computer readable program code means causing said computer to refract of said refracted light beam out of said gemstone model through said second facet when said refracted light beam reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

310. The method of claim 76, wherein said refracting of said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model occurs when said refracted light reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

311. The method of claim 79, wherein said measuring of said exiting light is conducted if an amplitude of the exiting light is greater than a predetermined threshold value.

312. The method of claim 79, wherein said refracting of said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model occurs when said refracted light reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

313. The method of claim 80, wherein said measuring of said exiting light is conducted if an amplitude of the exiting light is greater than a predetermined threshold value.

314. The method of claim 80, wherein said refracting of said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model occurs when said refracted light reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

315. The method of claim 82, wherein said measuring of said exiting light is conducted if an amplitude of the exiting light is greater than a predetermined threshold value.

316. The method of claim 82, wherein said refracting of said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model occurs when said refracted light reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

317. The method of claim 83, wherein said measuring of said exiting light is conducted if an amplitude of the exiting light is greater than a predetermined threshold value.

318. The method of claim 83, wherein said refracting of said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model occurs when said refracted light reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

319. The method of claim 85, wherein said measuring of said exiting light is conducted if an amplitude of the exiting light is greater than a predetermined threshold value.

320. The method of claim 85, wherein said refracting of said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model occurs when said refracted light reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

321. The method of claim 88, wherein said refracting of said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model occurs when said refracted light reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

322. The method of claim 88 further comprising:

reflecting said reflected light to produce a second reflected light and subsequently reflected lights originating from said second reflected light and refracting said second reflected light and said subsequently reflected lights to produce corresponding resultant exiting lights; and

measuring each of said corresponding resultant exiting lights until a light amplitude of one of said subsequently reflected lights is exhausted.

323. The method of claim 92, wherein said refracting of said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model occurs when said refracted light reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

324. The method of claim 93, wherein said refracting of said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model occurs when said refracted light reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

325. The method of claim 94, wherein said refracting of said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model occurs when said refracted light reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

326. The method of claim 94 further comprising:

reflecting said reflected light to produce a second reflected light and subsequently reflected lights originating from said second reflected light and refracting said second reflected light and said subsequently reflected lights to produce corresponding resultant exiting lights; and

measuring each of said corresponding resultant exiting lights until a light amplitude of one of said subsequently reflected lights is exhausted.

327. The method of claim 98, wherein said refracting of said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model occurs when said refracted light reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

328. The method of claim 98 further comprising:

reflecting said reflected light to produce a second reflected light and subsequently reflected lights originating from said second reflected light and refracting said second reflected light and said subsequently reflected lights to produce corresponding resultant exiting lights; and

measuring each of said corresponding resultant exiting lights until a light amplitude of one of said subsequently reflected lights exiting lights is exhausted.

329. The method of claim 99, wherein said refracting of said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model occurs when said refracted light reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

330. The method of claim 101, wherein said refracting of said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model occurs when said refracted light reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

331. The method of claim 103, wherein said refracting of said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model occurs when said refracted light reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

332. The method of claim 113, wherein said refracting of said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model occurs when said refracted light reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

333. The method of claim 114, wherein said refracting of said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model occurs when said refracted light reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

334. The method of claim 116, wherein said refracting of said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model occurs when said refracted light reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

335. The method of claim 129, wherein said refracting of said refracted light beam out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model occurs when said refracted light beam reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

336. The method of claim 131, wherein said refracting of said refracted light beam out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model occurs when said refracted light beam reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

337. The method of claim 131, wherein said refracting of said refracted light beam out of said gemstone model through said second facet occurs when said refracted light beam reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

338. The system of claim 220, wherein said means for refracting at least one of said refracted light and said reflected light out of said gemstone model refracts said refracted light through said second facet when said refracted light reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

339. The system of claim 245, wherein said means for refracting said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model refracts said refracted light through said second facet when said refracted light reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

340. The system of claim 246, wherein said means for refracting said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model refracts said refracted light through said second facet when said refracted light reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

341. The system of claim 248, wherein said means for refracting said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model refracts said refracted light through said second facet when said refracted light reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

342. The system of claim 249, wherein said means for refracting said refracted light out of said gemstone model through said second facet of said gemstone model refracts said refracted light through said second facet when said refracted light reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

343. The computer program product of claim 222, wherein said fourth computer readable program code means causing said computer to refract said refracted light beam out of said gemstone model through said second facet when said refracted light beam reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

344. The computer program product of claim 223, wherein said fourth computer readable program code means causing said computer to refract said refracted light beam out of said gemstone model through said second facet when said refracted light beam reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

345. The computer program product of claim 259, wherein said fourth computer readable program code means causing said computer to refract said refracted light beam out of said gemstone model through said second facet when said refracted light beam reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

346. The computer program product of claim 265, wherein said fourth computer readable program code means causing said computer to refract said refracted light beam out of said gemstone model through said second facet when said refracted light beam reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

347. The computer program product of claim 268, wherein said fourth computer readable program code means causing said computer to refract said refracted light beam out of said gemstone model through said second facet when said refracted light beam reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

348. The computer program product of claim 290, wherein said fourth computer readable program code means causing said computer to refract said refracted light beam out of said gemstone model through said second facet when said refracted light beam reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

349. The computer program product of claim 291, wherein said fourth computer readable program code means causing said computer to refract said refracted light beam out of said gemstone model through said second facet when said refracted light beam reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

350. The computer program product of claim 293, wherein said fourth computer readable program code means causing said computer to refract said refracted light beam out of said gemstone model through said second facet when said refracted light beam reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

351. The computer program product of claim 294, wherein said fourth computer readable program code means causing said computer to refract said refracted light beam out of said gemstone model through said second facet when said refracted light beam reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

352. The computer program product of claim 295, wherein said fourth computer readable program code means causing said computer to refract said refracted light beam out of said gemstone model through said second facet when said refracted light beam reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

353. The computer program product of claim 296, wherein said fourth computer readable program code means causing said computer to refract said refracted light beam out of said gemstone model through said second facet when said refracted light beam reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.

354. The computer program product of claim 298, wherein said fourth computer readable program code means causing said computer to refract said refracted light beam out of said gemstone model through said second facet when said refracted light beam reaches said second facet at an angle of incidence smaller than a critical angle.