WO2020026006A1

WO2020026006A1 - Mineral analysis device

Info

Publication number: WO2020026006A1
Application number: PCT/IB2018/055867
Authority: WO
Inventors: Andrea Piazzolla
Original assignee: Andrea Piazzolla
Priority date: 2018-08-03
Filing date: 2018-08-03
Publication date: 2020-02-06

Abstract

A mineral analysis device (100) and a mineral analysis method. The analysis device (100) comprises a light source (20) apt to emit a light radiation intended to be reflected and/or refracted by the mineral and a diffuser element (60) to diffuse the light radiation emitted by the light source (20) in the mineral itself. The analysis device (100) further comprises an optical guide (30) for transporting the light radiation emitted by the light source (20), the diffuser element (60) and an acquisition unit (10) configured to capture the light radiation reflected and/or refracted by the mineral.

Description

MINERAL ANALYSIS DEVICE

DESCRIPTION

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to an analysis device apt to determine and analyse physical and/or chemical features of an object, in particular of a mineral.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Each mineral existing in nature is characterized by peculiar features, or singularities, which differentiate it from other minerals. Examples of such singularities are inclusions, scratches, microfractures, impurities. Apart from such natural singularities, the minerals extracted by man are characterized by features which can appear in the extracting, selecting, cutting and polishing process.

Examples of such features induced by man can be signs of abrasion, additional fractures, signs due to the removal of imperfections, for example through laser tools, or due to thermal treatments aimed at changing the final colouring of the mineral. Such features induced by man increase even more the individuality level of each extracted mineral.

Different devices and methods are known in the state of art, developed to analyse features of minerals, gems, precious or half-precious stones.

Advantageously, such analysis devices and methods do not allow comparisons between subsequent analyses of the same mineral or between analyses of different minerals.

Moreover, even in case such comparisons are possible, the known devices have additional critical aspects, for example in terms of structural and use complexity, which make difficult to use them.

A first known example of device apt to perform analyses of minerals is a tool configured to point a laser on a facetted stone to acquire the incident wave distribution. The latter is stored on a photographic plate or on a medium of digital type and it can be used for comparisons with subsequent distribution acquisitions of the same stone or with distribution acquisitions of different stones. A device of this type is described in US5828405. However, the device disclosed by such document has a strong error risk linked to the positioning of the precious or half-precious stone. The same device further has strong operation critical aspects in case the facetted precious or half-precious stone to be analysed has small size. At last, the device described in US5828405 has disadvantages linked to the use complexity.

A second type of known devices allows to analyse a raw mineral in order to optimize the cutting of the mineral itself. These devices, for example, allow to perform a 3D rendering of the raw mineral in order to improve the yield of the steps for cutting and creating facets. Such devices further allow to make previsions about the results of said steps, for example allowing to identify the carat weight of the precious stone which will be produced or to make previsions in terms of colour and purity of the precious stone itself. A limit of this type of devices is the fact that they do not allow to keep trace of the single features of the analysed minerals. Consequently, it is not possible to make comparisons between different minerals.

A third example of known device apt to analyse minerals is the laboratory microscope. Such device allows high enlargements of the mineral to evaluate the cutting features and the inner properties and, generally, it allows to evaluate the aesthetical effect of facetted precious stone.

However, they are analyses performed subjectively, based upon data acquired by the microscope, without the latter keeping analytical trace of displayed data. Consequently, even this type of analysis is not suitable to comparisons with data or results obtained subsequently.

A facetted precious or half-precious stone can further be subjected to the analysis of the proportions of facets and angles forming therebetween. This system is used to evaluate the level of aesthetical yield of the stone in terms of focus and brilliance. Such analysis is performed with the help of a laboratory tool, commonly known as proportiometer, which however is not capable of performing comparisons between two minerals or between different analyses of the same mineral, as the obtained data are not significant in terms of singularity and irreplicability.

Another type of analysis of minerals is performed by exploiting the fluorescence thereof. Disadvantageously, such analysis does not allow to perform valid and accurate comparisons between two minerals, as it provides the exposition of a mineral to ultraviolet rays and the manual detection of the fluorescence level in judgement scales. At last, some facetted minerals can be provided with a gemmological certificate, in which there is the position of the inclusions which a gemmologist is capable of detecting with a 10x enlargement. Upon drawing up such certificate, the gemmologist reports manually the “map” of the inclusions existing in the mineral.

Therefore, it results clear that this type of analysis is characterized by a high level of imperfection and error and it does not allow to perform comparisons in a later moment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The technical problem placed and solved by the present invention is to provide an analysis device allowing to obtain detailed and comparable data related to features of an analysed object, so as to allow comparisons with subsequent analyses of the same object with the purpose, for example, of validating a mineral authentication process or comparing analyses related to different objects, and which further allows to obviate the problems mentioned above with reference to the known art.

This is obtained through an analysis device and a method as defined in the respective independent claims. Secondary features and particular embodiments of the object of the present invention are set forth in the depending claims.

Under the expression“analysis device”, within the present invention, a device is meant allowing to perform analyses of features or properties owned by a mineral such as, for example, inclusions, scratches, microfractures, abrasion signs, fractures, signs due to thermal treatments or through laser tools or other.

Advantageously, the analysis device according to the present invention is apt to analyse both raw, in particular not facetted, and not raw, in particular already cut and/or faceted, minerals as well as gems, precious or half- precious stones.

Moreover, within the present invention, under the expression “analysis device” a device is further meant apt to analyse minerals both produced in nature, that is under random conditions and not replicable by man, characterized by very high temperatures and pressures, and minerals produced in laboratory, that is produced trying to replicate the natural conditions of the environment in which the same form.

The present invention starts from the inventor’s realizing that the known analysis devices do not allow an effective comparison between different analyses of one same mineral or between analyses of different minerals. Moreover, with the known devices, only comparisons between analyses of faceted minerals, that is mineral already subjected to the step of cutting and creating facets, are possible.

The additional inventor’s realizing underlying the present invention is that the known analysis devices are characterized by still other critical aspects linked, for example, to the positioning of the mineral to be analysed inside the analysis device or the fact that the optical sensors of such devices are not sufficiently shielded from the light radiations coming from the outer environment and/or coming directly from the light source of such devices. In other words, the analyses obtained with the known devices provide not sufficiently accurate results, as the light radiations analysed by the sensors of such known devices are not exclusively those reflected and/or refracted by the mineral under examination.

According to a preferred embodiment, the analysis device according to the present invention comprises a light source apt to emit a light radiation, a diffuser element configured to diffuse such light radiation in the mineral and an optical guide for transporting the light radiation emitted by the light source along an optical path towards the diffuser element. The analysis device further comprises an acquisition unit including a first optical group, configured to intercept the light radiation reflected and/or refracted by the mineral under analysis, and an optical sensor configured to capture such light radiation reflected and/or refracted by the mineral. According to this aspect, the analysis device according to the present invention provides that the light radiation emitted by the light source is converged by the optical guide, by avoiding that this radiation disperses and/or interferes with the acquisition unit.

According to an additional aspect of the invention, the diffuser element comprises a shielding element to shield the light radiation diffused by the shielding element towards the acquisition unit. Consequently, the analysis device allows to analyse only the return radiation emitted by the mineral under analysis, that is the radiation reflected and/or refracted by the mineral itself, by limiting the interferences of other radiations.

In this sense, according to a further aspect of the present invention, the analysis device comprises an additional shielding element apt to shield the light radiation coming from the environment surrounding the analysis device.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the analysis device comprises a system for positioning the mineral. Should the mineral be locked inside a support in a predetermined stable position, the positioning system will be referred to such supporting element. Such system allows to position the mineral in a predetermined position with respect to the acquisition unit, by allowing stable and reproducible analyses in subsequent moments even related to a specific feature or portion of a mineral even having small size. The positioning system further allows to make the analysis process more rapid. In addition, the use of the device results simpler than the one of the known art devices.

Advantageously, according to further embodiment variants, the device of the invention is configured so that the mineral under analysis can be free from additional elements or restraints, or it can be arranged in a predetermined position inside a supporting element, such as for example a smartcard or an identity document such as a passport.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, the acquisition unit is apt to convert the light radiation reflected and/or refracted by the mineral in a way so as to be stored on a physical medium, for example a digital medium, under the form of captured image. It follows that the analysis device according to the present invention allows comparisons between analyses of the same mineral performed in different moments or between analyses of different minerals, as well as to keep trace of the single features of the analysed minerals.

Moreover, the mineral analysis method according to the present invention can be implemented by means of a more accurate and at the same time simpler and more rapid process than those of the known art. In fact, the radiation analysed by the acquisition unit substantially has no interferences due to reflex radiations of other components and/or radiations coming from the environment surrounding the analysis device. Still, the positioning system allows stable and reproducible analyses of one feature of a mineral. At last, the fact that the analyses are stored in format of images captured on a physical medium allows the comparison between analyses of different minerals and/or analyses performed with different devices.

Additional advantages, features and use modes of the object of the present invention will result evident from the following detailed description of some embodiments thereof, shown by way of example and not for limitative purposes.

It is however evident that each embodiment of the object of the present invention can have one or more above mentioned advantages; in each case it is not requested that each embodiment has simultaneously all mentioned advantages.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The enclosed Figures will be referred to, wherein:

- Figure 1 shows a schematic side view of an analysis device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and - Figures 2A and 2B show a plan schematic view of preferred variants of a positioning system according to the present invention, respectively.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

With reference to Figure 1 , an embodiment of a mineral analysis device according to the present invention is designated as a whole with the reference number 100.

According to a first aspect of the invention, the analysis device 100 mainly comprises: a light source 20, apt and configured to emit a light radiation; a diffuser element 60, configured to diffuse the radiation emitted by the light source 20 in a mineral to be analysed; an optical guide 30 configured to convey to the diffuser element 60 the light radiation emitted by the light source 20; and an acquisition unit 10 configured to capture the light radiation reflected and/or refracted by the mineral.

The analysis device 100 according to the present invention also comprises a preferably tubular or box-like casing 1 , configured to house the above- illustrated components. More specifically, the casing 1 defines an area, or compartment, 2 inside the analysis device 100, separated from an environment surrounding the analysis device 100 by the casing 1 itself. Preferably, such area 2 inside the analysis device 100 comprises a first region 3 apt to include, or sustain, the acquisition unit 10 and a second region 4 apt to receive the mineral to be analysed. According to an embodiment of the present invention, said first and second region 3, 4 are separated therebetween by the diffuser element 60.

Advantageously, the light source 20 is of point-like or substantially point- like type, configured to emit a light radiation towards the mineral to be analysed. Preferably, the light source 20 is of led type, but other types of light sources known to a person skilled in the art can be used. According to a preferred embodiment, the analysis device 100 comprises two or more leds configured to illuminate the mineral to be analysed. Moreover, preferably, the light source 20 is arranged in the first region 3 of the area 2 inside the analysis device 100.

By way of example, the frequency of such light source 20 preferably is comprised in the visible spectrum (between 770 and 430 THz), but it could be also outside such visible spectrum, thanks to the use compatibility of the analysis device 100 according to the invention with optical sensors capable of detecting information even in frequencies not perceived by the human eye.

The light radiation emitted by the light source 20 is transported, or conveyed, by the optical guide 30 along an optical path towards the diffuser element 60. In other words, the light radiation is conveyed by the light source 20 to the diffuser element 60, thus avoiding that such light radiation disperses in the inner area 2 and, in particular, in the first region 3, wherein it could interfere with the reading of the acquisition unit 10. More specifically, the optical guide 30 comprises a first end 31 preferably arranged, in use, in contact with the light source 20, and a second end 32 preferably arranged, in use, in contact with the diffuser element 60. Preferably, the optical guide 30 is made of optical fibre. Preferably, moreover, an optical guide 30 is provided for each of one or more light sources 20 of the analysis device 100.

The radiation emitted by the light source 20 is then conveyed by the optical guide 30 as far as the diffuser element 60. Such diffuser element 60 is apt to diffuse the light radiation in the mineral to be analysed, in particular towards the second region 4. Preferably, such diffuser element 60 can be an advantageously high resistance tape made of teflon. According to preferred variants of the invention, and as shown by way of example in Figure 1 , the diffuser element 60 can have a toroidal shape, or a section thereof, so as to shave a central portion configured to receive the mineral to be analysed.

As previously anticipated, the diffuser element 60 is arranged in the area 2 inside the analysis device 100 according to a configuration so as to separate the first region 3 from the second region 4.

According to an exemplifying embodiment of the invention, with the purpose of shielding the light radiation emitted by the light source 20, which could diffuse in the first region 3 towards the acquisition unit 10, the analysis device 100 further comprises a first shielding element 50. Such first shielding element 50 preferably is arranged in the inner area 2 between the first region 3 and the second region 4. More preferably, the first shielding element 50 is placed in contact with the diffuser element 60 and it is directed towards said first region 3.

The first shielding element 50 preferably is made of transparent and/or semi-transparent material apt to shield the light radiation diffused by the diffuser element 60 and directed towards the acquisition unit 10, which could cause aberrations by interfering with the acquisition unit 10 itself. In other words, the first shielding element 50 allows not to direct the light radiation arrived at the diffuser element 60 towards the acquisition unit 10, that is towards the first region 3, and to address it exclusively towards the mineral to be analysed, specifically, towards the second region 4.

The first shielding element 50 preferably is made of a material which reacts in a different way to light sources with different refraction index. In still other words, such first shielding element 50 allows to shield the light towards the acquisition unit 10, that is towards the first region 3 and, at the same time, to allow a view of the mineral to be analysed, that is a view of the second region 4, by the acquisition unit 10. Consequently, it is possible to optimize the intensity of the light radiation emitted by the light source 20 and to annul the spurious lighting effects.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the analysis device 100 further comprises a system for shielding the ambient light, that is the light coming from the environment surrounding the analysis device 100 directed towards the inner area 2 of the analysis device 100 itself. In other words, the analysis device 100 comprises a second shielding element 70 apt to shield light radiations of the environment surrounding the analysis device 100 with respect to the inner area 2 of the analysis device 100 itself. Preferably, the second shielding element 70 covers, or wraps, the whole casing 1 of the analysis device 100.

The acquisition unit 10 is arranged in the area 2 inside the analysis device 100, preferably in the first region 3 of the inner area 2. The acquisition unit 10 is further arranged so as to be directed towards the second region 4 apt to receive a mineral. Preferably, moreover, the acquisition unit 10 is arranged so as to be in axis, or substantially in axis, with a position of the second region 4 apt to receive a mineral to be analysed. More specifically, the acquisition unit 10 and the position of the second region 4 apt to receive a mineral preferably are arranged along an optical axis A.

In particular, the acquisition unit 10 is a unit configured to capture the light radiation reflected and/or refracted by the mineral and to acquire images and it preferably comprises sensor means or optical transducers 11 , and a first optical group 12. For example, the acquisition unit 10 is configured to capture the radiation reflected and/or refracted by the mineral to be analysed and to convert such radiation so as to be stored on a physical medium, for example on a memory unit, in captured image format.

Specifically, the sensor of the acquisition unit 10 is configured to capture the light radiation coming from the second region 4 of the analysis device 100. Preferably, the sensor means or optical transducers 11 of the acquisition unit 10 are sensors of optical type.

However, it is to be meant that the acquisition unit 10 can further comprise one or more sensor means or analogical and/or digital transducers. Said sensor means 11 of the acquisition unit 10 can be further positioned offset with respect to the position of the second region 4 apt to receive a mineral to be analysed. In other words, the sensor means 11 can be not positioned along the optical axis A. The first optical group 12 is apt to intercept the light radiation coming from the second region 4, that is the light radiation reflected and/or refracted by the mineral and it can comprise a lens or a plurality of lenses, for example focal lenses, apt to improve and make the image acquisition more effective.

According to an embodiment, the analysis device 100 can further comprise a second optical group 40. Such second optical group 40 preferably is arranged in the first region 3 of the analysis device 100. Preferably, the second optical group 40 is interposed between the acquisition unit 10 and the diffuser element 60. Preferably, said second optical group 40 comprises a lens 41 , or a group of lenses, and/or a diaphragm 42, preferably a diaphragm having variable size, and it allows to increase the enlargement factor and to increase or reduce the depth of field.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the analysis device 100 comprises a positioning system 80 of a mineral. Such positioning system is apt to position a mineral in a predetermined position with respect to the acquisition unit 10. Preferably, the positioning system 80 of the mineral is placed in the second region 4 of the analysis device 100.

According to an embodiment of the invention, such positioning system 80 comprises reference elements, preferably placed at the diffuser element 60, showing to a user the ideal position in which a mineral to be analysed has to be positioned. According to an additional embodiment, the positioning system comprises an element 81 for supporting a mineral. Such supporting element can comprise mechanical positioning elements, such as for example a conveyor belt, or magnetic positioning elements and/or an electronic guide, for example with laser anchoring, so as to position the mineral always in a predetermined position inside the second region 4 with respect to the acquisition unit 10. Still, the supporting element can be shaped so as to implement a seat for housing the mineral.

In particular, in case the mineral is integrated on a physical medium (let’s consider for example the case of a diamond integrated in an identity document), the positioning system 80 can be configured to allow the positioning and locking of the physical medium in a stable position, so as to obtain an arrangement of the mineral according to a predetermined position inside the second region 4 with respect to the acquisition unit 10.

With particular reference to Figure 2A, a preferred embodiment of the positioning system designated with 80A can comprise mechanical positioning elements including a plurality of preferably metallic plate-like elements or lamellae 85, in particular four lamellae, arranged according to opposed pairs, the lamellae 85 of each pair being configured so as to be selectively movable according to a motion of, preferably translator, mutual approaching/moving- away. The approaching of the lamellae 85 of each pair stops when they abut on the mineral to be analysed, so as to fasten firmly the position thereof.

Still, an additional variant of the positioning system, designated with 80B in Figure 2B, can comprise mechanical positioning elements including an additional plurality of preferably metallic plate-like elements or lamellae 86, arranged so as to implement a diaphragm with central opening 87 having variable diameter, or better with diameter selectively adjustable according to the sizes of the mineral to be positioned in the opening 87 itself. For example, the diaphragm can remain closed during the acquisition step, to further decrease light interferences.

Therefore, a positioning system according to the above-described variants allows a stable analysis of the parameters of a mineral and the reproducibility of the analysis of a specific parameter of a mineral in a subsequent moment.

According to an additional aspect of the present invention, with reference from now on again to Figure 1 , the analysis device 100 can further comprise a communication system 95 allowing the analysis device 100 to communicate, preferably in wireless mode, with an outer device, such as for example a computer or a smartphone. Said communication system 95 preferably comprises a radio wave antenna, in compliance to standards such as, for example, Bluetooth, Wireless-Fidelity, NFC. The communication system 95 for example allows to display the parameters analysed by the analysis device 100 in a device such as a smartphone or a computer and/or it allows a user to validate the analysis of the analysed parameters, for example if the system requires a remote access to a database wherein pieces of information related to previously performed analyses of minerals are stored. The interconnection with a computer or a smartphone can even take place by means of a connection of wired type, according to an already known transmission protocol (for example Universal Serial Bus).

According to an additional embodiment, the analysis device of the present invention comprises a control unit 90 apt to manage the activation of the light source 20 and/or of the acquisition unit 10 and/or of the communication system and/or of the positioning system. Such control unit can further be apt to receive input by the system for positioning a mineral, so that the correct positioning of the mineral to be analysed with respect to the acquisition unit 10 could be verified.

The analysis device 100 according to the present invention at last can comprise a database 97, arranged inside or outside said analysis device 100. The database 97 is configured to store the information extracted from the analysis device. Such information for example can be associated to an element identifying the performed analysis and/or the analysed mineral. Moreover, the information extracted from the analysis device can be stored in association to data of a user possessing the mineral, for example a user having an identity document in which the analysed mineral is integrated. The present invention further relates to a mineral analysis method aimed, for example, at providing a high-resolution image of a mineral. Such analysis method comprises an initial step of providing an analysis device 100, comprising a light source 20 apt to emit a light radiation intended to be reflected and/or refracted by a mineral.

The analysis device 100 further comprises a diffuser element 60 for diffusing said light radiation in a mineral. The analysis method according to the present invention further provides a step of transporting, or conveying, along an optical path, the light radiation emitted by the light source 20 to the diffuser element 60 by means of an optical guide 30. In this way, the radiation emitted by the light source 20 is wholly addressed towards the mineral to be analysed.

At last, the light radiation reflected and/or refracted by the mineral is captured by an acquisition unit 10 preferably configured to capture an image of the mineral.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the analysis method comprises a step of shielding the light radiation diffused by the diffuser element 60 and directed towards the acquisition unit 10 by means of a first shielding element 50 and/or a step of shielding the light radiation coming from an environment surrounding the analysis device 100 by means of a second shielding element 70.

In order to guarantee the reproducibility of a mineral analysis, the method according to the present invention can provide a step of positioning a mineral through a positioning system. Such step guarantees the correct positioning of the mineral with respect to the acquisition unit 10.

According to an additional aspect of the present invention, the analysis method further provides to store the performed analyses in a database 97. For example, the method provides a step of storing the images captured by the acquisition unit 10 in a database 97. In this way, the comparison between different analyses results to be facilitated. Such storing can further provide that the results of a mineral analysis are associated to a specific user, possessor of the mineral itself, as previously described.

At last, the method according to the present invention provides a step of communicating the analysis device 100 with an outer device, such as for example a smartphone or a computer. Such communication step, for example, allows to display the parameters analysed by the analysis device 100 in a devise such as a smartphone or a computer and/or allows the user to validate the analysis of the analysed parameters should the system require a remote access to a database 97 wherein pieces of information related to previously performed mineral analyses are stored.

The method according to the present invention further comprises a step of processing the performed analysis, for example a step of processing the obtained image of the mineral. Such processing step is apt to implement a map of the visible mineral singularities from the image captured by the acquisition unit 10. For example, the analysis software can cut out regions of the captured images, for example polygonal regions, and obtain the areas of the same: this type of analysis can be a quick filtering tool of the database, to identify quickly the best results whereon additional checks are to be performed.

Still, the high level of detail and enlargement of the image obtained with the device and analysis method according to the present invention allow to identify even the smallest singularities existing inside a mineral and the step of processing the images and storing the images themselves in a database 97 allows to trace possible interventions apt to modify and/or remove singularities in a mineral. Additionally or alternatively, other methods for processing the images are further possible. Such methods for example can exploit neural networks or systems for processing data based upon variations of the luminosity level of different portions of the acquisition unit 10.

Considering the peculiarity of the invention, it is to be meant that it could be used for several and different application purposes. By way of example and not for limiting purposes: providing an authenticity guarantee of a jewel or a diamond for coatings (commonly placed in a blister) or being an element for checking a process and/or an identifying element. In fact, it could be used also to verify the authenticity of identity documents, by putting on the latter a small support including a precious stone, for example a diamond. In a subsequent checking moment, for example provided at the entrance of airports or generally of sites with limited access, the device of the invention can be used to evaluate the correspondence between the data of the analysed element and data related to the same element previously acquired and kept in the database. In fact, by means of an interaction interface of the unit managing the reader of the analysis device according to the invention, the data related to a mineral could be coupled to additional data, such as for example biometric data, payment data, access data, data for the authentication to a service or validation of a use licence. In particular, it is possible that the device of the invention is further configured to store the association between data detected from a mineral and a related user.

The object of the present invention has been sofar described with reference to embodiments thereof. It is to be meant that other embodiments belonging to the same inventive core may exist, all within the protective scope of the herebelow reported claims.

Claims

1. A device (100) for analysing a mineral, in particular a precious stone, comprising:

^■ a light source (20), configured to emit a light radiation intended to be reflected and/or refracted by the mineral;

^■ a diffuser element (60), configured to diffuse in the mineral the light radiation emitted by the light source (20);

^■ an optical guide (30), apt to convey the light radiation emitted by said light source (20) along an optical path as far as said diffuser element (60);

^■ an acquisition unit (10), comprising a first optical group (12) arranged so as to intercept a light radiation reflected and/or refracted by the mineral and sensor means or optical transducers (11 ) configured to capture said light radiation reflected and/or refracted by the mineral itself.

2. The analysis device (100) according to claim 1 , comprising a casing (1 ) defining an inner area (2) inside said analysis device (100), separated from a surrounding environment by said casing (1 ), said inner area including a first region (3) apt to include said acquisition unit (10) and a second region (4) apt to receive the mineral, said first and second region (3, 4) being separated therebetween by the diffuser element (60).

3. The analysis device (100) according to claim 1 or 2, comprising a first shielding element (50) apt to shield the light radiation diffused by the diffuser element (60) directed towards the acquisition unit (10).

4. The analysis device (100) according to claims 2 and 3, wherein said first shielding element (50) is placed in the inner area (2) between said first region (3) and said second region (4).

5. The analysis device (100) according to anyone of claims 2 to 4, wherein said second region (4) comprises a second shielding element (70) apt to shield light radiations from said surrounding environment.

6. The analysis device (100) according to anyone of the preceding claims, further comprising a second optical group (40) comprising a lens (41 ) and/or a diaphragm (42).

7. The analysis device (100) according to anyone of the preceding claims, comprising a system for positioning the mineral (80).

8. The analysis device (100) according to the preceding claim, wherein said positioning system (80) is a mechanical and/or magnetic positioning system and/or comprising an electronic guide.

9. The analysis device (100) according to anyone of the preceding claims, further comprising a control unit (90) for activating said light source (20) and/or the acquisition unit (10).

10. The analysis device (100) according to the preceding claim if depending from claim 7 or 8, wherein said control unit (90) is further configured for activating said positioning system (80) and/or for receiving input from said positioning system (80).

11. The analysis device (100) according to anyone of the preceding claims, further comprising a communication system (95).

12. A method for analysing a mineral, in particular a precious stone, comprising the steps of:

a. providing an analysis device (100), comprising a light source (20) configured to emit a light radiation intended to be reflected and/or refracted by a mineral, the analysis device (100) further comprising a diffuser element (60) configured to diffuse said light radiation in a mineral;

b. transporting the light radiation emitted by the light source (20) to the diffuser element (60) by means of an optical guide (30);

c. capturing a light radiation reflected and/or refracted by a mineral by means of an acquisition unit (10).

13. The analysis method according to the preceding claim, further comprising a step of shielding the light radiation diffused by the diffuser element (60) and directed towards the acquisition unit (10) by means of a first shielding element (50).

14. The analysis method according to claim 12 or 13, comprising a step of shielding the light radiation coming from an environment surrounding the analysis device (100) by means of a second shielding element (70).

15. The analysis method according to anyone of claims 12 to 14, comprising a step of positioning a mineral through a positioning system (80).

16. The analysis method according to anyone of claims 12 to 15, wherein the light source (20) is actuated by a control unit (90) and/or the device is actuated by a control unit (90).

17. The method according to claims 15 and 16, wherein the control unit (90) actuates the positioning system (80).

18. The method according to anyone of claims 12 to 17, comprising a step of communicating with a device outside the analysis device (100).

19. The method according to anyone of claims 12 to 18, comprising a step of storing the light radiation captured by said acquisition unit (10) in a database (97).

20. The method according to anyone of claims 12 to 19, further comprising a step of processing a map of the visible mineral singularities of the light radiation captured by said acquisition unit (10).