Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US6480288?dq=ininventor:oliver+ininventor:steele
Timestamp: 2016-04-30 03:55:16
Document Index: 131815181

Matched Legal Cases: ['art.\n3', 'art.\n4', 'art.\n10', 'art.\n11', 'art.\n15', 'art.\n16']

Patent US6480288 - Measuring system with improved method of reading image data of an object - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inPatentsWhen a scanning start position set signal is input in an area image sensor, the content is transferred to a vertical scanning circuit, and the scan start position is set. Image of a desired row is read by horizontal scanning. Then, one shift signal for vertical scanning is input, the position of scanning...http://www.google.com/patents/US6480288?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US6480288 - Measuring system with improved method of reading image data of an objectAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS6480288 B1Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 10/118,054Publication dateNov 12, 2002Filing dateApr 9, 2002Priority dateDec 20, 1993Fee statusPaidAlso published asUS6407817, US6522412, US6674534, US6775010, US20010043335, US20020131056, US20020159072, US20030137674Publication number10118054, 118054, US 6480288 B1, US 6480288B1, US-B1-6480288, US6480288 B1, US6480288B1InventorsEiro Fujii, Shigeaki Imai, Toshio NoritaOriginal AssigneeMinolta Co., Ltd.Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (32), Referenced by (8), Classifications (10), Legal Events (4) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetMeasuring system with improved method of reading image data of an object
US 6480288 B1Abstract
When a scanning start position set signal is input in an area image sensor, the content is transferred to a vertical scanning circuit, and the scan start position is set. Image of a desired row is read by horizontal scanning. Then, one shift signal for vertical scanning is input, the position of scanning is shifted by one row, and horizontal scanning is performed. Thus image of the next row is read. By repeating this operation, a desired strip-shaped image is read. The shape of the object is determined and when a portion is determined to have complicated shape, the image data is input by means of a lens having long focal length, and image data of other portions are input by means of a lens having short focal length. By putting together a plurality of input image data, image data as a whole is generated.
What is claimed is: 1. A three-dimensional data generating system comprising:
a three-dimensional measuring unit for measuring a three-dimensional shape of an object, said three-dimensional measuring unit being capable of taking information on the three-dimensional shape at different resolutions; a first controller for controlling said three-dimensional measuring unit to take information on a three-dimensional shape of at least a first part of the object at a first resolution, and for controlling said three-dimensional measuring unit to take information on a three-dimensional shape of at least a second part of the object at a second resolution higher than the first resolution; and a second controller for integrating the information taken at the first resolution and the information taken at the second resolution thereby generating three-dimensional data having different resolutions for at least part of the object. 2. A three-dimensional data generating system according to claim 1, wherein the first part is non-identical to the second part.
3. A three-dimensional data generating system according to claim 2, wherein the second part is an internal part of the first part.
4. A three-dimensional data generating system according to claim 1, wherein the second part is determined based on a complexity of the object.
5. A three-dimensional data generating system according to claim 4, further comprising:
a color image sensor for taking a two-dimensional color image of the object, wherein the complexity of the object is determined based on the two-dimensional color image. 6. A three-dimensional data generating system according to claim 1, wherein said three-dimensional measuring unit comprises:
a lens system capable of changing a focal length thereof; and a two dimensional image sensor for sensing light projected through said lens, wherein a first focal length of the lens system corresponds to the first resolution and wherein a second focal length of the lens system corresponds to the second resolution. 7. A three-dimensional data generating system according to claim 6, wherein said lens system comprises a zoom lens.
8. A three-dimensional data generating system comprising a controller for integrating first information on a three-dimensional shape of at least a first part an object at a first resolution and second information on a three-dimensional shape of at least a second part of the object at a second resolution higher than the first resolution thereby generating three-dimensional data having different resolutions for at least part of the object.
9. A three-dimensional data generating system according to claim 8, wherein the first part is non-identical to the second part.
10. A three-dimensional data generating system according to claim 9, wherein the second part is an internal part of the first part.
11. A three-dimensional data generating system according to claim 8, wherein the second part is determined based on a complexity of the object.
12. A three-dimensional data generating system according to claim 11, wherein the complexity of the object is determined based on a two-dimensional color image of the object.
13. A three-dimensional data generating method comprising the steps of:
taking information on a three-dimensional shape of at least a first part of an object at a first resolution; taking information on a three-dimensional shape of at least a second part of the object at a second resolution higher than the first resolution; and integrating the information taken at the first resolution and the information taken at the second resolution thereby generating three-dimensional data having different resolutions for at least part of the object. 14. A three-dimensional data generating method according to claim 13, wherein the first part is non-identical to the second part.
15. A three-dimensional data generating method according to claim 14, wherein the second part is an internal part of the first part.
16. A three-dimensional data generating method according to claim 13, wherein the second part is determined based on a complexity of the object.
17. A three-dimensional data generating method according to claim 16, further comprising the steps of:
taking a two-dimensional color image of the object, wherein the complexity of the object is determined based on the two-dimensional color image. 18. A three-dimensional data generating method according to claim 13, wherein each of the information taken at the first resolution and the information taken at the second resolution is obtained from a three-dimensional measuring unit, the three-dimensional measuring unit comprising:
a lens system capable of changing a focal length thereof; and a two dimensional image sensor for sensing light projected through said lens, wherein a first focal length of the lens system corresponds to the first resolution and wherein a second focal length of the lens system corresponds to the second resolution. 19. A three-dimensional data generating method according to claim 18, wherein said lens system comprises a zoom lens.
The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/387,498 filed Sep. 1, 1999 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,407,817, which is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/841,560 filed Apr. 30, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,243,165, which is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/358,306 filed Dec. 19, 1994, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,668,631. The entire contents of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/387,498 are incorporated herein by reference.
Use of light-section method for measuring a three-dimensional shape of an object has been proposed. Light-section method is based on projection of slit shaped light on a surface of an object, and photographing the light reflected therefrom by using an area sensor, as shown in FIG. 56 (details will be described later). A spatial coordinate of a point p of the object corresponding to one point q 20 of the photographed image is calculated as the coordinate of an intersection point of a plane S formed by the slit shaped light and a line connecting the point q and the center 0 of the taking lens. Since the spatial coordinate of each point of the object surface irradiated by the slit shaped light can be calculated by using one slit shaped light, information of three-dimensional shape of the object as a whole can be obtained by repeating image input while scanning the object with the slit shaped light moved in a direction vertical to the longitudinal direction of the slit.
An object of the present invention is to provide a measuring system in which specific considerations of control of the slit shaped light, relation between the arrangement of the area sensor and the slit shaped light, measurement output, patch up of a plurality of input images and so on are sufficiently made.
FIG. 1 is an illustration showing the principle of light-section method in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 30 is a flow chart showing an operation in a replay mode shown in FIG. 25.
FIG. 68 is a block diagram showing one example of the exposure amount adjusting portion in accordance with the ninth embodiment of the present invention.
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the figures. FIG. 2 is a schematical block diagram of the entire apparatus in accordance with the present invention. Briefly stated, the apparatus of the present invention includes a light projecting optical system 2 for irradiating an object 1 with laser beam, which is output from a semiconductor laser 5 and turned into a slit shaped light, and a light receiving optical system 3 for guiding the projected laser beam to imaging sensors 24 and 12. These optical systems 2 and 3 are arranged on a same rotary frame 4. In addition to the optical systems, the apparatus includes a signal processing system for processing a signal output from a sensor for generating pitch-shifted images (details will be described later) and color images, and a recording device for recording the generated images. In FIG. 2, solid arrows denote flow of electric signals such as image signals, control signals and so on, while dotted arrows denote the flow of projected light. Details of these optical systems will be given later.
The light projecting optical system scans the object by moving a horizontally elongate slit shaped light in upward and downward directions, and the light beam from semiconductor laser 5 is directed to the object through a rotating polygon mirror 7, a condenser lens 10, a light directing zoom lens 11 and so on. The light receiving optical system picks up an image by means of a light receiving zoom lens 14, a beam splitter 15 and so on, and further by a distance image sensor 12 and a color image sensor 24 arranged on a light receiving image pickup plane. Details of the optical systems and the imaging system will be given later.
As for the distance range to the object measured by one slit shaped light, the minimum and maximum measurement distances are limited, and therefore the range of incident light which is the slit shaped light reflected by the object and entering the image pickup device is limited within a certain range. This is because the light projecting system and the light receiving system are arranged apart from each other by a base length (length:1). This is illustrated in FIG. 17 in which Z axis represents a direction verticle to the image pickup plane for the distance image. The position of the dotted line d is a reference plane for measurement, and the distance from the plane of the device corresponds to d.
Assume that there is a step-shaped object surface such as represented by the dot in FIG. 4, and a slit shaped light is directed from a direction vertical to the plane of the object. The thin rectangular parallelepiped represents the light intensity distribution of the slit shaped light and the hatched area represents the slit-shaped image irradiated by the light beam. When we assume a positional relation in which an optical axis Oxp of the light receiving optical system is provided inclined to the left from an optical axis Oxa of the light projecting system, the light intensity distribution of the received slit shaped light at the light receiving plane would be as shown in FIG. 5, because of a filter, which will be described later. It is desirable to remove fixed light component other than the laser beam component so that the fixed light component is not included in the receive light intensity. For this purpose, an image irradiated with the laser beam and an image not irradiated with the laser beam are both input, and the difference therebetween is used. The sections at the lower portion represent respective element regions of the distance image sensor. In front of the distance image sensor, there is provided an anisotropic optical filter which does not degrade resolution in the lengthwise direction of the received slit shaped light but degrades the resolution in the widthwise direction of the slit shaped light, and by means of this filter, the light intensity having such a Gaussian distribution as shown in FIG. 5 results. With respect to this light intensity distribution, by calculating the centroid of the light intensity distribution from respective sensors for columns 1, 2, 3, 4, . . . , the position at which the light is received can be calculated with higher resolution than the pixel pitch. The reason why the width of the slit shaped light incident on the sensor is not narrowed but selected to have the width of about 5 to 6 pixels by using a filter for detecting the position at which the slit shaped light is received is that when the width of the incident slit shaped light becomes narrower than the width of one pixel, the resolution for detecting the position could be at most the same as the pixel pitch.
Based on the light intensity distribution D1 received by the first column, the position G1 of the centroid of the first column is calculated. In the similar manner, the positions G2, G3, G4, . . . of centroid of the second, third, fourth and the following columns are calculated, and thus the centroid of each column is calculated. As shown in the figure, the optical axis of the light projecting system is vertical to the plane of the object. However, the optical axis of the light receiving system is inclined to the left. Therefore, when the object has a step as shown in FIG. 4, the centroid of the higher portion (third and fourth columns) is positioned shifted to the right, with respect to the centroid of the lower portion (first and second columns). Though the distribution D1 of the first column and distribution D4 of the fourth column only are shown in FIG. 5, the distribution D2 of the second column is the same as the distribution D1 of the first column, and the distribution D3 of the third column is the same as the distribution D4 of the fourth column. The relation between the light intensity distribution and the positions of the centroid is represented two dimensionally in FIG. 6. Since the distributions of the first and second columns are the same, the calculated center of gravities G1 and G2 are detected as the same position and since the distributions of the third and fourth columns are the same, the calculated center of gravities G3 and G4 are detected as the same position.
In this manner, from the body of the measuring apparatus, color images and pitch-shifted images are provided as digital signals from a terminal such as SCSI terminal, or provided as analog video signals from an output terminal such as BTSC terminal. Data necessary for calibration are provided to the computer as digital signals from SCSI, for example. When a drive 48 such as internal MO or MD is to be used, images-and various data are recorded on the recording medium. The taken pitch-shifted images and color images are transferred to a computer connected to the measuring apparatus, together with various taking lens information. In the computer, based an the transferred pitch-shifted images and the taking lens information, the data are calibrated and converted to a distance image having information with respect to the distance to the object. As for the pitch-shifted image, after calibration, a conversion curve with respect to the stored amount of shifting and measured distance is extracted for every XY position, longitudinal and lateral positions on the image plane, focal length f and in-focus position d, and based on the conversion curve, the pitch-shifted image is converted to a distance image.
Conversion to the distance image is well known and the detailed are described, for example, in Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, Workshop Material PRU 91-113, Onodera et al., “Geometrical Correction of Image Without Necessitating Camera Positioning”, Journal of Institute Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, D-II vol. J74-D-II, No. 0, pp. 1227-1235, '91/9 Ueshiba et al, “Highly Precise Calibration of a Range Finder Based on Three-Dimensional Model of Optical System.”
First, the optical system will be described. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, when a distance image is photographed, a slit shaped light S is directed to an object 1, from a slit shaped light projecting apparatus (light projecting optical system) 2. Slit shaped light projecting apparatus 2 includes a light source, for example a semiconductor laser 5, a collective lens 6, a polygon mirror 7, a cylindrical lens 8, a condenser lens 10 and a light projecting zoom lens 11. In stead of a polygon mirror 7, a rotary mirror such as a resonance mirror, galvano mirror or the like may be used.
Using a point in the light projecting system as a reference, θ represents an angle of movement of the very narrow slit shaped light while one image is integrated, in order to obtain a column of 256 points of pitch-shifted image; φ represents an angle indicating length of the slit shaped light on the object; and ψ represents total scanning angle of 324 times of the slit shaped light on the object. The slit shaped light scans, starting from the position denoted by the solid line to the direction of the arrow until it reaches the position denoted by the dotted line. The reference character f represents focal length of the light projecting lens. The width of the slit shaped light itself is set as narrow as possible. Reference characters, α2, α2 and α3 represent proportional coefficients and these angles θ, φ and ψ, are proportional to the reciprocal number of focal length f.
Namely, the color image and the image for generating distance image are input through the same lens. However, the light intensity obtained from the wavelength for the color image is not related to the light intensity obtained from the wavelength of the distance image. Therefore, exposure light intensity is desirable to independently controlled. When a close object is to be measured in the dark, brightness for distance is high while brightness for color image is low. When an object at a distance is to be measured with sufficient illumination, the brightness for the distance is low, while brightness for the color image is high. Therefore, in the light receiving zoom lens, control of the exposure is not effected by the diaphragm which is a common exposure adjusting means for general lens, and the diaphragm is fixed at the open state.
Generally, the output of the distance image sensor is in reverse proportion to the square of distance information Daf to the object. When the focal length f becomes shorter, the area which needs illumination becomes larger, and therefore the output signal of the distance image sensor becomes smaller. Therefore, in the apparatus of the present embodiment, the output level of the data for calculating distance image is controlled with the number of lasers changed in accordance with the focal length. In the example of FIG. 12, three lasers are used for the focal length f of up to 36.7 mm, and one laser is used for longer focal length. It is further controlled by changing amplifier gain provided by an analog pre-processing circuit to the output of the distance image sensor, in accordance with image magnification β(=daf/f) calculated based on the focal length f and the distance information Daf to the object determined by the output from the AF sensor. In the example shown, the amplifier gain is set to be � when β-35 to 50, 1, when β=50 to 75, 2 when β=75 to 100 and 4 when β-100 to 200. Further, when higher laser beam is used for measuring in a telephoto region having long focal length for a close object, the laser intensity can be effectively controlled by inserting an ND filter at an arbitrary optical position from the laser to the output lens.
However, when satisfactory result of measurement cannot be obtained by using the values controlled in the above described manner, it is possible to provide a laser intensity adjusting key for adjusting the laser intensity by key operation, or to change sensor accumulation time. Alternatively, laser prescanning may be performed based on an estimated laser intensity control value obtained based on the distance information and the estimated reflective index of the object. More specifically, the maximum output value of the distance image sensor at the time of prescanning is calculated. The laser intensity and image sensor accumulating time which are within the dynamic range of the A/D conversion and sufficient for calculating distance information in the succeeding stage are calculated. Thus the distance image is taken based on the calculated control values. If an auxiliary illumination is available for auto focusing, it is possible to detect by the AF sensor, the amount of reflected light derived from the auxiliary illumination with respect to the center of the field of view at which the object is considered to be existing, and to calculate laser intensity and image sensor accumulation time based on the detected reflected amount of light for taking the distance image.
The sensing system will be described in greater detail.
When there is a limit in the distance range to the object to be measured with respect to the direction of one projected slit shaped light, the position on the sensor receiving the light reflected by the object is also limited within a certain range. This is illustrated in FIG. 17.
In the figure, Df represents maximum distance for measurement and Dn represents minimum distance for measurement. Now, if the plane cut by the slit shaped light projected from the light projecting system is slit A, the scope on the plane of the image pickup device receiving the slit shaped light reflected by the surface of the object is limited to a closed area Ar, in which a position of projection on the image pickup device of the three-dimensional position of an intersection PAn between the minimum distance Dn for measurement and the slit A is the lowermost point in the figure, and the projected point on the image pickup device of the three-dimensional position of the intersection Baf between the maximum distance Df for measurement and slit A, projected on the image pickup device with the position of the main point of the image pickup system being the center, is the uppermost point in the figure. Assuming that the light projecting system and the light receiving system have the same positional relation, in case of slit B, the scope on the plane of the image pickup device is limited to a closed area Br on the image pickup device, in which the point of projection of the intersection PBn of the minimum distance for measurement Dn and slit B is the lowermost position in the figure, and the point of projection of intersection PDf of the maximum distance for measurement Df and the slit B is the uppermost point in the figure.
FIG. 21 shows a very simple example in which there are two blocks (B1 and B2) and arbitrary three rows are read. Description will be given with reference to FIG. 21 and FIG. 22 showing the relation of the output signals. The sensor includes two different outputs therein, namely, a block B1 output (FIG. 22a) providing lines 1 to 3, and a block B2 output (FIG. 22b) outputting lines 4 to 6. These are transmitted as analog signals to the multiplier, selected in accordance with a selection signal Sel and output. By the operation of multiplier 65, when block B1 output is selected as the sensor output Out, the output from block B1 is used as the sensor output as it is, and outputs of strip-shaped images of lines 1, 2 and 3 are output successively (FIG. 22c). When block B2 output is selected as the sensor output, strip-shaped images of lines 4, 5 and 6 are read (FIG. 22f).
Meanwhile, when the first and fourth lines are being output as block outputs, the block B2 is selected to output line 4, and by switching the multiplier 65 to select block B1, the output of lines 4, 2 and 3 are successively provided as sensor outputs, and strip-images of lines 2, 3 and 4 are read (FIG. 22d). When block B2 is selected for first two lines as the sensor output, lines 4 and 5 are output and then block B1 is selected and line 3 is output, then strip-shaped images of lines 3, 4 and 5 are read out (FIG. 22e). In the figure, the reference character ▾ represent a position of switching of the output from block B2 to block B1. By switching the block selection signal during scanning, strip-shaped images at an arbitrary position having the same size as divided block can be selectively read, though the order of output is different.
The electronic circuit will be described. FIG. 23 is a block diagram showing the whole structure of the electronic circuit. The body of the measuring apparatus of the present embodiment is controlled by two microcomputers, that is, a microcomputer CPU1 controlling light transmitting and receiving systems lens driving circuits 71, 72, an AF circuit 73, an electric universal head circuit 76 and input/output 75, 74 and so on, and a microcomputer CPU2 controlling image sensor driving circuits 13 and 23, laser.polygon driving circuits 77 and 78, a timer 79, an SCSI controller 80, a memory controller MC, a pitch-shifted image processing circuit 83 and so on. Under the control of microcomputer CPU1 controlling the lens, input/output and so on, the power is turned, signals corresponding to key operation for sensing mode and so on are received from a control panel 75, and control signals are transmitted to microcomputer CPU2, light receiving system lens driving portion 71, light projecting system lens driving portion 72, AF driving portion 73, display image generating portion 74 and so on, so as to control zooming, focusing, sensing operation and so on.
When the power is turned on, color image sensing system including color image sensor 24, color image sensor driving circuit 23 and color image analog pre-processing circuit 81 are driven, and the photographed color images are displayed to the display image generating portion 74 and displayed on a display 41 for the function of a monitor. These circuits for color image sensing system are similar to the circuit systems known in the conventional video camera or the like. Meanwhile, the sensors, lasers and so on for the distance image sensing are initialized when the power is turned on, but they are not driven except a polygon mirror driving circuit 78, which is driven at the time of power on since the time necessary for attaining normal speed of rotation of the mirror is relatively long. In this state, the user prepares for releasing for image input, by setting the field of view by power zoom operation, referring to the color image on the monitor display 41. When release operation is performed, a release signal is generated and transmitted, so that the distance image sensing system including distance image sensor 12, distance image sensor driving circuit 13 and distance image analog pre-processing circuit 82 and laser driving circuit 77 are driven, and image information is taken in pitch-shifted image memory 85 and color image memory 84, respectively.
As for the distance image, the microcomputer CPU2 waits for a scan start signal of the slit-shaped laser beam, transmitted from the scan start sensor 33 shown in FIG. 7. Thereafter, it waits for the dead time Td for the unnecessary scanning derived from the distance d for the measurement reference plane, base length 1 described above. After the dead time Td is counted from the scan start signal, distance image sensor 12 and driving circuit 13 therefor are driven, and taking of data starts. The timing operation is performed by timer 79.
FIG. 24 shows a detailed structure of the received light centroid calculating circuit in the pitch-shifted image processing image 83. This circuit has such a hardware structure that calculates the centroid based on information at 5 points out of 16 points of data of a strip-shaped image. Only effective pixels are extracted from signals from distance image sensor 12 by analog pre-processing circuit 82 and A/D converted by an A/D converter AD1, and the resulting signal is input through an input terminal input at the left end of FIG. 14 to the circuit. The input signal is stored for 256�4 lines by 256�8 bits of FIFO (First In First Out) by using four registers 101 a to 101 d, and with the addition of 1 line input directly, a total of 5 lines are used for calculation. Registers 103 a and 104 are the same as register 101, which is 256�8 bits register. Register 109 is an FIFO register of 256�5 bits. Registers 103, 104 and 109 are each provided in duplicate for the same application, since larger memory capacity is preferred as time of several pulses of the clock are necessary for the processings in selecting circuits 106, 108 and comparing circuit 107 and so on. More specifically, these two registers are alternately used, one for the odd-numbered data (O) and one for the even-numbered data (E), and which of these should be used is controlled by clock pulses RCLK_0, RCLK_E. The centroid of the received laser beam is calculated based on data of five points of five lines, in accordance with the following equation. Since the intensity of received light become highest near the position of the centroid, the point of the centroid at Ith row (I=1-256 ) is calculated by obtaining n=N(I) where
Σ(I,n)=D(I,n+2)+D(I,n+1)+D(I,n)+D(I,n−1)+D(I,n−2) (4)
becomes the maximum for each I. Assuming that there is the centroid near N(I)th column, the amount of interpolation corresponding to the weighted mean Δ(I,N(I)) is calculated in accordance with the following equation:
Δ(I,N(I))={2*D(I,N(I)+2)+D(I,N(I)+1)−D(I,N(I)−1)−2*D(I,N)(I)−2)}/Σ(I,N(I)). (5)
Finally, the position of the centroid to be obtained is defined as
where D (I,n) represents data at Ith row and nth column. Here, 1 column includes 256 data, in register 101 a, data of D(I,n−1) is held, in register 101 b, data D(I,n) is held, in register 101 c, data D(I,n+1) is held, and in 101 d, data of D(I,n+2) is held, and these data are used for calculation. The calculation of Σ(I,n) (equation (4)) is performed by an adding circuit Σ, and the result is stored in register 104. The result of the next calculation is compared with the value MAX (Σ(I,n)) which was calculated last time and stored in register 104 of each row (comparing circuit 107). If the present result is larger, the content of register 104 is updated, and the value of {2*D(I,n+2)+D(I,n+1)−D(I,n−1)−2*D(I,n−2)} calculated at the same time (=numerator of the equation (5)=R1) is updated and stored in register 103, and the column number n is updated and stored in register 109. As for the calculation of R1, data D(I,n+2) and D(I,n−2) are shifted by 1 bit to the left by a shift circuit 102, so as to realize the processing of (�2). Thereafter, calculation is performed by an adding circuit (+) and a subtracting circuit (−), and hence R1 is calculated at the point A, which value is stored in register 103.
The operation in the camera mode will be described with reference to the flow chart of FIG. 26(a). When the camera mode is selected, in step #11, various devices are initialized, in step #13, the color image sensor is activated, and the color image is supplied to a monitor display 41. As for the image, an auto focus sensor 31 arranged in the light receiving zoom lens is driven so that the light is always received with optimal state of focusing and optimal color image is obtained. Next, in step #15, driving of the polygon mirror which requires long time to reach the stable state is started earlier so as to be ready for sensing of the distance image. In step #17, AF/PZ subroutine is executed. In step #19, the flow waits until the operation of the polygon mirror becomes stable. When it becomes stable, the flow enters the shutter mode at step #21, and the shutter mode subroutine is executed. In step #23, data transfer mode starts and the data transfer mode subroutine is executed. In step #25, whether the camera mode is completed or not is determined, and if it is completed, the flow proceeds to step #27 and returns to the main flow. If not completed, the flow returns to step #21.
The flow chart of the AF/AE subroutine of step #41 will be described with reference to FIG. 28. First, in step #91, the amount of driving the lens is calculated based on the information from AF sensor 31, and based on the result of calculation, the focusing lens is driven (step #93). In step #95, the scan start laser position is set, and laser power is controlled in step #97. In step #99, brightness is measured (AE), and the flow returns to the main flow in step #101.
In step #119, whether data transfer is necessary or not is determined. If data transfer is not necessary, the flow proceeds to step #133, in which color image is displayed. When data transfer is necessary, then data header is provided in step #121. In step #123, whether it is an SCSI output mode is determined. If the SCSI output mode is selected, in step #125, data for external output is provided and in step #131, data transfer is carried out. If it is not the SCSI output mode, it means recording by an internal recording apparatus. Therefore, in step #127, data for internal MO drive is prepared, in step #129, data transfer instruction to the MO is transmitted from CPU2 to SCSI controller, and in step #131, data is transferred. Thereafter, in step #133, color image is displayed, and in step #135, the flow returns to the main flow. Selection of the data transfer destination can be selected by key operation.
Next, highly precise input by divisional taking by the three-dimensional shape measuring apparatus will be described. When the distance between the light projecting system and the light receiving system, that is, base length 1, focal length f and distance d to the object to be measured are determined, three-dimensional resolution and precision are determined. Measurement with high precision is attained by measuring with the focal length f set at a large value. In other words, the precision in measurement increases in teleside. However, though a three-dimensional image with high precision for measurement can be obtained, the field of view becomes narrower as the focal length f become longer.
ΔZ=K�d (d−f/f (7)
where K is a coefficient for estimating the resolution in the direction of the Z axis, which is determined by the sensor pitch and so on. The zooming operation described above is performed by transmitting a command from a system computer through SCSI terminal. Setting of operations such as zooming operation and releasing operation can be set by remote control.
When the key input for setting the precision is entered, the system stores the state at that time. More specifically, the system stores the focal length f0 at which the complete view of the object is obtained, and approximate distance d to the object to be measured obtained from the AF sensor, and hence stores the scope of the field of view (step #210). Further, based on the input desired measurement resolution in the direction of the Z axis and the approximate distance d, the system calculates the focal length fl to be set in accordance with the equation (7) above (step #211).
As described above, high speed three-dimensional measurement is possible, and by repeating partial inputs and patching up the resulting images based on the three-dimensional measurement, three-dimensional shape measurement can be performed of which resolution can be set freely.
FIG. 35 is a flow chart showing the partial zooming patch up function. First, in step #251, setting of the field of view providing the complete view of the object is performed, in the similar manner as the uniform resolution patch up described above. In step #253, partial zooming input mode is selected. When selection is done, presently set values of focal length f0 and values of decoded angles of panning and tilting are stored (step #255). Measurement is started with focal length f0, and image input is provided as rough image data (step #257). The pitch-shifted image, color image, information indicating the directions of the field of view in the X and Y directions at which the image is taken (for example, decoded angle values of panning and tilting), the lens focal length, and information of measurement distance are stored in an inner storage device (step #259). Thereafter, in step #261, zooming is performed to attain the maximum focal length fmax, the rough image data mentioned above is analyzed, and whether or not re-measurement is to be performed on every divided input frames input after zooming is determined.
When zooming is performed and measurement is done with the maximum focal length fmax, the approximate data is divided to the frame size which allows input. The positions X, Y for panning and tilting are set to the start initial positions Xs and Ys. In step #265, panning and tilting are controlled to the positions X and Y. Then, in step #267, color information, i.e., R, G and B values of the initial input color image of the region X�ΔX and Y�ΔY are subjected to statistical processing, and standard deviations σR, σG and σB of respective regions are calculated. In step #269, whether all the calculated values of the standard deviations σR, σG and σB are within the set previous values are determined. If these are within the prescribed values, it is determined that the small area has uniform brightness information, and therefore zooming measurement is not performed but the flow proceeds to step #271. When any of the standard deviations. σR, σG and σB exceeds the prescribed value, it is determined that the small region has complicated color information, and therefore zooming measurement is performed (step #275).
In step #271, standard deviation ad is calculated based on the information of the initial input distance value d in the region of X�ΔX, Y�ΔY. In step #273, whether the calculated value of the standard deviation ad is within a set prescribed value is determined. If it is within the prescribed value, it is determined that the small region is a flat region having little variation in shape, and therefore zooming measurement is not performed but the flow proceeds to step #279. If it exceeds the prescribed value, it is determined that the small region has complicated shape (distance information), and zooming measurement is performed (step #275).
After the zooming measurement in step #275, the obtained pitch-shifted image, color image, information indicative of the direction of the field of view of Z and Y directions at which the image is taken (for example, decoded angle values of panning and tilting), lens focal length, information of distance for measurement and so on are stored in an internal storage device such as MO (step #277). Thereafter, the flow proceeds to step #279.
Parameters of the model (position and direction of the axis of rotation for panning, position and direction of the axis of rotation for tilting) are calculated in advance by calibration. Searching of the junction point (at which two image data are jointed) carried out subsequently is performed by changing parameters θ (pan angle) and Φ ( (tilting angle) of the model.
First, the method of searching the junction point from two-dimensional color images in step #302 will be described with reference to FIGS. 38 to 40. The description will be given on the premise that two images to be patched up have overlapping portions (having the width of T pixels) as shown in FIG. 38. Referring to FIG. 39 (a), a reference window is set at a central portion of the overlapping portion of one of the images (the dotted line in FIG. 39(a) denotes the center line of the overlapping portion). FIG. 39(b) is an enlarged view of the reference window portion of FIG. 39(a). This reference window is further divided into small windows each having the size of about 8�8 (pixels). Of the small windows, one having a complicated shape or complicated patterns (having large value of distribution) is used as a comparing window. The reason for this is that when a portion having clear edges or complicated patterns or shapes is used, reliability of evaluation can be improved.
θ=π−arc tan (S/f)−arc tan ((S−PS�t)/f).
If the rotation axis does not coincide with the camera position (when the rotation axis and the camera axis are deviated from each other), the following relation holds where r represents radius of rotation (distance between the rotation axis and the optical axis of the camera), and D represents the distance to the reference plane:
t�PS�D/f=2S�D/f−(D+r�sin θ)/tan(π−arc tan(f/S)−θ)−S�D/f−r�cosθ.
When the rotation axis and the camera position do not coincide with each other, the calculation becomes very complicated and the angle of rotation cannot be obtained easily. Therefore, it is preferable to provide a table showing number of pixels (t) and corresponding angles obtained by searching, so that the angle of rotation can be readily found.
C 2−T=R(σ)�(C 1−T)
where R (θ) is obtained by the following equation, based on the angle θ of camera rotation: R  ( θ ) =  1 0 0 0 cos   θ - sin   θ 0 sin   θ cos   θ  Therefore, conversion of C2 coordinate system to the C1 coordinate system can be represented by the following equation, using parameters R (θ) and T:
C 1=R(θ)31 1 �(C 2−T)+T. More specifically, the point C1 (of C1 coordinate system) is moved in parallel onto the rotation axis, the coordinate is converted to the C2 coordinate system on the rotation axis (rotated by θ), and the point is moved in parallel from the rotation axis to the point C2.
e1(1)=(angle provided by the normals of 1 and 2 −1)− angle formed by the novels of 1 and 2−12) is calculated. Similar calculation is performed for n sets of planes following the plane 4, and square sum (e1) of the result is obtained (step #403). For the second image,
e2(1)=(angle formed by normals of 3 and 2−2)−(angle formed by normals of and 3 and 2−12) is calculated, similar calculation is performed for n sets of planes following the plane 6, and the square sum (e2) of the results is obtained (step #404).
The plane is re-constructed by using the newly generated data near the boundary (the scope whose distance from the boundary is up to D) and by using real data at other portions (the scope whose distance from the boundary exceeds D) (step #803), and the flow returns to the main routine (step #804).
In FIG. 54, the image represented by the solid lines is the image having the magnification of N1, while the image represented by the dotted lines is the image having the magnification of N2 (in both images, the minimum square corresponds to one pixel, where N1 <N2).
In FIG. 55, the image represented by the solid lines and the white circles is the image having the magnification of N1, while the image represented by the dotted lines and the black circles is the image having the magnification of N2 (in both images, the minimum square represents 1 pixel, N1 <N2).
Actual measurement using the three-dimensional shape input apparatus will be described referring to an example in which an image having information of distance of 256 points in the longitudinal direction of the slit shaped light and 324 points in the scanning direction (hereinafter referred to as a distance image) is generated. In this case, the distance image sensor provided in the sensingsystem 205 is constituted by a two-dimensional CCD area sensor having at least 256�324 pixels.
Meanwhile, the sensingsystem 205 includes an object distance detecting apparatus 208 and an angle of view detecting apparatus 209, for detecting the distance to the object and the sensing angle of view of the sensingsystem 5, respectively. A point of focus detecting apparatus used in an auto focus camera, for example, may be used as the object distance detecting apparatus 208. An encoder provided at the lens driving portion may be used, when the sensingsystem consist of a zoom lens unit, as the angle of view detecting apparatus 209. The object distance information output from object distance detecting apparatus 208 and the sensing angle of view information output from the angle of view detecting apparatus 209 are taken in the calculating apparatus 210. In the calculating apparatus 210, the region of the field of view monitored by the sensingsystem 205 at that point is estimated based on the object distance information and sensing angle of view information, and the apparatus determines the scan start angle and scan end angle for scanning the region thoroughly with the slit shaped light. A scanning scope control apparatus 211 adjusts the direction of projection of slit shaped light by driving the second optical path deflecting apparatus 207 based on the scan start angle and scan end angle determined by calculating apparatus 210, and adjusts light projection start time and light projection end time by controlling the light source 201, thus controls the scanning scope with the slit shaped light. In calculating apparatus 210, the speed of scanning by which the speed of movement of the slit-shaped image on the imaging plane of the sensingsystem comes to have a prescribed value, is determined based on the determined scanning scope, and based on this information, the scanning speed control apparatus 206 drives the first optical path deflecting apparatus 202.
Namely, based on the object distance information and the sensing angle of view information, the speed of scanning with the slit shaped light is controlled by the scanning speed control apparatus 206, and the scope of scanning with the slit shaped light is controlled by the scanning scope control apparatus 211, respectively.
FIG. 58 is an illustration of the third embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, a galvano scanner is used as the second optical path deflecting apparatus 207. The slit shaped light is projected in a direction vertical to the sheet of paper. Now, assume that the scanning region P1 with the slit shaped light and the monitoring region Ml are matched at a position of the object plane S1, and that the object plane moves to the position of S2. This time, the region to be scanned is changed to the region P2, and the region to be photographed is changed to M2, resulting in deviation between the regions. Accordingly, there will be a portion X which would not be scanned, in the region which is photographed. Accordingly, based on the result of calculation by calculating apparatus 210 based on the object distance information detected by the object distance detecting apparatus 208, the scanning scope control apparatus 211 changes the angle of deflection of the slit by driving the second optical path deflecting apparatus 207, and shifts the scan start angle and the scan end angle by θs and θe, respectively, by controlling the projection start time and projection end time of the light source 201. This allows scanning of the region P3, which corresponds to the sensing region M2.
Assume that the speed of scanning with the slit shaped light is constant, then the speed of movement of the slit shaped light on the imaging plane of the sensingsystem becomes slower as the scanning region becomes larger (in this embodiment, the distance to the object becomes longer), resulting in difference in measurement precision dependent on the distance. Therefore, based on the newly determined scan start angle and the scan end angle, the calculating apparatus 210 calculates the speed of scanning by which the speed of movement of the slit shaped light on the imaging plane of the sensingsystem is kept at a prescribed value. Based on the result of calculation, the scan speed control apparatus 206 controls the speed of driving of the first optical path deflecting apparatus 202. The first optical path deflecting apparatus 202 is always driven under the condition in which the scanning angular region is the largest, that is,at is, in a deflection angle region which corresponds to the case where the distance to the object is the largest (in the measurable region).
Similar to the third embodiment, assume that the plane of the object moves from the position S1 to the position S2. At this time, based on the object distance information detected by the object distance detecting apparatus 208, the scanning scope control apparatus 211 changes the angle. of setting with respect to the entire apparatus by driving the movable apparatus 30, whereby the angle of projection of the slit shaped light is changed. Further, the project start time and the project end time of the light source 1 are controlled so that the scanning start angle and scanning end angle are shifted by θs and θe, respectively. Thus the region scanned would be P3, which matches the monitoring region M2. The control for changing the scanning speed by the first optical path deflecting apparatus 202 is carried out in the similar manner as in the third embodiment.
FIG. 62 is an illustration taking into consideration the depth D of the object in the fifth embodiment. Though it depends on the conditions of setting the object distance detecting apparatus 208, the distance detected by the object distance detecting apparatus 208 is in most cases, a position near the center of field of view, for example, the point C. However, when the plane of the object S1 is positioned at this point C, the scanning region would be P1 with respect to the monitoring region M1, and therefore the depths of the object cannot be taken into account, resulting in a portion X which is not scanned. Therefore, to the object distance detected by the object distance detecting apparatus 208, an offset Δd taking into account the depth is added, and the result is regarded as the object distance. By this operation, referring to FIG. 62, the plane of the object is assumed to be at the position S2. The scanning region for the position S2 is P2, which can cover the depth of the object. The amount of offset Δd can be determined in the following manner, for example. Now, in measurement, let us assume that a constant depth corresponding to −K1 pixel−K2 pixel, in the direction of scanning, that is, depth corresponding to the width of K1+K2 pixels should be ensured for an arbitrary pixel on the image pickup device of the sensingsystem. At this time, in order to set the object distance dl detected by the object distance detecting apparatus 208 coincide with the limit S1 of the depth closest to the sensingsystem, a virtual object plane S2 should be placed at a distance d2 provided geometrically by the following equation:
d 2=α/tan (arc tan(α/d 1)−K 1�Δθ)
where the scanning angle per 1 pixel in the slit scanning direction of the image pickup device of the sensingsystem 205 is represented by Δθ, and the base length, which is a space in a direction vertical to the optical axis of the sensingsystem, between the main point of the light emitting scanning system and the main point of the sensingsystem is represented by α. Therefore, the amount of offset is obtained by
Δd=d 2−d 1=α/tan(arc tan(α/d 1)−K 1�Δθ)−d 1 At this time, the limit d3 of the depth which is farthest from the sensingsystem is given by the following equation:
Example of a method for determining scan start angle, scan end angle and scanning speed will be described with reference to the fifth embodiment. Referring to FIG. 64, a represents the base length which is a space in the Y direction between the main point of the light emitting scanning system and the main point of the sensingsystem; doff represents offset in the Z direction which is the space in the Z direction; d represents the object plane distance; i represents size (image size) of the distance image sensor used in the sensingsystem; δ represents over-scan amount for scanning slightly wider region than the light receiving field of view, in order to ensure the depth for three-dimensional detection at end portion corresponding to start and end of the scanning, similar to the central portions; np represents the number of effective pixels of the image sensor in the Y direction, and f represents focal length of the sensingsystem. At this time, the start angle th1, scan end angle th2 and scan angular speed ω are given by the following equations:
th 1 (�)=arc tan[{d(i/2+δ)/f+α}/(d+doff)]�180/π
th 2 (�)=arc tan [{−d (i/2+δ)/f+α}/(d+doff)]�180/π
ω=k�(th 1−th 2)/np (k is a constant).
The calculated values thl and th2 are shown in FIG. 65, in which f is used as a parameter and the abscissa represents the object plane distance. Similarly, the calculated value ω is shown in FIG. 66. In this embodiment, the image size is assumed to be � inch, the constant k=1 and the base length α=250 mm. Because of this base length, there is a parallax between the scanning system and the sensingsystem, and therefore the start angle and end angle vary widely dependent on the object plane distance. The ordinate represents the angle formed by the optical axis of the sensingsystem and the projected slit.
In order to detect the position of the slit with high accuracy, it is preferable that the width of the slit viewed by the sensingsystem and the distribution of light intensity are always kept constant. It is possible to calculate the centroid of the slit shaped light in the widthwise direction when the width of the slit shape light changes. However, since the width of the slit varies dependent on the angle of view, the precision in calculating the centroid, that is the precision in measurement, would also be dependent on the angle of view, which is not-preferable. Assume that the slit shaped light has approximately Gaussian distribution, for example. Then, the precision in calculating the centroid is poor when the slit shaped light is narrow and the number of pixels receiving the light beam is too small (FIG. 70), and the precision in calculating the centroid is also poor when the slit shaped light beam is too wide and the number of pixels receiving the light is too many (FIG. 71). Therefore, the width of the slit shaped light should preferably have a constant width of several pixels on the light receiving device, regardless of the angle of field of the light receiving lens.
The curvature of each cylindrical lens is determined based on the amount of driving of the cylindrical lens and the ratio of change of the shape of the slit shaped light as it is driven. At this time, the distance between the collimator lens and the cylindrical lens and the emission angle of the luminous flux from the collimator lens may preferably be referred to as parameters, so as to facilitate control of driving two cylindrical lenses. For example, when the proportion of driving gears of two cylindrical lenses are selected to be the same, the two lenses can be driven by one driving source, enabling reduction in size of the apparatus and reduction in power consumption. The two cylindrical lenses are each held in a holder (ndt shown), and the holder is connected to the driving source through driving means such as a ball-like screw. A rack and a pinion or a cam may be used as the driving means.
In the present invention, prior to measurement of the three-dimensional shape, the image obtained at the light receiving device is displayed on a monitor and framing of the image is performed. During framing, the operator monitors the image and changes the direction of the measuring apparatus, and position and focal distance of the light receiving lens. When the focal length (that is, sensing angle of view) of the light receiving lens is changed by zooming, a signal is transmitted from an angle of view detecting means detecting the change in the angle of view based on the position of the light receiving lens to the driving amount control portion. Based on the transmitted signal, the driving amount control portion calculates the amount of driving cylindrical lenses (A) and (B), provides a driving signal, and drives the cylindrical lenses.
By this method, the shape of the beam can be optimized without troublesome operation by the user. For example, when the magnification changes from β1 (region A of FIG. 76) to β2 (region B of FIG. 76) by changing the angle of view of the light receiving lens, the cylindrical lenses A and B are driven such that the width W and length L of the slit shaped light attain W�(β1/β2) and L�(β1/β2), that is, the values before zooming are multiplied by β1/β2. As a result, the width and length of the slit on the light receiving device are always kept constant regardless of the zooming of the light receiving lens, as shown in FIG. 77. Therefore, three-dimensional shape can be measured-while there is hardly a variation in precision caused by zooming.
When the light receiving lens has high magnification rate, the change in size of the slit shaped light is also large. Therefore, when LD having a prescribed constant output is used, the change in the amount of exposure at the light receiving device is also large. Therefore, exposure amount adjusting means for adjusting the amount of exposure becomes necessary. In this embodiment (FIG. 78), the amount of exposure is adjusted by an LD output control portion 1. For example, when the magnification of the sensingsystem changes from β1 to β2 by β12 (=β2/β1) and the area of the slit shaped light changes by the square of (1/β12), the amount of light on the light receiving device become square times (1/β12). Therefore, in the present embodiment, when magnification β12 is calculated from the output of the angle of view detecting portion 352, the LD output is controlled by the LD output control portion (1) 354 so that the LD output attains square times (β12), as the necessary amount of exposure is square times (β12) before the change of the angle of view. By this method, the amount of exposure can be adjusted without any additional mechanical structure, and therefore it is not expensive. Further, even when the light receiving lens for the slit shaped light is also used as a light receiving lens for framing, the amount of exposure can be adjusted independent from the amount of exposure at the light receiving device for framing, and therefore measurement can be done with optimal amount of exposure.
As a further modification of the exposure amount adjusting means, an amount of exposure detecting portion 358 for determining whether or not the amount of exposure at the light receiving device is lower than the threshold values set at a threshold value setting portion may be provided, and when it is determined that the amount of exposure is lower than the threshold value, the output of LD may be controlled so that the LD output exceeds the threshold value. By this method, the amount of exposure can be adjusted without any additional mechanical structure, and therefore it is not expensive. Even when the light receiving lens for the slit shaped light is also used as the light receiving lens for framing, the adjustment can be carried out independent from the amount of exposure for the light receiving device for framing, and therefore measurement can be done with optimal amount of exposure.
FIG. 83 shows a ninth embodiment of the present invention. Compared to the eighth embodiment, in th ninth embodiment, there are three light emitting portions 31, three collimator lenses 32, three masks 33 and-three cylindrical lenses (A) 34. The light beam emitted from three light emitting portions 431 a to 431 c are adapted such that the light beam passed through the cylindrical lens (b) 435 and then projected as one slit. Therefore, only one cylindrical lens 435 is sufficient, and the cost can be reduced and adjustment is simple. Since the beams are turned to one slit shaped light after passing through the cylindrical lens 435, only one optical scanning means 436 is sufficient, and therefore the number of parts can be reduced, the size of the apparatus can be reduced and the manufacturing cost can also be reduced. Referring to FIG. 34, the relation between the extension angle i in the longitudinal direction of the slit after the passage through cylindrical lens (B) and the angle j provided by main axis of adjacent slits is maintained such that part of each slit are overlapped on the plane of projection irradiated with the slit shaped light.
Patent CitationsCited PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitleUS3679307Feb 19, 1970Jul 25, 1972Ati IncNon-contacting optical probeUS4558215Feb 8, 1983Dec 10, 1985Agency Of Industrial Science And TechnologyObject detecting apparatusUS4758093Jul 11, 1986Jul 19, 1988Robotic Vision Systems, Inc.Apparatus and method for 3-D measurement using holographic scanningUS4791482Feb 6, 1987Dec 13, 1988Westinghouse Electric Corp.Object locating systemUS4794262Nov 25, 1986Dec 27, 1988Yukio SatoMethod and apparatus for measuring profile of three-dimensional objectUS4801207May 27, 1986Jan 31, 1989The Broken Hill Proprietary Company LimitedMethod and apparatus for the optical determination of surface profilesUS4867570Dec 22, 1988Sep 19, 1989Canon Kabushiki KaishaThree-dimensional information processing method and apparatus for obtaining three-dimensional information of object by projecting a plurality of pattern beams onto objectUS4881126Oct 17, 1988Nov 14, 1989Nkk CorporationImage composing apparatusUS4882490Sep 22, 1988Nov 21, 1989Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.Light beam scanning apparatus having two detectors whose signal ratio indicates main scanning positionUS4939379Feb 28, 1989Jul 3, 1990Automation Research Technology, Inc.Contour measurement using time-based triangulation methodsUS4993835Oct 23, 1989Feb 19, 1991Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki KaishaApparatus for detecting three-dimensional configuration of object employing optical cutting methodUS5024529Jan 29, 1988Jun 18, 1991Synthetic Vision Systems, Inc.Method and system for high-speed, high-resolution, 3-D imaging of an object at a vision stationUS5102223Feb 7, 1991Apr 7, 1992Nkk CorporationMethod and apparatus for measuring a three-dimensional curved surface shapeUS5102224Mar 20, 1990Apr 7, 1992Nkk CorporationApparatus for measuring three-dimensional curved surface shapesUS5104227Mar 20, 1990Apr 14, 1992Nkk CorporationApparatus for measuring three-dimensional curved surface shapesUS5157435Dec 28, 1990Oct 20, 1992Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.Automatic focusing apparatus for a video camera and the method thereofUS5175595Jul 19, 1991Dec 29, 1992Tokyo Seimitsu Co., Ltd.Non-contact measuring deviceUS5337116Dec 24, 1992Aug 9, 1994Olympus Optical Co., Ltd.Light projection type measurement apparatus effectively utilizing a post of a one-chip microcomputerUS5362958Apr 1, 1993Nov 8, 1994Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.Reading apparatus with position calculation and focus adjustment and curved surface adjustmentUS5500728Dec 22, 1993Mar 19, 1996Yamatake-Honeywell Co., Ltd.Photoelectric distance sensorUS5920657Aug 8, 1997Jul 6, 1999Massachusetts Institute Of TechnologyMethod of creating a high resolution still image using a plurality of images and apparatus for practice of the methodJPH0443133A Title not availableJPH0457173A Title not availableJPH01239406A Title not availableJPH03158710A Title not availableJPH03209112A Title not availableJPH04259809A Title not availableJPH04329484A Title not availableJPH05196432A Title not availableJPH05199404A Title not availableJPS56111839A Title not availableJPS57157107A Title not availableReferenced byCiting PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitleUS7191020 *Feb 18, 2005Mar 13, 2007Seiko Epson CorporationOutput service provision system, virtual object management terminal, mobile object, virtual object management terminal program, mobile object program, and output service provision methodUS7215430 *Nov 22, 2004May 8, 2007Leica Geosystems Hds LlcIntegrated system for quickly and accurately imaging and modeling three-dimensional objectsUS7365301May 10, 2006Apr 29, 2008Brother Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaThree-dimensional shape detecting device, image capturing device, and three-dimensional shape detecting programUS20050099637 *Nov 22, 2004May 12, 2005Kacyra Ben K.Integrated system for quickly and accurately imaging and modeling three-dimensional objectsUS20050143848 *Feb 18, 2005Jun 30, 2005Seiko Epson CorporationOutput service provision system, virtual object management terminal, mobile object, virtual object management terminal program, mobile object program, and output service provision methodUS20060219869 *May 10, 2006Oct 5, 2006Brother Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaThree-dimensional shape detecting device, image capturing device, and three-dimensional shape detecting programUS20070135943 *Feb 9, 2007Jun 14, 2007Seiko Epson CorporationOutput service providing system that updates information based on positional information, terminal and method of providing output serviceUSRE41088 *Jan 26, 2010Apple Inc.Apparatus and method for rotating the display orientation of a captured image* Cited by examinerClassifications U.S. Classification356/608, 356/623, 396/98, 356/3.08, 356/3.04International ClassificationG01B11/25Cooperative ClassificationG01B11/2518, G06T7/0057European ClassificationG06T7/00R3, G01B11/25FLegal EventsDateCodeEventDescriptionApr 9, 2002ASAssignmentOwner name: MINOLTA CO., LTD., JAPANFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:FUJII, EIRO;IMAI, SHIGEAKI;NORITA, TOSHIO;REEL/FRAME:012780/0199;SIGNING DATES FROM 20020314 TO 20020315Apr 14, 2006FPAYFee paymentYear of fee payment: 4May 3, 2010FPAYFee paymentYear of fee payment: 8Apr 16, 2014FPAYFee paymentYear of fee payment: 12RotateOriginal ImageGoogle Home - Sitemap - USPTO Bulk Downloads - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - About Google Patents - Send FeedbackData provided by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services