US 12,294,785 B2
Hyper camera with shared mirror
James Austin Besley, Killara (AU); Mark Harold Tarlinton, Marrickville (AU); and David Arnold Bleads, Tennyson (AU)
Assigned to NEARMAP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD., Barangaroo (AU)
Filed by Nearmap Australia Pty Ltd., Barangaroo (AU)
Filed on Dec. 15, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/540,924.
Application 18/540,924 is a continuation of application No. 17/362,334, filed on Jun. 29, 2021, granted, now 11,985,429.
Prior Publication US 2024/0121513 A1, Apr. 11, 2024
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. H04N 23/69 (2023.01); B64D 47/08 (2006.01); G01C 11/02 (2006.01); G02B 7/182 (2021.01); G02B 26/10 (2006.01); G03B 15/00 (2021.01); G06T 5/50 (2006.01); G06T 7/11 (2017.01); G06T 17/00 (2006.01); H04N 23/45 (2023.01); H04N 23/51 (2023.01); H04N 23/55 (2023.01); H04N 23/698 (2023.01); H04N 23/75 (2023.01); B64C 39/02 (2023.01); B64U 101/30 (2023.01)
CPC H04N 23/698 (2023.01) [B64D 47/08 (2013.01); G01C 11/025 (2013.01); G02B 7/1821 (2013.01); G02B 26/101 (2013.01); G02B 26/105 (2013.01); G03B 15/006 (2013.01); G06T 5/50 (2013.01); G06T 7/11 (2017.01); G06T 17/00 (2013.01); H04N 23/45 (2023.01); H04N 23/51 (2023.01); H04N 23/55 (2023.01); H04N 23/69 (2023.01); H04N 23/75 (2023.01); B64C 39/024 (2013.01); B64U 2101/30 (2023.01); G01C 11/02 (2013.01); G06T 2207/20132 (2013.01); G06T 2207/20221 (2013.01); G06T 2207/30252 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An imaging system housed in a vehicle comprising:
a camera configured to capture a set of images along a scan path on an object area;
a scanning mirror structure including at least one mirror surface; and
a drive coupled to the scanning mirror structure and configured to rotate the scanning mirror structure about a scan axis based on a scan angle; wherein
the camera includes a lens to focus an imaging beam reflected from the scanning mirror structure to an image sensor of the camera,
at least one of an elevation and azimuth of the imaging beam captured by the camera varies according to the scan angle,
the image sensor of the camera captures the set of images along the scan path by sampling the imaging beam at values of the scan angle,
illumination of the image sensor by the imaging beam is reduced by at least one of partial occlusion by a constrained space in which the imaging system is installed and the scan angle of the scanning mirror structure being outside a predetermined range of scan angles,
the values of the scan angle along the scan path are selected based on a model representing the illumination of the image sensor by the imaging beam, and
the set of images are oblique images and a step size of the values of the scan angle for the scanning mirror structure varies trigonometrically with the scan angle.