US 12,356,077 B2
Measuring system with panoramic image acquisition functionality
Johan Stigwall, St. Gallen (CH); Andreas Schwendener, Chur (CH); Thomas Jensen, Rorschach (CH); Marco Schröder, Neukirch (CH); and Zheng Yang, Friedrichshafen (DE)
Assigned to HEXAGON TECHNOLOGY CENTER GMBH, Heerbrugg (CH)
Filed by HEXAGON TECHNOLOGY CENTER GMBH, Heerbrugg (CH)
Filed on Mar. 28, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/706,349.
Prior Publication US 2022/0321779 A1, Oct. 6, 2022
Int. Cl. H04N 23/698 (2023.01); G01C 11/02 (2006.01); H04N 23/695 (2023.01)
CPC H04N 23/698 (2023.01) [G01C 11/025 (2013.01); H04N 23/695 (2023.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A measuring system for acquiring three-dimensional measuring points, comprising
a base unit,
a support unit mounted on the base unit and rotatable relative to the base unit around an azimuth axis,
an emitting unit configured for providing a transmission beam,
a receiving unit configured for detecting a reception beam,
a directing unit mounted in the support unit, rotatable relative to the support unit around an elevation axis, and configured for
directing the transmission beam from the emitting unit towards a scene,
directing the reception beam from the scene to the receiving unit,
a first actuator configured for rotating the support unit relative to the base unit around the azimuth axis,
a second actuator configured for rotating the directing unit relative to the support unit around the elevation axis,
a first angle encoder configured for measuring a rotatory position of the support unit,
a second angle encoder configured for measuring a rotatory position of the directing unit,
a camera comprising an image sensor, wherein the camera is configured for capturing an image of at least part of the scene,
a computer connected to the first actuator, the second actuator, the first angle encoder, the second angle encoder, and the camera, wherein the computer is configured for
controlling a rotatory speed of the support unit via the first actuator, and
controlling a rotatory speed of the directing unit via the second actuator,
the computer is configured for generating a first panoramic image with the camera, comprising:
controlling the image sensor to sample frames with a frame rate,
controlling the first actuator to rotate the support unit with a rotatory speed that is adapted to the frame rate of the image sensor in such a way that n consecutive frames are overlapping, wherein n≥3, and wherein the n consecutive overlapping frames comprise an overlapping region common to all of the n consecutive overlapping frames and
processing at least some of the sampled frames to form the first panoramic image by accumulation, the accumulation comprising mapping the overlapping sample frames onto the first panoramic image by taking at least the first angle encoder reading into account,
wherein controlling the image sensor to sample frames comprises controlling the image sensor to sample frames with an image aspect ratio of between 1:5 and 1:40,
wherein a long extent of the frames are aligned parallel to the azimuth axis and a shorter extent are aligned parallel to the elevation axis.