Motion detection apparatus

• US 20050232467A1
• Filed: 04/22/2005
• Published: 10/20/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Olympus Corporation
• Original Assignee: Olympus Corporation
• Inventors: Kosaka, Akio, Mohri, Koh
• Granted Patent: US 7,489,806 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/103
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/014 Hand-worn input/output arrangements, e.g. data gloves
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0304 Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means constructional details of pointing devices not related to the detection arrangement using opto-electronic means G06F3/033; optical digitisers G06F3/042

Abstract

A motion detection apparatus includes an inertia motion detection section which detects an inertia motion of an object to be measured by using at least one of an acceleration sensor or an angular velocity sensor. An image pickup section which picks up a peripheral image of the object to be measured. An image comparison section which compares images picked up at different points in time by the image pickup section. A camera position and posture acquiring section which detects a position and a posture of the object to be measured by using a result of comparing the images by the image comparison section. A spatial position and posture acquiring section which detects a position and a posture in space of the object to be measured on the basis of information obtained by the inertia motion detection section and the camera position and posture acquiring section.

Claims

1. A motion detection apparatus for detecting a position and a posture of an object to be measured, comprising:

an inertia motion detecting section which detects an inertia motion of the object to be measured by using at least one of an acceleration sensor and an angular velocity sensor;

an image pickup section, which is fixed to the inertia motion detecting section, which picks up a peripheral image of the object to be measured;

an image comparing section which compares images picked up at different points in time by the image pickup section;

a camera position and posture acquiring section which detects a position and a posture of the object to be measured by using a result of comparing the images by the image comparing section; and

a spatial position and posture acquiring section which detects a position and a posture in space of the object to be measured on the basis of information obtained by the inertia motion detecting section and the camera position and posture acquiring section.

2. The motion detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the image pickup section further comprises an optical section which projects images, and

the optical section includes at least four plane mirrors, and comprises an optical system by which the peripheral image of the object to be measured is projected onto the image pickup section by said at least four plane mirrors.

3. The motion detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the image pickup section further comprises an optical section which projects images, and

the optical section comprises an optical system by which the peripheral image of the object to be measured is projected onto the image pickup section by a curved mirror.

4. The motion detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the image pickup section further comprises an optical section which projects images, and

the optical section has an optical system by which the peripheral image of the object to be measured is projected onto the image pickup section by a fisheye lens.

5. The motion detection apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the motion detection apparatus is mounted onto one portion of a body, and detects a position and a posture of the mounted portion.

6. The motion detection apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the motion detection apparatus is mounted onto a back of hand, and detects a position and a posture of the hand.

7. The motion detection apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the motion detection apparatus is mounted onto a head portion, and detects a position and a posture of the head portion.

8. The motion detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the image comparing section has a feature point movement estimating section which estimates a moved position and a searching range of a feature point on the basis of a relationship among current position and posture detected by the inertia motion detecting section and projective transformation of the image pickup section, with respect to posture information at a time of registration, and

the feature point movement estimating section carries out image matching processing for searching a feature point on the track from a current frame.

9. The motion detection apparatus according to claim 8, wherein

the feature point movement estimating section estimates moved positions of respective pixels on the basis of relationships among positional coordinates of the feature point at the time of registration, information on the respective pixels in the peripheral image of the feature point, movement estimated pixel positional information of the respective pixels for tracking the information on the respective pixels, current position and posture information detected by the inertia motion detecting section, and projective transformation of the image pickup section;

and carries out image matching processing by scanning an image after image point movement within a searching range.

10. The motion detection apparatus according to claim 8, wherein

the feature point movement estimating section estimates moved positions of respective pixels on the basis of relationships among information on the respective pixels in a feature point image point including the feature point at the time of registration, positional coordinates of the respective pixels, movement estimated pixel positional information of the respective pixels for tracking the positional coordinates, current position and posture information detected by the inertia motion detecting section, and projective transformation of the image pickup section;

and carries out image matching processing by scanning images after image point movement within a searching range.

11. The motion detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the camera position and posture acquiring section further has an invalid feature point determining section, on the basis of camera position and posture information obtained from motion parameters of the respective feature points and depth information estimated with respect to the feature points, determines an error between motion parameters measured from images including the respective feature points and a motion vector obtained from the camera position and posture information, and determines a feature point in which the error is over a certain threshold value to be an invalid feature point.

12. The motion detection apparatus according to claim 11, wherein

the invalid feature point determining section further has an invalid feature point tracking section which tracks positional information of the invalid feature point until the information relating to the feature point determined to be an invalid feature point disappears.

13. The motion detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the camera position and posture acquiring section registers three-dimensional information looked from a frame image as feature point information and a current camera frame in a new registration of a feature point,

tracks the feature point during the time from a time when the feature point appears and up to a time when the feature point disappears,

updates the three-dimensional information looked from the frame image in accordance therewith,

and moreover, when another feature point appears, registers three-dimensional information of said another feature point obtained from a current camera frame, and whereby,

tracks positions of a plurality of feature point images which appear and disappear in successive images, and acquires a current camera frame with respect to a world coordinate space on the basis of movements of said plurality of features.

14. The motion detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the image pickup section further comprises optical section which projects images, and

the image comparing section further has an image projection partitioned mask section which identifies and partitioning incident optical axes of the optical section.

15. The motion detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the image comparing section further has an adaptive feature point image setting section which analyzes depth information of a feature point image, and for switching a size of the feature point image and a feature point searching range at the time of registration, or a number of registrations of feature points, in accordance with the analyzed depth information.

16. The motion detection apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising an initialization section which fetches an image of a feature point recognizing identification mark of a known size or interval at the time of initialization, and for determining and registering depth information on the basis of a size or an interval of the image of the feature point recognizing identification mark.

17. The motion detection apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising an initialization section which fetches an image of a feature point recognizing identification mark provided at a position determined in advance from a position away from the feature point recognizing identification mark at a known distance, and for initially registering depth information of a feature point at that time.

18. The motion detection apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising an initialization section which fetches an image of part or entire of a body at the time of initialization, and for initially registering depth information of a feature point obtained from the fetched image and a shape and a size of the part or entire of the body which have been registered in advance.

19. The motion detection apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising an initialization section which fetches an image of a feature portion of a body from a known distance at the time of initialization, and for initially registering depth information of a feature point on the basis of the fetched image.

20. The motion detection apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising an initialization section which fetches an image in a direction and with a distance which have been determined in advance from a mounted portion at the time of initialization, and for initially registering depth information of a feature point in the fetched image.

21. The motion detection apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising an initialization section which carries out a motion of moving a mounted portion at a regulated distance at the time of initialization, and for initially registering depth information of a feature point in the image by a fetched image at that time.

22. The motion detection apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the motion detection apparatus detects a position and a posture of a material body by being fixed or mounted onto the material body that is operated by being grasped or held in a hand.