MARKER ARRANGEMENT INFORMATION MEASURING APPARATUS AND METHOD

• US 20080285854A1
• Filed: 08/08/2007
• Published: 11/20/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Kotake, Daisuke, Morita, Kenji, Takemoto, Kazuki, Maeda, Sonoko
• Granted Patent: US 8,081,815 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/190
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30208 Marker matrix
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/73 using feature-based methods

Abstract

A marker arrangement information measuring apparatus includes an image acquiring unit configured to acquire a captured image, a marker detecting unit configured to detect markers from the captured image, a marker identifying unit configured to identify the marker detected by the marker detecting unit, an arrangement information calculating unit configured to calculate arrangement information of the marker based on an identification result of the marker identifying unit, an analyzing unit configured to analyze the identification result of the marker identifying unit, and a display unit configured to display an image corresponding to an analysis result of the analyzing unit on the captured image in a combined manner, thus presenting the analysis result to a user.

Claims

1. A marker arrangement information measuring apparatus comprising:

an image acquiring unit configured to acquire an image captured by an image pickup apparatus;

a marker detecting unit configured to detect markers from the captured image;

a marker identifying unit configured to identify the marker detected by the marker detecting unit;

an arrangement information calculating unit configured to calculate arrangement information of the marker based on an identification result of the marker identifying unit;

an analyzing unit configured to analyze the identification result of the marker identifying unit; and

a display unit configured to display an image corresponding to an analysis result of the analyzing unit on the captured image in a combined manner.

2. The marker arrangement information measuring apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a position and posture calculating unit configured to calculate a position and a posture of the image pickup apparatus at the time of capturing of the image.

3. The marker arrangement information measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the analyzing unit counts the number of times of the image capturing of each marker based on identification information obtained by the marker identifying unit; and

the display unit displays information corresponding to the number of times of the image capturing in correspondence to each marker.

4. The marker arrangement information measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the analyzing unit calculates at least one of an image capturing direction, an image capturing distance, and an image capturing position of each marker based on identification information obtained by the marker identifying unit and a position and a posture of the image pickup apparatus; and

the display unit displays information corresponding to the at least one of the image capturing direction, the image capturing distance, and the image capturing position.

5. The marker arrangement information measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays an image representing a relative relationship among the markers on the captured image in a combined manner.

6. The marker arrangement information measuring apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a setting unit configured to set a reference marker having known arrangement information in a reference coordinate system,

wherein the analyzing unit determines, based on identification information of the reference marker, whether the arrangement information of the marker in the reference coordinate system can be calculated, and

the display unit displays an image representing the reference coordinate system on the captured image in a combined manner when the arrangement information of the marker in the reference coordinate system can be calculated.

7. The marker arrangement information measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit comprises:

a producing unit configured to produce an image corresponding to the analysis result based on a position and a posture of the image pickup apparatus; and

a combining unit configured to combine the produced image corresponding to the analysis result with the captured image,

wherein the combining unit three-dimensionally combines the image corresponding to the analysis result.

8. The marker arrangement information measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the analyzing unit calculates, from a currently captured image, a tentative analysis result for each marker identified by the marker identifying unit; and

the display unit displays information based on the tentative analysis result.

9. The marker arrangement information measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays the analysis result of the analyzing unit on the same projected plane as the captured image.

10. The marker arrangement information measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays the analysis result of the analyzing unit on the same plane as a plane on which the corresponding marker is arranged.

11. The marker arrangement information measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays, based on the analysis result of the analyzing unit, information made correspondent to a three-dimensional shape representing a three-dimensional direction in which each marker is observed.

12. The marker arrangement information measuring apparatus according to claim 11, wherein a part or the whole of a surface of the three-dimensional shape representing the three-dimensional direction has a color changed depending on the analysis result of the analyzing unit.

13. The marker arrangement information measuring apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the three-dimensional shape representing the three-dimensional direction is changed depending on the analysis result of the analyzing unit.

14. The marker arrangement information measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the analyzing unit calculates at least one of an image capturing direction, an image capturing distance, an image capturing position, the number of times of the image capturing, and the marker identification result of the corresponding marker.

15. The marker arrangement information measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays, based on the image presented corresponding to the analysis result of the analyzing unit, an indication for prompting a user to acquire the captured image.

16. The marker arrangement information measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit automatically acquires the captured image based on the image presented corresponding to the analysis result of the analyzing unit.

17. The marker arrangement information measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the analyzing unit calculates marker detection reliability based on at least one item of information regarding an image capturing direction, an image capturing distance, and an image capturing position of each marker, decides the analysis result based on the calculated detection reliability, and displays the decided analysis result on the display unit.

18. A marker arrangement information measuring method comprising:

acquiring an image captured by an image pickup unit;

detecting markers from the captured image;

identifying the marker detected;

calculating arrangement information of the marker based on an identification result of the marker detected;

analyzing the identification result; and

combining an image corresponding to an analysis result with the captured image in a superimposed manner.