IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS

• US 20090161946A1
• Filed: 12/19/2008
• Published: 06/25/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Topcon
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Topcon
• Inventors: Sato, Hirokazu, Kochi, Nobuo, Anai, Tetsuji, Fukaya, Nobuyuki, Yamada, Mitsuharu
• Granted Patent: US 7,860,302 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/154
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10012 Stereo images
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30244 Camera pose
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/74 involving reference images or patches
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/97 Determining parameters from multiple pictures depth or shape recovery from multiple images G06T7/55; stereo camera calibration G06T7/85

Abstract

An image processing apparatus comprises an inputting section for inputting a plurality of continuous images which were photographed by a photographing section progressively moving relative to a photographed object; an extracting section for extracting characteristic points from images input by the inputting section; a tracking section for tracking the points corresponding to the characteristic points in the plurality of continuous images; an embedding section for embedding tracking data, which includes data of extracted and tracked points by the extracting section and the tracking section, into each image; and an outputting section for outputting the plurality of continuous images sequentially in which the tracking data was embedded by the embedding section.

Claims

1. An image processing apparatus comprising:

an inputting section for inputting a plurality of continuous images which were photographed by a photographing section progressively moving relative to a photographed object;

an extracting section for extracting characteristic points from images input by the inputting section;

a tracking section for tracking the points corresponding to the characteristic points in the plurality of continuous images;

an embedding section for embedding tracking data, which includes data of extracted and tracked points by the extracting section and the tracking section, into each image; and

an outputting section for outputting the plurality of continuous images sequentially in which the tracking data was embedded by the embedding section.

2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the tracking section tracks the points corresponding to the characteristic points by using a template matching, and the embedding section embeds an evaluation value of the template matching into each image.

3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the number of points tracked by the tracking section is less than a predetermined number, the extracting section extracts characteristic points again, and the embedding section embeds the number of extracting times as the number of generations into each image.

4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the characteristic points extracted by the extracting section are tracked in the plurality of continuous images, so the characteristic points are succeeded to a next generation, and the embedding section embeds the number of succeeded times into each image.

5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the embedding section embeds the total number of points extracted and tracked by the extracting section and the tracking section in each image.

6. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the embedding section embeds a point arrangement statistic of extracted and tracked points by the extracting section and the tracking section in each image.

7. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a GPS receiver for obtaining position information of the photographing section;

wherein the embedding section embeds the position information from the GPS receiver into an image.

8. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an attitude sensor for detecting an attitude information of the photographing section;

wherein the embedding section embeds the attitude information from the attitude sensor into an image.

9. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the embedding section embeds the tracking data into a header area of each image.

10. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the embedding section embeds the tracking data into a manual setting area of each image, and the manual setting area is set on a screen manually.

11. The image processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the embedding section embeds the tracking data into an autosetting area of each image, and the autosetting area is set based on the point arrangement statistic.

12. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an inputting section for inputting the plurality of continuous images sequentially in which the tracking data was embedded;

a relative orientation section for performing a relative orientation to stereo-pair images selected by the tracking data in the images from the inputting section;

a connective orientation section for connecting a coordinate system between stereo-pair images and other stereo-pair images; and

a three-dimensional measuring section for measuring three-dimensional coordinates of points included in the tracking data in the coordinate system connected by the connective orientation section.

13. The image processing apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising:

a single photo orientation section for orientating a relationship between image coordinates of points included in the tracking data and three-dimensional coordinates of the points by using a collinear conditional formula or the Direct Linear Transformation (DLT) method to a single image input by the inputting section.