THREE-DIMENSIONAL MODEL GENERATING DEVICE

• US 20140132600A1
• Filed: 11/05/2013
• Published: 05/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: SHIMOYAMA, Kenichi, SEKI, Akihito, ITO, Satoshi, YAMAZAKI, Masaki, ITOH, Yuta
• Granted Patent: US 9,223,024 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/420
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/42 Simultaneous measurement of distance and other co-ordinates indirect measurement G01S17/46
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4817 relating to scanning

Abstract

An example three-dimensional model generating device includes an emitting unit that emits a laser light and a first deflector that deflects laser light, whose emission direction rotates in a first rotation range, within a first scan plane. A second deflector deflects laser light, whose emission direction rotates in a second rotation range, within a second scan plane intersecting with the first scan plane. The detector detects a reflected light when laser light deflected from the first deflector is reflected from the target object or detects a reflected light when laser light deflected from the second deflector is reflected from the target object. The measuring unit measures a distance to the target object on the basis of the time taken since emission of the laser light to detection of the reflected light. The generating unit generates a three-dimensional model of the target object by using the measurement result.

Claims

1. A three-dimensional model generating device comprising:

an emitting unit configured to emit a laser light in such a way that an emission direction of the laser light rotates around a predetermined axis;

a first deflector configured to deflect at least a part of the laser light, whose emission direction rotates in a first rotation range, within a first scan plane;

a second deflector configured to deflect at least a part of the laser light, whose emission direction rotates in a second rotation range, within a second scan plane that intersects with the first scan plane;

a detector configured to detect a reflected light when the laser light that has deflected from the first deflector is reflected from a target object or detect a reflected light when the laser light that has deflected from the second deflector is reflected from a target object;

a measuring unit configured to measure a distance to the target object on the basis of the amount of time taken since emission of the laser light up to detection of the reflected light; and

a generating unit configured to generate a three-dimensional model of the target object by using a measurement result obtained by the measuring unit.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the second deflector has a shape obtained by twisting a flat reflecting material.

3. The device according to claim 2, wherein the second deflector is disposed in such a way that the laser light in the second rotation range sequentially falls on an area along a torsion axis on the top surface of the second deflector.

4. The device according to claim 2, wherein a torsional angle of the second deflector is equal to an angle at which the first scan plane and the second scan plane intersect with each other.

5. The device according to claim 2, wherein

of the top surface of the second deflector, a position at which the normal direction does not change upon being twisted is set as an origin,

of the top surface of the second deflector, the horizontal direction is set as the x-axis, the vertical direction is set as the y-axis, and the depth direction is set as the z-axis, and

when 2W represents the width in the x-axis direction of the reflecting material from which the second deflector is formed and when 2H represents the width in the y-axis direction of the reflecting material from which the second deflector is formed, the surface shape of the second deflector is expressed using expressions given below:

6. The device according to claim 1, wherein the measuring unit measures the distance to the target object present at a point of intersection between the first scan plane and the second scan plane, on the basis of a first piece of data and a second piece of data, the first piece of data indicating a distance to the target object present at the point of intersection, which is obtained based on the amount of time taken since emission of laser light that, of the laser light in the first rotation range, is projected on the point of intersection up to detection of reflected light, and the second piece of data indicating a distance to the target object present at the point of intersection, which is obtained based on the amount of time taken since emission of laser light that, of the laser light in the second rotation range, is projected on the point of intersection up to detection of reflected light.

7. The device according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the second deflector are disposed.