Surveying apparatus

• US 6,563,574 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2001
• Issued: 05/13/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Topcon
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Topcon
• Inventors: Horiguchi, Kiwami, Ohtomo, Fumio, Ohtani, Hitoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Tarcza, Thomas H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): ANDREA, BRIAN K
• Application Number:
  US10/033,774
• Publication Number:
  US 20020085193A1
• Time in Patent Office: 501 Days
• Field of Search: 250/203.1, 250/203.7, 250/206.17, 250/206.3, 250/208.1, 250/208.2, 342/54, 342/55, 348/135-147, 356/4.01, 356/3-1-, 356/141.1, 356/139-140, 356/620, 702/150-153
• US Class Current: 356/141.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 1/04 combined with cameras

Abstract

The present invention relates to both a surveying apparatus with a picking-up device and a electronic storage medium, and particularly to a surveying apparatus capable of combining a background image captured by a picking-up device with survey data obtained by the surveying apparatus and displaying the combined image on a display unit, wherein the surveying apparatus is configured such that the picking-up device can be connected to the surveying apparatus, the picking-up device having an optical axis approximately parallel with an optical axis of the surveying apparatus, the surveying apparatus comprising: an operation unit for associating measurement data obtained by the surveying apparatus with image data obtained by the picking-up device and displaying a measurement target position mark in the image data; a first storage unit for storing the measurement data associated with the image data; a second storage unit for storing the image data associated with the measurement data; and a display unit for, when necessary, displaying at least one of the measurement data and the image data stored in the first storage unit and the second storage unit, respectively.

Claims

1. A surveying apparatus for measuring a distance, a horizontal angle, and an altitude angle of a measurement target by use of reflected light, said surveying apparatus comprising:

a picking-up device capable of being connected to said surveying apparatus, said picking-up device having an optical axis approximately parallel with an optical axis of said surveying apparatus;

an operation unit for associating measurement data obtained by said surveying apparatus with image data obtained by said picking-up device, and displaying a measurement target position mark in said image data;

a first storage unit for storing said measurement data associated with said image data;

a second storage unit for storing said image data associated with said measurement data; and

a display unit for, when necessary, displaying at least one of said measurement data and said image data stored in said first storage unit and said second storage unit, respectively.

3. The surveying apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said surveying apparatus is provided with a separate display operation device for, based on said measurement data and image data obtained by said surveying apparatus, operating such that, when said measurement data is displayed, said image data associated with said measurement data is selectively displayed;

and when said image data is displayed, said image data or said measurement data associated with said measurement target position mark displayed in said image is selectively displayed.

4. The surveying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein based on said measurement data and image data obtained by said surveying apparatus, said surveying apparatus displays a plurality of pieces of said image data at the same time at intervals determined based on survey data, displaying only one piece of said image data in an overlapped portion of each two adjacent pieces of said image data to produce a single continuous image.

5. The surveying apparatus according to claim 4, wherein selecting a measurement target position mark indicated in said continuous image displays image data associated with said measurement target position mark.

2. A surveying apparatus for measuring a distance, a horizontal angle, and an altitude angle of a measurement target by use of reflected light, said surveying apparatus comprising:

a first picking-up device for capturing an image in a collimation direction of said surveying apparatus;

a second picking-up device for capturing an image in a wide photographing range including a photographing range of said first picking-up device;

an operation unit for associating measurement data obtained by said surveying apparatus with image data obtained by said first picking-up device and said second picking-up device, and displaying a measurement target position mark in said image data;

a first storage unit for storing said measurement data associated with said image data;

a second storage unit for storing said image data associated with said measurement data; and

a display unit for, when necessary, displaying at least one of said measurement data and said image data stored in said first storage unit and said second storage unit, respectively.

6. The surveying apparatus according to claim 2, wherein selecting a target position mark of said image data obtained by said second picking-up device displays associated image data obtained by said first picking-up device.

7. The surveying apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said image data obtained by said first picking-up device and said image data obtained by said second picking-up device are associated with each other by both said measurement data and a target position mark.

8. An electronic storage medium including an FD, a CD, a DVD, a RAM, a ROM, or a memory card, storing a program which specifies a procedure for:

causing an operation unit to associate measurement data obtained by a surveying apparatus with image data obtained by a picking-up device having an optical axis approximately parallel with an optical axis of said surveying apparatus and display a measurement target position mark in said image data, said measurement data including a distance, a horizontal angle, and an-altitude angle of a measurement target;

causing a first storage unit to store said measurement data associated with said image data;

causing a second storage unit to store said image data associated with said measurement data; and

causing a display unit to, when necessary, display at least one of said measurement data and said image data stored in said first storage unit and said second storage unit, respectively.