Photo survey service system

• US 7,023,468 B2
• Filed: 05/22/2001
• Issued: 04/04/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Tobishima Corporation
• Original Assignee: Tobishima Corporation
• Inventors: Kobayashi, Kaoru, Matsumoto, Kazunobu, Nakahara, Hirotaka, Kumagai, Kouki, Tsutsui, Masayuki, Chikahisa, Hiroshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Vu
• Assistant Examiner(s): Senfi, Behrooz
• Application Number:
  US09/861,630
• Publication Number:
  US 20020146164A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,778 Days
• Field of Search: 348/140, 348/141, 348/142, 348/143, 348/144, 348/154, 348/135, 348/164, 348/184, 348/294, 348/298, 348/222, 382/294, 382/295, 382/296, 382/293, 382/284, 382/100, 382/311, 382/154
• US Class Current: 348/144
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 11/02 Picture taking arrangements specially adapted for photogrammetry or photographic surveying, e.g. controlling overlapping of pictures

Abstract

The photo survey service system of the invention comprises an image information receiving means 12 for receiving image information from customer'"'"'s terminal equipment 8 via a telecommunication circuit network 10, which image information is obtained by taking photographs of an area 4 under survey having a plurality of stations 2-1, 2-2, . . . 2-n from a plurality of points using a digital camera 6 at a fixed focal length, an analysis processing means 14 which uses computation processing to calculate a three-dimensional vector relation of each station from the received image information on the basis of a difference in parallax between both images of adjacent photographing points, and an analytical result transmitting means 16 for transmitting information on the calculated three-dimensional vector relation of each station to the customer'"'"'s terminal equipment 8 via the telecommunication circuit network 10.

Claims

1. A photo survey service system comprising:

an image information receiving means for receiving image information from a customer'"'"'s terminal equipment via a telecommunication circuit network, said image information being obtained by taking photographs of an area under survey having a plurality of stations from a plurality of points using a digital camera at a fixed focal length;

an analysis processing means which uses computation processing to calculate a three-dimensional vector relation of each station from the received image information on the basis of a difference in parallax between both images of adjacent photographing points; and

an analytical result transmitting means for transmitting information on the calculated three-dimensional vector relation of each station to the customer'"'"'s terminal equipment via the telecommunication circuit network.

3. The photo survey service system according to claim 1 or 2, which further includes a graphic processing means for performing graphic processing on the basis of information concerning the three-dimensional vector relation or position of each station calculated by said analysis processing means, and wherein said analytical result transmitting means is operable to transmit, in addition to the information concerning the calculated three-dimensional vector relation or position of each station, graphic information obtained from said graphic processing means to the customer'"'"'s terminal equipment via the telecommunication circuit network.

4. The photo survey service system according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising:

an estimate condition input means for receiving entry of at least information concerning the number of photographs and the total number of stations that are conditions for photo surveying and an output form of photo survey results from terminal equipment for a person or customer gaining access to a generally browsable web site on the Internet;

an estimate display means for calculating an estimate for photo surveying on the basis of the entered conditions and displaying said estimate on a browsable screen of the terminal equipment for said access person;

an order intake means for receiving, in a screen, entry of information for identification of said access person including her or his e-mail address and information for confirmation of an order, and for receiving an order under the entered conditions upon entry of said information by the terminal equipment for said person via the Internet; and

a means for giving instructions on how to photograph whereby, when said order is received, a text file containing information about how to take survey photographs under said entered conditions is e-mailed to the terminal equipment on the access person side via the Internet.

5. The photo survey service system according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising:

an analyzer database wherein e-mail addresses of analyzers having the necessary analyzing expertise and information concerning their analyzing capabilities are registered;

an analyzer retrieval means for performing matching for the photographing conditions for an image received by said image information receiving means and the information concerning the analyzing capabilities registered in said database to find the best analyzer from said database;

an analytical result transmitting means for e-mailing the image information received by said image information receiving means to terminal equipment for the thus found analyzer via the Internet; and

an analytical result receiving means for receiving, in addition to information on the three-dimensional vector relation and/or position of each station calculated by the analysis processing means on the thus found analyzer side, graphic information subjected to graphic processing by said graphic processing means from the terminal equipment on the thus found analyzer side via the Internet.

2. A photo survey service system comprising:

an image information receiving means for receiving image information obtained by taking photographs of an area under survey having a plurality of stations from a plurality of points using a digital camera at a fixed focal length and length information in the area under survey from customer'"'"'s terminal equipment via a telecommunication circuit network;

an analysis processing means which uses computation processing to calculate a three-dimensional position of each station from the received image information and the received length information in the area under survey on the basis of a difference in parallax between both images of adjacent photographing points; and

an analytical result transmitting means for transmitting information on the calculated three-dimensional position of each station to the customer'"'"'s terminal equipment via the telecommunication circuit network.