Method and system to identify a position of a measurement pole

• US 9,443,311 B2
• Filed: 06/12/2014
• Issued: 09/13/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Topcon Positioning Systems Incorporated (Topcon Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Topcon Positioning Systems Incorporated (Topcon Corporation)
• Inventors: Hallett, Jason
• Primary Examiner(s): Liew, Alex
• Application Number:
  US14/303,219
• Publication Number:
  US 20150363936A1
• Time in Patent Office: 824 Days
• Field of Search: 382/106, 382/154
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 15/06 Surveyors' staffs; Movable markers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0325 using a plurality of light emitters or reflectors or a plurality of detectors forming a reference frame from which to derive the orientation of the object, e.g. by triangulation or on the basis of reference deformation in the picked up image
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03545 Pens or stylus
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10004 Still image; Photographic image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10028 Range image; Depth image; 3D point clouds
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30204 Marker
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/521 from laser ranging, e.g. using interferometry; from the projection of structured light

Abstract

A method and a system in which an image of an object having a tip end and a plurality of markings disposed on an outer surface is acquired, a distance between the measurement system and each of the plurality of markings and a plurality of angles at which the object is positioned in the three-dimensional space are determined, a three-dimensional vector of the object is determined based on the distance between the measurement system and each of the plurality of markings and based on the plurality of angles at which the object is positioned in the three-dimensional space, and a position of the tip end in the three-dimensional space is determined based on the distance to each of the plurality of markings and based on the three-dimensional vector of the object.

Claims

1. A method of operation of a measurement system for identifying a location of a moving object having a tip end and a plurality of markings disposed on an outer surface in three-dimensional space, comprising:

acquiring an image of the moving object using a camera, the camera having a field of view that simultaneously captures both the moving object and at least three markings of the plurality of markings, each of the at least three markings having a known position on the moving object as measured from the tip end;

determining a distance between the measurement system and each of the at least three markings of the plurality of markings;

determining a plurality of angles at which the moving object is positioned in the three-dimensional space, the plurality of angles including at least a yaw angle and a pitch angle;

determining a three-dimensional vector of the object using the distance between the measurement system and each of the plurality of markings and using the plurality of angles at which the moving object is positioned in the three-dimensional space; and

determining an instantaneous position of the tip end and a velocity of the moving object in the three-dimensional space based on the known position of each of the at least three markings on the object, the distance between each of the least three markings and the measurement system, the yaw angle, the pitch angle, and and the three-dimensional vector of the moving object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of markings is a photo-reflector.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of markings is an optical signal emitter.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of markings is a combination of at least one photo-reflector and at least one optical signal emitter.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a distance between the tip end and at least one of the plurality of markings is known.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a distance between each of the plurality of markings is known.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a plurality of angles at which the moving object is positioned in the three-dimensional space comprises:

determining the yaw angle at which the moving object is positioned in the three-dimensional space; and

determining the pitch angle at which the moving object is positioned in the three-dimensional space.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying to a user the position of the tip end of the moving object, a value of the distance to each of the plurality of markings, and the three-dimensional vector of the moving object.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the distance between the measurement system and each of the plurality of markings comprises:

measuring a plurality of distances between the measurement system and each of the plurality of markings to determine movement of the moving object.

10. An apparatus for identifying a location of a moving object having a tip end and a plurality of markings disposed on an outer surface in three-dimensional space, the apparatus comprising:

a camera, the camera having a field of view that simultaneously captures both the moving object and at least three markings of the plurality of markings, each of the at least three markings having a known position on the moving object as measured from the tip end;

an input-output module;

an antenna;

a storage device;

a processor; and

a memory communicatively couple with the processor, the memory storing computer program instructions which, when executed on the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

acquiring an image of the moving object using the camera;

determining a distance between the measurement system and each of the at least three markings of the plurality of markings;

determining a plurality of angles at which the moving object is positioned in the three-dimensional space, the plurality of angles including at least a yaw angle and a pitch angle;

determining a three-dimensional vector of the moving object using the distance between the measurement system and each of the plurality of markings and using the plurality of angles at which the moving object is positioned in the three-dimensional space; and

determining an instantaneous position of the tip end and a velocity of the moving object in the three-dimensional space based on the known position of each of the at least three markings on the moving object, the distance between each of the at least three markings and the measurements system, the yaw angle, the pitch angle, and the three-dimensional vector of the moving object.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the image-acquiring module comprises a Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) camera.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein determining a plurality of angles at which the moving object is positioned in the three-dimensional space comprises:

determining the yaw angle at which the moving object is positioned in the three-dimensional space; and

determining the pitch angle at which the moving object is positioned in the three-dimensional space.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, the operations further comprising:

displaying to a user the position of the tip end of the moving object, a value of the distance to each of the plurality of markings, and the three-dimensional vector of the moving object.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein determining the distance between the measurement system and each of the plurality of markings comprises:

measuring a plurality of distances between the measurement system and each of the plurality of markings to determine movement of the moving object.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer program instructions for identifying a location of a moving object having a tip end and a plurality of markings disposed on an outer surface in three-dimensional space, which, when executed on a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

acquiring an image of the object using a camera, the camera having a field of view that simultaneously captures both the moving object and at least three markings of the plurality of markings therein, each of the at least three markings having a known position on the moving object as measured from the tip end;

determining a distance between the measurement system and each of the at least three markings of the plurality of markings;

determining a plurality of angles at which the moving object is positioned in the three-dimensional space, the plurality of angles including at least a yaw angle and a pitch angle;

determining a three-dimensional vector of the moving object using the distance between the measurement system and each of the plurality of markings and using the plurality of angles at which the moving object is positioned in the three-dimensional space; and

determining an instantaneous position of the tip end and a velocity of the moving object in the three-dimensional space based on the known position of each of the at least three markings on the object, the distance between each of the at least three markings and the measurement system, the yaw angle, the pitch angle, and the three-dimensional vector of the moving object.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein determining a plurality of angles at which the moving object is positioned in the three-dimensional space comprises:

determining the yaw angle at which the object is positioned in the three-dimensional space; and

determining the pitch angle at which the object is positioned in the three-dimensional space.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, the operations further comprising:

displaying to a user the position of the tip end of the object, a value of the distance to each of the plurality of markings, and the three-dimensional vector of the object.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the determining the distance between the measurement system and each of the plurality of markings comprises:

measuring a plurality of distances between the measurement system and each of the plurality of markings to determine movement of the moving object.

19. An apparatus for identifying a location of a moving object having a tip end and a plurality of markings disposed on an outer surface in three-dimensional space, the apparatus comprising:

means for acquiring an image of the moving object, the means for acquiring the image having a field of view that simultaneously captures both the moving object and at least three markings of the plurality of markings, each of the at least three markings having a known position on the moving object as measured from the tip end;

means for determining a distance between the measurement system and each of the at least three markings of the plurality of markings;

means for determining a plurality of angles at which the moving object is positioned in the three-dimensional space, the plurality of angles including at least a yaw angle and a pitch angle;

means for determining a three-dimensional vector of the moving object using the distance between the measurement system and each of the plurality of markings and using the plurality of angles at which the moving object is positioned in the three-dimensional space; and

means for determining an instantaneous position of the tip end and the velocity of the moving object in the three-dimensional space based on the known position of each of the at least three markings on the object, the distance between each of the at least three markings and the measurement system, the yaw angle, the pitch angle, and the three-dimensional vector of the moving object.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, the apparatus further comprising:

means for displaying to a user the position of the tip end of the moving object, a value of the distance to each of the plurality of markings, and the three-dimensional vector of the moving object.