Image processing system for inspecting object distance and dimensions using a hand-held camera with a collimated laser
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for optically determining the distance to an object using a hand held camera, the method comprising the steps of:
- acquiring using camera optics two sequential images of the target object wherein one of the images is a background image and the other of the images is a foreground image;
illuminating the target object in the foreground image with a collimated laser source that is laterally displaced from the camera optics to form a laser blob on the foreground image;
where the target object in the background image is not illuminated with the collimated laser source;
analyzing the background and foreground images in order to extract the laser blob coordinates in the image domain;
and calculating the distance to the object from the blob coordinates;
wherein said analyzing uses a background differencing step which generates a difference image between the background and foreground images;
and wherein in said analyzing both the foreground and background images are filtered using a convolved filter based on a scale independent version of the Bartlett window.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An image processing system for inspecting object distance and dimensions is disclosed. A calibrated hand-held camera with an integrated collimated laser is deployed in order to capture input images. The images are then processed in order to determine the object distance and related parameters such as displacements and surface dimensions.
8 Citations
9 Claims
-
1. A method for optically determining the distance to an object using a hand held camera, the method comprising the steps of:
-
acquiring using camera optics two sequential images of the target object wherein one of the images is a background image and the other of the images is a foreground image; illuminating the target object in the foreground image with a collimated laser source that is laterally displaced from the camera optics to form a laser blob on the foreground image; where the target object in the background image is not illuminated with the collimated laser source; analyzing the background and foreground images in order to extract the laser blob coordinates in the image domain; and calculating the distance to the object from the blob coordinates; wherein said analyzing uses a background differencing step which generates a difference image between the background and foreground images; and wherein in said analyzing both the foreground and background images are filtered using a convolved filter based on a scale independent version of the Bartlett window. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
Specification