Active 3D triangulation-based imaging method and device
First Claim
1. Active 3D triangulation-based imaging method comprising steps of:
- temporally modulating a radiant flux of a lighting unit beam by a binary modulation signal (ms);
illuminating a scene (S), which is illuminated by an ambient lighting (AL), by said modulated lighting unit beam (mlub);
splitting a ray (ir) imaging a point (SP) of the scene (S) into two separate imaging rays (ir1, ir2);
said first separate imaging ray (ir1) forming an image of the scene point (SP) in a first image sensor (is1);
temporally modulating a radiant flux of the second separate imaging ray (ir2) by the binary modulation signal (ms) and said modulated second separate imaging ray (ir2m) forming an image of the scene point (SP) in a second image sensor (is2);
normalizing a first scene image being an image of all points of the scene (S) formed in the first sensor (is1) and a second scene image being an image of all points of the scene (S) formed in the second sensor (is2); and
subtracting the first normalized scene image from the second normalized scene image.
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Abstract
Active 3D triangulation-based imaging comprises steps of: temporally modulating a radiant flux of a lighting unit beam by a binary modulation signal (ms); illuminating a scene (S), which is illuminated by an ambient lighting (AL), by said modulated lighting unit beam (mlub); splitting a ray (ir) imaging a scene point (SP) into two separate imaging rays (ir1, ir2); said first separate imaging ray (ir1) forming an image in a first image sensor (is1); temporally modulating a radiant flux of the second separate imaging ray (ir2) by the modulation signal (ms) and said modulated second separate imaging ray (ir2m) forming an image in a second image sensor (is2); normalizing a first scene image being an image of all points of the scene (S) formed in the first sensor (is1) and a second scene image formed in the second sensor (is2); and subtracting the first normalized scene image from the second normalized scene image. The proposed imaging using the random binary modulation signal distinguishes itself by a resistance to intentionally or unintentionally caused interferences. Hence the application is especially advantageous in machine vision appliances provided in an autonomous mobile robot or vehicle. The low radiant flux of the modulated lighting unit beam makes it possible to reduce the input power to a light source of the lighting unit hereby saving the energy and reducing lighting source costs.
23 Citations
12 Claims
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1. Active 3D triangulation-based imaging method comprising steps of:
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temporally modulating a radiant flux of a lighting unit beam by a binary modulation signal (ms);
illuminating a scene (S), which is illuminated by an ambient lighting (AL), by said modulated lighting unit beam (mlub);
splitting a ray (ir) imaging a point (SP) of the scene (S) into two separate imaging rays (ir1, ir2);
said first separate imaging ray (ir1) forming an image of the scene point (SP) in a first image sensor (is1);
temporally modulating a radiant flux of the second separate imaging ray (ir2) by the binary modulation signal (ms) and said modulated second separate imaging ray (ir2m) forming an image of the scene point (SP) in a second image sensor (is2);
normalizing a first scene image being an image of all points of the scene (S) formed in the first sensor (is1) and a second scene image being an image of all points of the scene (S) formed in the second sensor (is2); and
subtracting the first normalized scene image from the second normalized scene image. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. Active 3D triangulation-based imaging method comprising steps of:
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temporally modulating a radiant flux of a lighting unit beam by a binary modulation signal (ms);
illuminating a scene (S), which is illuminated by an ambient lighting (AL), by said modulated lighting unit beam (mlub);
forming two separate imaging rays (ir1′
, ir2′
) by deflecting a ray (ir) imaging a point (SP) of the scene (S) in the rhythm of the binary modulation signal (ms);
said first separate imaging ray (ir1′
) during an active signal state of the modulation signal (ms) forming a first image of the scene point (SP) in a first image sensor (is1);
said second separate imaging ray (ir2′
) during an inactive signal state of the modulation signal (ms) forming a second image of the scene point (SP) in a second image sensor (is2);
normalizing a first image being an image of all points of the scene (S) formed in the first sensor (is1) and a second image being an image of all points of the scene (S) formed in the second sensor (is2); and
subtracting the first normalized scene image from the second normalized scene image.
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8. Active 3D triangulation-based imaging method comprising steps of:
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temporally modulating a radiant flux of a lighting unit beam by a binary modulation signal (ms);
illuminating a scene (S), which is illuminated by an ambient lighting (AL), by said modulated lighting unit beam (mlub);
a ray (ir) imaging a point (SP) of the scene (S) during an inactive signal state of the modulation signal (ms) forming a first image of the scene point (SP) and during an active signal state of the modulation signal (ms) forming a second image of the scene point (SP), both said images being formed in the same image sensor (is;
sis);
normalizing a first scene image being an image of all points of the scene (S) formed in the image sensor (is;
sis) during an inactive signal state of the modulation signal (ms) and a second scene image being an image of all points of the scene (S) formed in the same image sensor (is;
isi) during an active signal state of the modulation signal (ms); and
subtracting the first normalized scene image from the second normalized scene image.
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9. Active 3D triangulation-based imaging device comprising:
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a lighting unit (lu) emitting a modulated lighting unit beam (mlub), which has been temporally modulated by a binary modulation signal (ms) and which together with an ambient lighting (AL) illuminates a scene (S);
a beam splitter (bs) splitting a ray (ir) imaging a point (SP) of the scene (S) into two separate imaging rays (ir1, ir2);
a beam modulator (bm) being controlled by the binary modulation signal (ms) to temporally modulate a radiant flux of the second separate imaging ray (ir2) to produce a modulated second separate imaging ray (ir2m);
a first image sensor (is1) forming an image of the scene point (SP) by means of the first separate imaging ray (ir1);
a second image sensor (is2) forming an image of the scene point (SP) by means of the modulated second separate imaging ray (ir2m);
a processing means (p, sp) for generating a signal (lucs) for controlling the lighting unit (lu), signals (iscs1, iscs2) for controlling the first image sensor (is1) and the second image sensor (is2), respectively, the binary modulation signal (ms) controlling the lighting unit (lu) and the beam modulator (bm), and normalizing a first scene image being an image of all points of the scene (S) formed in the first image sensor (is1) and a second scene image being an image of all points of the scene (S) formed in the second image sensor (is2), and subtracting the first normalized scene image from the second normalized scene image to obtain a final scene image.
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10. Active 3D triangulation-based imaging device comprising:
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a lighting unit (lu) emitting a modulated lighting unit beam (mlub), which has been temporally modulated by a binary modulation signal (ms) and which together with an ambient lighting (AL) illuminates a scene (S);
a micromirror (mm) which is driven by a digital micromirror driver (dmd) controlled by the binary modulation signal (ms) and forms two separate imaging rays (ir1′
, ir2′
) by deflecting a ray (ir) imaging a point (SP) of the scene (S);
a first image sensor (is1) forming an image of the scene point (SP) by means of the first separate imaging ray (ir1′
);
a second image sensor (is2) forming an image of the scene point (SP) by means of the second separate imaging ray (ir2′
);
a processing means (p, sp) for generating a signal (lucs) for controlling the lighting unit (lu), signals (iscs1, iscs2) for controlling the first image sensor (is1) and the second image sensor (is2), respectively, the binary modulation signal (ms) controlling the lighting unit (lu) and the digital micromirror driver (dmd), normalizing a first scene image being an image of all points of the scene (S) formed in the first image sensor (is1), and a second scene image being an image of all points of the scene (S) formed in the second image sensor (is2), and subtracting the first normalized scene image from the second normalized scene image to obtain a final scene image.
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11. Active 3D triangulation-based imaging device comprising:
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a lighting unit (lu) emitting a modulated lighting unit beam (mlub), which has been temporally modulated by a binary modulation signal (ms) and which together with an ambient lighting (AL) illuminates a scene (S);
an image sensor (is) forming an image of the scene point (SP) by means of a ray (ir) imaging a point (SP) of the scene (S);
a processing means (p, sp) for generating a signal (lucs) for controlling the lighting unit (lu), a signal (iscs′
) for controlling the image sensor (is),the binary modulation signal (ms) controlling the lighting unit (lu), accumulating a first scene image being an image of all points of the scene (S) formed in the image sensor (is) during inactive signal states of the binary modulation signal (ms) and a second scene image being an image of all points of the scene (S) formed in the image sensor (is) during active-signal states of the binary modulation signal (ms), normalizing the first scene image and the second scene image, and subtracting the first normalized scene image from the second normalized scene image to obtain a final scene image. - View Dependent Claims (12)
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Specification