# US 10,309,774 B2 · Surveying instrument and three-dimensional camera > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,309,774 B2 - Document ID: US10309774B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/115,805 - Filed: 2018-08-29 - Published: 2018-12-27 - Granted: 2019-06-04 - Earliest claimed: 2015-02-16 - Assignees: Topcon Corporation - Applicants: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON - Inventors: Fumio Ohtomo; Kaoru Kumagai - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10309774B2 ## CPC - G01C 3/08: Use of electric radiation detectors - G01C 1/04: combined with cameras - G01C 15/002: {Active optical surveying means (optical plumbing G01C15/105)} - G01S 7/4817: {relating to scanning} - G01S 17/86: Combinations of lidar systems with systems other than lidar, radar or sonar, e.g. with direction finders - G01S 17/89: for mapping or imaging - H04N 13/25: using two or more image sensors with different characteristics other than in their location or field of view, e.g. having different resolutions or colour pickup characteristics; using image signals from one sensor to control the characteristics of another sensor - G01C: MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; SURVEYING; NAVIGATION; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY (measuring liquid level G01F; radio navigation, determining distance or velocity by use of propagation effects, e.g. Doppler effects, propagation time, of radio waves, analogous arrangements using other waves G01S) - G01S: RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION ## Abstract The invention provides a surveying instrument, which comprises a first optical axis deflecting unit disposed on a projection optical axis of a distance measuring light for deflecting an optical axis of the distance measuring light at a deflection angle and in a direction as required, a second optical axis deflecting unit disposed on a light receiving optical axis for deflecting the reflected distance measuring light at the same deflection angle and in the same direction as the first optical axis deflecting unit and a projecting direction detecting unit for detecting a deflection angle and a deflecting direction by the first optical axis deflecting unit, wherein the distance measuring light is projected through the first optical axis deflecting unit and the reflected distance measuring light is received by the photodetection element through the second optical axis deflecting unit. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A three-dimensional camera in which a surveying instrument and an image pickup device are integrated, wherein said surveying instrument comprises; a light emitting element for emitting a distance measuring light, a distance measuring light projecting unit for projecting said distance measuring light, a light receiving unit for receiving a reflected distance measuring light, a photodetection element for receiving the reflected distance measuring light and for producing a photodetection signal and a distance measuring unit for performing a distance measurement based on a light receiving result from said photodetection element, wherein said surveying instrument further comprises a first optical axis deflecting unit disposed on a projection optical axis of said distance measuring light for deflecting an optical axis of said distance measuring light at a deflection angle as required and in a direction as required, a second optical axis deflecting unit disposed on a light receiving optical axis for deflecting the reflected distance measuring light at the same deflection angle and in the same direction as said first optical axis deflecting unit and a projecting direction detecting unit for detecting a deflection angle and a deflecting direction by said first optical axis deflecting unit, wherein it is so arranged that said distance measuring light is projected through said first optical axis deflecting unit and said reflected distance measuring light is received by said photodetection element through said second optical axis deflecting unit and a three-dimensional data of a measuring point is obtained based on a distance measuring result of said distance measuring unit and a detection result of said projecting direction detecting unit, wherein said image pickup device comprises an arithmetic processing unit, an image pickup optical axis capable of coinciding said projection optical axis with a center of an acquired image, and an image pickup element, wherein it is so arranged that said image is equal to or approximately equal to a deflection range of said first optical axis deflecting unit and said second optical axis deflecting unit and a position of each pixel of said image pickup element can be specified by a coordinate system with said image pickup optical axis as an origin point, said arithmetic processing unit enables said first optical axis deflecting unit to scan said deflection range by a distance measuring light and specifies said measuring point positioned on a scanning locus on said image, and acquired images having three-dimensional data per each pixel by associating three-dimensional data of said measuring point acquired by said surveying instrument with the position of said measuring point in said image acquired by said image pickup device. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The three-dimensional camera according to claim 1, wherein said distance measuring light projecting unit has a projection optical axis deflecting unit for coinciding said projection optical axis with said light receiving optical axis, wherein said first optical axis deflecting unit is provided at a central portion of said second optical axis deflecting unit and said distance measuring light is deflected by said projection optical axis deflecting unit and projected through said first optical axis deflecting unit. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The three-dimensional camera according to claim 1, wherein said first optical axis deflecting unit is composed by an overlapping pair of circular first optical prisms, said second optical axis deflecting unit is composed by an overlapping pair of circular second optical prisms, each of said first optical prisms is independently rotatable, each of said second optical prisms is independently rotatable and it is so arranged that one of said first optical prisms and one of said second optical prisms are rotated in synchronization with each other, and it is so arranged that the other of said first optical prisms and the other of said second optical prisms are rotated in synchronization with each other. ### Claim 4 (depends on 2) The three-dimensional camera according to claim 2, wherein said second optical axis deflecting unit is composed by the overlapping pair of optical prisms and it is so arranged that each of the optical prisms is independently rotatable. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The three-dimensional camera according to claim 1, wherein the optical prisms which compose said second optical axis deflecting unit are Fresnel prisms. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The three-dimensional camera according to claim 1, further comprising a posture detecting device, wherein said posture detecting device is capable of detecting a tilt angle and a tilting direction of said projection optical axis with respect to the horizontal and said arithmetic processing unit is arranged so as to correct a distance measuring result of said distance measuring unit based on a detection result of said posture detecting device. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The three-dimensional camera according to claim 1, further comprising a wide-angle camera having a field angle wider than said image pickup device, wherein an optical axis of said wide-angle camera and said image pickup optical axis are parallel and in a known relation, and it is so arranged that an object to be measured can be searched from an image for observation acquired by said wide-angle camera, or the object to be measured can be selected from said image for observation. ### Claim 8 (depends on 2) The three-dimensional camera according to claim 2, wherein the optical prisms which compose said second optical axis deflecting unit are Fresnel prisms. ### Claim 9 (depends on 3) The three-dimensional camera according to claim 3, wherein the optical prisms which compose said second optical axis deflecting unit are Fresnel prisms. ### Claim 10 (depends on 4) The three-dimensional camera according to claim 4, wherein the optical prisms which compose said second optical axis deflecting unit are Fresnel prisms. ### Claim 11 (depends on 2) The three-dimensional camera according to claim 2, further comprising a posture detecting device, wherein said posture detecting device is capable of detecting a tilt angle and a tilting direction of said projection optical axis with respect to the horizontal and said arithmetic processing unit is arranged so as to correct a distance measuring result of said distance measuring unit based on a detection result of said posture detecting device. ### Claim 12 (depends on 3) The three-dimensional camera according to claim 3, further comprising a posture detecting device, wherein said posture detecting device is capable of detecting a tilt angle and a tilting direction of said projection optical axis with respect to the horizontal and said arithmetic processing unit is arranged so as to correct a distance measuring result of said distance measuring unit based on a detection result of said posture detecting device. ### Claim 13 (depends on 4) The three-dimensional camera according to claim 4, further comprising a posture detecting device, wherein said posture detecting device is capable of detecting a tilt angle and a tilting direction of said projection optical axis with respect to the horizontal and said arithmetic processing unit is arranged so as to correct a distance measuring result of said distance measuring unit based on a detection result of said posture detecting device. ### Claim 14 (depends on 5) The three-dimensional camera according to claim 5, further comprising a posture detecting device, wherein said posture detecting device is capable of detecting a tilt angle and a tilting direction of said projection optical axis with respect to the horizontal and said arithmetic processing unit is arranged so as to correct a distance measuring result of said distance measuring unit based on a detection result of said posture detecting device. ### Claim 15 (depends on 8) The three-dimensional camera according to claim 8, further comprising a posture detecting device, wherein said posture detecting device is capable of detecting a tilt angle and a tilting direction of said projection optical axis with respect to the horizontal and said arithmetic processing unit is arranged so as to correct a distance measuring result of said distance measuring unit based on a detection result of said posture detecting device. ### Claim 16 (depends on 9) The three-dimensional camera according to claim 9, further comprising a posture detecting device, wherein said posture detecting device is capable of detecting a tilt angle and a tilting direction of said projection optical axis with respect to the horizontal and said arithmetic processing unit is arranged so as to correct a distance measuring result of said distance measuring unit based on a detection result of said posture detecting device. ### Claim 17 (depends on 10) The three-dimensional camera according to claim 10, further comprising a posture detecting device, wherein said posture detecting device is capable of detecting a tilt angle and a tilting direction of said projection optical axis with respect to the horizontal and said arithmetic processing unit is arranged so as to correct a distance measuring result of said distance measuring unit based on a detection result of said posture detecting device.