Machine vision system and method for identifying locations of target elements

A system for determining, in a three dimensional coordinate system of a first optical device, locations of target elements within a field of view of the first optical device, the system comprising:

• the first optical device being configured to:
• capture an image of a first target element;
• generate an output (s, t) whereby (s, t) defines a two-dimensional location of the captured image of the first target element on sensors of the first optical device;
• a second optical device provided at a fixed location away from the first optical device, the second optical device being configured to:
• capture an image of the first target element;
• generate an output (u, v) whereby (u, v) defines a two-dimensional location of the captured image of the first target element on sensors of the second optical device;
• a computing device communicatively coupled to the first and second optical devices, the computing device being configured to translate the output (s, t) and the output (u, v) into positions in the three dimensional coordinate system of the first optical device by applying a predetermined traversing scheme together with the captured output (s, t) to a first calibration table and by applying the predetermined traversing scheme together with the captured output (u, v) to a second calibration table, wherein each of the calibration tables was pre-generated by, positioning an optical device associated with the calibration table at a plurality of calibration positions from a target screen comprising a plurality of target centers, whereby at each calibration position, for each target center of the plurality of target centers on the target screen, the associated optical device captures an image of the target centers and associates, in the calibration table, a two-dimensional location of the captured image of the target center on sensor of the optical device with a position of the target center relative to the optical device, the position being defined as a location in a three dimensional coordinate system of the optical device, whereby the location of the optical device is defined as a point of origin of a three dimensional coordinate system of the optical device.

A system for determining, in a first optical device's three dimensional coordinate system, locations of target elements within a field of view of the first optical device, the system comprising:

• the first optical device being configured to:
• capture an image of a first target element;
• generate an output (s, t) whereby (s, t) defines a two-dimensional location of the captured image of the first target element on sensors of the first optical device;
• a second optical device provided at a fixed location with reference to the first optical device, the second optical device being configured to:
• capture an image of a second target element, the second target element being provided at a location D.sub.T2 away from the first target element;
• generate an output (u, v) whereby (u, v) defines a two-dimensional location of the captured image of the second target element on sensors of the second optical device;
• a computing device communicatively coupled to the first and second optical devices, the computing device being configured to obtain a set of constraining rules from the captured images translate the output (s, t) and the output (u, v) into positions in the three dimensional coordinate system of the first optical device by applying a predetermined traversing scheme together with the captured output (s, t) and the set of constraining rules to a first calibration table and by applying the predetermined traversing scheme together with the captured output (u, v) to a second calibration table, wherein each of the calibration tables was pre-generated by, positioning an optical device associated with the calibration table at a plurality of calibration positions from a target screen comprising a plurality of target centers, whereby at each calibration position, for each target center of the plurality of target centers on the target screen, the associated optical device captures an image of the target center and associates, in the calibration table, a two-dimensional location of the captured image of the target center on a sensor of the optical device with a position of the target center relative to the associated optical device, the position being defined as a location in a three dimensional coordinate system of the optical device, whereby a location of the optical device is defined as a point of origin of the three dimensional coordinate system of the optical device.

A method for determining, in an optical device's three dimensional coordinate system, locations of target elements within the optical device's field of view, the optical device being communicatively coupled to a computing device, the method comprising:

• capturing, using the optical device, images of a first target element and a second target element, and obtain a set of constraining rules from the captured images;
• generating an output (s, t) whereby (s, t) defines a two-dimensional location of the captured image of the first target element on the optical device's sensors;
• generating an output (u, v) whereby (u, v) defines a two-dimensional location of the captured image of the second target element on the optical device's sensors;
• translating, using the computing device, the output (s, t) and the output (u, v) into positions in the optical device's three dimensional coordinate system by applying a predetermined traversing scheme together with the captured outputs (s, t), (u, v) and the set of constraining rules to a calibration table, wherein the calibration table was pre-generated by, positioning the optical device at a plurality of calibration positions from a target screen comprising a plurality of target centers, whereby at each calibration position, for each target center of the plurality of target centers on the target screen, the optical device:
• captures an image of the target center and associates, in the calibration table, a two-dimensional location of the captured image of the target center on the optical device's sensor with a position of the target center relative to the optical device, the position being defined as a location in the optical device's three dimensional coordinate system, whereby the optical device's location is defined as the optical device's three dimensional coordinate system's point of origin.

A method for determining, in a three dimensional coordinate system of a first optical device, locations of target elements within a field of view of the first optical device, the first optical device and a second optical device being communicatively coupled to a computing device, the method comprising:

• capturing, using the first optical device, an image of a first target element;
• generating an output (s, t) whereby (s, t) defines a two-dimensional location of the captured image of the first target element on sensors of the first optical device;
• capturing, using a second optical device provided at a location away from the first optical device, an image of the first target element;
• generating an output (u, v) whereby (u, v) defines a two-dimensional location of the captured image of the first target element on sensors on the second optical device;
• translating, using the computing device, the output (s, t) and the output (u, v) into positions in the three dimensional coordinate system of the first optical device by applying a predetermined traversing scheme together with the captured output (s, t) to a first calibration table and by applying the predetermined traversing scheme together with the captured output (u, v) to a second calibration table, wherein each of the calibration tables was pre-generated by, positioning an optical device associated with the calibration table at a plurality of calibration positions from a target screen comprising a plurality of target centers, whereby at each calibration position, for each target center of the plurality of target centers on the target screen, the optical device captures an image of the target center and associates, in the calibration table, a two-dimensional location of the captured image of the target center on an associated sensor of the optical device with a position of the target center relative to the optical device, the position being defined as a location in the three dimensional coordinate system of the optical device, whereby the location of the optical device is defined as point of origin the three dimensional coordinate system of the optical device.

A method for determining, in a three dimensional coordinate system of a first optical device, locations of target elements within field of view of the first optical device, the first optical device and a second optical device being communicatively coupled to a computing device, the method comprising:

• capturing, using the first optical device, an image of a first target element;
• generating an output (s, t) whereby (s, t) defines a two-dimensional location of the captured image of the first target element on sensors on a first optical device;
• capturing, using a second optical device provided at a fixed location with reference to the first optical device, an image of a second target element, the second target element being provided at a location D.sub.T2 away from the first target element;
• generating an output (u, v) whereby (u, v) defines a two-dimensional location of the captured image of the second target element on sensors of the second optical device;
• obtaining, using the computing device, a set of constraining rules from the captured images;
• and translating, using the computing device, the output (s, t) and the output (u, v) into positions in the three dimensional coordinate system of the first optical device by applying a predetermined traversing scheme together with the captured output (s, t) and the set of constraining rules to a first calibration table and by applying the predetermined traversing scheme together with the captured output (u, v) to a second calibration table, wherein each of the calibration tables was pre-generated by, positioning an optical device associated with the calibration table at a plurality of calibration positions from a target screen comprising a plurality of target centers, whereby at each calibration position, for each target center of the plurality of target centers on the target screen, the associated optical device captures an image of the target center and associates, in the calibration table, a two-dimensional location of the captured image of the target center on a sensor of the optical device with a position of the target center relative to the optical device, the position being defined as a location in the three dimensional coordinate system of the optical device, whereby the a location of the optical device is defined as a point of origin of a three dimensional coordinate system of the optical device.