Device and method for calibrating a light projector

A method for calibrating a light projector with adaptable light elements arranged in an image plane, comprising

• projecting, by a light projector, in temporal sequence at least two test images with at least two identical comparison structures in the form of visually concise structures to a projection surface during a spatial change of the light projector relative to the projection surface and while the relative positioning between the light projector and camera remains constant,
• capturing, by a depth camera, at least two camera images of a capturing surface synchronised in time with the light projector, the capturing surface substantially comprising the projection surface, detecting, by a control unit, a three-dimensional position data of the identical comparison structures in the camera images, wherein the control unit is configured to detect the three dimensional position data by:
• wherein the visually concise structures are selected from a group consisting of reticles and evenly spaced circles;
• wherein the control unit is configured to detect the three-dimensional position data by:
• i. determining the position and orientation of the light projector from the three-dimensional position data of the identical comparison structures relative to an initial position by comparing the determined coordinates of the light projector with a previously stored initial position, and
• ii. calculating the translational displacement and rotation between camera and projector.

A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored there on a computer program instructions for performing a method for calibrating the light projector with the adaptable light elements arranged in the image plane, comprising

• projecting, by a light projector, in temporal sequence at least two test images with at least two identical comparison structures in the form of visually concise structures to a projection surface during a spatial change of the light projector relative to the projection surface and while the relative positioning between the light projector and camera remains constant,
• capturing, by a depth camera, at least two camera images of a capturing surface synchronised in time with the light projector, the capturing surface substantially comprising the projection surface, detecting, by a control unit, a three-dimensional position data of the identical comparison structures in the camera images,
• wherein the control unit is configured to detect the three-dimensional position data by:
• i. determining the position and orientation of the light projector from the three-dimensional position data of the identical comparison structures relative to an initial position by comparing the determined coordinates of the light projector with a previously stored initial position, and
• ii. calculating the translational displacement and rotation between camera and projector.