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US 2016/0102977 A1Published application
Surveying Instrument
AssigneeTopcon Corporation
InventorsTakeshi Ishida, Nobuyuki Nishita, Jumpei Kochi, Goro Iwasaki, Hiroyuki Nakabe
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AssigneeTopcon Corporation
InventorsTakeshi Ishida, Nobuyuki Nishita, Jumpei Kochi, Goro Iwasaki, Hiroyuki Nakabe
Estimating the term…
The invention provides a surveying instrument, which comprises a GNSS device, a frame unit rotatable in a horizontal direction, a telescope unit as mounted rotatably in a vertical direction on the frame unit, an image acquiring unit installed on the telescope unit, a driving unit for rotating and driving the frame unit and the telescope unit, a horizontal angle measuring unit for detecting a horizontal angle of the frame unit, a vertical angle measuring unit for detecting a vertical angle of the telescope unit, and a control device having a reference clock signal generating unit for producing a reference clock signal, wherein the control device produces a time signal to indicate a standard time from a signal acquired from the GNSS device, puts a time stamp on the time signal based on the reference clock signal, associates the time signal with the reference clock signal, measures a horizontal angle by the horizontal angle measuring unit at a moment when the telescope unit sights the sun and acquires an image signal by the image acquiring unit, puts a time stamp on the image signal based on the reference clock signal, calculates a standard time at a time of image acquisition based on a time stamp of the image signal and the reference clock signal, calculates an azimuth angle of the sun at the standard time based on a latitude and a longitude of a point where the surveying instrument is installed and a standard time at the time of image acquisition, and updates a horizontal angle as measured by the horizontal angle measuring unit by the azimuth angle.
A surveying instrument, comprising a GNSS device, a frame unit rotatable in a horizontal direction, a telescope unit as mounted rotatably in a vertical direction on said frame unit, an image acquiring unit installed on said telescope unit, a driving unit for rotating and driving said frame unit and said telescope unit, a horizontal angle measuring unit for detecting a horizontal angle of said frame unit, a vertical angle measuring unit for detecting a vertical angle of said telescope unit, and a control device having a reference clock signal generating unit for producing a reference clock signal, wherein said control device produces a time signal to indicate a standard time from a signal acquired from said GNSS device, puts a time stamp on said time signal based on said reference clock signal, associates said time signal with said reference clock signal, measures a horizontal angle by said horizontal angle measuring unit at a moment when said telescope unit sights the sun and acquires an image signal by said image acquiring unit, puts a time stamp on said image signal based on said reference clock signal, calculates a standard time at a time of image acquisition based on a time stamp of said image signal and said reference clock signal, calculates an azimuth angle of the sun at said standard time based on a latitude and a longitude of a point where said surveying instrument is installed and a standard time at the time of image acquisition, and updates a horizontal angle as measured by said horizontal angle measuring unit by said azimuth angle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.