High throughput and low cost height triangulation system and method

A triangulation system comprising an area camera, a communication interface, a first image processing module, a second image processing module;

• wherein the area camera is arranged to obtain, at an acquisition rate, a stream of images of illuminated regions of an object;
• wherein the area camera is prevented from performing height calculations;
• wherein the communication interface is arranged to convey, in real time thereby in correspondence to the acquisition rate, the stream of images from the area camera to the first image processing module;
• wherein the first image processing module is arranged to process, in real time, the stream of images to provide first compressed information;
• wherein the second image processing module is arranged to process, at a non-real time image processing rate, the first compressed information to provide height information indicative of heights of at least the illuminated regions of the object, by
• (a) calculating second estimates of heights of the illuminated regions;
• (b) calculating at least attribute out of shape attributes and size attributes of the pixel intensity distributions, the shape and size attributes differ from the locations of the peaks.

A triangulation method comprising:

• obtaining by an area camera, at an image acquisition rate, a stream of images of illuminated regions of an object;
• wherein the area camera is prevented from performing height calculations;
• conveying over a communication interface, in real time thereby in correspondence to the image acquisition rate, the stream of images from the area camera to a first image processing module;
• real-time processing by the first image processing module, the stream of images to provide first compressed information;
• wherein the real-time processing of the stream of images comprises:
• calculating first estimates of heights of the illuminated regions that are responsive to locations of peaks of pixel intensity distributions that are associated with radiation from the illuminated regions;
• and calculating at least one attribute out of shape attributes and size attributes of the pixel intensity distributions, the shape and size attributes differ from the locations of the peaks;
• wherein the first compressed information comprises the first estimates and the at least one attribute;
• and
• non-real-time processing by a second image processing module the first compressed information to provide height information indicative of heights of at least the illuminated regions of the object.

A triangulation method comprising:

• obtaining by an area camera, at an image acquisition rate, a stream of images of illuminated regions of an object;
• wherein the area camera is prevented from performing height calculations;
• conveying over a communication interface, in real time thereby in correspondence to the image acquisition rate, the stream of images from the area camera to a first image processing module;
• real-time processing by the first image processing module, the stream of images to provide first compressed information;
• and
• non-real-time processing by a second image processing module the first compressed information to provide height information indicative of heights of at least the illuminated regions of the object;
• wherein the non-real time processing comprises:
• calculating second estimates of heights of the illuminated regions;
• and
• calculating at least attribute out of shape attributes and size attributes of the pixel intensity distributions, the shape and size attributes differ from the locations of the peaks.