Abstract: An observing apparatus includes a lighting device for irradiating a surface of a measuring target with light having a first light source distribution, and an imaging section for imaging the surface of the measuring target. Considering a first plane passing through a measurement point, the first light source distribution is set such that: (1) a radiance L11(?) changes in a continuous or stepwise manner according to an angle ?, and (2) the radiance L11(?) is not zero in a local region of a predetermined range of ±? having a point located at a predetermined angle ?c as a center on the first plane when viewed from the measurement point, and the following equation substantially holds for arbitrary a satisfying 0<a??; L11(?c?a)+L11(?c+a)=2×L11(?c).

Abstract: The present invention provides a digital image processing enhancing system and method with denoising function. The collected digital image is input; the obtained digital image is decomposed into an illumination image and a reflection image, and then the decomposed illumination image and the reflection image is processed, at last, the processed illumination image and the reflection image are composed into an output image, which is output to an output device. The present invention can improve the image quality, remove the noises of the image, remain details features of an object and obtain the natural visual effect.

Abstract: An observing apparatus includes a lighting device for irradiating a surface of a measuring target with light having a first light source distribution, and an imaging section for imaging the surface of the measuring target. Considering a first plane passing through a measurement point, the first light source distribution is set such that: (1) a radiance L11(?) changes in a continuous or stepwise manner according to an angle ?, and (2) the radiance L11(?) is not zero in a local region of a predetermined range of ±? having a point located at a predetermined angle ?c as a center on the first plane when viewed from the measurement point, and the following equation substantially holds for arbitrary a satisfying 0<a??; L11(?c?a)+L11(?c+a)=2×L11(?c).

Abstract: The present invention provides a digital image processing enhancing system and method with denoising function. The collected digital image is input; the obtained digital image is decomposed into an illumination image and a reflection image, and then the decomposed illumination image and the reflection image is processed, at last, the processed illumination image and the reflection image are composed into an output image, which is output to an output device. The present invention can improve the image quality, remove the noises of the image, remain details features of an object and obtain the natural visual effect.

Abstract: A profilometer for measuring a surface profile of a measuring target has a lighting device for irradiating the measuring target with light, an imaging device for imaging a reflected light from the measuring target, and a normal calculation section for calculating a normal direction of a surface at each position of the measuring target from an imaged image. The lighting device has a light emission region of a predetermined extent. A radiance of center of gravity of a light source distribution of a point symmetric region coincides with a radiance of the center of the point symmetric region in an arbitrary point symmetric region of the light emission region.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for observing vehicles on a road or in a parking lot comprises a pair of cameras directed toward a predetermined observation position simultaneously take pictures. A characteristic portion in each of the respective pictures is extracted. The extracted characteristic portions of the respective pictures are corresponded to the pictures, and the corresponded characteristic portion is measured in three-dimensions to extract the three-dimensional coordinates of the characteristic portions. The three-dimensional coordinates of the extracted characteristic portions are projected on a virtual perpendicular plane, and the projected data is compared with pre-determined two dimensional model data to discriminate the object.