Patents by Inventor Hitoshi Otani

Hitoshi Otani has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 7747150
    Abstract: An image processing device is provided that can precisely measure the photographing position or posture of a photographing device or the coordinates of an object based on sequentially changing photographed images. A series of sequentially photographed images are acquired, from which feature points are extracted. The feature points are tracked and correlated. Stereo images are selected from the series of photographed images correlated. Images selectable as stereo images are grouped into a group of images, from which stereo images are selected, before an orientation and a 3D measurement are performed. The images are grouped according to the distance from the object to the photographing position or the photographing magnification. Images with abrupt changes are removed so as to improve the measurement precision.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 29, 2010
    Assignee: Topcon Corporation
    Inventors: Tetsuji Anai, Nobuo Kochi, Hitoshi Otani
  • Patent number: 7747151
    Abstract: An image processing device is provided that can precisely measure the photographing position or posture of a photographing device or the coordinates of an object based on sequentially changing photographed images. A series of sequentially photographed images are acquired, from which feature points are extracted. The feature points are tracked and correlated to each other. Stereo images are selected from the series of photographed images correlated, and subjected to an orientation and a 3D measurement. The error range of corresponding points obtained by the 3D measurement is calculated. Based on the calculated error range, it is determined whether or not the corresponding points are appropriate for 3D measurement. Those corresponding points determined as inappropriate are deleted. Another orientation and another 3D measurement are performed using those corresponding points excluding the deleted ones, thus improving the measurement precision.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 29, 2010
    Assignee: Topcon Corporation
    Inventors: Nobuo Kochi, Tetsuji Anai, Hitoshi Otani
  • Patent number: 7746377
    Abstract: A three-dimensional image display apparatus is provided that can integrate and visualize 3D measurement data obtained from a stereo image with an image of a measuring object to which stereoscopic texture is applied. The apparatus includes: an orientation section for finding relationship as to corresponding points in a stereo image of a measuring object; a three-dimensional coordinate data section for obtaining three-dimensional coordinate data on the corresponding points of the measuring object; a model forming section for forming a model of the measuring object based on the three-dimensional coordinate data on the corresponding points; an image correlating section for correlating the stereo image of the measuring object stored in the stereo image data storage section and the model formed by the model forming section; and a model display section for displaying an image of the measuring object to which stereoscopic texture is applied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 24, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 29, 2010
    Assignee: Topcon Corporation
    Inventors: Tadayuki Ito, Hitoshi Otani, Nobuo Kochi
  • Patent number: 7726033
    Abstract: There are provided a telescope unit (5) having a first image pickup unit for acquiring a wide-angle image and a second image pickup unit for acquiring a telescopic image with higher magnification than the wide-angle image, a distance measuring unit for performing distance measurement by projecting a distance measuring light and by receiving a light reflected from an object to be measured, an angle measuring unit for detecting a horizontal angle and a vertical angle of the telescope unit, a drive unit for rotating and driving the telescope unit in a horizontal direction and in a vertical direction, and a control device for controlling image pickup of the first image pickup unit and the second image pickup unit and for controlling the drive unit based on the results of detection from the angle measuring unit, wherein the control device synthesizes a panoramic image by connecting the wide-angle image obtained by the first image pickup unit, sets up a scheduled measuring point by edge processing of the wide-angle
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2010
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON
    Inventors: Fumio Ohtomo, Hitoshi Otani, Junki Kaneko, Tetsuji Anai, Terukazu Nagashima
  • Publication number: 20100121540
    Abstract: The present invention provides an industrial machine, which comprises an industrial machine main unit 14, a construction working implement 8 installed on the industrial machine main unit, two cameras 18 and 19 each mounted at a known position with respect to a machine center of the industrial machine main unit, at least three targets 21 being installed on the working implement so that the targets are within visual field of each of the two cameras, and an arithmetic processing device 23 for extracting the images of at least three targets in common to the images from stereo-images taken by the two cameras, for obtaining a three-dimensional position of each target image, and for calculating a position and a posture of the working implement with respect to the industrial machine main unit based on the three-dimensional position obtained.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 11, 2009
    Publication date: May 13, 2010
    Inventors: Kaoru Kumagai, Atsushi Tanahashi, Hitoshi Otani
  • Patent number: 7711180
    Abstract: The present invention provides a three-dimensional image measuring apparatus and method capable of measuring projections and depressions on a surface of an object with fine precision, as well as ensuring stable convergence, even for stereo images with significant project distortion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 4, 2010
    Assignee: Topcon Corporation
    Inventors: Tadayuki Ito, Hitoshi Otani, Nobuo Kochi
  • Patent number: 7671998
    Abstract: A measuring method, comprising a step of drawing a line on a surface such as ground surface, a step of performing measurement along the line on a predetermined measurement range including the line, a step of acquiring an image of a range including the predetermined measurement range as an image data, a step of superimposing the image data on a measurement data, and a step of calculating a measurement data of the line from line position in the image data and from the measurement data near the line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 2, 2010
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON
    Inventors: Fumio Ohtomo, Hitoshi Otani
  • Publication number: 20100007739
    Abstract: The present invention provides a surveying device, comprising a first image pickup unit 11 for projecting a laser beam and for receiving a reflection light from a target supported by a support member, a second image pickup unit 12 for acquiring an image including the target and with a field angle wider than a field angle of the first image pickup unit, drive units 15 and 17 for shifting collimating directions of the first image pickup unit and the second image pickup unit in a horizontal direction and in a vertical direction respectively, an image processing unit 24 for processing images taken by the first image pickup unit and by the second image pickup unit, and a control arithmetic unit 22 for controlling said drive units so that the first image pickup unit and the second image pickup unit are directed toward the target based on the image processing of the image taken by the first image pickup unit and on the image processing of the image taken by the second image pickup unit, wherein the image processing
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 22, 2009
    Publication date: January 14, 2010
    Inventors: Hitoshi Otani, Kaoru Kumagai
  • Publication number: 20090241358
    Abstract: There are provided a telescope unit (5) having a first image pickup unit for acquiring a wide-angle image and a second image pickup unit for acquiring a telescopic image with higher magnification than the wide-angle image, a distance measuring unit for performing distance measurement by projecting a distance measuring light and by receiving a light reflected from an object to be measured, an angle measuring unit for detecting a horizontal angle and a vertical angle of the telescope unit, a drive unit for rotating and driving the telescope unit in a horizontal direction and in a vertical direction, and a control device for controlling image pickup of the first image pickup unit and the second image pickup unit and for controlling the drive unit based on the results of detection from the angle measuring unit, wherein the control device synthesizes a panoramic image by connecting the wide-angle image obtained by the first image pickup unit, sets up a scheduled measuring point by edge processing of the wide-angle
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 18, 2008
    Publication date: October 1, 2009
    Inventors: Fumio Ohtomo, Hitoshi Otani, Junki Kaneko, Tetsuji Anai, Terukazu Nagashima
  • Publication number: 20090225161
    Abstract: The present invention provides a geographical data collecting device, which comprises a distance measuring unit 5 for projecting a distance measuring light and for measuring a distance to an object to be measured, an image pickup unit 3 for taking an image in a measuring direction, a display unit 6 for displaying an image picked up, a touch panel installed to match a position of screen of the display unit, a tilt sensor 11 for detecting a tilting, an azimuth sensor 12 for detecting a horizontal angle in the measuring direction, and a control arithmetic unit 8, wherein the image pickup unit takes an image of a measurement range, acquires a reference image, is directed to a selected measuring point in the reference image, and acquires a measured image with the measuring point as a center, and wherein said control arithmetic unit calculates the measuring point in the reference image through an image matching of the reference image and the measured image and displays a measuring point on at least one of the refer
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 24, 2009
    Publication date: September 10, 2009
    Inventors: Hitoshi Otani, Mitsutaka Nakamura
  • Publication number: 20090222237
    Abstract: The present invention provides a geographical data collecting device, comprising a distance measuring unit 5 for projecting a distance measuring light and for measuring a distance to an object to be measured, and an image pickup unit 3 for taking an image in a measuring direction, a display unit 6 for displaying an image picked up, a touch panel installed to match a position of screen of the display unit, a tilt sensor 11 for detecting a tilting in a measuring direction, an azimuth sensor 12 for detecting a horizontal angle in the measuring direction, and a control arithmetic unit 8, wherein the control arithmetic unit displays a scale to indicate horizontal and vertical lines on the display unit and controls the scale display so that the scale always indicates the horizontal and the vertical lines in the image based on a result of detection of tilting form the tilt sensor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 25, 2009
    Publication date: September 3, 2009
    Inventors: Hitoshi Otani, Mitsutaka Nakamura
  • Publication number: 20090175497
    Abstract: With apparatus and method for measuring in three dimensions by applying an estimating process to points corresponding to feature points in a plurality of motion image frames, high speed and high accuracy are realized. The apparatus comprises: a first track determining section (4B) that determines corresponding points of feature points extracted from frames of motion images and estimates by robust estimation a coordinate transformation projection parameters between frames using part of the determined corresponding points, a second track determining section (4C) that utilizes the estimated value to determine coordinate values of estimated location of each corresponding point, to determine residuals of the coordinate values relative to the estimated values for each corresponding point, to apply threshold process, and to exclude points of large residuals as incorrect corresponding points.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 2, 2008
    Publication date: July 9, 2009
    Inventors: Tetsuji ANAI, Nobuo KOCHI, Hitoshi OTANI
  • Publication number: 20090175498
    Abstract: To realize high speed and high precision with device and method of three-dimensional measurement by applying estimating process to points corresponding to feature points in a plurality of motion frame images. With the device and method of calculating location information through processes of choosing a stereo pair, relative orientation, and bundle adjustment and using corresponding points of feature points extracted from respective motion frame images, each process is made up of two stages. To the first process section (stages:5A and 6A), robust estimation is applied to determine estimated values of calculation parameters. In the second process section (stages:5B and 6B), corresponding points and stereo pair of large residual errors are excluded, and estimating calculation is carried out again to make measurements in three dimensions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 2, 2008
    Publication date: July 9, 2009
    Inventors: Nobuo KOCHI, Tetsuji ANAI, Hitoshi OTANI
  • Patent number: 7552025
    Abstract: A position data interpolation method, comprising: continuously taking digital images of scenes in the surrounding in a process of moving from a first point, which is a known point, via a second point, which is a known point, to a third point, which is an unknown point; generating tracking points from an image acquired at the first point, and sequentially specifying the tracking points through the pursuit of points generated on continuously acquired images; obtaining 3-dimensional position data of the tracking points based on a result of orientation of the tracking points at the first point and at the second point and based on position data of the first point and the second point; and sequentially obtaining a position of the third point based on a result of orientation of the tracking points acquired at the third point and based on 3-dimensional position data of the tracking points.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2009
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON
    Inventors: Fumio Ohtomo, Hitoshi Otani
  • Publication number: 20090099268
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide an anti-adhesion membrane that has no toxicity to a living body, has flexibility allowing itself to fit an affected part as a hydrated gel, is uniformly crosslinked, and is immediately absorbed in a living body after maintaining its shape in the living body for a certain period of time. The present invention provides anti-adhesion material, which comprises a thermally crosslinked gelatin film, and has a water content of 60 to 85% calculated by the following formula (1): water content (%)=[(Ws?Wd)/Ws]×100(%)??(1), in the formula (1), Ws representing a weight (wet weight) of the anti-adhesion material immersed in a phosphate buffered saline solution at a temperature of 25° C. for one hour, and Wd representing a weight (dry weight) of the anti-adhesion material dried completely using a vacuum drying apparatus.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 2, 2006
    Publication date: April 16, 2009
    Applicant: GUNZE LIMITED
    Inventors: Hitoshi Otani, Shojiro Matsuda, Tsuguyoshi Taira, Noriyuki Morikawa
  • Patent number: 7508980
    Abstract: A method for preparing stereo images by using a surveying instrument, which comprises an image pickup means for acquiring an image in a collimating direction, and a distance measuring and angle measuring means for measuring a distance and angle of a collimating point, comprising a step of measuring distances and angles on at least three collimating points by installing said surveying instrument at a known point, a step of measuring angles on the three collimating points by setting said surveying instrument at an unknown point, a step of calculating coordinates of the unknown point based on surveying data of the three collimating points, a step of acquiring images from each of the known point and the unknown point for at least one of said three collimating points, and a step of preparing stereo images from the images from the known point and the unknown point based on coordinate data of the known point, distance measurement data, and angle measurement data from the known point, and based on coordinate data and
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2009
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON
    Inventors: Hitoshi Otani, Tadayuki Ito
  • Publication number: 20090073602
    Abstract: A mark information is recorded in an area which is on a circumference of a magnetic disk corresponding to a last track in which a servo information write is ended or a track, which is one or two in front of the last track in which servo information is not written and the mark information is detected by returning a magnetic head in a radial direction of the magnetic disk by a fine movement stage after the magnetic head is moved to a next aimed track by a coarse movement stage. The servo information write position is detected by the magnetic head and the servo information is written in a servo information write position of a next track by positioning the magnetic head therein by using the fine movement stage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 4, 2008
    Publication date: March 19, 2009
    Inventors: Yoshihiro Sakurai, Hitoshi Otani, Kunihito Higa, Yukio Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 7479982
    Abstract: A device for measuring data for calibration for obtaining data for calibration of a camera 2 capable of varying its optical conditions, wherein the data for calibration are obtained using a plurality of images of a calibration chart 1 having marks arranged thereon which were photographed with the camera 1 under varied optical conditions, comprising: a mark extracting part 131 for extracting the marks from the images of the chart; an internal parameter calculating part 134 for calculating data for calibration under optical conditions under which the images of the chart were photographed based on the positions of the marks extracted by the mark extracting part and a plurality of conditions under which the images of the chart were photographed; and an internal parameter function calculating part 160 for calculating data for calibration corresponding to the varied optical photographing conditions of the camera 2, using the data for calibration calculated in the internal parameter calculating part and a plurality
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2003
    Date of Patent: January 20, 2009
    Assignee: Topcon Corporation
    Inventors: Hitoshi Otani, Nobuo Kochi, Takayuki Noma
  • Publication number: 20080095402
    Abstract: A position measurement device is provided that can precisely measure the photographing position or posture of a photographing device or the coordinates of an object based on sequentially changing photographed images.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 28, 2007
    Publication date: April 24, 2008
    Inventors: Nobuo Kochi, Tetsuji Anai, Hitoshi Otani, Hirokazu Sato
  • Publication number: 20080075326
    Abstract: There are provided a step of acquiring a main point cloud data on a predetermined measurement range by a laser scanner, a step of detecting a range with no data acquired, a step of acquiring a supplementary image data of the range with no data acquired by an auxiliary image pickup device, a step of preparing a stereoscopic image based on the supplementary image data obtained by the auxiliary image pickup device, a step of acquiring supplementary point cloud data from the stereoscopic image, and a step of supplementing the range with no data acquired of the main point cloud data by matching of the main point cloud data and the supplementary point cloud data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 4, 2007
    Publication date: March 27, 2008
    Inventors: Hitoshi Otani, Tadayuki Ito