Patents by Inventor Kaoru Kumagai

Kaoru Kumagai 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).

  • Publication number: 20140253689
    Abstract: A measuring instrument comprises an spherical camera (8) for acquiring image data over total circumference, a laser scanner (6, 7) installed integrally with the spherical camera and for acquiring point cloud data of the surroundings, a synchronous control unit (9) for controlling acquisition of data of the spherical camera and the laser scanner, a storage unit (12) for recording the image data and the point cloud data, an absolute scale acquiring means for acquiring an absolute scale for obtaining an absolute position of when images are photographed by the spherical camera, and a control arithmetic unit (10), wherein the control arithmetic unit calculates a 3D model based on the image data, the point cloud data, and the absolute position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 26, 2014
    Publication date: September 11, 2014
    Applicant: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON
    Inventors: Kaoru Kumagai, Hitoshi Otani, Naoto Kasori, You Sasaki, Jun Sasagawa, Nobuyuki Fukaya
  • Patent number: 8788154
    Abstract: A construction machine control system comprises a laser surveying instrument for projecting N-shaped beams in rotary irradiation, a construction machine operated within a predetermined range of the N-shaped beams, and an elevation angle detecting unit. The construction machine comprises a working mechanical unit for carrying out construction operation, a machine control device for controlling the working mechanical unit, and at least three beam detectors disposed at known positions with respect to reference position of the construction machine. The beam detectors detect the three fan beams and output result of photodetection. The elevation angle detecting unit obtains elevation angles of each of the beam detectors with respect to the laser surveying instrument based on result of photodetection of three fan beams from the beam detectors. The machine control device is configured to control tilting of the working mechanical unit based on the elevation angle obtained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2014
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON
    Inventors: Raymond M. O'Connor, Kaoru Kumagai, Jun-ichi Kodaira
  • Patent number: 8786834
    Abstract: An optical distance measuring apparatus which emits emission light from a light source to an object and receives reflection light from the object with a light-receiving unit, and performs distance measurement based on the emission light and the reflection light, the apparatus including a deflection mechanism provided in an optical path to an irradiation light axis from the light source to the object, the deflection mechanism configured to reflect the emission light to incline a direction of the emission light with respect to the emission light axis of the light source, wherein the deflection mechanism has an optically conjugate relationship with a predetermined position on the emission light axis or on the irradiation light axis, the predetermined position being closer to the object than the deflection mechanism when viewed from the light source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 29, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2014
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON
    Inventors: Kunihiro Hayashi, Kaoru Kumagai
  • Publication number: 20140111618
    Abstract: A three-dimensional measuring device includes a light source unit, a light projecting optical unit, a light receiving optical unit, a light receiving element, a scanning unit, an angle detector, an illumination light source unit, an image pickup unit and a control arithmetic unit. The control arithmetic unit comprises a distance data processing unit for controlling the scanning unit, for calculating a distance to the object to be measured based on a received light signal, and for calculating a three-dimensional data of the object based on a calculated distance and a detection signal from the angle detector, and an image data processing unit for acquiring an illuminated image and an unilluminated image, for acquiring a difference image based on both images, for detecting a retroreflective target based on the difference image and a detected intensity of a reflected light from the difference image, and for calculating a position of the target.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 10, 2013
    Publication date: April 24, 2014
    Applicant: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON
    Inventors: Kaoru Kumagai, Takahiro Inoue, Ken-ichiro Yoshino
  • Publication number: 20140074295
    Abstract: A construction machine control system comprises a laser surveying instrument for projecting a laser beam in rotary irradiation at constant speed and a construction machine for operating in a photodetection range of the laser beam, and in the construction machine control system, the construction machine comprises a working mechanical unit for carrying out construction operation, a machine control device for controlling the working mechanical unit, and at least three beam detectors which are disposed at known positions with respect to a device reference position of the construction machine and have a photodetector for receiving the laser beam and a direction of the construction machine is calculated based on photodetection timing of each of the beam detectors and the machine control device controls the working mechanical unit so that direction of the construction machine is set to a condition as required based on a result of calculation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 12, 2012
    Publication date: March 13, 2014
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOPCON
    Inventors: Kaoru Kumagai, Jun-ichi Kodaira, Raymond M. O'Connor
  • Publication number: 20140074361
    Abstract: A construction machine control system comprises a laser surveying instrument for projecting N-shaped beams in rotary irradiation, a construction machine operated within a predetermined range of the N-shaped beams, and an elevation angle detecting unit. The construction machine comprises a working mechanical unit for carrying out construction operation, a machine control device for controlling the working mechanical unit, and at least three beam detectors disposed at known positions with respect to reference position of the construction machine. The beam detectors detect the three fan beams and output result of photodetection. The elevation angle detecting unit obtains elevation angles of each of the beam detectors with respect to the laser surveying instrument based on result of photodetection of three fan beams from the beam detectors. The machine control device is configured to control tilting of the working mechanical unit based on the elevation angle obtained.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 12, 2012
    Publication date: March 13, 2014
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOPCON
    Inventors: Raymond M. O'Connor, Kaoru Kumagai, Jun-ichi Kodaira
  • Patent number: 8670130
    Abstract: The invention provides a laser scanner, comprising a main unit and a rotating unit rotatably mounted on the main unit, wherein the rotating unit has a deflection member for projecting the pulsed beams by deflecting the beams perpendicularly to center axis of the rotating unit. The main unit comprises a plurality of light emitting sources disposed in a two-dimensional arrangement for emitting a plurality of pulsed beams, an optical system for projecting and receiving the pulsed beams, a rotation angle detecting unit, a plurality of photodetectors for receiving a reflection light from an object via the deflection member and being disposed respectively at positions conjugate to the light emitting sources, a distance measuring unit for measuring a distance based on a photodetection signal from the photodetector, and a control arithmetic unit for calculating projecting directions of the pulsed laser beams projected from the deflection member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 11, 2014
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON
    Inventors: Fumio Ohtomo, Kaoru Kumagai, Minoru Chiba
  • Patent number: 8643828
    Abstract: A laser surveying instrument comprising a light source unit having two or more light emission sources for emitting pulsed distance measuring lights with different wavelengths, a light projecting unit for projecting the pulsed distance measuring lights with the two or more wavelengths on an optical axis, and a deflection member provided on the optical axis, is disclosed. The deflection member has two or more reflection surfaces which reflect each wavelength of the pulsed distance measuring lights independently, thereby dividing the pulsed distance measuring lights for every wavelength, and deflecting each of the distance measuring lights toward an object to be measured. The instrument comprises a single photodetection element for receiving reflected distance measuring lights from the object to be measured. In the laser surveying instrument, a measurement of distance is performed for every pulsed distance measuring light based on a photodetection signal produced by the photodetection element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2014
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON
    Inventors: Fumio Ohtomo, Kaoru Kumagai
  • Patent number: 8638449
    Abstract: A measuring device comprising a light source unit for projecting a pulsed distance measuring light, a projecting light optical system, a light receiving optical system for receiving a reflected pulsed distance measuring light, a light receiving part having a single photodetector, and a control unit for measuring a distance by measuring time from light emission of the pulsed distance measuring light to receipt of the reflected pulsed distance measuring light is disclosed. The light source unit has a plurality of light emitting sources arranged in a known relation and a driving unit for driving the light emitting sources at a predetermined time interval. The light receiving part has a reduced optical system arranged at position conjugate to the light emitting source for guiding the reflected pulsed distance measuring light to the photodetector. The control unit is designed to identify a photodetection signal by matching it with the light emitting source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2014
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON
    Inventors: Fumio Ohtomo, Kaoru Kumagai
  • Publication number: 20130321591
    Abstract: A photographing device comprises an image pickup unit to acquire a moving image and a still image of an object, an image pickup control unit, an angle sensor, an image processing unit for extracting characteristic points from a first still image, tracking the characteristic points in the moving image, identifying the characteristic points in a newest image and selecting an orientation point common to the first still image and the newest image, a storage unit, a display unit, and an arithmetic unit. The arithmetic unit performs relative orientation between the first still image and the newest image based on the orientation point and on detection result of the angle sensor, obtains a distance H to the object and a distance B between points where the images have been photographed and performs guidance display where still images can be acquired sequentially when the B/H value reaches a predetermined value or higher.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 29, 2013
    Publication date: December 5, 2013
    Inventors: Fumio Ohtomo, Hitoshi Otani, Tetsuji Anai, Kaoru Kumagai
  • Publication number: 20130284909
    Abstract: A rotation angle detecting apparatus comprises a shaft portion space formed in a rotation shaft, a bearing holder space, a first condenser lens, a second condenser lens to face the first condenser lens, a detection pattern provided at a focal position of one of the first condenser lens and the second condenser lens, an image sensor provided at a focal position of the other of the first condenser lens and the second condenser lens, and an arithmetic unit for calculating an angle displacement of the rotation shaft. The arithmetic unit carries out a total circumferential scanning, extracts a frequency component, carries out a scanning of a reference designation pattern, and calculates the angle displacement of the rotation shaft based on a phase difference of the frequency component and the number of frequencies corresponding to a change in a position of the reference designation pattern.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 23, 2013
    Publication date: October 31, 2013
    Applicant: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON
    Inventors: Fumio Ohtomo, Kaoru Kumagai, Tetsuji Anai, Kazuki Osaragi
  • Publication number: 20130152412
    Abstract: A laser surveying system comprises a leveling unit (3) having a motor for leveling, a light source unit (14) for emitting a laser beam, a light projecting optical system installed on the leveling unit and for projecting the laser beam, a power supply unit for supplying electric power to each of component sites, a control unit (7) for driving and controlling each of the component sites, a storage unit (26), a tilt detecting means (11) installed on the leveling unit and used for detecting leveling conditions, a rotation number detecting means (13) for detecting number of rotations of the motor, a light source detecting means (16a and 16b) for detecting light emitting condition of the light source unit, a voltage detecting means (24) for detecting output voltage of the power source unit, and an abnormality detecting means for detecting operational abnormality, and in the laser surveying system, the control unit monitors whether there is abnormality or not by the abnormality detecting means, samples a detection s
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 12, 2011
    Publication date: June 20, 2013
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOPCON
    Inventors: Kaoru Kumagai, Jun-ichi Kodaira
  • Patent number: 8412418
    Abstract: An industrial machine comprises an industrial machine main unit, a construction working implement installed on the industrial machine main unit, two cameras each mounted at a known position with respect to a machine center of the industrial machine main unit, at least three targets 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. The arithmetic processing device is used 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: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2013
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON
    Inventors: Kaoru Kumagai, Atsushi Tanahashi, Hitoshi Otani
  • Publication number: 20130003040
    Abstract: An electronic distance measuring instrument comprises a pulsed light emitting light source, means for creating a distance measuring pulsed light and an internal reference pulsed light, a photodetector for detecting the pulsed lights, and a measuring unit for calculating a distance to an object to be measured based on a photodetection signal. The measuring unit performs coarse distance measurement based on difference of photodetection time between the internal reference pulsed light and the distance measuring pulsed light, carries out Fourier function transform on photodetection waveform of the pulsed lights respectively, separates the waveforms to a plurality of frequency components, obtains phase difference for each of the frequency components acquired, performs fine distance measurement based on time difference acquired from phase difference, and measures a distance to the object by adding a result of coarse distance measurement to a result of fine distance measurement.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 20, 2012
    Publication date: January 3, 2013
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOPCON
    Inventors: Ken-ichiro Yoshino, Kaoru Kumagai, Mitsuru Kanokogi, Masae Matsumoto
  • Patent number: 8321167
    Abstract: The present invention provides a surveying instrument, which comprises rotating units operated rotatably, supporting units to support the rotating units, a reflection mirror portion provided on one of the supporting unit or the rotating unit, tilt sensors arranged on the other of the supporting unit and the rotating unit and for projecting a detecting light and for detecting a relative tilting of the reflection surface of the reflection mirror portion with respect to the supporting unit by receiving the detecting light reflected by the reflection mirror portion, and a control unit for calculating an unsteadiness of rotation of the rotating unit based on a signal from the tilt sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 24, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2012
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON
    Inventors: Yasuhito Haijima, Kaoru Kumagai
  • Patent number: 8294769
    Abstract: A surveying device, comprising a first image pickup unit for projecting a laser beam and for receiving a reflection light from a target, a second image pickup unit for acquiring an image including the target, drive units for shifting collimating directions of the image pickup units, an image processing unit for processing images taken by the image pickup units, and a control arithmetic unit for controlling the drive units so that the image pickup units are directed toward the target is disclosed. The image processing of the image by the first image pickup unit is a light spot detection processing. The image processing of the image by the second image pickup unit is an image matching with a template image. The control arithmetic unit controls the drive units so that the target is tracked based on the result of the light spot detection processing or the image matching.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2012
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON
    Inventors: Hitoshi Otani, Kaoru Kumagai
  • Publication number: 20120242830
    Abstract: A survey apparatus includes a guide light emitting optical system emitting a fan-like visible laser light elongated in upward and downward directions as a guide light, a cylindrical part having a scanning optical system searching a corner reflector provided on a survey pole and a ranging optical system measuring a distance to the corner reflector, a driving part rotating the cylindrical part about a vertical axis in a horizontal direction and rotating the cylindrical part about a horizontal axis, and an angle measurement part measuring a direction of the cylindrical part. The guide light emitting optical system is rotated about the vertical axis in a horizontal direction integrally with the cylindrical part.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 23, 2012
    Publication date: September 27, 2012
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOPCON
    Inventors: Kaoru KUMAGAI, Minoru CHIBA
  • Publication number: 20120224164
    Abstract: An optical distance measuring apparatus which emits emission light from a light source to an object and receives reflection light from the object with a light-receiving unit, and performs distance measurement based on the emission light and the reflection light, the apparatus including a deflection mechanism provided in an optical path to an irradiation light axis from the light source to the object, the deflection mechanism configured to reflect the emission light to incline a direction of the emission light with respect to the emission light axis of the light source, wherein the deflection mechanism has an optically conjugate relationship with a predetermined position on the emission light axis or on the irradiation light axis, the predetermined position being closer to the object than the deflection mechanism when viewed from the light source.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 29, 2012
    Publication date: September 6, 2012
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOPCON
    Inventors: Kunihiro HAYASHI, Kaoru KUMAGAI
  • Publication number: 20120180564
    Abstract: A liquid container for use in an inclination detector includes a container body containing liquid forming a free surface and having a circumferential wall in a spherical form, in which the circumferential wall is formed so that a center of the circumferential wall and a center of the free surface coincide with each other.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 17, 2012
    Publication date: July 19, 2012
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOPCON
    Inventors: Fumio OHTOMO, Kaoru KUMAGAI
  • Publication number: 20120182418
    Abstract: An electronic level includes a wide-angle lens system having a two-dimensional imaging element configured to form thereon a picture image including an image of a level staff assigned with a code pattern, an extraction part configured to extract the image of the level staff from the picture image, a height-level measurement value calculation part configured to obtain a height-level measurement value indicated by a portion of the code pattern in the image of the level staff extracted by the extraction part, the portion of the code pattern located at a collimation optical axis of the wide-angle lens system, and a calculation part configured to calculate a collimation height from the height-level measurement value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 11, 2012
    Publication date: July 19, 2012
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOPCON
    Inventors: Kaoru KUMAGAI, Minoru CHIBA, Jun ABE