Patents by Inventor Tetsuji Anai

Tetsuji Anai 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: 9541382
    Abstract: A rotation angle detecting apparatus comprises a bearing holder, a rotation shaft rotatably supported by the bearing holder, a shaft portion space formed in the rotation shaft, a bearing holder space formed in the bearing holder, an angle detection pattern in the shaft portion space, a reference pattern and an image sensor in the bearing holder space, an optical system which exists across the shaft portion space and the bearing holder space and forms a projection image of the angle detection pattern and a projection image of the reference pattern on the image sensor, a photodetection switching means for selectively projecting the projection images of the angle detection pattern and the reference pattern onto the image sensor, and an arithmetic device for calculating a rotation angle of the rotation shaft based on a deviation between the reference pattern and the angle detection pattern received by the image sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2017
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON
    Inventors: Fumio Ohtomo, Kaoru Kumagai, Tetsuji Anai, Kazuki Osaragi
  • Publication number: 20170004345
    Abstract: The efficiency of the work for identifying reference points that are included in photographed images is improved. Targets are located and are photographed from short distances, and the positions of the targets are measured. A 3D reference point model is generated by using the measured positions of the targets as apexes. Then, the positions of the targets that are detected from images taken by a UAV from the air are calculated from a three-dimensional model that are generated by the principle of the stereoscopic three-dimensional measurement, whereby a 3D relative model constituted of a TIN is obtained. After a matching relationship between the 3D reference point model and the 3D relative model is identified, the positions of the targets in the 3D relative model are estimated based on the identified matching relationship, and the positions of the reference points in the images taken from the UAV are estimated.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 29, 2016
    Publication date: January 5, 2017
    Applicant: TOPCON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takeshi SASAKI, Tetsuji ANAI, Hitoshi OTANI, Nobuo KOCHI
  • Patent number: 9409656
    Abstract: An aerial photographing system, comprising a flying vehicle being remotely controlled, a camera (7, 8) tiltably supported in any direction via a gimbal (25), a retro-reflector (9) tilting integrally with the camera, being set in a known relation with the camera and used as an object to be measured, and a total station (3) for tracking the retro-reflector and for measuring position of the retro-reflector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2016
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON
    Inventors: Fumio Ohtomo, Hitoshi Otani, Kazuki Osaragi, Tetsuji Anai
  • Publication number: 20160217589
    Abstract: A technique for making multiple still images, which are photographed by a traveling mobile body, and the traveled route of the photographing correspond to each other, is obtained. A survey data processing device includes an input unit 101, an image processing unit 102, and a synchronous processing unit 103. The input unit 101 is configured to receive image data of multiple still images, which are photographed from a mobile body flying, and receive flight data, in which a flight route of the mobile body is measured. The image processing unit 102 is configured to estimate a flight route of the mobile body based on changes in positions of feature points included in the multiple still images on a screen. The synchronous processing unit 103 is configured to specify a matching relationship between the flight route of the flight data and the estimated flight route.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 28, 2016
    Publication date: July 28, 2016
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOPCON
    Inventors: Daisuke Sasaki, Nobuyuki Fukaya, Hitoshi Ootani, Tetsuji Anai, Takeshi Sasaki
  • Publication number: 20160217582
    Abstract: The efficiency of work for identifying reference points included in photographed images is improved. A survey data processing device includes a data receiving unit 103 that receives data of two still images, an operation information receiving unit 104 that receives a selection of reference points among multiple reference points which are included in both of the two still images and have known location information, an exterior orientation parameter calculating unit 106 that calculates exterior orientation parameters of a camera, a coordinate integrating unit 110 for obtaining an integrated coordinate system for describing both the locations of an unselected reference point and the camera, a back-projected image generating unit 111 for generating a back-projected image by back-projecting the unselected reference point in the integrated coordinate system, and a target position estimating unit 112 that estimates a position of the unselected reference point in a still image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 27, 2016
    Publication date: July 28, 2016
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOPCON
    Inventors: Takeshi SASAKI, Tetsuji ANAI, Hitoshi OOTANI, Nobuo KOCHI
  • Publication number: 20160219215
    Abstract: An operation burden in confirming a corresponding relationship between multiple still images and a traveled route is reduced. A survey data processing device includes a storing unit 106 and a UI controlling unit 105. The storing unit 105 stores survey data, in which image data of multiple still images that are photographed from a mobile body while flying is correlated with a flight route of the mobile body. The UI controlling unit 105 displays the flight route and at least one of the multiple still images on a screen. The displayed flight route and the displayed still image are displayed on the same screen at the same time in a condition in which a corresponding relationship between the flight route and the multiple still images is determined, and a moving direction of the mobile body that photographed the displayed still image is indicated in the displayed still image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 27, 2016
    Publication date: July 28, 2016
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOPCON
    Inventors: Daisuke SASAKI, Nobuyuki FUKAYA, Hitoshi OOTANI, Kazuki OSARAGI, Takeshi SASAKI, Tetsuji ANAI
  • Patent number: 9228858
    Abstract: A rotation angle detecting apparatus 6 comprises a shaft portion space 4 formed in a rotation shaft 1, a bearing holder space 5 formed in a bearing holder 3, a first condenser lens 7 accommodated in the shaft portion space, a second condenser lens 8 provided in the bearing holder space and provided to face the first condenser lens, a detection pattern 11 provided at a focal position of one of the first condenser lens and the second condenser lens, an image sensor 12 provided at a focal position of the other of the first condenser lens and the second condenser lens, and an arithmetic unit 14 for calculating an angle displacement of the rotation shaft based on a signal from the image sensor, wherein the detection pattern has an angle detection pattern 26 in which bar-like line segments extending in a radial direction are arranged at a predetermined angle pitch and a ring-like track is formed by bar-like line segments, and a reference designation pattern 27 for indicating a reference position of the angle detect
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2016
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON
    Inventors: Fumio Ohtomo, Kaoru Kumagai, Tetsuji Anai, Kazuki Osaragi
  • Patent number: 9171225
    Abstract: Three-dimensional coordinates of feature points of an object to be measured are back-projected to a frame image photographed from a specific position, and image coordinates of the back-projected feature points and the feature points in this frame image are compared. In this case, the feature points, which are mismatched, are removed as feature points which are mistracked between plural frames. In this case, two processing systems, of which initial conditions of calculation for obtaining the back-projected coordinates are different from each other, are performed, and the detection of the above mistracked points is performed on each of the two back-projected coordinates. The mistracked points detected in at least one of the processing systems are removed, and are not succeeded to the following processing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2015
    Assignee: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOPCON
    Inventors: Nobuyuki Fukaya, Tetsuji Anai, Nobuo Kochi, Hitoshi Otani
  • Patent number: 9158305
    Abstract: A remote control system comprises a mobile object, a remote controller for remotely controlling the mobile object, and a storage unit where background images to simulate a driving room or an operation room of the mobile object are stored. The mobile object has a stereo camera, a camera control unit for controlling image pickup direction of the stereo camera, and a first communication unit for communicating information including at least images photographed by the stereo camera. The remote controller has a second communication unit for communicating to and from the first communication unit, a control unit for controlling the mobile object, and a display unit for synthesizing at least a part of the images photographed by the stereo camera and the background images and for displaying the images so that a stereoscopic view can be displayed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2015
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON
    Inventors: Fumio Ohtomo, Kazuki Osaragi, Tetsuji Anai
  • Publication number: 20150108338
    Abstract: A rotation angle detecting apparatus 6 comprises a shaft portion space 4 formed in a rotation shaft 1, a bearing holder space 5 formed in a bearing holder 3, a first condenser lens 7 accommodated in the shaft portion space, a second condenser lens 8 provided in the bearing holder space and provided to face the first condenser lens, a detection pattern 11 provided at a focal position of one of the first condenser lens and the second condenser lens, an image sensor 12 provided at a focal position of the other of the first condenser lens and the second condenser lens, and an arithmetic unit 14 for calculating an angle displacement of the rotation shaft based on a signal from the image sensor, wherein the detection pattern has an angle detection pattern 26 in which bar-like line segments extending in a radial direction are arranged at a predetermined angle pitch and a ring-like track is formed by bar-like line segments, and a reference designation pattern 27 for indicating a reference position of the angle detect
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 23, 2014
    Publication date: April 23, 2015
    Inventors: Fumio Ohtomo, Kaoru Kumagai, Tetsuji Anai, Kazuki Osaragi
  • Patent number: 9013576
    Abstract: An aerial photographing image pickup method comprises a step of making a flying object fly meanderingly, a step of taking the image at each vertex where a direction is changed in the meandering flight, a step of extracting feature points from a common overlay portion of the images taken from at least three adjacent vertices, a step of determining two images of two vertices in the images as one set and acquiring positional information of the two vertices by a GPS device for each set regarding at least two sets, a step of performing photogrammetry of the measuring points corresponding to the feature points based on positional information and based on the feature points of the two images and a step of determining the feature points when the surveying results of the measuring points coincide with each other in at least the two sets as tie points for image combination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2015
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON
    Inventors: Fumio Ohtomo, Kazuki Osaragi, Tetsuji Anai, Hitoshi Otani
  • Patent number: 9007461
    Abstract: The aerial photograph image pickup method comprises a first step of acquiring still images along an outward route and a return route respectively, a second step of preparing a stereo-image with regard to three images adjacent to each other in advancing direction, and of preparing another stereo-image by relative orientation on one more set of adjacent images and of preparing two sets of stereo-images, a third step of connecting two sets of stereo-images by using feature points extracted from a portion of an image common to the two sets of stereo-images, a step of connecting all stereo-images in the outward route direction and in the return route direction according to images acquired in the first step by repeating the second and third steps, and a step of selecting common tie points from the images adjacent to each other in the adjacent course and connecting the adjacent stereo-images in the course.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2015
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON
    Inventors: Fumio Ohtomo, Hitoshi Otani, Kazuki Osaragi, Tetsuji Anai
  • Patent number: 8953933
    Abstract: Aerial photogrammetry is provided by using two or more flying vehicles, each equipped with a GPS device and an image pickup unit. This method comprises setting up two or more photographing points and setting up a photographing point area, respectively, with each of the photographing points as the center, measuring a position of the flying vehicle by the GPS device, a step where each of the flying vehicle reaches each corresponding photographing point area and maintains the position of the photographing point area, acquiring a time when the flying vehicle finally reaches the photographing point area, setting up a shutter timing time after a predetermined time from the moment when the flying vehicle has finally reached the photographing point area, and taking aerial photographs by the two or more flying vehicles at the shutter timing time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 10, 2015
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON
    Inventors: Fumio Ohtomo, Hitoshi Otani, Kazuki Osaragi, Tetsuji Anai
  • Patent number: 8937278
    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: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 20, 2015
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON
    Inventors: Fumio Ohtomo, Kaoru Kumagai, Tetsuji Anai, Kazuki Osaragi
  • Patent number: 8836930
    Abstract: A rotation angle detecting apparatus comprises a bearing holder, a rotation shaft rotatably supported by said bearing holder, a shaft portion space formed in said rotation shaft, a bearing holder space formed in said bearing holder, a first condenser lens in said shaft portion space and having an optical axis that coincides with a center line of said rotation shaft, a second condenser lens in said bearing holder space and on an extension of a center line of said rotation shaft, an angle detection pattern at a focal position of one of said first and said second condenser lens, and an image sensor at a focal position of the other of said condenser lens, wherein said image sensor detects a projection image of said angle detection pattern projected onto said image sensor, and a displacement of said projection image involved by the rotation of said rotation shaft is detected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2014
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON
    Inventors: Kaoru Kumagai, Tetsuji Anai, Kazuki Osaragi, Fumio Ohtomo
  • Publication number: 20140240498
    Abstract: An aerial photographing system, comprising a flying vehicle being remotely controlled, a camera (7, 8) tiltably supported in any direction via a gimbal (25), a retro-reflector (9) tilting integrally with the camera, being set in a known relation with the camera and used as an object to be measured, and a total station (3) for tracking the retro-reflector and for measuring position of the retro-reflector.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 25, 2014
    Publication date: August 28, 2014
    Applicant: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON
    Inventors: Fumio Ohtomo, Hitoshi Otani, Kazuki Osaragi, Tetsuji Anai
  • Patent number: 8811718
    Abstract: A position measurement method includes an exterior orientation parameter correcting step S11 for correcting exterior orientation parameters calculated in a step S10, based on difference between photographing timing of an image and obtaining timing of a photographing position and/or a photographing posture measured outside, a bundle-adjusting step S12 for simultaneously adjusting a bundle of the exterior orientation parameters of one or more images and three-dimensional coordinates of characteristic points, based on the exterior orientation parameters corrected by the step S11, a three-dimensional coordinate calculating step S13 for calculating three-dimensional coordinates of characteristic points subsequently detected in an area in which the density of the characteristic points is decreased, based on the exterior orientation parameters adjusted bundle thereof, and a repeating step for repeating processing from the steps S10 to S13 until the image becomes a final image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2014
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Topcon
    Inventors: Tetsuji Anai, Nobuo Kochi, Nobuyuki Fukaya
  • Publication number: 20140119716
    Abstract: The invention provides aerial photogrammetry by using two or more flying vehicles, each equipped with a GPS device and an image pickup unit, comprising a step of setting up two or more photographing points and setting up a photographing point area, respectively, with each of the photographing points as the center, a step of measuring a position of the flying vehicle by the GPS device, a step where each of the flying vehicle reaches each corresponding photographing point area and maintains the position of the photographing point area, a step of acquiring a time when the flying vehicle finally reaches the photographing point area, a step of setting up a shutter timing time after a predetermined time from the moment when the flying vehicle has finally reached the photographing point area, and a step of taking aerial photographs by the two or more flying vehicles at the shutter timing time.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 22, 2013
    Publication date: May 1, 2014
    Applicant: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON
    Inventors: Fumio Ohtomo, Hitoshi Otani, Kazuki Osaragi, Tetsuji Anai
  • Patent number: 8630755
    Abstract: The invention provides an automatic taking-off and landing system, comprising a flying object and a taking-off and landing target, wherein the flying object has an image pickup device 21 for taking images found in downward direction, navigation means 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 and 11, and a control unit for processing images acquired by the image pickup device and for controlling the navigation means, and wherein the control unit calculates a positional relation between the taking-off and landing target and the flying object based on the image of the taking-off and landing target as acquired by the image pickup device and controls taking-off and landing operations of the flying object based on a result of the calculation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2014
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON
    Inventors: Fumio Ohtomo, Kazuki Osaragi, Tetsuji Anai, Hitoshi Otani
  • 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