Laser scanner

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10386485-B2
Application number	US-201615358359-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 22, 2016
Priority date	Dec 2, 2015
Publication date	Aug 20, 2019
Grant date	Aug 20, 2019

Abstract

The invention provides a laser scanner, which comprises a light projecting unit for irradiating a distance measuring light, a light receiving unit for receiving a reflected distance measuring light, a distance measuring unit for performing a distance measurement based on a light receiving signal, a rotary deflecting unit for performing a rotary irradiation of the distance measuring light, and an arithmetic control unit, wherein the arithmetic control unit has a light receiving intensity judging component and a threshold value setting component, a light receiving intensity which is obtained by scanning the distance measuring light is inputted in advance to the threshold value setting component from the light receiving intensity judging component, the threshold value setting component sets a threshold value for detecting light receiving corresponding to the light receiving intensity, and the arithmetic control unit acquires a light receiving signal based on the threshold value and performs a distance measurement.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A laser scanner comprising;
a light projecting unit for pulse-emitting a distance measuring light and for irradiating the distance measuring light,
a light receiving unit for receiving a reflected distance measuring light and for producing a light receiving signal, a distance measuring unit for performing a distance measurement based on a light receiving signal from said light receiving unit,
a rotary deflecting unit for deflecting said distance measuring light in a horizontal direction and for being rotated in a horizontal direction and in a vertical direction at a constant speed and for performing a rotary irradiation of said distance measuring light,
encoders for detecting a rotation angle of said rotary deflecting unit, and an arithmetic control unit for controlling said distance measuring unit and said rotary deflecting unit, for scanning said distance measuring light and for calculating three-dimensional data of a measuring point based on a light receiving signal from said light receiving unit,
wherein said arithmetic control unit has a light receiving intensity judging component and a threshold value setting component, a peak value of a light receiving intensity, which is obtained by scanning said distance measuring light in a measurement range as set in advance, is inputted to said threshold value setting component from said light receiving intensity judging component, said threshold value setting component sets a threshold value for detecting light receiving as associated with said measurement range corresponding to the peak value of said light receiving intensity, and said arithmetic control unit acquires a light receiving signal based on said threshold value and performs a distance measurement.

2. A laser scanner according to claim 1 , further comprising encoders for detecting a rotation angle and a reference position of said rotary deflecting unit, a signal processing component for converting a signal from said encoder to an angle signal of a rectangular wave and a reference signal, a clock signal generating component for issuing a clock signal, an angle counter for counting said rectangular wave from said reference signal and a clock counter for counting said clock signal, wherein an angle calculating component counts said rectangular wave and said clock signal respectively with reference to said reference signal, obtains a count number of said rectangular wave at a moment when a light receiving intensity of said reflected distance measuring light exceeds said threshold value and obtains a number of clock signal exceeding the last rectangular wave as counted, obtains a main angle by multiplying an angle pitch of said rectangular wave and a count number of said rectangular waves together, obtains an odd number angle by proportionally dividing said angle pitch based on the number of said clock signal and obtains a rotation angle of said rotary deflecting unit by adding said main angle and said odd number angle.

Assignees

• Topcon Corp

Inventors

• Yanobe Satoshi

Classifications

• G01S17/42

  Simultaneous measurement of distance and other co-ordinates (indirect measurement G01S17/46) · CPC title

• G01S7/4873

  by deriving and controlling a threshold value · CPC title

• G01S17/10 Primary

  using transmission of interrupted, pulse-modulated waves (determination of distance by phase measurements G01S17/32) · CPC title