Method of calibrating a computerized leveling offset meter

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11112271-B2
Application number	US-201716332342-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 24, 2017
Priority date	Sep 25, 2016
Publication date	Sep 7, 2021
Grant date	Sep 7, 2021

Abstract

A method of calibrating a levelling offset meter (LOM) for calculating the angular offset between a plane parallel to the LOM and a predetermined reference plane, the LOM comprises a bull's eye spirit level having a bubble and a processor coupled to an image, comprising: capturing, by the imager, a plurality of images of the spirit level associated with a respective plurality of known angular offsets; calculating in respect of each image a pixel distance from the bubble center to a predetermined zero offset pixel, thereby obtaining a plurality of pixel distances, each pixel distance associated with a known angular offset; fitting a function to a plurality of pairs of values, each pair of values comprising a pixel distance and its associated known angular offset; and storing the function in a memory.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of calibrating a levelling offset meter (LOM) for calculating the angular offset between a plane parallel to the LOM and a predetermined reference plane, the LOM comprising a bull's eye spirit level having a bubble therein, and a processor operatively coupled to an imager, the method comprising:
capturing, by the imager, a plurality of images of the spirit level, the plurality of images associated with a respective plurality of known angular offsets, each image being captured while the LOM is oriented with respect to the predetermined reference plane at the known angular offset associated with the image;
calculating, by the processor, in respect of each image, a pixel distance from the bubble center to a predetermined zero offset pixel, thereby obtaining in respect of the plurality of images a plurality of pixel distances, each pixel distance associated with a known angular offset;
fitting, by the processor, a function to a plurality of pairs of values, each pair of values comprising a pixel distance and its associated known angular offset, said function being useable to map a new pixel distance obtained in respect of a new image to a corresponding angular offset between a plane parallel to the LOM and the predetermined reference plane; and
storing the function in a memory.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the pixel distance comprises an x-pixel distance and a y-pixel distance, and wherein the angular offset comprises a pitch offset and a roll offset.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein fitting a function to a plurality of pairs of values comprises fitting a first function to a first plurality of pairs of values and fitting a second function to a second plurality of pairs of values, wherein each pair of values in the first plurality of pairs of values comprises an x-pixel distance and a corresponding pitch offset, and each pair of values in the second plurality of pairs of values comprises a y-pixel distance and a corresponding roll offset.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the zero offset pixel is determined by:
capturing, by the imager, a plurality of images of the bubble whilst the levelling offset meter is rotated along a rotation axis orthogonal to the predetermined reference plane, the plurality of images captured at a respective plurality of degrees of rotation;
for each image, determining, by the processor, a first pair of values indicative of the pixel coordinates of the pixel closest to the bubble center, thereby determining a plurality of first pairs of values corresponding to a respective plurality of images;
calculating, by the processor, a second pair of values based on said plurality of first pairs of values and indicative of a midpoint of all said first pairs of values, and
selecting the pixel having pixel coordinates corresponding to the second pair of values as the zero offset pixel.

5. A processor configured to execute a series of operations for calibrating a levelling offset meter (LOM) for calculating the angular offset between a plane parallel to the LOM and a predetermined reference plane, the LOM comprising a bull's eye spirit level having a bubble therein, the processor operatively coupled to an imager configured to image the spirit level, the series of operations comprising:
calculating, in respect of each of a plurality of images of the spirit level image, a pixel distance from the bubble center to a predetermined zero offset pixel, thereby obtaining in respect of the plurality of images a plurality of pixel distances, each pixel distance associated with a known angular offset, each image being captured by the imager while the LOM is oriented with respect to the predetermined reference plane at the known angular offset associated with the image;
fitting a function to a plurality of pairs of values, each pair of values comprising a pixel distance and its associated known angular offset, said function being useable to map a new pixel distance obtained in respect of a new image to a corresponding angular offset between a plane parallel to the LOM and the predetermined reference plane; and
storing the function in a memory.

6. The processor of claim 5 , wherein the pixel distance comprises an x-pixel distance and a y-pixel distance, and wherein the angular offset comprises a pitch offset and a roll offset.

7. The processor of claim 6 wherein fitting a function to a plurality of pairs of values comprises fitting a first function to a first plurality of pairs of values and fitting a second function to a second plurality of pairs of values, wherein each pair of values in the first plurality of pairs of values comprises an x-pixel distance and a corresponding pitch offset, and each pair of values in the second plurality of pairs of values comprises a y-pixel distance and a corresponding roll offset.

8. The processor of claim 5 , wherein the processor is configured to determine the zero offset pixel using a plurality of images of the bubble captured by the imager whilst the levelling offset meter is rotated along a rotation axis orthogonal to the predetermined reference plane, the plurality of images captured at a respective plurality of degrees of rotation, by:
for each image, determining a first pair of values indicative of the pixel coordinates of the pixel closest to the bubble center, thereby determining a plurality of first pairs of values corresponding to a respective plurality of images;
calculating a second pair of values based on said plurality of first pairs of values and indicative of a midpoint of all said first pairs of values, and
selecting the pixel having pixel coordinates corresponding to the second pair of values as the zero offset pixel.

9. A computer program product comprising a program of instructions readable by a computer, the program of instructions for executing a method of calibrating a levelling offset meter (LOM) for calculating the angular offset between a plane parallel to the LOM and a predetermined reference plane, the LOM comprising a bull's eye spirit level having a bubble therein, and a processor operatively coupled to an imager, the method comprising:
capturing, by the imager, a plurality of images of the spirit level, the plurality of images associated with a respective plurality of known angular offsets, each image being captured while the LOM is oriented with respect to the predetermined reference plane at the known angular offset associated with the image;
calculating, by the processor, in respect of each image, a pixel distance from the bubble center to a predetermined zero offset pixel, thereby obtaining in respect of the plurality of images a plurality of pixel distances, each pixel distance associated with a known angular offset;
fitting, by the processor, a function to a plurality of pairs of values, each pair of values comprising a pixel distance and its associated known angular offset, said function being useable to map a new pixel distance obtained in respect of a new image to a corresponding angular offset between a plane parallel to the LOM and the predetermined reference plane; and
storing the function in a memory.

10. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein the pixel distance comprises an x-pixel distance and a y-pixel distance, and wherein the angular offset comprises a pitch offset and a roll offset.

11. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein fitting a function to a plurality of pairs of values comprises fitting a first function to a first plurality of pairs of values and fitting a second function to a second plurality of pairs of values, wherein each pair of values in the first plurality of pairs of values comprises an x-pixel distance and a corresponding pitch

Assignees

• Israel Aerospace Ind Ltd

Inventors

• Yifrach Aharon
• Zuitlin Roey

Classifications

• G01C9/32 Primary

  Means for facilitating the observation of the position of the bubble, e.g. illuminating means · CPC title

• G01V13/00

  Manufacturing, calibrating, cleaning, or repairing instruments or devices covered by groups G01V1/00 – G01V11/00 · CPC title

• G01C25/00 Primary

  Manufacturing, calibrating, cleaning, or repairing instruments or devices referred to in the other groups of this subclass (testing, calibrating or compensating compasses G01C17/38) · CPC title

• G01C9/36

  of the spherical type, i.e. for indicating the level in all directions · CPC title