Light source position detection apparatus, light source tracking apparatus, control method and program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9411036-B2
Application number	US-201214652077-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 14, 2012
Priority date	Dec 14, 2012
Publication date	Aug 9, 2016
Grant date	Aug 9, 2016

Abstract

A light source position detection apparatus ( 10 ) has a condensing lens ( 32 ) that condenses light emitted from the sun, an image pickup device ( 33 ) that receives the light condensed by the condensing lens ( 32 ), and a CPU ( 21 ) that detects the position of the sun based on per-pixel light reception information received by the image pickup device ( 33 ), and the CPU ( 21 ) changes the shutter speed of the image pickup device ( 33 ) and adjusts the quantity of the light received by the image pickup device in response to the quantity of light emitted from the sun. The light source position detection apparatus ( 10 ) can detect the position of a light source with high accuracy, and can detect the position of the light source with high accuracy even when the light source is hidden behind clouds, for example.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A light source position detection apparatus, comprising:
a condensing section that condenses light emitted from a light source to be detected;
an image pickup device that receives the light condensed by the condensing section;
infrared light image forming means for forming an image of infrared light that passes through clouds on the image pickup device, out of light emitted from the light source to be detected without forming any image of visible light on the image pickup device; and
a control section,
wherein the control section performs:
a first acquisition process of acquiring per-pixel brightness information from the image pickup device;
a process of changing a shutter speed based on the brightness information acquired in the first acquisition process and adjusting the quantity of light received by the image pickup device;
a second acquisition process of acquiring per-pixel brightness information from the image pickup device, the shutter speed of which is changed;
a process of rounding down brightness information equal to or less than a threshold set to a value greater than brightness caused by light scattered by clouds out of the brightness information acquired in the second acquisition process; and
a process of detecting the position of the light source to be detected based on brightness information after the rounding down process.

2. The light source position detection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein in the process of adjusting the light quantity, the shutter speed is changed to one in which a maximum value of the brightness information is greater than the threshold.

3. The light source position detection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the control section
acquires time information, and
acquires, in the first acquisition process, per-pixel brightness information from the image pickup device at a shutter speed associated with the acquired time information.

4. The light source position detection apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the infrared light image forming means is a visible light interrupting/infrared light pass filter that interrupts visible light and allows infrared light to pass therethrough.

5. The light source position detection apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the infrared light image forming means is a condensing lens that condenses infrared light on the image pickup device.

6. The light source position detection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the process of rounding down the brightness information is a clipping process of assuming brightness information equal to or less than the threshold to be 0.

7. The light source position detection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the process of rounding down the brightness information is a binarization process using the predetermined threshold.

8. The light source position detection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the condensing section is any one of a condensing lens, a pinhole and a wide-angle lens.

9. The light source position detection apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a case that supports the image pickup device, wherein the case comprises a reference surface along a direction orthogonal to a light receiving surface of the image pickup device and a reference surface parallel to the light receiving surface of the image pickup device.

10. A light source tracking apparatus, comprising:
a light source sensor that includes a condensing section that condenses light emitted from a light source to be detected, an image pickup device that receives the light condensed by the condensing section, and infrared light image forming means for forming an image of infrared light that passes through clouds on the image pickup device, out of light emitted from the light source to be detected without forming any image of visible light on the image pickup device;
a control section that detects a position of the light source to be detected based on per-pixel brightness information received by the image pickup device and outputs a drive signal based on the detected position of the light source to be detected; and
a drive section that moves the light source sensor based on the drive signal and tracks the light source to be detected,
wherein the control section performs:
a first acquisition process of acquiring per-pixel brightness information from the image pickup device;
a process of changing a shutter speed based on the brightness information acquired in the first acquisition process and adjusting the quantity of light received by the image pickup device;
a second acquisition process of acquiring per-pixel brightness information from the image pickup device, the shutter speed of which is changed;
a process of rounding down brightness information equal to or less than a threshold set to a value greater than brightness caused by light scattered by clouds out of the brightness information acquired in the second acquisition process; and
a process of detecting the position of the light source to be detected based on brightness information after the rounding down process.

11. The light source tracking apparatus according to claim 10 , further comprising a first light source sensor and a second light source sensor as the light source sensor,
wherein the condensing section of the first light source sensor is a condensing lens or a pinhole,
the condensing section of the second light source sensor is a wide-angle lens,
the control section detects a position of the light source to be detected based on per-pixel brightness information received by the image pickup device of the second light source sensor, outputs a drive signal to the drive section based on the detected position of the light source to be detected, then detects the position of the light source to be detected based on the per-pixel brightness information received by the image pickup device of the first light source sensor and outputs a drive signal to the drive section based on the detected position of the light source to be detected.

12. A method for detecting a light source position for a light source position detection apparatus, the apparatus comprising:
a condensing section that condenses light emitted from a light source to be detected;
an image pickup device that receives the light condensed by the condensing section; and
infrared light image forming means for forming an image of infrared light that passes through clouds on the image pickup device, out of light emitted from the light source to be detected without forming any image of visible light on the image pickup device,
the method performing:
a first acquisition process of acquiring per-pixel brightness information from the image pickup device;
a process of changing a shutter speed based on the brightness information acquired in the first acquisition process and adjusting the quantity of light received by the image pickup device;
a second acquisition process of acquiring per-pixel brightness information from the image pickup device, the shutter speed of which is changed;
a process of rounding down brightness information equal to or less than a threshold set to a value greater than brightness caused by light scattered by clouds out of the brightness information acquired in the second acquisition process; and
a process of detecting the position of the light source to be detected based on brightness information after the rounding down process.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium for controlling a light source position detection apparatus, the apparatus comprising:
a condensing section that condenses light emitted from a light source to be detected;
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Assignees

• Nat Inst Advanced Ind Science & Tech
• Soft Works Corp
• Ishikawa Trading Co Ltd
• Ishikawa Trading Co Ltd

Inventors

• Igari Sanekazu
• Kikuchi Katsuhiko
• Shiomi Toshio
• Ishikawa Hideo

Classifications

• H04N23/75

  by influencing optical camera components · CPC title

• H04N23/73

  by influencing the exposure time · CPC title

• H04N23/71

  Circuitry for evaluating the brightness variation · CPC title

• G01S3/7861 Primary

  Solar tracking systems · CPC title

• H02S20/30

  Supporting structures being movable or adjustable, e.g. for angle adjustment · CPC title