Measuring appliance comprising an automatic representation-changing functionality

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9453719-B2
Application number	US-201213979121-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 10, 2012
Priority date	Jan 14, 2011
Publication date	Sep 27, 2016
Grant date	Sep 27, 2016

Abstract

A measuring appliance in which inputted or measured spatial points and a horizontal projection representation or spatial representation of at least some spatial points from the quantity of spatial points can be displayed, said points being at least partially connected by lines. The measuring appliance has a representation-changing functionality in the framework of which, according to a line selected on the user side from the lines displayed in a horizontal projection representation or a spatial representation, in an automatically controlled manner by means of the evaluation and control unit: a virtual surface is defined by the selected line and a direction provided as the vertical; a subset of spatial points is selected from the quantity of spatial points, lying inside a buffer zone surrounding the virtual surface in a defined manner; and a vertical projection representation of exclusively such spatial points pertaining to the subset is displayed on the display.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A measuring appliance for measuring and marking spatial points of a construction including interiors of buildings, comprising:
a base;
a sighting unit, which is rotatable and pivotable relative to the base and provides distance measuring functionality, having a laser source designed to emit a laser beam in the direction of an aiming axis, and a laser light detector;
an evaluation and control unit; and
a display, wherein:
a spatial alignment of the sighting unit relative to the base is detectable by means of two goniometers;
the evaluation and control unit is connected to the laser source, the laser light detector, and also the goniometers in order to assign a detected distance to a corresponding alignment and thus to determine coordinates for spatial points;

input or measured spatial points, which form a spatial point set, can be stored;
a plan view representation or spatial representation of at least some spatial points from the spatial point set can be displayed, wherein said spatial points are at least partly connected by lines;
the measuring appliance has a representation-changing functionality, in the course of which, depending on a line selected from the lines displayed in the plan view representation or the spatial representation by the user, in a manner automatically controlled by the evaluation and control unit:
a virtual plane is defined by the selected line and a direction predefined as vertical;
a subset of spatial points which lie within a buffer zone lying within defined limits in front of and behind the virtual plane and is selected from the spatial point set; and
an elevation representation of exclusively such spatial points which belong to the selected subset of spatial points is displayed on the display.

2. The measuring appliance as claimed in claim 1 , wherein
the buffer zone extends in front of and behind the virtual area as far as a defined maximum distance from the virtual area wherein a value for the maximum distance is fixedly predefined or can be predefined by the user in a range of between 0 and 100 cm; and/or
in the context of the elevation representation exactly all those spatial points which belong to the subset are represented, wherein said spatial points are at least partly connected by lines.

3. The measuring appliance as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the buffer zone extends in front of and behind the virtual area as far as a defined maximum distance from the virtual area wherein a value for the maximum distance is fixedly predefined or can be predefined by the user in a range of between 10 and 50 cm.

4. The measuring appliance as claimed in claim 1 , wherein as a result of the one line being selected by the representation-changing functionality is started automatically and thereupon automatically.

5. The measuring appliance as claimed in claim 1 , wherein as a result of the one line being selected by the user by double clicking with the aid of input means the representation-changing functionality is started automatically and thereupon directly in response to the selection by the user the virtual area is defined, the subset is selected and a change is made to the elevation representation and this is displayed on the display.

6. The measuring appliance as claimed in claims 1 , wherein:
the spatial representation is defined as a three-dimensional perspective representation of spatial points;
the plan view representation is defined as a two-dimensional representation of spatial points projected onto a plane assumed to be aligned horizontally; and
the elevation representation is defined as a two-dimensional representation of spatial points projected onto a plane assumed to be aligned vertically.

7. The measuring appliance as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the direction predefined as vertical can be defined by:
inclination sensor means designed for determining the inclination relative to the Earth's gravitational field vector about two axes and for communicating the measurement data thereof to the evaluation and control unit; and/or
precalibration of a reference situated with known outer alignment, or of a reference plane assumed to be aligned horizontally or vertically, and resultant derivation of the direction predefined as vertical by the evaluation and control unit.

8. The measuring appliance as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the inclination sensor means are integrated into the base and the precalibration of a reference situated with known outer alignment includes two points of a plumb rod or plumb bob suspended in oscillating fashion.

9. A method for changing the representation from a plan view representation or spatial representation displayed on a display of a measuring appliance to an elevation representation, wherein the measuring appliance comprises:
a base,
a sighting unit, which is rotatable and pivotable relative to the base and provides distance measuring functionality, having a laser source designed to emit a laser beam in the direction of an aiming axis, and a laser light detector,
an evaluation and control unit, and
a display, wherein:
a spatial alignment of the sighting unit relative to the base is detectable by means of two goniometers:
the evaluation and control unit is connected to the laser source, the laser light detector and also the goniometers in order to assign a detected distance to a corresponding alignment and thus to determine coordinates for spatial points;
input or measured spatial points, which form a spatial point set, are stored;
the plan view representation or spatial representation of at least some spatial points from the spatial point set is displayed, wherein said spatial points are at least partly connected by lines,
depending on a line selected from the lines displayed in the plan view representation or the spatial representation by the user, automatically:
a virtual plane is defined by the selected line and a direction predefined as vertical;
a subset of spatial points which lie within a buffer zone lying within defined limits in front of and behind the virtual plane is selected from the spatial point set; and
an elevation representation of exclusively such spatial points which belong to the selected subset of spatial points is displayed on the display.

10. The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the buffer zone extends in front of and behind the virtual area as far as a defined maximum distance from the virtual area.

11. The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein:
the buffer zone extends in front of and behind the virtual area as far as a defined maximum distance from the virtual area and a value for the maximum distance is fixedly predefined or can be predefined by the user in a range of between 0 and 100 cm, and/or
in the context of the elevation representation exactly all those spatial points which belong to the subset are represented, wherein said spatial points are at least partly connected by lines.

12. The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the buffer zone extends in front of and behind the virtual area as far as a defined maximum distance from the virtual area and a value for the maximum distance is predefined by the user in a range of between 10 and 50 cm.

13. The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein as a result of the one line being selected by the user an automatic progression of the method is initiated and started and thereupon automatically and the subset is selected and a change is made to the elevation representation and this is displayed on the display.

14. The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein as a result of the one line being selected by the user by double clicking with the

Assignees

• Schorr Christian
• Schroeder Frank
• Koch Romy
• Giger Kurt
• Leica Geosystems Ag

Inventors

• Schorr Christian
• Schroeder Frank
• Koch Romy
• Giger Kurt

Classifications

• G01B11/22

  for measuring depth · CPC title

• G01C9/00

  Measuring inclination, e.g. by clinometers, by levels · CPC title

• G01C15/002 Primary

  Active optical surveying means (optical plumbing G01C15/105) · CPC title

• G01C15/004

  Reference lines, planes or sectors · CPC title

• G01C9/06

  Electric or photoelectric indication or reading means · CPC title