Measuring apparatus, measuring system, and measuring method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9638575-B2
Application number	US-201414293039-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 2, 2014
Priority date	Jun 19, 2013
Publication date	May 2, 2017
Grant date	May 2, 2017

Abstract

A measuring apparatus and a measuring method are provided. The measuring apparatus includes an optical system to condense light, a light receiving device to receive light condensed by the optical system at a plurality of light receiving positions and convert the light into an electric signal, a plurality of optical band-pass filters arranged near a lens stop of the optical system, each of the optical band-pass filters having a different spectral transmittance, a lens array arranged between the optical system and the light receiving device, the lens array having a plurality of lenses each of which is arranged substantially in parallel with a two-dimensional surface of the light receiving device, and a correction unit to correct the electric signal for each one of the plurality of light receiving positions of the light receiving device. The measuring method is performed by the measuring apparatus.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A measuring apparatus comprising:
an optical system to condense light;
a monochrome sensor device to receive light condensed by the optical system at a plurality of light receiving positions and convert the light into an electric signal;
a plurality of optical band-pass filters arranged near a lens stop of the optical system, each of the optical band-pass filters having a different spectral transmittance;
a lens array arranged between the optical system and the light receiving device, the lens array including:
an array including a plurality of lenses each of which is arranged substantially in parallel with a two-dimensional surface of the light receiving device, and
light shielding on surfaces of the array other than the plurality of lenses to block light; and

a correction circuit to correct the electric signal for each one of the plurality of light receiving positions of the light receiving device,
wherein the electric signal for each one of the plurality of light receiving positions is determined as one of an average of a plurality of inner structures of each one of the plurality of light receiving positions or a selected one of the inner structures of each of the light receiving positions, and
the inner structures of each of the plurality of light receiving positions correspond to the plurality of optical band-pass filters.

2. The measuring apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the correction circuit corrects the electric signal based on a reference value and a value calculated from an output value of the measuring apparatus.

3. The measuring apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the correction circuit corrects the electric signal by using a design model of the measuring apparatus.

4. The measuring apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the correction circuit corrects the electric signal based on a dependence on an angle of incidence of the optical band-pass filter when the correction circuit corrects the electric signal by using a design model of the measuring apparatus.

5. The measuring apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the optical band-pass filters are color filters that process tristimulus values.

6. The measuring apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein a spectral transmittance of the color filter is based on color matching functions of an XYZ colorimetric system.

7. The measuring apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein a z-filter of the color filters has a greater dimension compared with the remaining color filters.

8. The measuring apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the optical band-pass filter is formed by a dielectric multilayer film.

9. The measuring apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the optical band-pass filters have four types of spectral characteristics including:
first spectral characteristic where a local maximum is at 440±10 nm and a full width at half maximum is 45±10 nm;
second spectral characteristic where a local maximum is at 445±10 nm and a full width at half maximum is 50±10 nm;
third spectral characteristic where a local maximum is at 555±10 nm and a full width at half maximum is 100±10 nm; and
fourth spectral characteristic where a local maximum is at 600±10 nm and a full width at half maximum is 80±10 nm.

10. The measuring apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein at least part of the correction circuit is detachable from the measuring apparatus.

11. The measuring apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a ratio of a size of each of the plurality of lenses in the lens array to a size of each of the plurality of light receiving positions is between 30:1 and 2:1.

12. The measuring apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the two-dimensional surface of the monochrome sensor device includes a plurality of light receiving elements respectively corresponding to the plurality of lenses of the lens array.

13. A measuring system comprising:
the measuring apparatus according to claim 1 ; and
a determination circuit to make a determination based on data obtained by the measuring apparatus.

14. The measuring system according to claim 13 , wherein the determination circuit is a processor, which serves as the correction circuit at least partially.

15. A measuring method, comprising:
condensing light in an optical system;
filtering, by a plurality of optical band-pass filters, the light condensed by the optical system, the plurality of optical band-pass filters being arranged in proximity to a lens stop of the optical system, each of the plurality of optical band-pass filters having a different spectral transmittance;
focusing, by a lens array, the light after filtering by the plurality of optical band-pass filters, the lens array including a plurality of lenses and light shielding on surfaces of the lens array other than the plurality of lenses to block light;
receiving, by a monochrome sensor device, the light after focusing by the lens array, the monochrome sensor device having a plurality of receiving positions, the plurality of lenses of the lens array being substantially parallel to a two-dimensional surface of the monochrome sensor device;
converting, by the monochrome sensor device, the light received by the monochrome sensor device to an electric signal; and
correcting, with a correction circuit, the electric signal for each one of the plurality of light receiving positions of the light receiving device,
wherein the electric signal for each one of the plurality of light receiving positions is determined as one of an average of a plurality of inner structures of each one of the plurality of light receiving positions or a selected one of the inner structures of each of the light receiving positions, and
the inner structures of each of the plurality of light receiving positions correspond to the plurality of optical band-pass filters.

16. The measuring method according to claim 15 , further comprising:
separating, with the correction circuit, peak curves of color matching functions of an XYZ colorimetric system to increase maximum transmittance of all peak curves,
wherein the optical band-pass filter is a color filter dealing with tristimulus values of color, and the color filter has a spectral transmittance that is based on the color matching functions.

17. The measuring apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein a diameter of each of the plurality of lenses of the lens array is larger than a diameter of each of the plurality of light receiving elements of the monochrome sensor device.

Assignees

• Yamanaka Yuji
• Maruyama Go
• Masuda Kensuke
• Nagai Sho
• Ricoh Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yamanaka Yuji
• Maruyama Go
• Masuda Kensuke
• Nagai Sho

Classifications

• G01J3/524

  Calibration of colorimeters · CPC title

• G01J3/513

  having fixed filter-detector pairs · CPC title

• G01J3/0208 Primary

  using focussing or collimating elements, e.g. lenses or mirrors; performing aberration correction · CPC title

• G01J3/465

  taking into account the colour perception of the eye; using tristimulus detection · CPC title