EP-4737848-A1 - SURVEYING SYSTEM

EP4737848A1EP 4737848 A1EP4737848 A1EP 4737848A1EP-4737848-A1

Abstract

[Problem] To provide a relatively inexpensive surveying system equipped with an automatic locking function. [Solution] Provided is a surveying system 1 comprising: a distance meter 11 integrated with a telescope 6c and configured to transmit distance-measuring light to a prism 8 and receive reflected light from the prism along with a collimation axis A of the telescope 6c, to measure a distance to a center of the prism 8; an angle detector 12 configured to detect angle of the collimation axis A; a rotation drive unit 13 configured to rotate the telescope 6c; a camera 14 having a wider angle of view than a field of view of the telescope 6c, and configured to acquire an image in front of the telescope 6c; and a control arithmetic unit 30 including at least one electronic circuit and at least one memory, and configured to calculate coordinates of the center of the prism 8 based on the distance and angle detected; wherein the control arithmetic unit 30 sets a wearable article worn by an operator as a first preliminary target, wherein the control arithmetic unit 30 detects a person in the image to output an area including the person as a candidate of an operator who holds the prism 8, detects the first preliminary target in the area, calculate a preliminary rotation angle for preliminary orienting the telescope toward the prism based on a position of the first preliminary target in the image, and rotate the telescope 6c by the preliminary rotation angle.

Inventors

MOMIYAMA, HOMARE
SHIGETA, Masahiro
MAO, ZAIXING

Assignees

Topcon Corporation

Dates

Publication Date: 20260506
Application Date: 20251030

Claims (6)

A surveying system comprising: a distance meter integrated with a telescope and configured to transmit distance-measuring light to a prism and receive reflected light from the prism along with a collimation axis of the telescope, to measure a distance to a center of the prism; an angle detector configured to detect angle of the collimation axis; a rotation drive unit configured to rotate the telescope; a camera having a wider angle of view than a field of view of the telescope, and configured to acquire an image in front of the telescope; and a control arithmetic unit including at least one electronic circuit and at least one memory, and configured to calculate coordinates of the center of the prism based on the distance and angle detected; wherein the control arithmetic unit sets a wearable article worn by an operator as a first preliminary target, wherein the control arithmetic unit detects a person in the image to output an area including the person as a candidate of an operator who holds the prism, detects the first preliminary target in the area, calculate a preliminary rotation angle for preliminary orienting the telescope toward the prism based on a position of the first preliminary target in the image, and rotate the telescope by the preliminary rotation angle.
The surveying system according to claim1, wherein a relative positional relationship between the first preliminary target and the prism held by the worker is set as prism position data, and wherein the control arithmetic unit is configured to estimate a position of the prism in the image based on dimensions and a position of the first preliminary target in the image and the prism position data, and calculate the preliminary rotation angle based on the position of the prism estimated.
The surveying system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the control arithmetic unit configured to detect the first preliminary target in the image by using an object detection model generated by machine learning, output a similarity between the first preliminary target detected in the image and reference data of the first preliminary target, and when detecting a plurality of the first preliminary target in the image, determine the first preliminary target having a highest similarity as the first preliminary target that is associated with the worker.
The surveying system according to claim 1, wherein a second preliminary target different from the first preliminary target is set, and a relative positional relationship among the first preliminary target, the second preliminary target and the prism held by the operator is set as the prism position data, and wherein the control arithmetic unit is configured to detect the second preliminary target in the area, estimate a position of the prism in the image based on dimensions and positions of the first preliminary target and the second preliminary target in the image, and calculate the preliminary rotation angle based on the position of the prism estimated.
A surveying method using a surveying system including a distance meter integrated with a telescope and configured to transmit distance-measuring light to a prism and receive reflected light from the prism along with a collimation axis of the telescope, to measure a distance to a center of the prism, an angle detector configured to detect angle of the collimation axis, a rotation drive unit configured to rotate the telescope, a camera having a wider angle of view than a field of view of the telescope, and configured to acquire an image in front of the telescope; and a control arithmetic unit including at least one electronic circuit and at least one memory, and configured to calculate coordinates of the center of the prism based on the distance and angle detected; the method comprising the steps of: by the control arithmetic unit, setting a wearable article worn by an operator as a first preliminary target; detecting a person in the image to output an area including the person as a candidate of an operator who holds the prism; detecting the first preliminary target in the area; calculating a preliminary rotation angle for preliminary orienting the telescope toward the prism based on a position of the first preliminary target in the image; and rotating the telescope by the preliminary rotation angle.
A program for causing a control arithmetic unit of a surveying system to perform the surveying method according to claim 5.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The disclosure relates to surveying systems, and more specifically, to surveying systems with an automatic locking function. BACKGROUND Modern surveying instruments come equipped with automatic sighting function to sight a prism automatically and automatic tracking function to track a prism automatically. Such surveying instruments have automatic locking functions to rotate a collimation axis toward a prism prior to locking the prism, at the start of measurement or in the event of losing the prism while tracking. Patent literatures 1 and 2 disclose techniques implementing such automatic locking function. Patent literature 1 discloses a surveying system comprising a remote catcher with a light transmitter for transmitting fan beam and a surveying instrument with a light receiver for receiving the beam. At the start of measurement or in the event of losing a prism while tracking, an operator, who is holding the prism, makes the remote catcher transmit fan beam so that the surveying instrument receives the beam and rotates to the direction of the beam's arrival, to orient the collimation axis toward the prism. Patent Literature 2 discloses a surveying instrument configured to, at the start of measurement or in the event of losing a prism while tracking, search for the prism by rotating the telescope in a spiral pattern outward from the center to lock the prism within the telescope's field of view. Citation List Patent Literature Patent Literature 1: JP 2005/214854 A1Patent Literature 2: JP 2016/138802 A1 SUMMARY Technical Problem However, the surveying system of Patent Literature 2 has a problem that it takes time to search for the prism. The surveying system of Patent Literature 1 requires additional hardware such as devices for transmitting and receiving fan beam and communication devices, in addition to software, resulting in high implementation costs. On the other hand, in recent years, surveying instruments equipped with cameras have become increasingly common. Thus, there has been a demand for surveying systems equipped with automatic locking function at a relatively low cost by using cameras. The technique of the present disclosure has been made in view of the above circumstances and aims to provide surveying systems equipped with automatic locking function at a relatively low cost. Solution to Problem To achieve the above object, a surveying system according to an aspect of the present disclosure comprises: a distance meter integrated with a telescope and configured to transmit distance-measuring light to a prism and receive reflected light from the prism along with a collimation axis of the telescope, to measure a distance to a center of the prism; an angle detector configured to detect angle of the collimation axis; a rotation drive unit configured to rotate the telescope; a camera having a wider angle of view than a field of view of the telescope, and configured to acquire an image in front of the telescope; and a control arithmetic unit including at least one electronic circuit and at least one memory, and configured to calculate coordinates of the center of the prism based on the distance and angle detected; wherein the control arithmetic unit sets a wearable article worn by an operator as a first preliminary target, wherein the control arithmetic unit detects a person in the image to output an area including the person as a candidate of an operator who holds the prism, detects the first preliminary target in the area, calculate a preliminary rotation angle for preliminary orienting the telescope toward the prism based on a position of the first preliminary target in the image, and rotate the telescope by the preliminary rotation angle. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS Various aspects and embodiments of the application will be described with reference to the following figures. Items appearing in multiple figures are indicated by the same or a similar reference number in all the figures in which they appear. FIG. 1 is an outline diagram illustrating the use state of a surveying system according to a first embodiment of the disclosure.FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the same system.FIG. 3 is a flowchart describing an example of processing of automatic locking function of the same system.FIGs. 4A to 4C illustrate processes of the automatic locking function of the same system.FIGs. 5A to 5C illustrate processes of the automatic locking function of the same system.FIG. 6 is a flowchart describing a detailed processing of a preliminary-rotation angle calculation for the automatic locking function.FIGs. 7A and 7B illustrate setting of the position of the preliminary target for the same preliminary-rotation angle calculation.FIG. 8 illustrates a calculation method for a vertical preliminary-rotation angle of the preliminary rotation angle.FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a surveying system according to a second embodiment of this disclosure.FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a surveying system according