Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G02—OPTICS
  • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
  • G02B13/00—Optical objectives specially designed for the purposes specified below
  • G02B13/06—Panoramic objectives; So-called "sky lenses" including panoramic objectives having reflecting surfaces
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G02—OPTICS
  • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
  • G02B27/00—Optical systems or apparatus not provided for by any of the groups G02B1/00 - G02B26/00, G02B30/00
  • G02B27/18—Optical systems or apparatus not provided for by any of the groups G02B1/00 - G02B26/00, G02B30/00 for optical projection, e.g. combination of mirror and condenser and objective
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
  • G03B—APPARATUS OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS OR FOR PROJECTING OR VIEWING THEM; APPARATUS OR ARRANGEMENTS EMPLOYING ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ACCESSORIES THEREFOR
  • G03B17/00—Details of cameras or camera bodies; Accessories therefor
  • G03B17/24—Details of cameras or camera bodies; Accessories therefor with means for separately producing marks on the film, e.g. title, time of exposure
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
  • G03B—APPARATUS OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS OR FOR PROJECTING OR VIEWING THEM; APPARATUS OR ARRANGEMENTS EMPLOYING ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ACCESSORIES THEREFOR
  • G03B37/00—Panoramic or wide-screen photography; Photographing extended surfaces, e.g. for surveying; Photographing internal surfaces, e.g. of pipe
  • G03B37/06—Panoramic or wide-screen photography; Photographing extended surfaces, e.g. for surveying; Photographing internal surfaces, e.g. of pipe involving anamorphosis
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N5/00—Details of television systems
  • H04N5/76—Television signal recording
  • H04N5/765—Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
  • H04N5/77—Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus between a recording apparatus and a television camera
  • H04N5/772—Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus between a recording apparatus and a television camera the recording apparatus and the television camera being placed in the same enclosure
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N23/00—Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
  • H04N23/60—Control of cameras or camera modules
  • H04N23/698—Control of cameras or camera modules for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N7/00—Television systems
  • H04N7/18—Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast
  • H04N7/181—Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Definitions

• the present invention relates to the field of environment monitoring devices and, in particular, relates to an environment monitoring device with multi- sensor platform.
• the device of the invention is provided with a panoramic bifocal optical lens newly developed capable of providing, using a single image sensor, a panoramic field of view of at least 180° axis azimuth and at least 100° in the elevation.
• the device is also able to observe, using the same sensor and with an independent focal length (bifocal lens) a same zone of the panoramic field (enlarged) , for example the zone at street number height of dwellings, or another area surrounding the panoramic field of the observer, such as the road surface.
• a same zone of the panoramic field enlarged
• the zone at street number height of dwellings or another area surrounding the panoramic field of the observer, such as the road surface.
• the device is completed by a system of geo-referencing (GPS and odometer) .
• MMS Mobile Mapping System
• Equipment constituting a terrestrial mobile MMS are installed on vehicles (car, truck) and perform different functions:
• a MMS system has costs significantly lower than aerial systems and it enables easy integration by the user of other sensors eventually deemed useful for the collection of data to be analyzed (eg., among others, rangefinder laser, radar, thermal infrared rooms, environmental sensors, sound level meters, etc ... ) .
• the main object of the present invention is to overcome the above mentioned drawbacks, and to provide an environment monitoring device that is compact and more economical than known devices.
• Another object of the invention is to provide an environment monitoring device which permits the acquisition, with a limited number of components, of all necessary information, in a safe and reliable manner .
• FIG. 1 shows a top view of one of the elements included in a device according to the prior art
• FIG. 2 shows a side view of a device according to the prior art
• FIG. 3 shows a top view of the device of the invention
• - figure 4 shows a side view of the device of figure 3
• - figure 5 shows an operating diagram of the device of figure 3 ;
• FIG. 6 shows a section through a first optical system applicable to the device of the invention
• FIG. 6A shows in a diagram the two-dimensional field of view detectable by the optical system of
• FIG. 7 shows in section a second optical system applicable to the device of the invention
• FIG. 8 shows in a diagram the two-dimensional field of view detectable by the optical system of Figure 7.
• a M S type environment monitoring device 1 provided with a casing 2 and with a single optical lens 3, monitoring the scene (with a field of view of at least of 180° in azimuth, and greater than 100° in elevation) and monitoring the degradation of the road.
• a single optical lens 3 and a single sensor 6 it greatly reduces the cost of the system so far known (including at least four optical lens and four sensors) , it is easier to install and it considerably reduces the weight and bulk of the monitoring system.
• the optical lens 3 can also be configured so that the field of view, which in the known device was to monitor the road surface (Road monitoring field of view) , can now be routed in any other direction that is deemed useful to monitoring: for example, the area of the street numbers of dwellings. In this way, this part of the field having a different (higher) focal length it is possible to obtain an enlargement of the field, increasing the resolution and viewing more easily the house numbers or other details of interest.
• the heart of the device of the invention is represented by an optical panoramic vision bifocal lens, whose PCT patent application has already been filed by PAN VISION.
• This lens is able to capture a panoramic scene (360° in azimuth) and of at least 100° around the virtual horizon line and, simultaneously, another area of the surrounding field (i.e. front field) using a focal length that can be also different.
• the latter zone to be detected may be, for example and at the option of the operator, an area of the road surface for the measurement of deterioration, an area of particular interest such as the street numbers of dwellings, or other areas still considered of interest for the operator.
• an area of the road surface for the measurement of deterioration an area of particular interest such as the street numbers of dwellings, or other areas still considered of interest for the operator.
• the lens can be mounted with orientation to taste and then, by acting appropriately on the mounting system, it is possible to choose viewing the surrounding area which is able to provide as much information as possible.
• the environment monitoring device 1 is composed of a supporting sensor casing 2 in which a panoramic bifocal lens 3, as well as various conventional sensors (for example, but not exclusively, a GPS sensor 4, an odometer 5, a possible further casing 6 for vision and other data collection sensors 7) are placed.
• the panoramic bifocal lens 3, used in this example has been developed by the company PAN-VISION srl and the correspondent patent application was filed on 03.01.2012 (patent application no. VI2012A000004 ) .
• ray 16 shown by a dotted line
• ray 17 shown by a dashed-two points from two respective objects placed in a field of view between E+ and El- (between +45° and -60° in this particular example) .
• the panoramic bifocal lens 3 comprises an optical element or catadioptric lens 103, a first optical unit 30, an image sensor 18 for the acquisition of the image, a phothographic lens 109 and a second optical unit 40.
• the first optical unit 30 includes a first group of lenses 104 and a semi-reflective surface 105, assembled in a support 108, preferably made of metal, for fixing the optical unit 30 itself to the catadioptric lens in such a way that the first group of lenses 104 is positioned at a fixed distance from the catadioptric lens 103.
• the support 108 is fixed to the catadioptric lens 103 for metal bonding to glass.
• the first optical unit 30 is fixed directly to the catadioptric lens 103 by bonding the optical element
• the surface 105 is constituted by a semi-reflective coating deposited directly on the outer surface of the first group of lenese 104.
• the semi-reflective surface 105 allow to reflect a part of the incident light and to transmit the remaining part .
• the catadioptric lens 103 passes 50% of the light and reflects 50%.
• the catadioptric lens 103 collect the rays from each azimuth angle (from 0° to 360°) and re-direct them toward the first optical unit 30.
• the catadioptric lens 103 is substantially a lens with a first outer convex spherical surface 101 and a second concave interior spherical surface 102, and the phothographic lens 109 is opposed to the outer convex spherical surface 101 with respect to the catadioptric lens 103 itself.
• the second concave interior spherical surface 102 has a first area 21, which is made reflective by deposition of a coating suitable for the purpose, called “coating”, and a second area 22, circular and central, through which the rays 13, 14, 15 16 and 17 pass, after being reflected (in the case of the rays 13, 14 and 15) or transmitted (rays 16 and 17) from the semi- reflective surface 105.
• first area 21 which is made reflective by deposition of a coating suitable for the purpose, called “coating”
• second area 22 circular and central, through which the rays 13, 14, 15 16 and 17 pass, after being reflected (in the case of the rays 13, 14 and 15) or transmitted (rays 16 and 17) from the semi- reflective surface 105.
• the photographic lens 109 has a stop 12, which is rigidly fixed by means of a common metal support 110.
• the photographic lens 109 may have an opening or diaphram stop 12 located anywhere within its support 110.
• the metal support 110 is in turn fixed to the catadioptric lens 103 through a flange 111.
• the group of lenses 104 has the purpose of reducing the angle of incidence with which the rays arrive on the photographic lens 109.
• the rays 13, 14 and 15, including between E1+ and El- strike the outer convex spherical surface 1 of the catadioptric lens 103 and are directed towards the concave interior spherical surface 102 of the catadioptric lens 103.
• the light is reflected from the concave interior spherical surface 102 and directed back toward the central part of the outer convex spherical surface 101.
• the rays 13, 14 and 15 then enter in the first group of lenses 104 and are reflected from the semi-replective surface 105 and re-directed towards the objective 109. Note that during this journey the rays 13, 14 and 15 have returned from the group of lenses 104 and the catadioptric lens 103.
• the optical system 3 produces on the focal plane 18 the image of the panoramic scene in the shape of a circular crown C, shown in figure 6A.
• the rays Before reaching the photographic lens 109, the rays pass through the opening or diaphram stop 12 of the photographic lens 109, which controls the amount of light which must enter into the photographic lens 109 itself .
• the photographic lens 109 corrects optical aberrations and produces a corrected image on the image sensor or focal plane 18.
• figure 6A it is shown the projected image on the focal plane 18 of the example of figure 6.
• the image of the object transmitted by the ray 13 is focused at the point 13 ' , on the outer edge of the circular crown C.
• the images of objects placed on the horizon O and then transmitted to the optical system along the ray 14, or images of objects transmitted by ray 15 are formed respectively in the points 14' and 15' on the focal plane.
• the first group of lenses 104 and the semi-reflective surface 105 are fixed to the catadioptric lens 103 through their metal support 108.
• the optical device 40 includes an optical element 106, mounted on a support 107 preferably made of metal that is fastened to the support 108 by connection means, for example threaded means .
• the optical element 106 has deflecting means 19, rotatably fixed to a support 20 provided with three- dimensional rotating means (not shown) , for example a ball joint, in turn fixed to the support 107.
• Such deflecting means 19 can rotate in the directions of the two arrows rot . a (around the axis of elevation) and rot.b (around the axis of azimuth), and capture a field of view between E1+ and El- (between +45° and - 60° in this particular example) .
• rot. a around the axis of elevation
• rot.b around the axis of azimuth
• E1+ and El- between +45° and - 60° in this particular example
• the focal length of the optical element 106 is dimensioned so as to form the image of the visual field EL', after that the rays 16 and 17 are passed through the semi-reflective surface 105, the first optical unit 30 and the phptographic lens 109.
• the image produced by the second optical device 40 on the focal plane 18 is constituted by the circle B, placed exactly in correspondence of the hole of the circular crown C produced by the optical system 20.
• the combined focal length of the optical system 3 is dimensioned so as to form a magnified image of the field El' between the rays 16 and 17.
• a rotation of the deflecting means 19 and possibly of their support 20 about the axis of symmetry of the optical system, i.e. on the plane defined by the arrow rot.b, allows it to move in azimuth and then to capture enlarged images of the entire original panoramic field.
• the fact that in the original panomaric image the central region of the circular crown C is not affected by the image sensor advantageously allows to find an area in which the projecting magnification without interfering with the panoramic vision.
• the operator can advantageously continue to see both the entire original panomaric field of view and a region magnified, using a single image sensor.
• the deflecting means 19 comprise a mirrored surface.
• the deflecting means 19 comprise any other optical system - for example a prism - able to capture rays and return them in a definite direction.
• an optical system capable of capturing the rays 16 and 17 within the original panoramic field between E1+ and El- and return them toward the enlarging optical element 106.
• one of the reflective surfaces 21 or 105 - or both - may be replaced by any other optical system capable of capturing rays and return them in a definite direction, for example an optical prism (not shown) .
• the PAN-VISION panoramic bifocal lens manages, in a single solution, to frame a field of view of at least 180° degrees in azimuth and in elevation of 105° degrees around the environment monitoring device 1 and, simultaneously, another field of view to operator's choice with different focal optics (conveniently increased so as to have a magnification, ie a greater spatial resolution, the video scene) .
• the panoramic bifocal lens 3 is oriented so as to frame 60° above the horizon geographic and 45° below it.
• the lens will frame all 360° degrees in azimuth that it can potentially frame or, in further different configuration, frame a different angle to the horizon geographic area (e.g. 45° above and 60° below it) .
• the field of view zoomed can frame the road surface, or the zone of street numbers of dwellings, or even any area for which the operator has an interest to have optical magnification.
• the image is captured by a matrix detector 8 (bi- dimensional, e.g. a CMOS or CCD sensor) placed on the focal plane of the panoramic bifocal lens 3 and connected to a PC 9 having its own memory 10 (figure 5) .
• a matrix detector 8 bi- dimensional, e.g. a CMOS or CCD sensor
• PC 9 having its own memory 10 (figure 5) .
• the recorded images are then processed to correct the typical distortion supplied by a panoramic lens (anamorphism) and then provide with the image data-base for analysis ready by the operator.
• the PC 9 can be supplemented by a wi-fi transmission system (e.g. telephonic) 11 through which the images and other data are sent in real time to the operator's station.
• a wi-fi transmission system e.g. telephonic
• the panoramic bifocal lens 3 may be of hyper-hemispherical type, as shown in figures 7 and 8, in which the same or similar references refer to similar or equal elements, with the same characteristics already described, which is referred to for brevity.
• the optical system 3' comprises a semi- reflective mirror 105, the image is formed in a continuous manner representing the reality, as evident in particular in figure 8.
• the points M, N and 0 of the space projecting now in the points M 1 , ' and 0' forming a continuous image on the focal plane 100: the objects G, H and L are formed correctly in the focal plane 100, projecting the images G 1 , H 1 , and L 1 in their real disposition.
• the optical system 3' comprises an optical element or catadioptric lens 103, a first optical unit 30', a sensor 18 for the acquisition of the image, an photographic lens 109' and a second optical unit 40' .
• the components of the first optical unit 30' are a first group of lenses 104, a reflective surface 105 and a support preferably made of metal with the same characteristics.
• the reflective surface 105 is constituted by a reflective coating deposited directly on the outer surface of the group of lenses 104, it advantageously eliminates an optical element.
• the concave interior spherical surface 102 has a first area 21, which is made reflective by deposition of a coating suitable for the purpose, called “coating”, and a second area 22, circular and central, through which the rays 13, 16 and 15 pass, after being reflected by the reflective surface 105.
• Figure 8 shows the projected image on the focal plane 18 of the example of Figure 7.
• the optical element 106' captures the field of view ranging from -60° in this specific example up to -90° (in correspondence with the Nadir) .
• the focal length of the optical element 106 is dimensioned so as to form the image of the visual field F, after which the rays 16 are passed through the semi-reflective surface 105, the first optical unit 30' and the photographic lens 109'.
• the image produced by the second optical device 40' on the focal plane 18 is constituted by the circle B, placed exactly in correspondence of the hole of the circular crown C produced by the optical system 30'.
• the field of view F', comprising the ray 16 produces a circular image B, exactly where they form the image of the object transmitted by the ray 15 of Figure 7.
• the image of the object transmitted by the ray 13 is focused at the point 0' , on the outer edge of the circular crown C.
• the images of objects transmitted by the ray 15 are formed respectively at the point ' on the focal plane.
• the first group of lenses 104 and the semi- reflective surface 105 are fixed to the catadioptric lens 103 through a metal support.
• the two images produced from the first optical unit 30' and the second optical unit 40' i.e. respectively the circular crown C and the circular image B, are perfectly juxtaposed and the resulting image will be that of a global field with azimuth of 360° and 270° elevation.
• the surface 105 may be fully reflective.
• the reflective surface 105 is made semi-reflective, i.e. it reflects a part of the incident light and transmits the remaining part.
• the reflective surface 105 allows to pass the 50% of the light and to reflect 50% of the light.
• this embodiment allows the assembly of the second optical unit 40', so as to capture a field of view from -60° in this specific example up to -90° (in correspondence with the Nadir) .
• the image produced by the second optical unit 40' on the focal plane 18 is constituted by the circle B, placed exactly in correspondence of the hole of the circular crown C produced by the first optical unit 30'.
• the two images produced from the first optical unit 30' and the second optical unit 40' i.e. respectively the circular crown C and the circle B, are juxtaposed perfectly and the resulting image will be that of a global field with azimuth of 360° elevation and 270° .

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• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Optics & Photonics (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Multimedia (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Studio Devices (AREA)
• Closed-Circuit Television Systems (AREA)
• Stereoscopic And Panoramic Photography (AREA)

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Citations (5)

• 2013
  • 2013-01-03 BR BR112014016422A patent/BR112014016422A8/pt not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2013-01-03 EP EP13710052.5A patent/EP2948808A1/fr not_active Withdrawn
  • 2013-01-03 WO PCT/IT2013/000002 patent/WO2013102943A1/fr not_active Ceased
  • 2013-01-03 RU RU2014132067A patent/RU2014132067A/ru not_active Application Discontinuation

Patent Citations (5)

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