FULL PERIPHERY IMAGE OF SUBJECT TAKING DEVICE FOR FORMING 3D IMAGE PROFILE THEREFOR

Abstract

The image taking device for taking full periphery of a subject to be image-taken includes a rotating arm unit having a base plate and a rotating arm which is rotatably attached to the base plate, a subject to be image-taken unit fixed to a central portion of the base plate of the rotating arm unit and positioning the subject to be image taken thereon, an image taking unit including an image taking device attached to one end of the rotating arm and rotatable with the rotating arm and a backscreen attached to the other end of the rotating arm so that a background of the subject to be image-taken is interrupted from image taking by the image taking device. Thus, the image of the subject to be image-taken, which periphery is consecutively taken with seventy percent (%) or more thereof being overlapped, can be obtained by taking the image of the periphery of the subject to be image-taken by an image taking device, stopping per every predetermined rotational angle, while rotating about the subject to be image-taken.

Claims

1. An image taking device for taking full periphery of a subject to be image-taken comprising: a rotating arm unit having a base plate and a rotating arm which is rotatably attached to the base plate; a subject to be image-taken unit fixed to a central portion of the base plate of the rotating arm unit and positioning the subject to be image taken thereon; an image taking unit including an image taking device attached to one end of the rotating arm and rotatable with the rotating arm; and a backscreen attached to the other end of the rotating arm so that a background of the subject to be image-taken is interrupted from image taking by the image taking device.

2. The image taking device for taking full periphery of a subject to be image-taken according to claim 1, wherein, the image taking unit includes a position adjustment device which adjusts a position of the image taking device relative to the subject to be image-taken.

3. The image taking device for taking full periphery of a subject to be image-taken according to claim 1 wherein, the position adjustment device includes a front/rearward transfer movement adjusting device which adjusts a distance from the subject to be image-taken and a height and direction adjusting device which adjusts a height and a direction of the image taking device.

4. The image taking device for taking full periphery of a subject to be image-taken according to claim 1, wherein, the rotating arm of the rotating arm unit rotates about a periphery of the subject to be image-taken unit fixed to the base plate of the rotating arm unit.

5. The image taking device for taking full periphery of a subject to be image-taken according to claim 1, wherein, the rotating arm unit is rotated and stopped per every fixed interval rotating angle by means of a rotating angle control motor or manually.

6. The image taking device for taking full periphery of a subject to be image-taken according to claim 1, wherein, the image taking device attached to one end of one side rotating arm unit takes the image of the subject to be image-taken by rotating with the rotating arm unit in always synchronization therewith.

7. The image taking device for taking full periphery of a subject to be image-taken according to claim 1, wherein, an illumination unit attached to the rotating arm unit illuminates the subject to be image-taken by rotating with the image taking device in always synchronization therewith.

8. The image taking device for taking full periphery of a subject to be image-taken according to of claim 1, wherein, the backscreen attached to one end of the other side of the image taking device of the rotating arm unit prevents an image taking of background other than the image of the subject to the image-taken by rotating with the image taking device in always synchronization therewith.

9. The image taking device for taking full periphery of a subject to be image-taken according to claim 1, wherein, the subject to be image-taken unit is formed by a subject to be image-taken table which includes a rectangular or a square shape formed with X-axis and Y-axis and a vertical coordinates axis forming a Z-axis.

Description

BRIEF EXPLANATION OF ATTACHED DRAWINGS

[0022] FIG. 1 is an upper side view of the subject to be image-taken full periphery image taking device;

[0023] FIG. 2 is a side view of the subject to be image-taken full periphery image taking device;

[0024] FIG. 3 is a view of rotating arm unit with rotational angle control motor;

[0025] FIG. 4 is a view of rotating arm unit with rotational angle lock pin;

[0026] FIG. 5 is a view of image taking unit;

[0027] FIG. 6 is a front view of the subject to be image-taken viewed in each rotational angle;

[0028] FIG. 7 is a subject to be image-taken unit with both side vertical coordinates axes;

[0029] FIG. 8 is a subject to be image-taken unit with four corner vertical coordinates axes;

[0030] FIG. 9 is a subject to be image-taken unit with diagonal arrangement of vertical coordinates axes;

[0031] FIG. 10 is a view of 3D shape including X-Y-Z axes; and

[0032] FIG. 11 is an exploded view of the 3D shape arranged using X-Y-Z axes.

EMBODIMENTS FOR IMPLEMENTING INVENTION

[0033] The subject to be image-taken 1 is placed on the subject to be image-taken table 16 adjusting the position so that the front side of the subject 1 agrees with the zero position of the rotational angle indicating plate 11 as shown in FIG. 1. The vertical coordinates axis 20 is arranged at both sides as shown in FIG. 7.

[0034] Next, the rotating arm 8 shown in FIG. 3 or 4 is rotated with a necessary angle. In order to satisfy the conditions of image taking, i.e., that the image is taken consecutively with 70% or more overlapping adjacently positioned images, that the rotating arm 8 is rotated with a fixed angle which is 54 degrees obtained by the following Formula 1.

Rotating angle<180 degree×(100%−70%)/100=54 degrees   (Formula 1)

[0035] Wherein the camera viewing filed is 180 degree.

[0036] Accordingly, for example, the arm 8 is rotated with the angle of 45 degree consecutively, and eight sheet images can be taken to be able to take the full periphery subject image with 70% or more overlapping adjacently positioned images.

[0037] There are two patterns of rotating the rotating arm 8. One pattern is to electrically rotate and stop the rotating angle 8 with gear rotational angle control motor 10 as shown in FIG. 3 and the second pattern is to manually rotate the rotating arm 8 with a preset angle worth with reference to the rotating angle indicating plate attached on the base plate 7 as shown in FIG. 4. Thus, by inserting the rotating angle lock pin 13 in the lock pin fixing recess 14 provided on the base plate 7 every predetermined angle, the rotating arm 8 can be fixed. In any pattern above, the first image is taken by the image taking device 15 to agree the front position of the subject 1 with the zero position of the rotating angle indicating plate 11 and thereafter, the rotating arm 8 is rotated per every predetermined angle in turn and stopped for image taking.

[0038] The image taking device 15 shown in FIG. 5 takes the images of the subject 1. The position of the image taking device 15 relative to the subject 1 is optimally adjusted considering the size and shape of the subject 1. The adjustment of the height and the direction is made by a height and direction adjusting device and the adjustment of the distance from the subject is made by a front rearward transfer movement adjusting device 17 which moves along the groove of the rotating arm and the outer profile.

[0039] FIG. 6 shows a full periphery image of the subject 1 to be image taken which is taken by the method explained above. For example, in a cylindrical shaped subject, characters A through H are written on the side surface of the cylindrical shaped subject at equally divided one-eighth positions and when the subject 1 is image-taken by rotating image-taking device 15 consecutively with 45 degree, eight images viewed from the “a” arrow through “h” arrow can be obtained. The overlapping, ratio of the adjacently positioned images can be obtained by the formula: (45°×3)/180°=75%. Thus, 70% or more of the overlapping images can be obtained.

[0040] The vertical coordinates axis 20 is provided on the table 18. The number of the vertical coordinates axes is at least one, however, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, two at both sides of the subject 1 or four at the four corners of the subject 1, or as shown in FIG. 9, two at front and back sides of the subject are arranged, which will be convenient for controlling the posture of the 3D shape in the later processing.

[0041] The subject 1 to be image-taken is placed on the center of the table 18 in a rectangular or square shape, as shown in FIG. 1 and then the subject 1 is image-taken to obtain the images taken with the table 18 and the vertical coordinates axis 20, Then, such taken images are processed by the 3D shape formation software to form the 3D shape of the subject in which the vertical coordinates axes 20 are included as shown in FIG. 10. The upper side of front surface (scale) of the table 18 is defined to be the X-axis the upper side of the side surface (scale) of the table 18 and the vertical coordinates axis 20 is defined to be the Z-axis in the 3D shape subject. Then, in the space enclosed by the X-Y-and Z-axes, the 3D shape can be freely set as shown in FIG. 11 to be able to form respective exploded views of each axis side surface.

[0042] If the subject 1 has undulations on the surface, the illumination only from the ceiling light of the room may generate a shadow at a portion of the subject 1 and accordingly, depending on the situation, the illumination unit 5 is used as shown in FIG. 1. The illumination unit 5 is attached to the rotating arm unit 2 and with synchronization with the transfer movement of the image taking device 15, the illumination unit 5 always illuminates the subject 1.

[0043] Normally, the background behind the subject 1 may not be necessary for 3D shape formation and therefore, as shown in FIG. 1, a backscreen 6 is provided at the rear side of the subject 1. The backscreen 6 is attached to the rotating arm unit 2 and with synchronization with the transfer movement of the image taking device 5, the background of the subject 1 is always not image-taken.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

[0044] 1: subject to be image-taken, 2: rotating arm unit, 3: subject to be image-taken unit, 4: image taking unit, 5: illumination unit, 6: backscreen, 7: base plate, 8: rotating arm, 9: bearing with gear mechanism, 10: rotating angle control motor with gear mechanism, 11: rotating angle indicating plate, 12: bearing, 13: rotating angle lock pin, 14: lock pin fixing recess, 15: image-taking device, 16: height and direction adjusting device, 17: front/rearward transfer movement adjusting device, 18: subject to be image-taken table, 19: fixing shaft for subject to be image-taken table, 20: vertical coordinates axis.