RECORDING OF DISTANCE PROFILES

Abstract

An apparatus for recording distance profiles respectively having a plurality of distance image points comprises: (i) a plurality of transmitters arranged in an array respectively for the transmission of electromagnetic radiation into a recording region; (ii) at least one reception unit for the detection of radiation reflected from the recording region; (iii) an evaluation unit for determining distances of objects at which transmitted radiation is reflected, with the distances each forming a distance image point; and (iv) a deflection unit which deflects the transmitted radiation within a scanning angle region into a scanning direction in order to consecutively generate, per distance profile, a plurality of scanning patterns of distance image points that are displaced against one another in the scanning direction and that each image the transmitter array, wherein at least a few of the distance image points are spaced apart from one another in the scanning direction.

Claims

1.-20. (canceled)

21. An apparatus for recording distance profiles each having a plurality of distance image points, the apparatus comprising: a plurality of transmitters arranged in an array respectively for the transmission of electromagnetic radiation into a recording region; at least one reception unit for the detection of radiation reflected from the recording region; an evaluation unit for determining the distances of objects at which the transmitted radiation is reflected, with the distances each forming a distance image point; and a deflection unit which deflects the transmitted radiation within a scanning angle region into a scanning direction in order to, per distance profile, consecutively generate a plurality of scanning patterns of distance image points, with the distance image points being displaced against one another in the scanning direction and with the distance image points each imaging the transmitter array; wherein at least a few of the distance image points are spaced apart from one another in the scanning direction in each of the scanning patterns.

22. The apparatus in accordance with claim 21, wherein a respective scanning pattern has a maximum longitudinal extent in the scanning direction and a maximum transverse extent perpendicular to the longitudinal extent, wherein the transverse extent is smaller than the longitudinal extent.

23. The apparatus in accordance with claim 21, wherein, in a respective scanning pattern, the distance image points lie on a straight line that extends at least essentially in parallel to the scanning direction.

24. The apparatus in accordance with claim 21, wherein the distance image points of a respective scanning pattern are uniformly spaced apart.

25. The apparatus in accordance with claim 21, wherein the spacing between adjacent distance image points of a respective scanning pattern is larger than or equal to the maximum width of the bunch of radiation transmitted by the transmitters.

26. The apparatus in accordance with claim 21, wherein at least a few of the scanning patterns of a respective distance profile overlap one another.

27. The apparatus in accordance with claim 21, wherein the distance image points of a respective distance profile are uniformly spaced apart.

28. The apparatus in accordance with claim 21, wherein the spacing between adjacent distance image points of a respective scanning pattern is larger than the spacing between adjacent distance image points of a respective distance profile.

29. The apparatus in accordance with claim 21, wherein the offset between two consecutive scanning patterns is equal to the product of the number of distance image points of a respective scanning pattern and the spacing between adjacent distance image points of a respective distance profile.

30. The apparatus in accordance with claim 21, wherein for thestated in multiples of the spacing between adjacent distance image points of a respective distance profilespacing d between adjacent distance image points of a respective scanning pattern the following is true:
d=2.Math.(A+k)1; wherein A is the number of distance image points of the scanning pattern; and k is a spacing factor selected from the group of non-negative whole numbers.

31. The apparatus in accordance with claim 21, wherein the deflection unit comprises a polygonal mirror rotatable about an axis of rotation that has n deflection surfaces that can consecutively be impinged by the transmitted radiation and that each cover the same angular range of at least approximately 360/n.

32. The apparatus in accordance with claim 31, wherein the deflection surfaces extend in parallel to the axis of rotation of the polygonal mirror.

33. The apparatus in accordance with claim 21, wherein the scanning angle position of the deflection unit can be detected by means of a scanning angle measurement unit.

34. The apparatus in accordance with claim 33, wherein the scanning angle measurement unit has a coding section coupled to the deflection unit; wherein the coding section is provided with spaced apart markings; wherein the scanning angle measurement unit has a detection unit stationary relative to the coding section to detect the markings of the coding section; wherein the scanning angle measurement unit is adapted to detect the scanning angle position of the deflection unit on the basis of one or more detected markings of the coding section.

35. The apparatus in accordance with claim 21, wherein the arrangement of the transmitters in the transmitter array corresponds to the arrangement of distance image points in a respective scanning pattern.

36. The apparatus in accordance with claim 21, wherein the number of the transmitters amounts to between 2 and 32.

37. The apparatus in accordance with claim 21, wherein the spacing between two transmitters lying directly next to one another lies in the range of 1 to 12 mm.

38. The apparatus in accordance with claim 37, wherein the spacing between two transmitters lying directly next to one another amounts to approximately 6 mm.

39. A method of recording distance profiles each having a plurality of distance image points, in which method electromagnetic radiation is transmitted into a recording region by means of a plurality of transmitters arranged in an array; radiation reflected from the recording region is detected by means of at least one reception unit; the distances of objects at which the transmitted radiation is reflected is determined, with the distances each forming a distance image point; and the transmitted radiation is deflected into a scanning direction within a scanning angle region in order to consecutively generate, per distance profile, a plurality of scanning patterns of distance image points that are displaced against one another in the scanning direction and that each image the transmitter array in such a way that at least a few of the distance image points are spaced apart from one another in the scanning direction.

40. The method in accordance with claim 39, wherein not all distance image points of a respective scanning pattern are detected at the same point in time.

41. A method of operating an apparatus for recording distance profiles each having a plurality of distance image points in which apparatus the distance profiles are recorded, the method comprising the steps of: transmitting electromagnetic radiation into a recording region by means of a plurality of transmitters arranged in an array; detecting radiation reflected from the recording region by means of at least one reception unit; determining the distances of objects at which the transmitted radiation is reflected at the objects, with the distances each forming a distance image point; and deflecting the transmitted radiation into a scanning direction within one scanning angle region in order to consecutively generate, per distance profile, a plurality of scanning patterns of distance image points that are displaced against one another in the scanning direction and that each image the transmitter array in such a way that at least a few of the distance image points are spaced apart from one another in the scanning direction; and in which distance image points stemming from at least two different transmitters and/or sets of distance image points are compared to one another and a deviation lying outside of a predefinable or predetermined tolerance is treated as a non-intended state.

42. The method in accordance with claim 41, in which a respective comparison takes place within a scanning pattern or within a distance profile.

Description

[0045] The invention will be described in the following merely by way of example with reference to the submitted drawing in which is shown:

[0046] FIG. 1 an apparatus for the recording of distance profiles with two transmitters and two receivers;

[0047] FIG. 2 a block circuit diagram of an apparatus for recording distance profiles with four transmitters and four receivers;

[0048] FIG. 3a a schematic illustration of a coding section of a scanning angle measurement unit for the apparatus of FIG. 1;

[0049] FIG. 3b a schematic illustration of a plurality of scanning patterns displaced against one another;

[0050] FIG. 4 a schematic illustration of consecutively generated scanning patterns of the length 2 and a resultant distance profile;

[0051] FIG. 5 a schematic illustration of consecutively generated scanning patterns of the length 2 and a resultant distance profile;

[0052] FIG. 6 a schematic illustration of consecutively generated scanning patterns of the length 3 and a resultant distance profile;

[0053] FIG. 7 a schematic illustration of consecutively generated scanning patterns of the length 3 and a resultant distance profile; and

[0054] FIG. 8 a schematic illustration of consecutively generated scanning patterns of the length 4 and a resultant distance profile.

[0055] In FIG. 1 an apparatus 10 is shown that comprises two transmitters 32 (LM1 and LM2) arranged in an array 30 and a reception unit 36. The reception unit 36 comprises two receivers 40 (RM1 and RM2) arranged in an array 38. The apparatus 10 further comprises a deflection unit 42 having a polygonal mirror 44 that can be rotated about an axis of rotation 16 and that has four deflection surfaces 11 (merely two deflection surfaces 11 are visible in FIG. 1) configured as planar and extending in parallel to the axis of rotation 16. The deflection surfaces 11 are respectively perpendicular to one another. The polygonal mirror 44 can be rotated by way of a drive means 14. An angle encoder 15 is provided, whose functional principle will be described in more detail in the following, in order to measure the rotational angular position of the polygonal mirror 44.

[0056] The transmitters 32 by way of example are laser diodes, in particular GaAs laser diodes that are respectively configured to transmitt bunches of beams 12 (laser pulses) into a recording region 46. Respective distance image points 17, 18 are determined by means of the bunches of radiation 12 in the recording region 46 and indeed by way of a respective measurement of the time of flight of the bunches of radiation 12 of a transmitter 32 into the recording region 46 and of a respectively reflected bunch of radiation 13 to a receiver 40 (LM1 to RM1 and LM2 to RM2).

[0057] A distance image point 17, 18 is a respective point (point of reflection) in the recording region 46 at which an associated bunch of radiation 12 is reflected. Mathematically a distance image point 17, 18 is described (i) by the spacing between the apparatus 10 and the point of reflection in the recording region 46 and (ii) the rotational angular position of the polygonal mirror 44 set on a transmission of the bunch of radiation 12. In the following reference will always be made to distance image points, wherein this means both the respective point of reflection in the recording region 46 as also its image and/or mathematical description.

[0058] By way of example the generation of respective scanning patterns 19 is illustrated in FIG. 1 with the scanning patterns comprising a respective pair of distance image points 17, 18 at which the shown bunches of radiation 12 end and pass over into the reflected bunches of radiation 13. The scanning pattern 19 explicitly referred to in FIG. 1 is part of a distance profile 54 which is illustrated in part in FIG. 1. The distance profile 54 is generated by way of generation of a plurality of scanning patterns 19 displaced against one another, as will be explained in more detail in the following. The offset between the scanning patterns 19 takes place in a scanning direction 56 and is brought about by a rotation of the polygonal mirror 44.

[0059] The bunches of radiation 12, 13 are merely indicated in FIG. 1 by way of a respective line. This however does not mean that the bunches of radiation 12, 13 have to be optically limited to these lines. Rather, in particular the transmitted bunches of radiation 12 can diverge starting from the transmitter 32 and have a non-negligible width respectively a spot size. This is in particular indicated by the oval shaped distance image points 17, 18. It is understood that the distance image points 17, 18 are shown merely by way of example and do not have to correspond to the actual size or shape.

[0060] The apparatus 10 further comprises an optical system 48 having a transmission lens 50 and a reception lens 52. It is understood that the optical system 48 can also be of different design and that it can in particular be formed by a common transmission and reception lens (not shown). Furthermore, the apparatus 10 can comprise further non-shown elements, for example, a housing having a window through which the bunches of radiation 12, 13 can penetrate into and/or exit from the housing.

[0061] FIG. 2 shows a block circuit diagram of a further apparatus 10 (not shown) for recording distance profiles 54, wherein deviating from the apparatus 10 of FIG. 1 four transmitters 32 (LM1 to LM4) and four receivers 40 (RM1 to RM4) are provided. The transmitter array 30, the reception unit 38, the drive means 14 for the deflection unit 42, as well as the angular encoder 15 are connected to a control unit 57. An evaluation unit 58 is interconnected between the reception unit 38 and the control unit 57, with the evaluation unit comprising four evaluation modules 60 (TMC1 to TMC4). Each evaluation module 60 (TMC: Time Measurement Channel) is configured to determine the time of flight between the transmission of a bunch of radiation 12 and the reception of the reflected bunch of radiation 13 for a respective pair of transmitter 32 and receiver 40. The distance of the respective distance image point 17, 18 can be determined from the time of flight.

[0062] FIG. 3a and FIG. 3b serve the purpose of explaining the association between the rotational position of the polygonal mirror 44 of the deflection unit 42 and the generation of scanning patterns 19 by way of the transmitter 32. A coding section 62 of the angular encoder 15 of FIG. 1 is schematically shown in FIG. 3a. The coding section 62 comprises a sequence of equally spaced apart markings 64 which are circumferentially arranged about the axis of rotation 16 of the angular encoder 15. The coding section 62 is coupled to the polygonal mirror 44 in such a way that the coding section 62 always rotates together with the polygonal mirror 44.

[0063] The number of markings 64 can be adapted in dependence on a desired spacing between the distance image points 17, 18 of a respective distance profile 19. For example, the coding section 62 can have 8,000 markings 64 that can be detected by means of a non-shown optical detection unit. Thus, the encoder 15 could measure the angle with a resolution of 360/8,000=0.045 per marking. By means of an X-Or logic the resolution can be multiplied by four, this means the encoder 15 can then measure the angle with an accuracy of 0.01125.

[0064] In dependence on the angle of rotation measured by way of the encoder 15 individual bunches of radiation 12 can now be generated. Due to the resolution of the encoder 15 a minimum spacing between consecutively bunches of radiation 12 and/or distance image points 17, 18 that can be generated results. This minimum spacing is referred to as minimum increment 22 and is drawn in in FIG. 3b. The minimum increment 22 is actually twice as large as the previously mentioned encoder accuracy of 0.01125, this means it amounts to 0.02250, due to the reflection of the bunches of radiation 12 at the polygonal mirror 44.

[0065] In FIG. 3b a part of the coding section 62 is illustrated as straightened and enlarged. In dependence on the angular position of the polygonal mirror 44 respectively of the coding section 62 the scanning patterns 19 respectively comprising a pair of distance image points 17, 18 are now consecutively generated (see the axis in time 66), this means that the two transmitters 32 are simultaneously activated in order to respectively transmit a transmission pulse for each position of rotation of the polygonal mirror 44 corresponding to a respective marking 64. In the case illustrated in FIG. 3b the spacing 23 between two consecutively generated scanning patterns 19, this means the offset amounts to two steps or markings 64, this means twice the increment 22. The spacing 24 between the distance image points 17, 18 of a respective scanning pattern 19 amounts to five steps.

[0066] In FIG. 4 to FIG. 8 a respective scheme 68 is illustrated that emphasizes the recording of a respective distance profile 54. In FIG. 4 starting at the top left initially a first scanning pattern 19 is generated with two distance image points x and 0, wherein the distance image point x can correspond to the distance image point 18 and the distance image point 0 can correspond to the distance image point 17 of FIG. 1. The generated distance image points x, 0 are stored for the distance image 54 which is illustrated at the right side of the scheme 68 and extends downwardly from the top in the vertical direction. Now the rotating mirror 44 is turned further by two increments 22 or markings 64 and a further scanning pattern 19 is generated whose distance image points x, 0 are stored again. This further scanning pattern 19 is displaced in the scanning direction 56 by two increments 22 (spacing 23). The spacing 24 of the distance image points x, 0 of a scanning pattern 19, however amounts to three increments 22 in such a way that the consecutively generated scanning patterns 19, 19 overlap one another and/or are interlaced with one another, wherein the distance image points x, 0 lie in different points of rest. With regard to time, the distance image point x of the scanning pattern 19 is hereby generated after the distance image point 0 of the scanning pattern 19, although this distance image point 0 lies in front of the later generated image point x of the scanning pattern 19 in the scanning direction 56. The sequence in time of the distance image points x, 0 thus partially does not correspond to the spatial sequence of the distance image points x, 0 in the scanning direction 56 of the resultant distance profile 54.

[0067] Further scanning patterns 19 are now generated with a constant offset and are stored until a desired scanning angle region (not illustrated) has been completely scanned. Subsequently all stored distance image points x, 0 are combined to the distance profile 54. As can be recognized clearly from FIG. 1 the distance image points x, 0 are, apart from a start region and an end region, uniformly spaced apart from one another and indeed each with the spacing of an increment 22. The further spaced apart distance image points x, 0 at the ends of the distance profile 54 can be neglected or excluded from the determination of an actually interesting recording profile.

[0068] So that no distance image points x, 0 are generated twice or gaps arise in distance profile 54, the offset between the scanning pattern 19 is set to the number of distance image points x, 0 per scanning pattern 19 in the unit of the increment 22, in FIG. 1 this thus means two increments 22. The spacing 24 between the distance image points x, 0 of the scanning pattern 19 in FIG. 1 amounts, as mentioned, to three increments 22. This spacing 24 can be increased e.g. in order to counteract an optical cross-talk between the bunches of radiation 12, 13 generating the distance image points x, 0 of individual scanning patterns 19. It is then also possible to arrange the laser diodes 32 and the reception diodes 40 physically next to one another. For this purpose the equation d=2.Math.(A+k)1 can be used, wherein A is the number of distance image points x, 0 of the scanning pattern 19 and k is a spacing factor from the group of non-negative whole numbers. In FIG. 1 the following is true for the spacing 24: d=2.Math.(2+0)1=3.

[0069] The scheme 68 of FIG. 5 likewise shows the recording of a distance profile 54 with scanning patterns 19 which each comprise two distance image points x, 0. The spacing 24 here however amounts to five increments 22, the offset amounts to two increments 22. This spacing 24 results from the above equation of the spacing factor k=1, this means d=2.Math.(2+1)1=5. As is emphasized by the distance profile 54 in FIG. 5 two distance image points x, 0 are respectively present at the start and at the end of the scanning process for the distance profile 54 that are spaced apart from one another with two increments 22. These can be neglected or omitted in analogy to the outer distance image points x, 0 of the distance profile 54 of FIG. 4.

[0070] The scheme 68 of FIG. 6 shows the recording of a distance profile 54 for the case of three transmitters 32 (LM1, LM2, LM3) and three receivers (RM1, RM2, RM3) that respectively generate a distance image point x, 0, . The spacing 24 between the distance image points x, 0, of a respective scanning pattern 19 amounts to five increments 22 as result for k=0 from the equation d=2.Math.(3+0)1=5. The offset 23 results in three increments 22 from the number of the distance image points respectively from the number of the transmitters 32.

[0071] The scheme 68 of FIG. 7 corresponds to the case of FIG. 6, wherein deviating therefrom the spacing 24 with the spacing factor k=1 in accordance with the equation amounts to d=2.Math.(3+1)1=7 increments 22.

[0072] The scheme 68 of FIG. 8 shows the recording of a distance profile with four transmitters 32 (LM1, LM2, LM3, LM4), this means with a respective scanning pattern 19 which generates four distance image points x, 0, , #. The spacing 24 between the distance image points amounts to d=2.Math.(4+0)1=7 increments 22. The offset 23, corresponding to the number of transmitters 32, amounts to four increments 22.

[0073] A comparison of the schemes 68 of FIG. 4 to FIG. 8, on the one hand, shows that the scanning speed can be increased in that the number of distance image points x, 0, , # is increased for each scanning pattern 19. On the other hand, the number of gaps between the outer distance image points x, 0, , # of the distance profile 54 also increases, this means that comparatively more scanning patterns 19 have to be generated until the distance image points x, 0, , # of the distance profile 54 are uniformly displaced apart with the increment 22. This effect is thus also present in connection with the spacing factor k, this means the larger k is selected the more scanning patterns 19 have to be recorded until the incremental resolution is achieved. In view of the background of this effect, the number of distance image points per distance profile 54 can be selected sufficiently high, as e.g. approximately 1,000 distance image points. In the most cases of application the gaps between the outer distance image points can then be neglected.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0074] 10 apparatus [0075] 11 deflection surface [0076] 12 transmitted bunch of radiation [0077] 13 received bunch of radiation [0078] 14 drive means [0079] 15 angular encoder [0080] 16 axis of rotation [0081] 17 distance image point [0082] 18 distance image point [0083] 19 scanning pattern [0084] 22 increment [0085] 23 offset [0086] 24 spacing [0087] 30 laser array [0088] 32 transmitter [0089] 36 reception unit [0090] 38 receiver array [0091] 40 receiver [0092] 42 deflection unit [0093] 44 polygonal mirror [0094] 46 recording region [0095] 48 optical system [0096] 50 transmission lens [0097] 52 receiver lens [0098] 54 distance profile [0099] 56 scanning direction [0100] 57 control unit [0101] 58 evaluation unit [0102] 60 evaluation module [0103] 62 coding section [0104] 64 marking [0105] 66 axis in time [0106] 68 scheme