Distance measurement apparatus and angle adjustment method of the same

Abstract

The invention provides a distance measurement apparatus, which can increase the intensity of reflected light at the side far away from a TOF sensor in a monitoring zone when a light-source light beamis irradiated to the inclined direction in the monitoring zone and distance measurement is carried out. The distance measurement apparatus 1 includes a light emitting unit 11 that irradiates a subjectwith a light-source light from a light source, a light receiving unit 12 that receives a reflected light from the subject, a distance calculation unit 13 that calculates a distance to the subject based on a time difference from the irradiation of the light-source light to the reception of the reflected light; and an image processing unit 20 that generates a distance image of the subject based onthe calculated distance. Further, the apparatus includes a first rotation mechanism 14 that adjusts an irradiation angle of the light emitting unit and a second rotation mechanism 15 that adjusts a light receiving angle of the light receiving unit, in which the angles of the light emitting unit and the light receiving unit may be adjusted independently of each other.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to a distance measuring device that measures the distance to a subject and outputs it as a distance image. Background technique [0002] A well-known device that measures the distance to a subject based on the transit time of light (hereinafter, TOF method: time or flight) and outputs it as an image representing the position of the subject from distance data (hereinafter, distance measuring device ). As the structure of the device, in order to measure the distance to the subject, it is equipped with a light emitting unit that emits a light beam from a light source, and a light receiving unit that detects a reflected beam from the subject, both of which are called TOF sensors. [0003] For example, in the person position detection device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-174830, a distance displacement detection mechanism is provided to detect the distance displacement of the distance to the indoo...

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Problems solved by technology

That is, there is a problem of distance measurement in the far side area when the intensity of the radiation beam in the area on the far side from the TOF sensor is smaller than the intensity of reflected light in the area on the near side, and when the monitoring area is large and the intensity of the light source beam cannot be sufficiently secured. Issues of Accuracy Deterioration

[0006] In the aforementioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-174830 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-159253 , no special consideration is given to the intensity of reflected light from the subject.

In addition, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-159253, the mechanism for adjusting the angle of the camera and the light source as a whole does not consider the situation that the intensity distribution of the reflected beam is asymmetric.

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