System and method for efficient 3D reconstruction of objects with telecentric line-scan cameras

US11328478B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• MVTec Software GmbH · DE

Inventors

• Carsten Steger · Unterschleißheim, DE
• Markus Ulrich · Hersbruck, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: May 29, 2020
• Grant date: May 10, 2022
• Expiry date: Aug 13, 2040

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H04N2013/0081
• WIPO field: Audio-visual technology
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

In this invention, systems and methods are described that allow performing stereo reconstruction with line-scan cameras in general configurations. Consequently, the cumbersome exact alignment of the sensor lines becomes superfluous. The proposed method requires that telecentric lenses instead of perspective lenses are mounted on the line-scan cameras. In this case, the images can be accurately rectified with stereo rectification. The rectified images can be used to perform an efficient stereo matching. The method comprises a camera model and a calibration procedure that allow to precisely model the imaging process, also including the modelling of lens distortions even if the sensor lines are not exactly mounted behind the principal points. This ensures a high accuracy of the resulting 3D reconstruction.