Nearmap Australia Pty Ltd

David Arnold Bleads

Mark Harold Tarlinton

Paul Lapstun

James Austin Besley

Andrew Millin

Todd William Lupton

Zoltan Toth

The present disclosure is directed to a camera configured to capture a set of oblique images along a scan path on an object area; a scanning mirror structure including at least one surface for receiving light from the object area, the at least one surface having at least one first mirror portion at least one second portion comprised of low reflective material arranged around a periphery of the first mirror portion, the low reflective material being less reflective than the first mirror portion; and a drive coupled to the scanning mirror structure and configured to rotate the scanning mirror structure about a rotation axis based on a scan angle. The at least one second portion can be configured to block light that would pass around the first mirror portion and be received by the camera at scan angles beyond the set of scan angles.

Hyper camera with shared mirror

The present disclosure is related to improving image quality in a scanning camera system via scan angle selection to obtain images having overlap for performing image stitching, dynamically tuning an aperture of a camera in the scanning camera system, updating pixel values of an image using vignetting data, or a combination thereof.

This disclosure is related to positioning one or more glass plates between an image sensor and lens of a camera in a scanning camera system; determining plate rotation rates and plate rotation angles based on one of characteristics of the camera, characteristics and positioning of the one or more glass plates, and relative dynamics of the camera and the object area; and rotating the one or more glass plates about one or more predetermined axes based on corresponding plate rotation rates and plate rotation angles.

An imaging system can include a first and second camera configured to capture first and second sets of oblique images along first and second scan paths, respectively, on an object area. A drive is coupled to a scanning mirror structure, having at least one mirror surface, and configured to rotate the structure about a scan axis based on a scan angle. The first and second cameras each have an optical axis set at an oblique angle to the scan axis and include a respective lens to focus first and second imaging beams reflected from the mirror surface to an image sensor located in each of the cameras. The first and second imaging beams captured by their respective cameras can vary according to the scan angle. Each of the image sensors captures respective sets of oblique images by sampling the imaging beams at first and second values of the scan angle.

A system for capturing aerial images, the system comprising at least one camera unit, the at least one camera unit comprising at least one detail camera, the pointing direction of the at least one detail camera time-multiplexed via a steerable mirror to implement a virtual array of cameras with overlapping fields of view, thereby to allow the at least one detail camera to capture an extended field of view.

Wide-area aerial camera systems

A system for capturing aerial images, the system comprising four steerable detail camera modules, each steerable detail camera module comprising a detail camera and a beam-steering mechanism in an optical path of the detail camera module whereby the pointing direction of the detail camera is time-multiplexed to provide a wider effective field of view, the beam-steering mechanism comprising a first steerable mirror.

A system for capturing aerial images, the system comprising at least one steerable camera module, the steerable camera module comprising a camera and a beam-steering mechanism in the optical path of the camera module whereby the pointing direction of the camera is time-multiplexed to provide a wider effective field of view, the beam-steering mechanism comprising a steerable mirror tilted with respect to an optical axis of the camera module, the steerable mirror adapted to spin about the optical axis to effect beam steering.

A system for capturing aerial images, the system comprising at least one camera unit, the camera unit comprising a plurality of steerable detail camera modules, each steerable detail camera module comprising a detail camera and a beam-steering mechanism in the optical path of the camera whereby the pointing direction of the camera is time-multiplexed to provide a wider effective field of view.

A system for capturing aerial images, the system comprising at least one overview camera, a plurality of detail cameras, and a frame for holding the cameras, each detail camera having a longer focal length than the at least one overview camera, each detail camera mounted at a different angle laterally so that the fields of view of the detail cameras overlap to form an extended lateral field of view, the frame comprising a center support, each side of the center support supporting at least some of the cameras.

Compact multi-resolution aerial camera system

A system for capturing aerial images, the system comprising at least one camera unit, the camera unit comprising at least one overview camera, a plurality of detail cameras, and a frame for holding the cameras, each detail camera having a longer focal length than the at least one overview camera, each detail camera mounted at a different angle laterally so that the fields of view of the detail cameras overlap to form an extended lateral field of view.

Growing community of inventors

Tennyson, Australia

David Arnold Bleads