Surveying instrument

Abstract

The invention relates to a surveying instrument comprising a telescope, at least one camera providing first, second or more image signals and a controller, wherein the controller is adapted to combine the image signal data of the first, second or more image signals in order to simultaneously display at least two of the images corresponding to the first, second or more image signals on display means.

1 - 15 . (canceled) 
     
     
         16 . A surveying instrument comprising:
 aiming means being swivelable in two directions with respect to a basis of the surveying instrument and including:
 an objective unit defining an aiming axis; and 
 at least a first camera substantially in a direction of the aiming axis, wherein the at least first camera provides at least a first image signal; 
   angle and distance measurement functionality for determination of the direction of the aiming axis and of a distance to a target;   display means; and   a controlling unit being adapted so that the at least one image signal is processed in order to generate image signal data so that at least a first and a second image are displayed simultaneously, wherein each of the displayed images corresponds to one of the at least one image signals.   
     
     
         17 . A surveying instrument according to  claim 16 , wherein the surveying instrument is a theodolite or total station. 
     
     
         18 . A surveying instrument according to  claim 16 , wherein the aiming means include an on axis camera as the first camera, that is connected to the aiming means, with an optical magnification factor providing the first image signal and a wide angle camera with lower optical magnification factor as a second camera providing a second image signal and defining an optical axis. 
     
     
         19 . A surveying instrument according to  claim 16 , wherein:
 the first image from the on axis camera is displayed in the center of the display means laying over the second image from the wide angle camera;   the first image is a magnification of an area of the second image corresponding to the center of the display means; and   an offset from the aiming axis to the optical axis is considered for simultaneously displaying the first image and the second image.   
     
     
         20 . A surveying instrument according to  claim 16 , wherein:
 the at least first image signal is processed on side of the surveying instrument and the at least first and second images are displayed on the display means at the surveying instrument as one single image and/or the generated image signal data is transferred to a remote controller and the images corresponding to the generated image signal data are displayed on display means at the remote controller, or   the at least first image signal is transferred in parallel to the remote controller, processed on side of the remote controller so as to generate the image signal data and the at least first and second images are displayed on the display means at the remote controller.   
     
     
         21 . A surveying instrument according to  claim 16 , wherein the first image corresponding to the first image signal is a magnification of a detail of the second image being an overview image. 
     
     
         22 . A surveying instrument according to  claim 16 , wherein the at least first and second images corresponding to the at least first image signal are arranged on the display means in an adjacent manner. 
     
     
         23 . A surveying instrument according to  claim 16 , wherein one or some of the at least first and second images corresponding to the at least first image signal are arranged in a manner to partly and/or fully overlap one or some of each other. 
     
     
         24 . A surveying instrument according to  claim 16 , wherein an overlapping of the at least first and second images is generated by displaying at least one of the images in the foreground in a semi-transparent manner. 
     
     
         25 . A surveying instrument according to  claim 16 , wherein some or all of the image signals are provided by separate cameras. 
     
     
         26 . A surveying instrument according to  claim 16 , wherein at least one of the at least first and second image is provided in defined color-channels and/or in adapted representation modes, in particular adapted by image processing. 
     
     
         27 . A surveying instrument according to  claim 16 , wherein the display means are implemented as an electro optical viewer. 
     
     
         28 . A surveying instrument according to  claim 16 , wherein the at least first and/or second image is updated on the display means with a refreshing frequency of 0.1-50 Hz and in particular is updated in a continuous manner. 
     
     
         29 . A surveying instrument according to  claim 28 , wherein the at least first and/or second image is updated in a continuous manner. 
     
     
         30 . A surveying instrument according to  claim 16 , wherein the at least first image signal represents a static image or at least parts of dynamic sequences of images. 
     
     
         31 . A surveying instrument according to  claim 16 , wherein the at least first image signal represents a video stream. 
     
     
         32 . A surveying instrument according to  claim 16 , wherein the at least first image signal represents a real time video stream. 
     
     
         33 . A surveying instrument according to  claim 16 , wherein:
 the controlling unit is adapted to process information from one or more wavelength channels; and/or   the controlling unit comprises input means for manually adapting the arrangement of the images and for marking and/or selecting points and areas.   
     
     
         34 . A surveying instrument according to  claim 16 , wherein a user input on one of the images is performed on at least one adjacent and/or one overlapping image. 
     
     
         35 . A surveying instrument according to  claim 16 , wherein a marking and/or selecting points or areas on one of the images is automatically performed on at least one adjacent and/or one overlapping image.