Three dimensional shape measurement apparatus and method

Abstract

A three dimensional shape measurement apparatus includes m projecting sections, each of which includes a light source and a grating element, and, while moving the grating element by n times, projects a grating pattern light onto a measurement target for each movement, wherein the ‘n’ and the ‘m’ are natural numbers greater than or equal to 2, an imaging section photographing a grating pattern image reflected by the measurement target, and a control section controlling that, while photographing the grating pattern image by using one of the m projecting sections, a grating element of at least another projecting section is moved. Thus, measurement time may be reduced.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of measuring a three dimensional shape comprising:
 photographing a first image in a first measurement area of a measurement target;   arithmetically processing the first image by a first central processing unit to produce a three dimensional shape in the first measurement area;   photographing a second image in a second measurement area of the measurement target while the first central processing unit arithmetically processes the first image; and   arithmetically processing the second image by a second central processing unit to produce a three dimensional shape in the second measurement area.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 photographing a third image in a third measurement area of the measurement target while arithmetically processing the second image by the second central processing unit; and   arithmetically processing the third image by the first central processing unit to produce a three dimensional shape in the third measurement area.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each of the first and second images includes a plurality of way images photographed with respect to the measurement target in different directions, and
 arithmetically processing each of the first and second images is performed by arithmetically processing each image independently, and merging arithmetically processed data for the first and second images.   
     
     
         4 . A method of measuring a three dimensional shape comprising:
 photographing a first image in a first measurement area of a measurement target in a first direction and a second direction;   photographing a second image in a second measurement area of the measurement target at least in the first direction and the second direction, after photographing the first image; and   dividing the first image into an image corresponding to the first direction and an image corresponding to the second direction and arithmetically processing the divided images by a plurality of central processing units, to produce a three dimensional shape in the first measurement area.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the central processing units comprise:
 a first central processing unit arithmetically processing the image corresponding to the first direction; and   a second central processing unit arithmetically processing the image corresponding to the second direction,   wherein at least one of the first and second central processing units merges the arithmetically processed data for the image corresponding to the first direction and the image corresponding to the second direction.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein dividing the first image and arithmetically processing the divided images to produce the three dimensional shape comprises dividing the first image into a plurality of segments and arithmetically processing the divided segments by the central processing units.