JP3615846B2 - Surveying instrument - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a surveying instrument that can selectively use a plurality of display devices.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, as a surveying instrument for measuring the distance and height of a land, a distance measuring instrument such as a light wave distance measuring instrument and an angle measuring instrument such as an electronic theodolite are generally used. The light wave rangefinder measures a distance from a specific measurement point to a measurement target point. In addition, the electronic theodolite measures the direction of the measurement target point as a horizontal angle and an altitude angle centered on a specific measurement point. Recently, a total station in which this light wave rangefinder and an electronic theodolite are combined together has been put into practical use.
[0003]
These surveying instruments are generally provided with a base part, a main body part rotatably provided in a horizontal direction with respect to the base part, and a vertical part with respect to the main body part. It consists of a collimating telescope. Further, in the angle measuring instrument, an angle sensor (such as an encoder) for measuring the vertical angle between the collimating telescope and the main body part, and a relative horizontal angle between the main body part and the base part are measured. Angle sensors (encoders, etc.) are provided. Therefore, when the measurement target point is collimated by the collimating telescope, the direction of the measurement target point can be measured as the horizontal angle and altitude angle of the collimating telescope with respect to the base part. The distance measuring instrument is configured so that the collimating optical axis of the collimating telescope is coaxial with the ranging optical axis. Accordingly, by collimating the measurement target point with this collimation telescope, the distance measuring optical axis can be adjusted to the measurement target point.
[0004]
By the way, in such a surveying instrument, a display device is provided in order to display survey values (ranging values, angle values, etc.) obtained as a result of surveying and operation instructions. In this case, as described above, the collimating telescope is rotatable in the vertical direction with respect to the main body, that is, the eyepiece of the collimating telescope can face both the front side and the back side of the main body. In consideration, it is desirable to provide a display device on each of the front side and the back side of the main body to display the same data.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, if the same data is displayed on each of the two display devices, the power consumption increases as compared with the case where there is only one display device. In particular, when a backlight for illumination is provided in each display device, the power consumption of the entire surveying instrument becomes absolutely large, and the usable time of the battery of the surveying instrument is shortened. Nevertheless, only one of the two display devices can be observed by one worker at a time. Therefore, the display device on the side that is not observed by the worker is wasting power.
[0006]
In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a surveying instrument that can suppress power consumption in a plurality of display devices without hindering operation by an operator.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention has been made in view of the fact that in many cases the operator operates the surveying instrument on the eyepiece side of the collimating telescope.
[0008]
That is, the surveying instrument according to claim 1 includes a collimating telescope for collimating a survey target point, a surveying instrument main body that tiltably holds the collimating telescope, and the surveying instrument main body for displaying information. Based on the tilt angle measured by the tilt angle measuring means, the tilt angle measuring means for measuring the tilt angle of the collimating telescope with respect to the surveying instrument main body, And a control means for recognizing the position of the eyepiece of the collimating telescope and displaying the information only by the display device closest to the eyepiece.
[0009]
The surveying instrument may be an angle measuring instrument such as an electronic theodolite, a distance measuring instrument such as an optical wave measuring instrument, or a total station having both functions.
[0010]
The surveying instrument may hold the collimating telescope so as to be tiltable in the horizontal direction or may be held so as to be tiltable in the vertical direction.
Each display device desirably displays exactly the same information content. For example, one display may be configured to perform digital display and the other to perform analog display. This information is information such as survey results by the surveying instrument and operation instructions.
[0011]
The tilt angle measuring means may detect the relative rotation angle between the collimating telescope and the surveying instrument main body, or may measure the tilt angle of the collimating telescope itself. In the former case, the tilt angle may be measured as a change in the resistance value of the variable resistor connected to the collimating telescope, or the tilt angle may be measured by a rotary encoder.
[0012]
The control means may divide the tilt angle range into a plurality of ranges in advance. Each tilt angle range is a range of tilt angles at which the display device corresponding to the range approaches the eyepiece part of the collimating telescope than any other display device. In this way, the control means can display information on the corresponding display device only by determining which range the current tilt angle is in. If the main body of the surveying instrument is equipped with both front and rear surfaces and display devices are arranged on both front and rear surfaces, the tilt angle when the collimating telescope is oriented in the vertical direction is the midpoint between the two tilt angle ranges. can do.
[0013]
The control means can be configured to output display data to a display device that performs display and to output a stop signal that stops information display to other display devices. When each display device is provided with a backlight, only the backlight of the display device that performs display may be turned on, and the backlights of other display devices may be turned off.
[0014]
The surveying instrument according to claim 2 has the front and rear surfaces of the surveying instrument main body of claim 1 facing away from each other, and the collimating telescope has an eyepiece portion on the same side as the front surface of the surveying instrument main body. It is tiltable between a state facing and a state where its eyepiece is facing the same side as the rear surface of the surveying instrument main body, and display devices are respectively arranged on the front surface and the rear surface of the surveying instrument main body. That's what I specified.
[0015]
According to a third aspect of the present invention, the surveying instrument according to the third aspect is configured such that the axis between the collimating telescope according to the second aspect and the main body of the surveying instrument is rotatable by an axis, and the tilt angle measuring means includes the collimating telescope around the axis and the collimating telescope. It is specified by detecting the relative angle of the surveying instrument body.
[0016]
The surveying instrument according to claim 4 is specified by the tilt angle measuring means of claim 3 having an encoder.
The surveying instrument according to claim 5 is specified by tilting the collimating telescope according to claim 3 in the vertical direction in the usage state of the surveying instrument.
[0017]
In the surveying instrument according to claim 6, the control means according to claim 1 outputs display data for displaying the information to a display device that displays the information, and to other display devices. Is specified by outputting a stop signal for stopping the display.
[0018]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The present embodiment shows an example in which the surveying instrument according to the present invention is applied as a total station.
<Total station machine configuration>
FIG. 1 is a front view showing the external appearance of the total station, and FIG. 2 is a side view of the total station as seen from the left side of FIG. As is apparent from FIGS. 1 and 2, the total station is configured by stacking a handle portion 11, a main body portion 2, a base portion 3, and a leveling block 4 in order from the upper side of the drawing. The collimating telescope unit 1 is rotatably held in the U-shaped recess 2a of the main body 2 having a substantially U-shape. Hereinafter, each of these components will be described.
[0019]
The collimating telescope unit 1 has a built-in collimating telescope 1a for collimating a reflecting prism (corner cube) and a target arranged at a target object for angle measurement, and the eyepiece unit 1b and the objective unit 1c are The collimating telescope unit 1 is exposed from the front and rear end surfaces. This collimating telescope 1a also serves as a light transmitting optical system and a light receiving optical system for modulated light for light wave ranging. In addition, the collimating telescope unit 1 includes a light emitting element for emitting the modulated light, a light receiving element for receiving the return light of the modulated light from the reflecting prism, and the like.
[0020]
The collimating telescope unit 1 is pivotally supported by a shaft 6 spanned in a U-shaped concave portion 2a of the main body unit 2 and rotates (tilts) in a vertical plane which stands along the vertical direction of the paper surface of FIG. It is possible. A disc-shaped transparent scale 7 a is fixed to the end of the shaft 6 that rotates integrally with the collimating telescope unit 1. On the other hand, a detection device 7b for reading a pattern 7c (see FIG. 3) drawn on the transparent scale 7a is fixed in the main body 2. The transparent scale 7 a and the detection device 7 b constitute an incremental vertical encoder 7, and a pulse indicating a relative rotation direction between the collimating telescope unit 1 and the body unit 2 around the axis 6 is expressed as a relative rotation angle. The number corresponding to is generated. An origin detection pattern 7d (see FIG. 3) is drawn on the transparent scale 7a. The origin detection pattern 7d is such that the eyepiece 1b of the collimating telescope 1a is directed toward the rear surface (surface shown in FIG. 1) of the main body 2 and the optical axis of the collimating telescope 1a is directed horizontally. At the position detected by the detection device 7b. When this origin detection pattern 7d is detected, the detection device 7b outputs a pulse indicating origin detection (origin detection pulse).
[0021]
As shown in FIG. 2, the base 3 is pivotally supported on the bottom surface of the main body 2 by a shaft 9 that is directed in the vertical direction when the total station is used. The shaft 9 is arranged so as to face a direction orthogonal to the direction of the shaft 6. With such a configuration, the base unit 3 can be rotated relative to the main body unit 2 within a plane that is raised along the horizontal direction of the plane of FIG. 1 and FIG. A disc-shaped scale 10 a is provided at the end of the shaft 9 that rotates integrally with the base 3. On the other hand, a detection device 10b for reading a pattern drawn on the scale 10a is fixed in the main body 2. The scale 10a and the detection device 10b constitute an incremental horizontal encoder 10, and generate a number of pulses indicating the relative rotation direction between the base unit 3 and the main body unit 2 corresponding to the relative rotation angle. To do.
[0022]
The main body 2 as the main body of the surveying instrument incorporates a circuit for controlling the entire total station in addition to the vertical encoder 7 and the horizontal encoder 10 described above. On the rear surface, a first display device 12a for displaying various data output by the circuit and operation instructions is provided. In addition, a second display device 12b capable of displaying the same content as the first display device 12a is provided on the front surface. Both the first display device 12a and the second display device 12b are liquid crystal display elements (LCD). The first display device 12a is illuminated by a first backlight 14a provided behind it (inside the main body 2). Similarly, the second display device 12b is illuminated by a second backlight 14b provided behind it (inside the main body 2). Below these display devices 12a and 12b, an input operation unit 13 for inputting various data and operation commands to the internal circuit of the main unit 2 is provided. The vertical fine adjustment screw 2b provided on the rear surface of the main body 2 is a screw for finely adjusting the amount of rotation of the collimating telescope 1 with respect to the main body 2. The horizontal fine adjustment screw 2 c provided near the lower portion of the main body 2 is a screw for finely adjusting the amount of rotation of the main body 2 with respect to the base 3.
[0023]
A handle 11 is detachably attached to the upper portion of the main body 2 so as to straddle the U-shaped recess 2a. That is, when measuring a point located above the total station, the handle portion 11 blocks the distance measuring optical axis, and thus the handle portion 11 is removed. When the angle between the point located on the upper rear side of the total station and the point located on the upper front side is measured, the eyepiece 1b of the collimating telescope 1a is located on the same side as the front surface of the main body 2. The collimating telescope 1a must be rotated so as to move from the state facing to the state facing the same side as the rear surface. Therefore, the handle 11 is removed so as not to interfere with the rotation operation.
[0024]
The leveling block 4 includes an upper plate 4a and a lower plate 4b, and has three leveling screws 8 that can finely adjust the amount of protrusion from the lower plate 4b at equiangular intervals in the circumferential direction. Yes. Then, by finely adjusting the protruding amount of the leveling screws 8, the upper plate 4a can be tilted relative to the lower plate 4b in an arbitrary direction and angle, and the shaft 9 can be directed in the vertical direction. In addition, between the base part 3 and the upper board 4a is a centripetal bearing that can be shifted in the horizontal direction, and a centripetal operation for moving the shaft 9 on a predetermined measuring point can be performed. . As shown in FIG. 2, the centripetal telescope 2d provided so that the eyepiece portion protrudes from the side surface of the main body 2 has an objective optical axis that is coaxial with the axis 9, and a guide for performing the centripetal operation described above Function as. The fixing screw 4c provided on the upper plate 4a is a screw for fixing the movement between the base portion 3 and the upper plate 4a.
[0025]
With the above mechanical configuration, the collimating telescope unit 1 can face in all directions with respect to the base unit 3. The direction of the collimating telescope 1a at this time is measured by the vertical encoder 7 and the horizontal encoder 10.
<Total station internal circuit>
Next, the main part of the total station internal circuit will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG.
[0026]
In FIG. 3, the CPU 15 includes a vertical angle measurement circuit 16 connected to the detection device 7b of the vertical encoder 7, a first drive circuit 17a connected to the first display device 12a and the first backlight 14a, and a second drive circuit 17a. The second driving circuit 17b is connected to the display device 12b and the second backlight 14b, respectively. In FIG. 3, the optical distance measuring circuit, the horizontal encoder 10 and the input operation unit 13 incorporated in the collimating telescope unit 1 are not shown.
[0027]
The vertical angle measurement circuit 16 described above measures the vertical angle (tilt angle) of the collimating telescope 1a by counting various pulses output from the detection device 7b of the vertical direction encoder 7. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, in the state in which the eyepiece 1b of the collimating telescope 1a is directed toward the rear surface side of the main body 2, the optical axis of the collimating telescope 1a is in the horizontal direction. As described above, the origin detection pulse is output from the detection device 7 b of the vertical encoder 7. When detecting the origin detection pulse, the vertical angle measuring circuit 16 resets the internal counter to set the count value indicating the vertical angle of the collimating telescope 1a to “0”. Accordingly, the vertical angle of the collimating telescope 1a at this time is measured to be 0 degrees.
[0028]
When the collimating telescope 1a rotates clockwise from the state of FIG. 2, the detection circuit 7b outputs a number of pulses indicating rotation in the + direction according to the rotation angle. Every time the vertical angle measurement circuit 16 detects this pulse, it counts up the count value of the internal counter in the + direction. Accordingly, the rotation angle is measured as an angle in the + direction. For example, when the eyepiece 1b of the collimating telescope 1a faces downward, the vertical angle is measured to be +90 degrees, and the eyepiece 1b of the collimating telescope 1a is horizontal in front of the main body 2. When facing the direction, the vertical angle is measured to be +180 degrees.
[0029]
On the other hand, when the collimating telescope 1a rotates counterclockwise from the state shown in FIG. 2, the detection circuit 7b outputs a number of pulses indicating the rotation in the-direction according to the rotation angle. Each time the vertical angle measurement circuit 16 detects this pulse, it counts down the count value of the internal counter in the negative direction. Therefore, the rotation angle is measured as an angle in the-direction. For example, when the eyepiece 1b of the collimating telescope 1a faces upward, the vertical angle is measured to be −90 degrees. That is, the vertical encoder 7 and the vertical angle measuring circuit 16 constitute a tilt angle measuring means.
[0030]
The CPU 15 as a control means is a central processing unit that controls the entire total station. That is, the CPU 15 issues a distance measurement start command to a light wave distance measuring circuit (not shown) in response to an input from the input operation unit 13 and measures the distance measured by the light wave distance measurement circuit. Receives the distance value. The CPU 15 also receives the vertical angle measured by the vertical angle measurement circuit 16 and the horizontal angle measured by a horizontal angle measurement circuit (not shown) connected to the horizontal encoder 10. The CPU 15 calculates various information by performing predetermined data processing on the received data.
[0031]
The CPU 15 outputs each received and calculated data and display data such as an input instruction to one of the drive circuits 17a and 17b together with a control signal. This control signal is a signal for activating each of the drive circuits 17a and 17b so that the display data can be displayed. The CPU 15 outputs a stop signal to the drive circuits 17a and 17b on the side that does not transmit display data and control signals. This stop signal is a signal for stopping the information display by stopping the drive circuits 17a and 17b. Specifically, when the vertical angle θ input from the vertical angle measurement circuit 16 is in a range of −90 degrees <θ ≦ + 90 degrees, the CPU 15 is configured such that the eyepiece 1b of the collimating telescope 1a is the main body. 2, the control signal and the display data are output to the first drive circuit 17a for driving the first display device 12a located in the vicinity of the eyepiece 1b. A stop signal is output to the second drive circuit 17b for driving the second display device 12b located on the side away from the eye 1b. On the other hand, when the vertical angle θ input from the vertical angle measuring circuit 16 is in the range of +90 degrees <θ ≦ + 270 degrees, that is, the eyepiece 1b of the collimating telescope 1a is on the front side of the main body 2. Is directed to the second drive circuit 17b for driving the second display device 12b located in the vicinity of the eyepiece 1b, the control signal and the display data are output from the eyepiece 1b. A stop signal is output to the first drive circuit 17a for driving the first display device 12a located on the far side.
[0032]
When the vertical angle θ input from the vertical angle measuring circuit 16 is +90 degrees and −90 (+270) degrees, control signals and display data are output to both the drive circuits 17a and 17b. May be. In this case, information is displayed by both display devices 12a and 12b.
[0033]
When each of the drive circuits 17a and 17b receives a control signal and display data from the CPU 15, it turns on the corresponding backlights 14a and 14b, and any of the corresponding display devices (liquid crystal display plates) 12a and 12b. A voltage is selectively applied to these electrodes to display information corresponding to the display data. On the other hand, when each drive circuit 17a, 17b receives a stop signal from the CPU 15, it turns off the corresponding backlights 14a, 14b and applies voltage to the corresponding display devices (liquid crystal display panels) 12a, 12b. Stop and stop displaying information.
<Operation of Example>
Next, the effect | action by this embodiment is demonstrated based on the flowchart of FIG. This flowchart shows the contents of the control process executed by the CPU 15 to display information by the display devices 12a and 12b, and starts when the CPU 15 is turned on. In the first S1, the vertical angle measurement circuit 16 measures the vertical angle of the collimating telescope 1a and reads the value of the measured vertical angle.
[0034]
In next S2, the direction of the eyepiece 1 of the collimating telescope 1a is determined based on the vertical angle read in S1. When the vertical angle θ is in the range of −90 degrees <θ ≦ + 90 degrees, it is determined that the eyepiece unit 1 is located on the rear side of the main body 2, and in S3, the first drive circuit 17a is inspected. The control signal and display data are output, and a stop signal is output to the second drive circuit 17b. As a result, as shown in FIG. 5 (1), the display is made only by the first display device 12a, and the display by the second display device 12b is stopped.
[0035]
On the other hand, when the vertical angle θ is in the range of +90 degrees <θ ≦ + 270 degrees, it is determined that the eyepiece unit 1 is located on the front side of the main body 2, and in S4, the second drive circuit 17b. A control signal and display data are output to the first drive circuit 17a, and a stop signal is output to the first drive circuit 17a. As a result, as shown in FIG. 5 (2), the display is made only by the second display device 12b, and the display by the first display device 12a is stopped.
[0036]
In any case, after outputting each signal, the process returns to S1 to repeat the above processes in order to measure the current vertical angle.
Thus, according to the present embodiment, the number of display devices 12a and 12b that simultaneously display information is limited to one. Therefore, the power consumed by the liquid crystal display panels constituting the display devices 12a and 12b and the power consumed by the backlights 14a and 14b can be reduced to about half. As a result, the power consumption of the entire total station can be suppressed, so that shortening of the battery usable period can be prevented.
[0037]
Even when the information display by one of the display devices 12a and 12b is stopped in this way, the display devices 12a and 12b positioned in the vicinity of the eyepiece 1b of the collimating telescope 1a at each time are always used. Information is displayed. The vicinity of the eyepiece 1b is a side having a high probability that a collimating operator is operating the total station. Therefore, even if the information display by one of the display devices 12a and 12b is stopped, there is no hindrance to the operation of the total station by the operator.
[0038]
【The invention's effect】
According to the surveying instrument according to the present invention configured as described above, the data display by the display device on the side not observed by the operator among the plurality of display devices provided in the surveying instrument is stopped. It is possible to suppress power consumption in a plurality of display devices without hindering operation by an operator.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a front view of a total station according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a side view of the total station in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an internal circuit of the total station. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the control process.
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Collimating telescope part 1a Collimating telescope 2 Main body part 7 Vertical direction encoder 12a 1st display apparatus 12b 2nd display apparatus 14a 1st drive circuit 14b 2nd drive circuit 16 Vertical angle measurement circuit

Claims (6)

A collimating telescope for collimating the survey target point;
A main body of the surveying instrument that tiltably holds the collimating telescope;
A plurality of display devices respectively arranged at different locations on the surveying instrument main body to display information;
A tilt angle measuring means for measuring a tilt angle of the collimating telescope with respect to the surveying instrument body;
Control means for recognizing the position of the eyepiece of the collimating telescope based on the tilt angle measured by the tilt angle measuring means and displaying the information only by a display device closest to the eyepiece; A surveying instrument characterized by comprising: The surveying instrument main body has a front surface and a rear surface facing opposite sides,
The collimating telescope is freely tiltable between a state in which the eyepiece portion faces the same side as the front surface of the surveying instrument body and a state in which the eyepiece portion faces the same side as the rear surface of the surveying instrument body,
The surveying instrument according to claim 1, wherein the display device is disposed on a front surface and a rear surface of the surveying instrument main body, respectively. Between the collimating telescope and the surveying instrument body is rotatable by an axis,
3. The surveying instrument according to claim 2, wherein the tilt angle measuring means detects a relative angle between the collimating telescope and the surveying instrument main body around the axis. 4. The surveying instrument according to claim 3, wherein the tilt angle measuring means includes an encoder. The surveying instrument according to claim 3, wherein the collimating telescope tilts in a vertical direction when the surveying instrument is in use. The control means outputs display data for displaying the information to a display device that displays the information, and outputs a stop signal for stopping display to other display devices. The surveying instrument according to claim 1, wherein:

Images