US Patent 7898569 Angled axis machine vision system and method

Angled axis machine vision system having a camera system angled with respect to an axis of coordinate system of environment. Eliminates problem of utilizing horizontal, vertical lines in environment for distance calculations when horizontal and vertical lines are parallel or close to parallel to axis lying between camera centers of camera system. With camera centers angled about roll axis, horizontal and vertical lines in environment appear as angled lines in images taken from the cameras enabling more accurate distance calculations. With angled axis rotation it is still possible for lines in environment to be parallel to axis defined between camera centers, but instances are rare in real world environments. Camera mount may rotate wherein two sets of pictures are taken and two sets compared for the number of lines which are parallel to axis of camera centers wherein set of pictures with least lines parallel is used for distance calculations.