Localization method and apparatus
First Claim
1. A system for determining the location of an object in an environment comprising:
- a plurality of optical transmitters, each configured to emit an optical transmission different from the optical transmission of another of the plurality of optical transmitters, wherein each optical transmission comprises a signal, and wherein each optical transmitter is positioned at a location spaced apart from another of the plurality of optical transmitters within the environment;
one or more optical receivers configured to be mounted to the object, the one or more optical receivers further configured to receive one or more of the optical transmissions and to generate a set of transmitter angle vectors, wherein each transmitter angle vector is associated with an image of one of the plurality of optical transmitters, and is based on the angle between the associated optical transmitter and a reference frame of the one or more optical receivers, and the location of the associated optical transmitter; and
a computing device communicatively coupled to the one or more optical receivers and configured to estimate the location of the object based on the set of transmitter angle vectors and the locations of the three or more optical transmitters.
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Abstract
An apparatus for determining the location and state of an object in an environment is disclosed. Three or more light-emitting beacons are located in the environment, and each beacon transmits a light pattern that contains information needed to identify the beacon. An optical receiver is attached to the object whose location needs to be determined. The optical receiver comprising one or more cameras images the beacons, and identifies the apparent direction from which the beacon is coming based on the pixel or pixels illuminated by the beacon. The optical receiver also decodes the light pattern transmitted by each beacon to identify it. Finally, based on knowledge of the locations of the beacons in the environment and based on the apparent directions from which the beacons appear to be coming, the optical receiver determines its location, and thus the location of the object.
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Citations
37 Claims
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1. A system for determining the location of an object in an environment comprising:
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a plurality of optical transmitters, each configured to emit an optical transmission different from the optical transmission of another of the plurality of optical transmitters, wherein each optical transmission comprises a signal, and wherein each optical transmitter is positioned at a location spaced apart from another of the plurality of optical transmitters within the environment; one or more optical receivers configured to be mounted to the object, the one or more optical receivers further configured to receive one or more of the optical transmissions and to generate a set of transmitter angle vectors, wherein each transmitter angle vector is associated with an image of one of the plurality of optical transmitters, and is based on the angle between the associated optical transmitter and a reference frame of the one or more optical receivers, and the location of the associated optical transmitter; and a computing device communicatively coupled to the one or more optical receivers and configured to estimate the location of the object based on the set of transmitter angle vectors and the locations of the three or more optical transmitters. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A receiver system attached to an object for determining a location of the object in an environment comprising:
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one or more optical receivers configured to receive optical data from two or more optical transmitters and to generate a set of transmitter angle vectors; and a computing device communicatively coupled to the one or more optical receivers and configured to estimate the location of the object based on the set of transmitter angle vectors and locations of the two or more optical transmitters;
whereineach transmitter angle vector is associated with an image of one of the two or more optical transmitters, and is based on the angle between the associated optical transmitter and a reference frame of the one or more optical receivers and the location of the associated optical transmitter. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A method for determining the location of an object in an environment comprising the steps of:
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receiving a plurality of optical transmissions from a plurality of optical transmitters with an optical receiver comprising one or more image sensor chips, wherein each image sensor chip of the one or more image sensor chips is associated with an optical device capable of forming an image of part of the environment on the image sensor chip; extracting an associated signal from each optical transmission; generating a plurality of image locations based on the plurality of optical transmissions, wherein each image location is generated based on an optical transmission and a location of the associated optical transmission on the one or more image sensor chips, and based on the geometries of the pixel arrays of the one or more image sensor chips; generating a plurality of transmitter angle vectors based on the plurality of image locations and based on the associated signal of each optical transmission; and determining the location of the object based on the plurality of transmitter angle vectors and a location of each optical transmitter. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34)
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35. A receiver system attached to an object for determining a location of the object in an environment comprising:
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one or more optical receivers configured to receive optical transmissions from two or more optical transmitters and to generate a set of transmitter angle vectors, wherein the one or more optical receivers comprises one or more image sensors and one or more optical devices arranged according to a geometric configuration, the one or more image sensors are associated with one or more pixel geometries, and each transmitter angle vector of the set of transmitter angle vectors is generated based on the geometric configuration and the one or more pixel geometries; and a computing device communicatively coupled to the one or more optical receivers and configured to estimate the location of the object based on the set of transmitter angle vectors and locations of the one or more optical transmitters;
wherein each transmitter angle vector is associated with one of the two or more optical transmitters, and is based on the angle between the associated optical transmitter and a reference frame of the one or more optical receivers and the location of the associated optical transmitter, andeach transmitter angle vector is associated with a pixel location in the one or more optical receivers, and the pixel location is determined to an accuracy that is less than the minimum distance between any two adjacent pixels of the one or more optical receivers.
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36. A receiver system attached to an object for determining a location of the object in an environment comprising:
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one or more optical receivers configured to receive optical transmissions from two or more optical transmitters and to generate a set of transmitter angle vectors; and a computing device communicatively coupled to the one or more optical receivers and configured to estimate the location of the object based on the set of transmitter angle vectors and locations of the one or more optical transmitters; wherein each transmitter angle vector is associated with one of the two or more optical transmitters, and is based on the angle between the associated optical transmitter and a reference frame of the one or more optical receivers and the location of the associated optical transmitter; and the one or more optical receivers is configured to define a first set of pixels to acquire and a second set of pixels to not acquire, wherein the first set of pixels comprises a two dimensional array of pixels, acquire the first set of pixels without acquiring the second set of pixels, and generate the set of transmitter angle vectors based on the first set of pixels. - View Dependent Claims (37)
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Specification