Three-dimensional triangulation and time-of-flight based tracking systems and methods
First Claim
1. A system for tracking a target, comprising:
- a receiver that performs actions, including;
detecting one or more incoming light beams at one or more incoming angles, that are reflected by the target, wherein the target reflects instead of detects the one or more incoming light beams; and
detecting one or more passive trigger events that are generated by the target; and
a computing device, including;
a memory for storing instructions; and
one or more processors that execute the instructions to perform actions, comprising;
in response to the receiver detecting the one or more passive trigger events, employing a transmitter to scan one or more outgoing light beams towards the target at one or more outgoing angles; and
determining a current location of the target based on one or more values, including a time interval value that is based on the transmitting of one or more outgoing light beams at one or more modified outgoing angles, or a combination of a triangulation value based on the one or more incoming angles of the one or more incoming light beams reflected by the target and the time interval value.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A three-dimension position tracking system is presented. The system includes transmitters and receivers. A transmitter scans continuous or pulsed coherent light beams across a target. The receiver detects the reflected beams. The system recursively determines the location of the target, as a function of time, via triangulation and observation of the time-of-flight of the incoming and outgoing beams. The transmitter includes ultra-fast scanning optics to scan the receiver'"'"'s field-of-view. The receiver includes arrays of ultra-fast photosensitive pixels. The system determines the angles of the incoming beams based on the line-of-sight of the triggered pixels. By observing the incoming angles and correlating timestamps associated with the outgoing and incoming beams, the system accurately, and in near real-time, determines the location of the target. By combining the geometry of the scattered beams, as well as the beams'"'"' time-of-flight, ambiguities inherent to triangulation and ambiguities inherent to time-of-flight location methods are resolved.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A system for tracking a target, comprising:
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a receiver that performs actions, including; detecting one or more incoming light beams at one or more incoming angles, that are reflected by the target, wherein the target reflects instead of detects the one or more incoming light beams; and detecting one or more passive trigger events that are generated by the target; and a computing device, including; a memory for storing instructions; and one or more processors that execute the instructions to perform actions, comprising; in response to the receiver detecting the one or more passive trigger events, employing a transmitter to scan one or more outgoing light beams towards the target at one or more outgoing angles; and determining a current location of the target based on one or more values, including a time interval value that is based on the transmitting of one or more outgoing light beams at one or more modified outgoing angles, or a combination of a triangulation value based on the one or more incoming angles of the one or more incoming light beams reflected by the target and the time interval value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method for tracking a target, comprising:
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employing a receiver to perform actions, including; detecting one or more incoming light beams at one or more incoming angles, that are reflected by the target, wherein the target reflects instead of detects the one or more incoming light beams; and detecting one or more passive trigger events that are generated by the target; and employing a computing device that uses one or more processors to execute instructions to perform actions, comprising; in response to the receiver detecting the one or more passive trigger events, employing a transmitter to scan one or more outgoing light beams towards the target at one or more outgoing angles; and determining a current location of the target based on one or more values, including a time interval value that is based on the transmitting of one or more outgoing light beams at one or more modified outgoing angles, or a combination of a triangulation value based on the one or more incoming angles of the one or more incoming light beams reflected by the target and the time interval value. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An apparatus for tracking a target, comprising:
a computing device, including; a memory for storing instructions; and one or more processors that execute the instructions to perform actions, comprising; enabling a receiver to perform actions, including; detecting one or more incoming light beams at one or more incoming angles, that are reflected by the target, wherein the target reflects instead of detects the one or more incoming light beams; and detecting one or more passive trigger events that are generated by the target; and in response to the receiver detecting the one or more passive trigger events, employing a transmitter to scan one or more outgoing light beams towards the target at one or more outgoing angles; and determining a current location of the target based on one or more values, including a time interval value that is based on the transmitting of one or more outgoing light beams at one or more modified outgoing angles, or a combination of a triangulation value based on the one or more incoming angles of the one or more incoming light beams reflected by the target and the time interval value. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A processor readable non-transitory storage media that includes instructions for tracking a target, wherein the execution of the instructions by one or more processors performs actions, comprising:
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employing a receiver to perform actions, including; detecting one or more incoming light beams at one or more incoming angles, that are reflected by the target, wherein the target reflects instead of detects the one or more incoming light beams; and detecting one or more passive trigger events that are generated by the target; and employing a computing device that uses one or more processors to execute instructions to perform actions, comprising; in response to the receiver detecting the one or more passive trigger events, employing a transmitter to scan one or more outgoing light beams towards the target at one or more outgoing angles; and determining a current location of the target based on one or more values, including a time interval value that is based on the transmitting of one or more outgoing light beams at one or more modified outgoing angles, or a combination of a triangulation value based on the one or more incoming angles of the one or more incoming light beams reflected by the target and the time interval value. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification