Pointing systems for addressing objects
First Claim
1. ) An apparatus for addressing objects, the apparatus comprising:
- a directional reference;
a point reference;
a position determining means;
an attitude determining means;
a computer processor; and
a user interface, said position determining means being arranged to determine the position of the point reference and convey position information to said computer processor;
said attitude determining means being arranged to determine the attitude of the directional reference and convey attitude information to said computer processor; and
said user interface being in electronic communication with said computer processor.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Systems are arranged to provide a user information which relates to objects of interest. A user may point a hand held device toward an object to address it. The device determines which objects are being addressed by making position and attitude measurements and further a reference and search of a database containing preprogrammed information relating to objects. Information relating to objects determined as objects presently being addressed is thereafter presented at a user interface. Devices of these systems include a point reference, a direction reference, a position determining support, attitude determining support, a computer processor and database, and a user interface. Methods of systems include the steps of addressing an object, determining position and attitude, searching a database, and presenting information to a user.
325 Citations
129 Claims
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1. ) An apparatus for addressing objects, the apparatus comprising:
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a directional reference;
a point reference;
a position determining means;
an attitude determining means;
a computer processor; and
a user interface, said position determining means being arranged to determine the position of the point reference and convey position information to said computer processor;
said attitude determining means being arranged to determine the attitude of the directional reference and convey attitude information to said computer processor; and
said user interface being in electronic communication with said computer processor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
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23. ) A method of presenting information relating to an object being addressed, the method comprising the acts:
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addressing an object;
determining position;
determining attitude;
searching a database; and
presenting information, said addressing an object being further defined as causing a reference pointing direction to be aligned towards an object;
said determining position further defined as measuring the position of a point reference;
said determining attitude further defined as measuring the orientation of a directional reference;
said searching a database further defined as comparing an address indicator against a geometric descriptor of an information element; and
said presenting information further defined as reporting results of a search where correlation is found.
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38. ) Pointing systems comprising:
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a mobile unit;
a wireless network;
a wireless application gateway;
the Internet;
an application server; and
a database, said mobile unit being in electromagnetic communication with the wireless network, the mobile unit comprising;
a computing facility;
a point reference coupled to a position determining means coupled to said computing facility whereby the position of the point reference is conveyed to the computing facility, a direction reference coupled to an attitude determining means coupled to said computing facility whereby the attitude of the pointing reference is conveyed to the computing facility, the mobile unit being operable for transmitting requests with encoded position and attitude information to said wireless network,said wireless network is coupled to a wireless application gateway operable for receiving encoded requests from the wireless network and translating encoded requests into Internet Protocol requests and routing them via the Internet to said application server, said application server being an application specific computer processor operable for receiving requests having position and attitude information therein from mobile units and processing those requests in accordance with a preprogrammed scheme, said database coupled to said application server via a communication link where information may be exchanged, the database having therein preprogrammed information including geometric descriptors associated with data relating to an object where said geometric descriptors are a spatial definition of the object.
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54. ) Pointing systems apparatus comprising:
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a) a direction reference;
b) attitude determining means;
c) computer; and
d) display, said direction reference being movable via influence from a user, said attitude determining means so coupled to said movable direction reference whereby a measure of pointing direction may be made, said computer being in communication with said attitude determining means whereby attitude information relating to said direction reference may be conveyed to said computer, and said display being conventionally coupled to said computer. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99)
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69. ) Methods for triggering computer action relating to an object being addressed comprising the steps:
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determining an address state of a mobile unit;
forming a request including parameters of the address state;
transmitting said request to a server computer; and
processing said request at said server computer to trigger an action in accordance with a program running on said server computer.
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100. ) Methods for triggering computer action relating to an object being addressed comprising the steps:
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manipulating point and direction references of a mobile unit to cause a spatial alignment with an object of interest;
causing a trigger event while simultaneously holding said spatial alignment;
in response to said trigger event, measuring the address state of said mobile unit;
generating a request in accordance with a program running on a mobile nit computer processor including at least a specification of the address state including position and attitude measurement;
transmitting said request from said mobile unit to a server computer running application programming;
executing a database search including a step performing an intersection test in view of said request against at least one database record including at least one geometric descriptor to produce a result set;
taking an action in agreement with said application programming whereby said action relates to said result set;
returning data produced in said database search and conveying said data to said mobile unit. - View Dependent Claims (101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107)
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108. ) Methods of addressing objects comprising the steps:
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determining position of a point reference;
determining attitude of a direction reference;
forming an address state indicator which depends on determined position and attitude;
performing an intersection test with said address st ate descriptor against data stored in a database to yield a result set of data relating to objects being addressed; and
taking an action which depends upon the result set. - View Dependent Claims (109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 126, 127, 128, 129)
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125. ) Methods for triggering computer action relating to an object being addressed comprising the steps:
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receiving a request including parameters of an address state of a mobile unit at a server computer; and
processing said request at said server computer to trigger an action in accordance with a program running on said server computer.
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Specification