Automatic pan/tilt pointing device, luminaire follow-spot, and 6DOF 3D position/orientation calculation information
First Claim
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1. A system for tracking an object of interest and controlling a pointing device capable of pan/tilt movement at the object of interest, said system comprising:
- an emitter module coupled to the object of interest, said emitter module being adapted to emit a pulsed light output;
an imaging module, said imaging module being coupled to the pointing device, said imaging module including an image acquisition component, said image acquisition component being responsive to the pulsed light output of said emitter module for acquiring images of said pulsed light output;
an image processing module, said image processing module including a controller for processing the images acquired by said imaging module, and said controller further including a component for generating control signals derived from said acquired images for controlling the pan and tilt movement of the pointing device to track the object of interest.
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Abstract
A system and method for automatically tracking objects of interest and aiming or pointing a device capable of pan/tilt movement at the objects as they move in real-time. The system also provides the capability to gather, in real-time or non-real time, information to calculate the position and orientation in three dimensions of the aiming or pointing device. The position and orientation information is characterized by three positional coordinates (x,y,z) and three angular orientation coordinates (Theta, Gamma, and Phi) for a total of six degrees of freedom or 6DOF.
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Citations
39 Claims
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1. A system for tracking an object of interest and controlling a pointing device capable of pan/tilt movement at the object of interest, said system comprising:
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an emitter module coupled to the object of interest, said emitter module being adapted to emit a pulsed light output;
an imaging module, said imaging module being coupled to the pointing device, said imaging module including an image acquisition component, said image acquisition component being responsive to the pulsed light output of said emitter module for acquiring images of said pulsed light output;
an image processing module, said image processing module including a controller for processing the images acquired by said imaging module, and said controller further including a component for generating control signals derived from said acquired images for controlling the pan and tilt movement of the pointing device to track the object of interest. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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17. A system for tracking an object of interest and controlling a pointing device capable of pan/tilt movement at the object of interest, said system comprising:
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an emitter module coupled to the object of interest, said emitter module being adapted to emit a pulsed light output;
an imaging module, said imaging module being coupled to the pointing device, said imaging module including an image acquisition component, said image acquisition component being responsive to the pulsed light output of said emitter module for acquiring images of said pulsed light output, and said imaging module being coupled to a stationary portion of said pointing device and remaining stationary in relation to the pan and tilt movement of said pointing device;
an image processing module, said image processing module including a controller for processing the images acquired by said imaging module, and said controller further including a component for generating control signals derived from said acquired images for controlling the pan and tilt movement of the pointing device to track the object of interest; and
an external controller for making position and orientation determinations for the pointing device, said position and orientation determinations comprising three positional coordinates and three angular orientation coordinates, wherein said external controller includes an input component coupled to an output port on said controller, and an output component coupled to an input port on said controller, said output component providing control signals to said controller for acquiring position and orientation data for the pointing device, and said input component receiving the acquired position and orientation data for making said position and orientation determinations associated with the pointing device.
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24. A system for tracking an object of interest and controlling a pointing device capable of pan/tilt movement at the object of interest, said system comprising:
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light emitter means coupled to the object of interest for emitting a pulsed light output;
image acquisition means coupled to the pointing device for acquiring images of said pulsed light output;
image processing means for processing the images acquired by said image acquisition means, said image processing means including means for generating control signals derived from said acquired images for controlling the pan and tilt movement of the pointing device to track the object of interest.
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Specification