Information carrier, method and reading device for two-dimensional position measurement on surfaces and the attendant call of program processes

• US 20050040246A1
• Filed: 09/14/2004
• Published: 02/24/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arjo Wiggins Papiers Couches
• Original Assignee: Arjo Wiggins Papiers Couches
• Inventors: Bock, Wolfgang
• Granted Patent: US 7,229,019 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/494
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/06 characterised by the kind of the digital marking, e.g. shape, nature, code
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/06131 the marking comprising a target pattern, e.g. for indicating the center of the bar code or for helping a bar code reader to properly orient the scanner or to retrieve the bar code inside of an image
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/14 using light without selection of wavelength, e.g. sensing reflected white light G06K7/10831 - G06K7/1097 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/245 by locating a pattern; Special marks for positioning

Abstract

The invention comprises an information carrier on which the position of a measuring point (37, 41) may be determined using a mobile readout device, as well as an attendant method of determining a position wherein the information carrier features a surface onto which a visible primary information has been applied, in the manner of a book or a geographic map, wherein at least one machine-readable pattern has been printed on the surface, said pattern coding a position information, which upon bringing to bear methods of image analysis and of local sampling of parts (36, 40) of the surface, will allow a determination of position for a measurement point (37, 41) and wherein the pattern coding the position information is transparent in such a way that the primary information on the surface remains visible.

Claims

1. An information carrier, on which a position can be measured for a measuring point using a mobile reading device, wherein:

the information carrier comprises a surface to which a visible primary information has been applied, in particular in the manner of sheet music, a book or a map,

at least one machine-readable two-dimensional pattern has been printed on the surface, said pattern coding a position information, wherein by using said information in an image analysis method, and by local sampling of parts of the pattern, the position of measuring point may be determined and

the pattern coding the position information is transparent in such a way that the primary information on the surface will remain visible.

2. The information carrier according to claim 1, wherein the patterns are such that, upon finding a position for a measuring point on the surface, the reading device calls a program process corresponding to that position.

3. The information carrier according to claim 1, wherein the patterns are printed on the surface in such a way that any location of the surface carrying primary information remains readable and usable in unaided fashion, even if said location of the surface carries a pattern.

4. The information carrier according to claim 1, wherein patterns have been applied over the entire surface in such a way that for any location carrying a primary information, local processing of the patterns allows determination of a position at said location.

5. The information carrier according to claim 2, wherein any position of the printed surface may have a program process associated with it, even after production of the surface has been completed and without any subsequent reworking of that surface.

6. The information carrier according to claim 1, wherein the surface may change its shape, e.g. in the manner of a foil or a paper page, which, during the sampling pass and at least in the vicinity of the location being measured by the user, can be brought into a predefined, preferably plane shape.

7. The information carrier according to one of the preceding claims, wherein at least two patterns and are printed on the surface such that they can be recognized by the reading device and discriminated between each other, and wherein the reading device can locally recognize, for each pattern, a characteristic feature and whose absolute position is coded into a pattern that can be locally decoded and interpreted, and wherein image analysis methods are used to determine the distance of measuring point to two or more of these characteristic features, so as to derive the absolute position of measuring point on the surface.

8. The information carrier according to claim 7, wherein several combinations of patterns overlap, and wherein every pattern can be read out separately, so as to increase the accuracy of the readout process.

9. The information carrier according to one of the preceding claims, wherein patterns are printed such that, as a result of the printing process, or as a result of the materials that are used, these patterns can be read out by sampling a one- or two-dimensional raster on the surface.

10. The information carrier according to one of the preceding claims, wherein a pattern is embodied as an one-dimensional lattice of parallel code stripes that straddle the entire surface, and wherein in particular one of the edges of a code stripe is interpreted as a characteristic feature.

11. The information carrier according to claim 10, wherein the distance of the characteristic features of two consecutive parallel code stripes can be sampled at any time, in order to partially compensate for changes in the surface that may have taken place after printing or production.

12. The information carrier according to claim 10, wherein the one-dimensional distance of a measurement point to one of the characteristic features of a code stripe may be determined with a reading device that samples and processes a area or line raster that straddles the characteristic feature of at least two code stripes and which is positioned in a fixed relation relative to the measurement point.

13. The information carrier according to claim 10, wherein two patterns are realized as two crossed, overlapping but separately recognizable one-dimensional lattices, e.g. with Lattice_y made of horizontal and Lattice_x of vertical code stripes;

and wherein the reading device will detect Lattice_y and Lattice_x along a line or area raster on the surface, so that by a purely local position determination of the respective characteristic feature an absolute horizontal and vertical coordinate can be found for the measurement points and and hence, the position of the reading device on the surface is determined.

14. The information carrier according to claim 13, wherein Lattice_y and Lattice_x are applied to the surface, using respectively different materials and using printing rasters in such a way that those materials do not overlap at any point of the surface and consequently can be read out separately.

15. The information carrier according to claim 13, wherein the materials for Lattice_y and Lattice_x overlap in certain areas, but wherein said materials differ in their respective physical properties so as to permit separate readout and decoding of the two lattice at any point of the surface.

16. The information carrier according to claim 13, wherein the raster used for readout is arranged at a certain angle to the code stripes in Lattice_y and hence to the code stripes in Lattice_x wherein that angle'"'"'s value can be determined during readout and therefore can be exhibited to the user.

17. The information carrier according to one of the preceding claims, wherein one or more patterns are luminescent, and wherein the excitation light or effect is modulated so as to minimize the influence of extraneous light and wherein each of the patterns being used luminesces in its own combination of spectral lines.

18. The information carrier according to claim 17, wherein the patterns partially overlap and can nevertheless be read out separately, particularly wherein each pattern being used luminesces in its own combination of spectral lines in such a way that the respective luminescence light can be transmitted through all patterns that are laid on top of it.

19. The information carrier according to claim 17, wherein each printed pattern is excited in time-multiplexed fashion and in such a way, that the patterns may be read out in time alternating fashion and therefore separately.

20. The information carrier according to one of the claim 1, carrying one or more patterns that are detected by sampling their electric resistance, magnetization, dielectric constant, transmittivity or reflexivity for polarized and unpolarized radiation, thermal conductivity, mechanical compliance, light absorption, refractive index, as well as absolute or relative differences in height between individual raster pixels and/or by exploiting their thermic or electrochromic properties.

21. The information carrier according to claim 1, wherein the patterns have been applied in raster fashion, in such a way that they do not overlap at the microscopic level and can therefore be read out separately.

22. The information carrier according to claim 21, wherein patterns that are laid down on top of each other can be read out separately.

23-40. -40. (Canceled).