Positioning apparatus and method

• US 20080158052A1
• Filed: 11/09/2007
• Published: 07/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Inventors: Yu, Ren-Yuan, Chen, Yung-Yu, Chang, Shyang-Jye, Shen, Sheng-Chih, Wang, Shih-Hao
• Granted Patent: US 8,269,624 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/357.06
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/49 whereby the further system is an inertial position system, e.g. loosely-coupled
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile

Abstract

A positioning apparatus is disclosed, which comprises: a position detection module, including an inertial sensor, a magnetometer, and a global positioning device, being used for detection a movement of an object and thus generating a positioning signal accordingly; wherein the positioning signal is transmitted to a control unit and then to a signal processing device where it is being processed and converted into an angular/displacement signal to be transmitted to a monitoring device by way of a signal transmission device for enabling the monitoring device to track the movement of the object. In a preferred embodiment, both of the monitoring device and the signal transmission device are respectively being configured with a displaying unit for displaying the movement of the object. In addition, the positioning apparatus further comprises an identity module, for providing a unique identification code to the object to be used for identifying the same. With the aforesaid apparatus, the object can be positioned and monitored in a remote manner no matter it is being shielded or not.

Claims

1. A positioning apparatus comprising:

a position detection module, being used for detection a movement of an object and thus generating a positioning signal accordingly;

a control unit, for receiving the positioning signal from the position detection module;

a signal processing device, capable of processing the positioning signal received from the control unit and thus generating an angular/displacement signal accordingly;

a signal transmission device, for transmitting the angular/displacement signal;

a monitoring device, capable of receiving the angular/displacement signal while using the same for tracking the movement of the object.

2. The positioning apparatus of claim 1, wherein the position detection module further comprises:

an inertial sensor, for measuring variation of the object'"'"'s movement;

a magnetometer, for providing an azimuth angle with respect to an absolute coordinate system for the object; and

a global positioning device, for locating the position of the object with respect to the absolute coordinate system

3. The positioning apparatus of claim 2, wherein the inertial sensor further comprises:

an accelerator, for detecting accelerations from the movement of the object; and

a gyroscope, for detecting an angular velocity variation from the movement of the object.

4. The positioning apparatus of claim 1, wherein the signal transmitting device further comprises:

a wireless transmission module, for transmitting the angular/displacement signal of the signal processing device to a receiving unit in a wireless manner; and

the receiving unit, for receiving the angular/displacement signal transmitted from the wireless transmission module and then passing the received angular/displacement signal to the monitoring device.

5. The positioning apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control unit and the signal processing device is integrated and modularized as a single device.

6. The positioning apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

an identity module, for providing a unique identification code to the object to be used for identifying the same.

7. A positioning apparatus, comprising:

a position detection module, being used for detection a movement of an object and thus generating a positioning signal accordingly;

a control unit, for receiving the positioning signal from the position detection module;

a signal processing device, capable of processing the positioning signal received from the control unit and thus generating an angular/displacement signal accordingly; and

a wireless transmission module, for transmitting the angular/displacement signal to a receiving device in a wireless manner.

8. The positioning apparatus of claim 7, wherein the position detection module further comprises:

an inertial sensor, for measuring variation of the object'"'"'s movement;

a magnetometer, for providing an azimuth angle with respect to an absolute coordinate system for the object; and

a global positioning device, for locating the position of the object with respect to the absolute coordinate system.

9. The positioning apparatus of claim 8, wherein the inertial sensor further comprises:

an accelerator, for detecting accelerations from the movement of the object; and

a gyroscope, for detecting an angular velocity variation from the movement of the object.

10. The positioning apparatus of claim 9, wherein the accelerometer is capable of detecting and measuring three accelerations measured along three orthogonal axes of a coordinate system.

11. The positioning apparatus of claim 7, wherein the wireless transmission protocol used by the wireless transmission module is a protocol selected from the group consisting of Bluetooth, Ultra-Wideband (UWB), and Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi).

12. The positioning apparatus of claim 7, wherein the receiving unit is capable of wirelessly receiving the angular/displacement signal transmitted from the wireless transmission module and then passing the received angular/displacement signal to the monitoring device.

13. The positioning apparatus of claim 12, wherein the receiving device is connected to the monitoring device by a means selected from the group consisting a wired mean and a wireless means.

14. The positioning apparatus of claim 13, wherein the receiving device is connected to the monitoring device by a wireless communication system with access point (AP) ability.

15. The positioning apparatus of claim 7, wherein the receiving device further comprises a displaying unit, used for displaying the movement of the object.

16. The positioning apparatus of claim 7, wherein the control unit and the signal processing device is integrated and modularized as a single device.

17. The positioning apparatus of claim 7, wherein the control unit and the signal processing device is integrated and modularized as a chip.

18. The positioning apparatus of claim 7, further comprising:

an identity module, for providing a unique identification code to the object to be used for identifying the same.

19. A positioning method, comprising the steps of:

(a) using a position detection module to detect a movement of an object and thus generate a corresponding positioning signal;

(b) transmitting the positioning signal to a control unit and a signal processing device;

(c) enabling the signal processing device to processed the received positioning signal for generating an angular/displacement signal accordingly;

(d) transmitting the angular/displacement signal to a monitoring device by way of a signal transmission device for enabling the monitoring device to track the movement of the object.

20. The positioning method of claim 19, wherein the position detection module comprises:

an inertial sensor, for measuring variation of the object'"'"'s movement;

a magnetometer, for providing an azimuth angle with respect to an absolute coordinate system for the object; and

a global positioning device, for locating the position of the object with respect to the absolute coordinate system.

21. The positioning method of claim 20, wherein the inertial sensor further comprises:

an accelerator, for detecting accelerations from the movement of the object; and

a gyroscope, for detecting an angular velocity variation from the movement of the object.

22. The positioning method of claim 19, wherein the signal transmitting device further comprises:

a wireless transmission module, for transmitting the angular/displacement signal of the signal processing device to a receiving unit in a wireless manner; and

the receiving unit, for receiving the angular/displacement signal transmitted from the wireless transmission module and then passing the received angular/displacement signal to the monitoring device.

23. The positioning method of claim 19, wherein the control unit and the signal processing device is integrated and modularized as a single device.

24. The positioning method of claim 19, wherein the position detection module further comprises:

an identity module, for providing a unique identification code to the object to be used for identifying the same.