ORIENTATION DETERMINATION UTILIZING A CORDLESS DEVICE

• US 20090078858A1
• Filed: 12/01/2008
• Published: 03/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Godo Kaisha IP Bridge 1 (IP Bridge, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Avago Technologies ECBU IP Singapore Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Fouquet, Julie E., Wenstrand, John Stewart, Haven, Richard Earl, Usikov, Daniel
• Granted Patent: US 7,737,393 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 250/221
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/46 Indirect determination of position data
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/66 Tracking systems using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/875 for determining attitude

Abstract

A system for generating orientation information includes a reflector, an image collection system, and a processor. The image collection system is configured to collect at least two sets of image data, where one set of image data includes a stronger indication of the reflector than the other set of image data. The two sets of image data are collected using at least one reflector with some orientation-specific characteristic or a reflector integrated into a device that includes some orientation-specific structural feature. Once collected, the two sets of image data are used to generate orientation information related to the reflector. In particular, orientation information related to the reflector is generated by taking the difference between the two sets of image data.

Claims

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27. A system for generating position and orientation information, the system comprising:

a pointing device comprising a retroreflector;

means for generating on-axis image data and off-axis image data; and

a processor configured to use the on-axis image data and the off-axis image data to generate position information and orientation information related to the pointing device.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein the retroreflector has an orientation-specific characteristic.

29. The system of claim 27 further comprising multiple retroreflectors in an orientation-specific arrangement.

30. The system of claim 27 wherein the retroreflector is integrated with an orientation-specific feature of the pointing device.

31. The system of claim 27 wherein the processor is configured to take the difference between the on-axis image data and off-axis image data.

32. The system of claim 31 wherein the processor is configured to compare a difference image to known image information.

33. A system for generating position information and orientation information, the system comprising:

a pointing device comprising a retroreflector;

an image collection system configured to generate a first set of image data and a second set of image data, the image collection system comprising a light source and an imager, wherein the retroreflector, the light source, and the imager are oriented with respect to each other such that a portion of light generated by the light source is reflected by the retroreflector and detected by the imager; and

a processor configured to use the first set of image data and the second set of image data to generate position information and orientation information related to the pointing device.

34. The system of claim 33 wherein the retroreflector has an orientation-specific characteristic.

35. The system of claim 33 further comprising multiple retroreflectors in an orientation-specific arrangement.

36. The system of claim 33 wherein the retroreflector is integrated with an orientation-specific feature of the pointing device.

37. The system of claim 33 wherein the processor is configured to find the difference between the first set of image data and the second set of image data.

38. The system of claim 33 wherein the processor is configured to compare the difference image to known image information.

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