Local Alignment and Positioning Device and Method

• US 20140293266A1
• Filed: 08/06/2012
• Published: 10/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: PFG Ip, LLC
• Original Assignee: PFG Ip, LLC
• Inventors: Hsu, Ying, Ludwig, David
• Application Number:
  US13/567,277
• Publication Number:
  US 20140293266A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 356/5.01
• CPC Class Codes: F41G 5/26 Apparatus for testing or checking
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/36 with phase comparison between the received signal and the contemporaneously transmitted signal
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/66 Tracking systems using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/89 for mapping or imaging

Abstract

A device and method that uses terrain features having one or more predetermined characteristics or weights in an electronic image date frame or set of frames such as a LIDAR voxel set of image data frames for use as system reference points which are, in turn, used in one or more trilateration calculations performed in electronic circuitry to determine a position or ego-motion of the device.

Claims

1. A tracking and motion sensing system comprising:

sensor and range calculating circuitry configured to detect and calculate each of a plurality of ranges relative to the sensor of each of a plurality of features in a scene wherein the features define each of a plurality of reference points that are representative of the features within an image data frame that is representative of the scene,

trilateration calculating circuitry configured to calculate a three-dimensional point location relative to the sensor in a three-dimensional space from the plurality of reference points.

2. The sensing system of claim 1 wherein the trilateration calculating circuitry is further configured to calculate a sensor travel distance using two of the three-dimensional point locations calculated from two separate image data frames.

3. The sensing system of claim 2 comprising a time-of-flight LIDAR system.

4. The sensing system of claim 2 comprising a phase-sensing LIDAR system.

5. The sensing system of claim 2 comprising a structured-light three-dimensional scanning element comprising a projected light pattern source and a visible imaging camera system configured to measure a three-dimensional object.

6. The sensing system of claim 2 wherein at least one of the reference points is selected from a plurality of weighted reference points stored in electronic memory and ranked using at least one predetermined image feature characteristic.

7. The sensing system of claim 2 wherein the plurality of first reference points comprises at least four.

8. The sensing system of claim 2 where the plurality of second reference points comprises at least four.

9. The sensing system of claim 2 where the plurality of first and second reference points each comprises at least four.