Hand-Held Locating Appliance

• US 20150042317A1
• Filed: 01/23/2013
• Published: 02/12/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
• Original Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
• Inventors: Krapf, Reiner
• Granted Patent: US 9,594,185 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 324/157
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/06 Systems determining position data of a target
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 11/00 Prospecting or detecting by methods combining techniques covered by two or more of main groups G01V1/00 - G01V9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 3/15 specially adapted for use during transport, e.g. by a person, vehicle or boat

Abstract

A hand-held locating device for locating locatable objects includes a computational unit. The computational unit includes a first locating apparatus and at least one second locating apparatus. The first location apparatus is configured to locate a first subset of the locatable objects in a first locating region. The at least second locating apparatus is configured to locate a second subset of the locatable objects in a second locating region. The computational unit is configured to determine at least one piece of locating information for at least one locatable object of the locatable objects on the basis of a first locating result from the first locating apparatus and a second locating result from the second locating apparatus.

Claims

1. A hand-held locating appliance for locating locatable objects comprising:

a computation unit, that includes;

a first locating apparatus configured to locate at least a first subset of the locatable objects in a first locating region; and

a second locating apparatus configured to locate at least a second subset of the locatable objects in a second locating region,

wherein the computation unit is configured to determine at least one piece of locating information for at least one locatable object of the locatable objects based at least in part upon a first locating result from the first locating apparatus and a second locating result from the second locating apparatus.

2. The hand-held locating appliance of claim 1, wherein the first locating apparatus is configured to separately locate in a first locating subregion and a second locating subregion of the first locating region.

3. The hand-held locating appliance of claim 2, wherein the second locating apparatus is configured to separately locate in a first locating subregion and a second locating subregion of the second locating region.

4. The hand-held locating appliance of claim 1, wherein the computation unit is further configured to output a presence of the at least one locatable object in one operating state only if the first locating apparatus and the second locating apparatus each sense the at least one locatable object.

5. The hand-held locating appliance of claim 1, wherein the computation unit is further configured to output the at least one piece of locating information for the at least one locatable object in one operating state only if the first locating apparatus and the second locating apparatus each sense the at least one locatable object.

6. The hand-held locating appliance of claim 1, wherein the computation unit is further configured to determine at least one piece of profile information for the at least one locatable object based at least in part upon the first locating result from the first locating apparatus and the second locating result from the second locating apparatus.

7. The hand-held locating appliance of claim 1, wherein the first locating apparatus is further configured to locate the at least one locatable object using a first type of locating and the second locating device is further configured to locate the at least one locatable object using a second type of locating, wherein the first type of locating differs from the second type of locating.

8. The hand-held locating appliance of claim 7, wherein the computation unit is further configured to determine at least one piece of property information for the at least one locatable object based at least in part upon the first locating result from the first locating apparatus and the second locating result from the second locating apparatus.

9. The hand-held locating appliance at least of claim 7, wherein the computation unit is further configured to determine at least one piece of plausibility information on the basis of the first locating result from the first locating apparatus and the second locating result from the second locating apparatus.

10. The hand-held locating appliance of claim 1, wherein the computation unit is further configured to weigh the first locating result from the first locating apparatus and the second locating result from the second locating apparatus differently.

11. The hand-held locating appliance of claim 10, wherein the computation unit is further configured to perform different weightings in different modes of operation for the first locating result of the first locating apparatus and the second locating result of the second locating apparatus.

12. A method of locating locatable objects with a hand-held locating appliance having a computation unit, comprising:

locating with a first locating apparatus at least a first subset of the locatable objects in a first locating region in at least one operating state;

locating with a second locating apparatus at least a second subset of the locatable objects in a second locating region in the at least one operating state; and

determining using the computation unit at least one piece of locating information for at least one locatable object of the locatable objects based at least in part upon a first locating result from the first locating apparatus and a second locating result from the second locating apparatus, and

wherein the computational unit includes the first locating apparatus and the second locating apparatus.