DETERMINING POSITIONAL INFORMATION FOR AN OBJECT IN SPACE
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for obtaining positional information about an object within a region of interest, the method comprising:
- (a) activating sources directed to portions of the region of interest according to an ordering of points, such that each point in the ordering directs electromagnetic radiation of at least one source to one of the portions of the region of interest;
(b) capturing a portion of the electromagnetic radiation reflected by an object;
(c) forming a signal over time of at least one property of the captured electromagnetic radiation;
(d) determining from the signal, at least one point in the ordering in which a dominant contributor to the captured electromagnetic radiation was activated;
(e) determining an identity for the dominant contributor from the point in the ordering;
(f) determining from the identity of the dominant contributor, a portion of the region of interest to which the electromagnetic radiation from the dominant contributor was directed; and
(g) determining positional information for the object based at least in part upon the portion of the region of interest.
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Abstract
System and methods for locating objects within a region of interest involve, in various embodiments, scanning the region with light of temporally variable direction and detecting reflections of objects therein; positional information about the objects can then be inferred from the resulting reflections.
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Citations
63 Claims
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1. A method for obtaining positional information about an object within a region of interest, the method comprising:
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(a) activating sources directed to portions of the region of interest according to an ordering of points, such that each point in the ordering directs electromagnetic radiation of at least one source to one of the portions of the region of interest; (b) capturing a portion of the electromagnetic radiation reflected by an object; (c) forming a signal over time of at least one property of the captured electromagnetic radiation; (d) determining from the signal, at least one point in the ordering in which a dominant contributor to the captured electromagnetic radiation was activated; (e) determining an identity for the dominant contributor from the point in the ordering; (f) determining from the identity of the dominant contributor, a portion of the region of interest to which the electromagnetic radiation from the dominant contributor was directed; and (g) determining positional information for the object based at least in part upon the portion of the region of interest. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 63)
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18. The method of claim 18, wherein light emitted by the plurality of light-emitting devices overlap spatially and temporally, determining a direction of the illuminating light associated with the light reflected by the object comprising determining an effective primary direction of the overlapping illuminating light.
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25. A system for obtaining positional information about an object within a region of interest, the system comprising:
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a directed light source with variable direction for scanning the region with an illuminating light; a detector for capturing light reflected by the object, and circuitry for (i) determining a time of capture of the reflected light and, based thereon, an associated direction of the illuminating light, and (ii) deriving the positional information about the object at least in part from the direction of the illuminating light. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. A method for determining depth associated with at least one object within a region of interest, the method comprising:
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scanning the region with an illuminating light beam having a temporally variable beam direction so as to illuminate the at least one object; acquiring a temporal sequence of images of the region while the region is being scanned, each image corresponding to an instantaneous direction of the illuminating light beam, at least one of the images capturing light reflected by the at least one illuminated object; and based at least in part on the instantaneous direction of the light beam in the at least one image capturing light reflected by the at least one object, determining a depth associated with the at least one object.
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46. The method of claim 46, wherein multiple of the images acquired during a single scan of the region capture light reflected by the at least one object, the method comprising determining a depth profile of the at least one object based thereon.
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47. A method for locating an object within a region, the method comprising:
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using a light source affixed to the object, scanning the region with an illuminating light beam having a temporally variable beam direction; using a sensor co-located with the light source, capturing reflections of the illuminating beam from a plurality of retro-reflectors fixedly positioned at known locations; based on times of capture of the reflections, determining associated directions of the illuminating light beam; and locating the object relative to the known locations of the retro-reflectors based at least in part on the directions of the illuminating light beam.
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48. The method of claim 48, wherein the object is located in a two-dimensional region based on reflections from at least three retro-reflectors.
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49. A device, affixed to an object of interest, for locating the object within a region relative to a plurality of retro-reflectors fixedly positioned at known locations, the device comprising:
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a light source for scanning the region with an illuminating light beam having a temporally variable beam direction; a sensor co-located with the light source for capturing reflections of the illuminating beam from the plurality of retro-reflectors; circuitry for determining, from times of capture of the reflections, directions of the illuminating light beam associated therewith, and for locating the object relative to the retro-reflectors based at least in part on the directions.
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50. The device of claim 50, wherein the object is a mobile device.
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51. A computer-implemented method for conducting machine control, the method comprising:
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scanning a region of space, the scanning including (i) directing at least one light emission from a vantage point of a vantage region to a region of space, (ii) detecting a reflectance of the at least one light emission, and (iii) determining that the detected reflectance indicates a presence of an object in the region of space; determining one or more object attributes of the object; analyzing the one or more object attributes to determine a potential control surface of the object; determining that control-surface attribute changes in the potential control surface indicate control information; and responding to the indicated control information according to response criteria.
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- 52. A computer-implemented method according to claim 52, wherein the first light emission is directed to the region of space according to a first scan pattern, and wherein determining that the detected reflectance indicates a presence of an object comprises directing a second light emission to the region of space according to a second scan pattern.
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53. A computer-implemented method according to claim 53, wherein directing the second emission comprises:
scanning to a refined scan pattern.
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54. A computer-implemented method according to claim 54, wherein scanning to the refined scan pattern includes capturing surface detail about the object.
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56. A computer-implemented method according to claim 56, wherein analyzing the object attributes to determine a potential control surface of the object comprises:
determining based at least in part upon the positional information whether a portion of the object provides control information.
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57. A computer-implemented method according to claim 57, wherein determining whether one or more control-surface attribute changes in the potential control surface indicate control information comprises:
determining whether control-surface attribute changes in the potential control surface indicate an engagement gesture.
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58. A computer-implemented method according to claim 58, wherein responding to the indicated control information according to response criteria comprises:
determining a command to a user interface based at least in part upon the engagement gesture.
Specification