POSITIONING SYSTEM

• US 20160189383A1
• Filed: 12/29/2014
• Published: 06/30/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Automotive Research & Testing Center
• Original Assignee: Automotive Research & Testing Center
• Inventors: Wang, Tian-Li, Juang, Rong-Terng, Hsu, Chu-Yuan, Su, Yi-Feng
• Granted Patent: US 10,007,825 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 11/002 for measuring two or more coordinates
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 11/14 for measuring distance or clearance between spaced objects or spaced apertures G01B11/26 takes precedence; rangefinders G01C3/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/1417 2D bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/1447 extracting optical codes from image or text carrying said optical code
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/245 by locating a pattern; Special marks for positioning

Abstract

A positioning system for positioning a to-be-positioned device includes three or more reference objects each providing individual unique feature information associated with a two-dimensional coordinate. A positioning device includes an image capturing unit obtaining image data of three of the reference objects, and a processing unit obtaining, based on the image data, three pixel positions corresponding respectively to the three reference objects in the image data, obtaining the two-dimensional coordinate of the location of the three reference objects, and estimating a positioning coordinate of the to-be-positioned device using a triangulation positioning method based on the three pixel positions, a focal length used for obtaining the image data and the two-dimensional coordinates.

Claims

1. A positioning system for positioning a to-be-positioned device that is movable on or above a floor surface, said positioning system comprising:

a plurality of reference objects configured to be disposed at respective positions, each of said reference objects being configured to provide individual unique feature information that is associated with a two-dimensional coordinate of a location thereof with respect to a coordinate system associated with the floor surface; and

a positioning device configured to be mounted to the to-be-positioned device, said positioning device including

an image capturing unit configured to obtain image data of at least three of said reference objects during a predetermined time period, the image data containing the feature information provided by said at least three of said reference objects, and

a processing unit coupled to said image capturing unit for receiving the image data therefrom, said processing unit being configured to

obtain, based on the image data, at least three pixel positions that correspond respectively to said at least three of said reference objects in the image data,

obtain the two-dimensional coordinate of the location of said at least three of said reference objects according to the feature information in the image data, and

estimate, using a triangulation positioning method, a positioning coordinate of a location of the to-be-positioned device with respect to the coordinate system based on the at least three pixel positions, a focal length of said image capturing unit used for obtaining the image data, and the two-dimensional coordinates.

2. The positioning system as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

each of said reference objects includes a unique barcode serving as the feature information; and

said processing unit includes

an image extraction module for extracting from the image data at least three image portions that correspond respectively to the barcodes of said at least three of said reference objects, and

a decoding module for decoding the at least three image portions extracted by said image extraction module respectively into the two-dimensional coordinates of the locations of said at least three of said reference objects with respect to the coordinate system.

3. The positioning system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the barcode of each of said reference objects is a quick response (QR) code.

4. The positioning system as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

each of said reference objects includes a unique feature pattern serving as the feature information provided thereby;

said positioning device further includes a storage unit coupled to said processing unit for storing a lookup table that maps the feature patterns respectively to the two-dimensional coordinates of the locations of said reference objects;

said processing unit includes

an image extraction nodule for extracting from the image data at least three image portions that correspond respectively to the feature patterns of said at least three of said reference objects, and

an image recognition module for recognizing the feature patterns of said at least three of said reference objects respectively from the at least three image portions received from said image extraction module; and

said processing unit is configured to obtain the two-dimensional coordinates corresponding to said at least three of said reference objects by mapping the feature patterns recognized by said image recognition module respectively to the two-dimensional coordinates in the lookup table stored in said storage unit.

5. The positioning system as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

each of said reference objects includes a light emitter that is configured to operate in one of a light-on state and a light-off state at N different time points during the predetermined time period so as to generate a unique N-bit code data that serves as the feature information provided by said reference object and that represents the two-dimensional coordinate of the location of said reference object with respect to the coordinate system, where N≧

2;

said image capturing unit captures a number N of images of said at least three of said reference objects during the predetermined time period, and sequentially outputs the N images to said processing unit to constitute the image data;

said processing unit includes

an image extraction module for extracting from each of the N images three image portions each corresponding to said light emitter of a respective one of said at least three of said reference objects, and

an encoding module for encoding the image portions corresponding to said light emitter of each of said at least three of said reference objects into the N-bit code data generated by said light emitter.

6. The positioning system as claimed in claim 5, wherein said light emitter includes a light-emitting diode unit.

7. The positioning system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said processing unit of said positioning device is further configured to

calculate, based on the three pixel positions and the focal length,

a first angle formed between a first imaginary line, which passes through a position of a first one of said at least three of said reference objects and a position of said image capturing unit, and a second imaginary line, which passes through a position of a second one of said at least three of said reference objects and the position of said image capturing unit, and

a second angle formed between a third imaginary line, which passes through a position of a third one of said at least three of said reference objects and the position of said image capturing unit, and one of the first and second imaginary lines, and

estimate the positioning coordinate of the location of the to-be-positioned device with respect to the coordinate system based further on the first and second angles.

8. The positioning system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the positioning coordinate (p,q) of the location of the to-be-positioned device with respect to the coordinate system is obtained from the following simultaneous equations:

9. The positioning system as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

said positioning device further includes an acceleration sensing unit coupled to said processing unit, said acceleration sensing unit being configured to sense acceleration of the to-be-positioned device in first and second directions that are perpendicular to each other so as to generate an acceleration signal, and to output the acceleration signal to said processing unit; and

said processing unit is configured to estimate, based on the acceleration signal from said acceleration sensing unit, on the predetermined time period, and on a previous positioning coordinate of a previous location of the to-be-positioning device that is estimated for a previous predetermined time period, a current positioning coordinate of a current location of the to-be-positioned device with respect to the coordinate system for a current predetermined time period.