Method for three-dimensional positions, orientation and mass distribution

• US 5,844,415 A
• Filed: 05/01/1996
• Issued: 12/01/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Original Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Inventors: Gershenfeld, Neil, Smith, Joshua R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ballato, Josie
• Assistant Examiner(s): VALONE, THOMAS F
• Application Number:
  US08/640,569
• Time in Patent Office: 944 Days
• Field of Search: 324/663, 324/662, 324/687, 324/688, 324/690, 324/716, 340/541, 340/561, 340/562, 178/19
• US Class Current: 324/663
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/002 Seats provided with an occupancy detection means mounted therein or thereon detection means responsive to presence or absence of children B60N2/266
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/0028 of a body part, e.g. of an arm or a leg
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/0035 characterised by the sensor data transmission, e.g. wired connections or wireless transmitters therefor; characterised by the sensor data processing, e.g. seat sensor signal amplification or electric circuits for providing seat sensor information
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/28 Seats readily mountable on, and dismountable from, existing seats or other parts of the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/286 forward facing B60N2/2866 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/2863 backward facing
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2210/12 Capacitive; Electric field
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2230/30 Signal processing of sensor data
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/01532 using electric or capacitive field sensors
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/01556 Child-seat detection systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 7/003 for measuring position, not involving coordinate determination coordinate measuring G01B7/004
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 7/004 for measuring coordinates of points
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 5/24 by varying capacitance
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 5/2405 by varying dielectric
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 3/088 operating with electric fields G01V3/082 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04101 2.5D-digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface and also measures the distance of the input means within a short range in the Z direction, possibly with a separate measurement setup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04166 Details of scanning methods, e.g. sampling time, grouping of sub areas or time sharing with display driving Synchronisation with the driving of the display or the backlighting unit to avoid interferences generated internally G06F3/04184
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/044 by capacitive means
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/955 using a capacitive detector
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 2217/960775 Emitter-receiver or "fringe" type detection, i.e. one or more field emitting electrodes and corresponding one or more receiving electrodes

Abstract

A quasi-electrostatic sensing system surrounds an electrically conductive mass with an electric field, the magnitude of which is sensed at one or more locations to resolve a property of interest concerning the mass. The object intercepts a part of the electric field extending between the AC-coupled "sending" electrode and the other "receiving" electrodes, the amount of the field intercepted depending on the size and orientation of the sensed mass, whether or not the mass provides a grounding path, and the geometry of the distributed electrodes. Because the response of the field to an object is a complex nonlinear function, adding electrodes can always distinguish among more cases. In other words, each electrode represents an independent weighting of the mass within the field; adding an electrode provides information regarding that mass that is not redundant to the information provided by the other electrodes. A "forward model" that relates the behavior of the system to variations in the property to be measured is established, and "inversion" of this model facilitates recovery of the property based on system behavior. The invention is amenable to a wide variety of usages including the detection of user positions and gestures as a means of conveying two- and/or three-dimensional information to, for example, computers, appliances, televisions, furniture, etc.; provision of data input or instructional commands to a device; or sensing of proximity to a reference object for security purposes, to warn of danger, or to conserve energy by withholding power until a potential user approaches the object.

Claims

1. A method of characterizing at least one property selected from mass distribution, position and orientation of an electrically conductive mass within a defined space, the method comprising the steps of:

a. disposing a plurality of electrodes proximate to the space and with defined positions relative to each other;

b. providing an AC source;

c. connecting the AC source to one of the electrodes to create an electric field around the mass;

d. measuring current levels through a plurality of the electrodes to produce a measurement set; and

e. inferring, from the measurement set, the instance of the property which, according to a forward model relating a plurality of instances of the property to corresponding expected current levels through a plurality of the electrodes given an AC signal through one of the electrodes, produces expected current levels closest to the measured levels, wherein the inferring step comprises;

i. selecting an arbitrary instance of the property;

ii. solving the forward model for the property instance to produce a set of expected current levels;

iii. computing an error metric indicating the difference between the expected current levels and the measured current levels;

iv. modifying the property instance to reduce the error metric; and

v. repeating steps ii-iv until the error metric is minimized.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the measuring step comprises measuring current through a plurality of electrodes other than the electrode connected to the AC source.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein:

a. the connecting step comprises connecting the AC source to another of the electrodes;

b. the measuring step comprises measuring the current through a plurality of the electrodes to produce a comparison set, the comparison set comprising measurements differing from those of the measurement set in a manner characteristic of a unique degenerate case; and

c. the inferring step comprises distinguishing among degenerate cases by comparing the measurement set with the comparison set.

2. A method of characterizing at least one property selected from mass distribution, position and orientation of an electrically conductive mass within a defined space, the method comprising the steps of:

a. disposing a plurality of electrodes proximate to the space and with defined positions relative to each other;

b. providing an AC source;

c. connecting the AC source to one of the electrodes to create an electric field around the mass;

d. measuring current levels through a plurality of the electrodes to produce a measurement set; and

e. inferring, from the measurement set, the instance of the property which, according to a forward model relating a plurality of instances of the property to corresponding expected current levels through a plurality of the electrodes given an AC signal through one of the electrodes, produces expected current levels closest to the measured levels, wherein the inferring step comprises;

i. deriving, from each measurement of the measurement set, a probability distribution characterizing the property instance responsible for the measurement;

ii. multiplying the probability distributions together into an ensemble probability distribution; and

iii. deriving, from the ensemble probability distribution, the property instance to a maximum probability level.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the inferring step further comprises multiplying at least one of the probability distributions by a prior probability before multiplying the probability distributions together into an ensemble probability distribution, the prior probability restricting derivable property instances.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein the inferring step further comprises assigning a confidence level to the maximum probability by normalizing the ensemble probability distribution.

7. The method of claim 2 wherein the electrodes are arranged such that the probability distributions intersect to form a single relatively sharp peak.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the inferring step further comprises multiplying at least one of the probability distributions by a prior probability before multiplying the probability distributions together into an ensemble probability distribution, the prior probability restricting derivable property instances to the region of this peak and excluding other peaks.

11. The method of claim 2 wherein the measuring step comprises measuring current through a plurality of electrodes other than the electrode connected to the AC source.

12. The method of claim 2 wherein:

a. the connecting step comprises connecting the AC source to another of the electrodes;

b. the measuring step comprises measuring the current through a plurality of the electrodes to produce a comparison set, the comparison set comprising measurements differing from those of the measurement set in a manner characteristic of a unique degenerate case; and

c. the inferring step comprises distinguishing among degenerate cases by comparing the measurement set with the comparison set.

9. A method of obtaining the distribution of an electrically conductive mass within a defined space, the mass having a size within a predetermined range, the method comprising the steps of:

a. disposing a plurality of electrodes proximate to the space and with defined positions relative to each other, the electrodes being sufficient in number to resolve the unknown parameter;

b. providing an AC source;

c. connecting the AC source to one of the electrodes to create an electric field around the mass;

d. measuring current levels through a plurality of the electrodes;

e. for each measurement, localizing the mass within a spatial region spanning first and second spatial boundaries corresponding to first and second iso-signal shells, the iso-signal shells being established by the predetermined size range of the mass and the measured current level; and

f. combining the spatial regions into a representation of a composite spatial region containing the mass, the composite spatial region approximating the distribution of the mass, the iso-signal shells being established based on a forward model relating mass locations to corresponding expected current levels through a plurality of the electrodes given an AC signal through one of the electrodes.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the iso-signal shells for each measurement are established by solving the forward model to produce minimally and maximally sized iso-signal shells consistent with the measured current level.