System for three dimensional positioning and tracking
First Claim
1. A system for monitoring of the position of at least one portion of an object, the system comprising:
- a plurality of transmitters operative to transmit alternating magnetic fields within a three-dimensional space; and
at least one positioning sensor arranged to be fixed to at least one corresponding portion of the object whose positioning it is sought to monitor, each said positioning sensor comprising;
a magnetic field receiver having at least one active axis and operative to receive at least one component, lying along the at least one active axis respectively, of the alternating magnetic fields; and
at least one digital signal processor for storing at least one characteristic of the magnetic fields as transmitted by the plurality of transmitters and comparing said at least one characteristic to at least one characteristics of the magnetic fields as received by a corresponding positioning sensor and, accordingly, determining and providing an output indication of at least one position characteristic of at least one corresponding portion of the object, wherein said at least one sensor comprises a plurality of sensors arranged to be fixed to a corresponding plurality of portions of the object whose positions it is sought to monitor.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for monitoring of the position of at least one portion of an object. The system includes a plurality of transmitters operative to transmit alternating magnetic fields within a three-dimensional space, and at least one positioning sensor arranged to be fixed to at least one corresponding portion of the object whose position it is sought to monitor. Each of the positioning sensors includes a magnetic field receiver having at least one active axis and operative to receive at least one component, lying along the at least one active axes respectively, of the alternating magnetic fields. Each of the positioning sensors also includes at least one digital signal processor for storing at least one characteristic of the magnetic fields as transmitted by the plurality of transmitters, and comparing the characteristic to at least one characteristic of the magnetic fields as received by at least a corresponding one of the positioning sensors and, accordingly, determining and providing an output indication of at least one position characteristic of at least one corresponding portion of the object.
426 Citations
36 Claims
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1. A system for monitoring of the position of at least one portion of an object, the system comprising:
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a plurality of transmitters operative to transmit alternating magnetic fields within a three-dimensional space; and
at least one positioning sensor arranged to be fixed to at least one corresponding portion of the object whose positioning it is sought to monitor, each said positioning sensor comprising;
a magnetic field receiver having at least one active axis and operative to receive at least one component, lying along the at least one active axis respectively, of the alternating magnetic fields; and
at least one digital signal processor for storing at least one characteristic of the magnetic fields as transmitted by the plurality of transmitters and comparing said at least one characteristic to at least one characteristics of the magnetic fields as received by a corresponding positioning sensor and, accordingly, determining and providing an output indication of at least one position characteristic of at least one corresponding portion of the object, wherein said at least one sensor comprises a plurality of sensors arranged to be fixed to a corresponding plurality of portions of the object whose positions it is sought to monitor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A system for monitoring the position of at least one portion of an object in three-dimensional space having three axes, the system comprising:
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at least six magnetic transmitters each having a center and each operative to transmit alternating magnetic fields within a three-dimensional space;
a transmitter orientation maintainer operative to maintain at least three of the transmitters in orientation such that at least a component of the magnetic field of at least one of the transmitters falls within each of the 3 axes of the 3-dimensional space, and wherein less than all of the centers of the transmitters coincide;
at least one positioning sensor arranged to be fixed to at least one corresponding portion of the object whose positions it is sought to monitor, each positioning sensor comprising a magnetic field receiver receiving said alternative magnetic fields from the at least six transmitters; and
at least one digital signal processor for storing at least one characteristic of the magnetic fields as transmitted by the plurality of at least six transmitters and comprising said at least one characteristic to at least one characteristic of the magnetic fields as received by a corresponding positioning sensor and, accordingly, determining at least one position characteristic of at least one object portion, wherein at least one sensor comprises a control loop to improve the dynamic range of the signal intensity. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A system for monitoring the position of at least one portion of an object in three-dimensional space having three axes, the system comprising:
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at least six magnetic transmitters each having an active axial direction and each operative to transmit alternating magnetic fields within a three-dimensional space;
a transmitter orientation maintainer operative to maintain at least three of the transmitters in orientations such that at least a component of the magnetic field of at least one of the transmitters falls within each of the 3 axes of the 3-dimensional space, and wherein less than all of the transmitters'"'"' active axial directions are mutually orthogonal;
at least one positioning sensor arranged to be fixed to at least one corresponding portion of the object whose positions it is sought to monitor, each positioning sensor comprising a magnetic field receiver receiving said alternative magnetic fields from the at least six transmitters; and
at least one digital signal processor for storing at least one characteristic of the magnetic fields as transmitted by the plurality of at least six transmitters and comparing said at least one characteristic to at least one characteristic of the magnetic fields as received by a corresponding positioning sensor and, accordingly, determining at least one position characteristic of at least one object portion, wherein at least first and second transmitters from among the at least six transmitters transmit in different frequencies. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A system for monitoring the position of at least one portion of an object in three-dimensional space having three axes, the system comprising:
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at least six magnetic transmitters each having an active axial direction and each operative to transmit alternating magnetic fields within a three-dimensional space;
a transmitter orientation maintainer operative to maintain at least three of the transmitters in orientations such that at least a component of the magnetic field of at least one of the transmitters falls within each of the 3 axes of the 3-dimensional space, and wherein less than all of the transmitters'"'"' active axial directions arm mutually orthogonal;
at least one positioning sensor arranged to be fixed to at least one corresponding portion of the object hose positions it is sought to monitor, each positioning sensor comprising a magnetic field receiver receiving said alternating magnetic fields from the at least six transmitters; and
at least one digital signal processor for storing at least one characteristic of the magnetic fields as transmitted by the plurality of at least six transmitters and comparing said at least one characteristic to at least one characteristic of the magnetic fields as received by a corresponding positioning sensor and, accordingly, determining at least one position characteristic of at least one object portion;
wherein at least one digital signal processor is operative to simultaneously process magnetic field characteristics arriving from more than one of the at least six transmitters.
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35. A system for monitoring the position of at least one portion of an object in three-dimensional space having three axes, the system comprising:
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at least six magnetic transmitters each having an active axial direction and each operative to transmit alternating magnetic fields within a three-dimensional space;
a transmitter orientation maintainer operative to maintain at least three of the transmitters in orientations such that at least a component of the magnetic field of at least one of the transmitters falls within each of the 3 axes of the 3-dimensional space, and wherein less than all of the transmitters'"'"' active axial directions are mutually orthogonal;
at least one positioning sensor arranged to be fixed to at least one corresponding portion of the object whose positions it is sought to monitor, each positioning sensor comprising a magnetic field receiver receiving said alternating magnetic fields from the at least six transmitters; and
at least one digital signal processor for storing at least one characteristic of the magnetic fields as transmitted by the plurality of at least six transmitters and comprising said at least one characteristic to at least one characteristic of the magnetic fields as received by a corresponding positioning sensor and, accordingly, determining at least one position characteristic of at least one object portion, and also comprising an RF trigger which is operative to trigger all of the transmitters, thereby to synchronize the transmitters.
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36. A system for monitoring the position of at least one portion of an object in three-dimensional space having three axes, the system comprising:
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at least six magnetic transmitters each having an active axial direction and each operative to transmit alternating magnetic fields within a three-dimensional space;
a transmitter orientation maintainer operative to maintain at least three of the transmitters in orientations such that at least a component of the magnetic field of at least one of the transmitters falls within each of the 3 axes of the 3-dimensional space, and wherein less than all of the transmitters'"'"' active axial directions are mutually orthogonal;
at least one positioning sensor arranged to be fixed to at least one corresponding portion of the object whose positions it is sought to monitor, each positioning sensor comprising a magnetic field receiver receiving said alternative magnetic fields from the at least six transmitters; and
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at least one digital signal processor for storing at least one characteristic of the magnetic fields as transmitted by the plurality of at least six transmitters and comprising said tat least one characteristic to at least one characteristic of the magnetic fields as received by a corresponding positioning sensor and, accordingly, determining at least one position characteristic of at lest one object portion. wherein at least one sensor comprises a Linear Predicted coding control loop operative to increase the dynamic range of incoming signals.
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Specification