Radiolocation system having writing pen application

• US 6,747,599 B2
• Filed: 10/11/2001
• Issued: 06/08/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mcewan Technologies LLC
• Original Assignee: Mcewan Technologies LLC
• Inventors: McEwan, Thomas E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Blum, Theodore M.
• Application Number:
  US09/975,591
• Publication Number:
  US 20030071754A1
• Time in Patent Office: 971 Days
• Field of Search: 342/463, 342/465, 367/907, 178/18.01, 178/18.03, 178/18.07, 178/19.06
• US Class Current: 342/463
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0247 Determining attitude
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/06 Position of source determined by co-ordinating a plurality of position lines defined by path-difference measurements G01S5/12 takes precedence

Abstract

Two or more receivers of known location receive RF bursts from a wireless moving object containing a transmitter that transmits periodic RF bursts. The receivers are gated with precision swept timing that repeats at the exact transmit RF burst period to produce precision expanded time representations of the received RF bursts. The expanded time representations correspond to RF burst arrival times from the transmitter, which are used to calculate the location of the transmitter. A writing pen application includes an RF transmitter in a writing pen and four RF receivers beneath the surface of a writing tablet where RF propagation from the pen to the receivers cannot be blocked by a user'"'"'s hand. Two RF transmitters, one located at each end of the pen, may be employed to measure pen tilt and for 3-D tracking. Spatial resolution is more than 600 dpi at 100 location fixes per second.

Claims

1. A radiolocation system for tracking a wireless moving object, comprising:

a transmitter, integral with the moving object, for transmitting a plurality of RF bursts at a transmit PRF;

a plurality of receivers, at known relative positions, for receiving the RF bursts upon receipt of gating pulses and outputting a digital representation of the received RF bursts; and

circuitry for generating a plurality of gating pulses at the transmit PRF and swept in time relative to the transmit RF bursts, and for supplying the gating pulses substantially simultaneously to each of the receivers, each of the receivers then receiving the RF bursts for the duration of the gating pulses.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising circuitry for calculating the location of the moving object relative to the receivers based on at least two digital representations outputted by the plurality of receivers.

3. The system of claim 2 further comprising circuitry for processing a sequence of locations of the moving object for display or control of a machine or computer variable.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising a second transmitter, integral with the moving object, for providing delayed RF bursts for radiolocation.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the system is a position location element of a handwriting digitizing system, a wireless computer mouse, a CRT-based input device, an automated machine control system, a virtual reality system, a digital surgery device, or an inventory tracking system.

6. A method for tracking a wireless moving object, comprising:

transmitting a plurality of RF bursts at a PRF from the moving object;

providing a plurality of receivers at known relative positions;

generating a plurality of gating pulses at the PRF and sweeping the occurrence time of the gating pulses relative to the RF bursts;

receiving the RF bursts, at each of the receivers; and

producing digital representations of the RF bursts in response to the gating pulses.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising calculating from the digital representations the location of the moving object relative to the receivers.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising processing a sequence of locations of the moving object for display or for control of a machine or computer variable.

9. A handwriting digitization system comprising:

a wireless pen including a transmitter for transmitting a plurality of RF bursts at a PRF;

a plurality of receivers, each having an antenna at a known position for receiving RF bursts upon receipt of a gating pulse and outputting a digital representation of the received RF bursts;

circuitry for generating a plurality of gating pulses at the PRF and swept in time relative to the RF bursts, and for supplying the gating pulses substantially simultaneously to the receivers, the receivers then receiving the RF bursts in response to the gating pulses.

10. The system of claim 9 further comprising circuitry for calculating the location of the wireless pen relative to the receivers based on at least two digital representations outputted by the plurality of receivers.

11. The system of claim 9 further comprising a second transmitter in the wireless pen for transmitting a plurality of RF bursts at the PRF and delayed in time relative to RF bursts from the first transmitter.

12. A method of digitizing handwriting written by a user using a wireless pen, comprising:

transmitting, from the wireless pen, a plurality of RF bursts at a PRF;

providing a plurality of receivers, each of the receivers having an antenna at a known position;

generating a plurality of gating pulses at the PRF which are swept in time relative to the RF bursts, each of the gating pulses having a duration;

receiving the RF bursts at each of the receivers within the durations of the gating pulses;

producing digital representations of the RF bursts received by the receivers.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising calculating, from the digital representations, corresponding positions of the wireless pen.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising translating the positions of the wireless pen to alphanumeric characters.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising calibrating the location of the wireless pen when the pen is positioned at one or more known locations.

16. A radiolocation system for tracking a wireless moving object, comprising:

a transmitter, integral with the moving object, for transmitting a plurality of RF bursts at a transmit PRF;

a plurality of receivers, at known relative positions, for receiving the RF bursts upon receipt of gating pulses and outputting a digital representation of the received RF bursts;

a receive PRF generator for receiving a digital representation from a receiver and for providing a PRF at the exact frequency of the transmit PRF;

a timing sweep coupled to the receive PRF generator for sweeping the gating pulses over a range of delays relative to the transmitted RF bursts; and

a gate generator coupled to the timing sweep for generating a plurality of gating pulses at the transmit PRF and swept in time relative to the transmit RF bursts, and for supplying the gating pulses substantially simultaneously to each of the receivers, each of the receivers then receiving the RF bursts for the duration of the gating pulses.

17. The system of claim 16 further comprising a frequency lock loop controller for locking the receive PRF to the transmit PRF.

18. The system of claim 16 further comprising a delay lock loop circuit for sweeping the timing of the gate pulses.

19. A method for tracking a wireless moving object, comprising:

transmitting a plurality of RF bursts at a transmit PRF from the moving object;

providing a plurality of receivers at known relative positions;

locking a receive PRF generator to the exact frequency of the transmit PRF;

generating a plurality of gating pulses having a duration at the transmit PRF;

sweeping the occurrence time of the gating pulses relative to the RF bursts;

receiving the RF bursts during the duration of the gating pulses at each of the receivers;

producing digital representations of the RF bursts in response to the gating pulses.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising frequency and phase locking the receive PRF generator to the transmit PRF.

21. The method of claim 19 further comprising locking the occurrence time of the gating pulses to a control voltage.