Augmented reality technology
First Claim
1. A method for tracking the position and orientation of an object, comprising the steps of:
- (a) scanning across an object to detect fiducials, wherein a video run is formed by a scan;
(b) clumping video runs to detect a pattern of fiducials;
(c) acquiring estimated values for a set of tracking parameters by comparing a detected pattern of fiducials to a reference pattern of fiducials; and
(d) iterating the estimated values for the set of tracking parameters until the detected pattern of fiducials match the reference pattern of fiducials to within a desired convergence.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A tracker system for determining the relative position between a sensor and an object surface, generally comprising a sensor or sensors for detecting a pattern of fiducials disposed on an object surface and a processor connected to the at least one sensor. An augmented reality system generally comprising a pattern of fiducials disposed on an object surface, a computer having a processor and a memory, a user interface for receiving input and presenting augmented reality output to a user, and a tracker for detecting the pattern of fiducials. A method for tracking the position and orientation of an object generally comprising the steps of scanning across an object to detect fiducials and form video runs, clumping video runs to detect a pattern of fiducials, acquiring estimated values for a set of tracking parameters by comparing a detected pattern of fiducials to a reference pattern of fiducials, and iterating the estimated values for the set of tracking parameters until the detected pattern of fiducials match the reference pattern of fiducials to within a desired convergence. A method for augmenting reality generally comprising the steps of disposing a pattern of fiducials on an object surface, tracking the position and orientation of the object, retrieving and processing virtual information stored in a computer memory according to the position and orientation of the object and presenting the virtual information with real information to a user in near real time.
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Citations
49 Claims
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1. A method for tracking the position and orientation of an object, comprising the steps of:
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(a) scanning across an object to detect fiducials, wherein a video run is formed by a scan; (b) clumping video runs to detect a pattern of fiducials; (c) acquiring estimated values for a set of tracking parameters by comparing a detected pattern of fiducials to a reference pattern of fiducials; and (d) iterating the estimated values for the set of tracking parameters until the detected pattern of fiducials match the reference pattern of fiducials to within a desired convergence. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for augmenting reality, comprising steps of:
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(a) tracking the position and orientation of a pattern of fiducials on an object with a self-contained, mobile system by scanning across the object to detect the fiducials, wherein a video run is formed by a scan and clumping video runs to detect the pattern of fiducials, wherein said step of scanning across the object to detect the fiducials includes the steps of setting a predetermined threshold voltage level for detecting a fiducial and identifying fiducial edges when an output voltage from an optical sensor crosses the predetermined voltage level; (b) processing virtual information stored in a computer memory of said system according to the position and orientation of the object; and (c) presenting the virtual information with real information to a user in near real time with said system. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A method for augmenting reality, comprising steps of:
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(a) using a sensor to provide at least one signal that is indicative of a pattern of fiducials on an object; (b) processing said signal to locate said fiducials; (c) determining a relative position and orientation of the sensor with respect to the object by comparing the locations of said fiducials to a known reference pattern; (d) providing virtual information to a user in substantial registration with real information based on the relative position and orientation determined in step (c), and wherein said method is performed so as to provide said virtual information to said user in near real-time. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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47. A method for tracking the position and orientation of an object, comprising the steps of:
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(a) scanning across an object to detect fiducials, wherein a video run is formed by a scan; (b) clumping video runs to detect a pattern of fiducials; (c) acquiring estimated values for a set of tracking parameters by comparing a detected pattern of fiducials to a reference pattern of fiducials, wherein said step of acquiring estimated values for a set of tracking parameters includes a cold acquire step and a quick acquire step, wherein the quick acquire step uses prior tracking parameters to estimate new tracking parameters, and wherein the cold acquire step is performed when prior tracking parameters are not available to estimate new tracking parameters; and (d) iterating the estimated values for the set of tracking parameters until the detected pattern of fiducials match the reference pattern of fiducials to within a desired convergence.
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48. A method for tracking the position and orientation of an object, comprising the steps of:
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performing a startup routine, said startup routine including the steps of loading real world alignment data from a computer database file, calculating compensation for know aberrations of a sensor system used in the step of scanning across an object to detect fiducials, and setting a gain for the sensor system; scanning across an object to detect fiducials, wherein a video run is formed by a scan; clumping video runs to detect a pattern of fiducials; acquiring estimated values for a set of tracking parameters by comparing a detected pattern of fiducials to a reference pattern of fiducials; and iterating the estimated values for the set of tracking parameters until the detected pattern of fiducials match the reference pattern of fiducials to within a desired convergence.
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49. A method for augmenting reality, comprising steps of:
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(a) using a sensor to provide at least one signal that is indicative of a pattern of fiducials on an object; (b) processing said signal to locate said fiducials; (c) determining a relative position and orientation of the sensor with respect to the object by comparing the locations of said fiducials to a known reference pattern; (d) providing virtual information to a user in substantial registration with real information based on the relative position and orientation determined in step (c), and wherein said method is performed so as to provide said virtual information to said user in near real-time, and wherein at least one of steps (b) and (c) are performed by electronically reducing said virtual information to a reduced amount of information for manageable processing, said step of electronically reducing said virtual information comprises a step of determining a centroid position of at least one of said fiducials and said step of determining a centroid position of at least one of said fiducials comprises detecting a beginning pixel and an ending pixel of the fiducial during a video raster run;
extracting the line number, the beginning pixel number and the number of continuous pixels after the beginning pixel;
processing such information obtained from different line numbers of the video raster run to form individual fiducial representations;and further processing this information to determine the centroid position.
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Specification