Method and system for determining positions on a document

• US 7,229,019 B2
• Filed: 09/14/2004
• Issued: 06/12/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Arjo Wiggins Papiers Couches
• Original Assignee: Anitra Medienprojekte GmbH
• Inventors: Bock, Wolfgang
• Primary Examiner(s): Stcyr; Daniel
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hess; Daniel A.
• Application Number:
  US10/940,229
• Publication Number:
  US 20050040246A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,001 Days
• Field of Search: 235/454, 235/494, 235/472.01, 235/462.09, 235/462.11
• US Class Current: 235/454
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/06 characterised by the kind of the digital marking, e.g. shape, nature, code
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/06131 the marking comprising a target pattern, e.g. for indicating the center of the bar code or for helping a bar code reader to properly orient the scanner or to retrieve the bar code inside of an image
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/14 using light without selection of wavelength, e.g. sensing reflected white light G06K7/10831 - G06K7/1097 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/245 by locating a pattern; Special marks for positioning

Abstract

The invention comprises an information carrier on which the position of a measuring point (37, 41) may be determined using a mobile readout device, as well as an attendant method of determining a position wherein the information carrier features a surface onto which a visible primary information has been applied, in the manner of a book or a geographic map, wherein at least one machine-readable pattern has been printed on the surface, said pattern coding a position information, which upon bringing to bear methods of image analysis and of local sampling of parts (36, 40) of the surface, will allow a determination of position for a measurement point (37, 41) and wherein the pattern coding the position information is transparent in such a way that the primary information on the surface remains visible.

Claims

1. An information carrier, on which a position can be measured for a measuring point using a mobile reading device, wherein:

the information carrier comprises a surface to which a visible primary information has been applied, in particular in the manner of sheet music, a book or a map,

at least one machine-readable two-dimensional pattern has been printed on the surface, said two-dimensional pattern coding a position information, wherein by using said information in an image analysis method, and by local sampling of parts of the two-dimensional pattern, the position of measuring point may be determined

the two-dimensional pattern coding the position information is transparent in such a way that the primary information on the surface will remain visible, and

the two-dimensional pattern comprises two patterns realized as two crossed, overlapping but separately recognizable one dimensional lattices, Lattice_x made of horizontal code stripes and Lattice_y made of vertical code stripes, wherein the materials for Lattice_y and Lattice_x overlap in certain areas, but wherein said materials differ in their respective physical properties so as to permit separate readout and decoding of the two lattices at any point on the surface.

2. The information carrier according to claim 1, wherein the patterns are such that, upon finding a position for a measuring point on the surface, the reading device calls a program process corresponding to that position.

3. The information carrier according to claim 1, wherein patterns have been applied over the entire surface in such a way that for any location carrying a primary information, local processing of the patterns allows determination of a position at said location.

4. The information carrier according to claim 1, wherein said two patterns are printed on the surface such that they can be recognized by the reading device and discriminated between each other, and wherein the reading device can locally recognize, for each pattern, a characteristic feature and whose absolute position is coded into a pattern that can be locally decoded and interpreted, and wherein image analysis methods are used to determine the distance of measuring point to two or more of these characteristic features, so as to derive the absolute position of measuring point on the surface.

5. The information carrier according to claim 1, wherein patterns are printed such that, as a result of the printing process, or as a result of the materials that are used, these patterns can be read out by sampling a one- or two-dimensional raster on the surface.

6. The information carrier according to claim 1, wherein the one-dimensional distance of a measurement point to one of the characteristic features of a code stripe may be determined with a reading device that samples and processes a area or line raster that straddles the characteristic feature of at least two code stripes and which is positioned in a fixed relation relative to the measurement point.

7. The information carrier according to claim 1, wherein the reading device will detect Lattice_y and Lattice_x along a line or area raster on the surface, so that by a purely local position determination of the respective characteristic feature an absolute horizontal and vertical coordinate can be found for the measurement points and hence, the position of the reading device on the surface is determined.

8. The information carrier according to claim 7, wherein Lattice_y and Lattice_x are applied to the surface, using respectively different materials and using printing rasters in such a way that those materials do not overlap at any point of the surface and consequently can be read out separately.

9. The information carrier according to claim 1, wherein one or more patterns are luminescent, wherein the excitation light or effect is modulated so as to minimize the influence of extraneous light, and wherein each of the patterns being used luminesces in its own combination of spectral lines.

10. The information carrier according to claim 9, wherein the patterns partially overlap and can nevertheless be read out separately, particular wherein each pattern being used luminesces in its own combination of spectral lines in such a way that the respective luminescence light can be transmitted through all patterns that are laid on top of it.

11. The information carrier according to claim 9, wherein each printed pattern is excited in time-multiplexed fashion and in such a way, that the patterns may be read out in time alternating fashion and therefore separately.

12. The information carrier according to claim 1, carrying one or more patterns that are detected by sampling their electric resistance, magnetization, dielectric constant, transmittivity or reflexivity for polarized and unpolarized radiation, thermal conductivity, mechanical compliance, light absorption, refractive index, as well as absolute or relative differences in height between individual raster pixels and/or by exploiting their thermic or electrochromic properties.

13. A reading device capable of reading the first and second patterns on the document of claim 1.

14. A document having visible information and encoded positional information, said document comprising:

a) a document surface;

b) visible information applied on the document surface, said visible information being visibly discernable by the naked human eye;

c) a first pattern applied on the document surface coincident with the visible information applied on the document surface, said first pattern being transparent to the naked human eye while not disturbing the discernability by the naked human eye of the visible information applied on the document surface, said first pattern comprising a plurality of parallel code stripes having encoded therein positional information on the document surface relative a first coordinate axis, said first pattern being applied with a varying saturation such that said parallel code stripes have different saturations; and

d) a second pattern applied on the document surface coincident with the visible information applied on the document surface, said second pattern being transparent to the naked human eye while not disturbing the discernability by the naked human eye of the visible information applied on the document surface, said second pattern comprising a plurality of parallel code stripes having encoded therein positional information on the document surface relative a second coordinate axis, said second pattern being applied with a varying saturation such that said parallel code stripes have different saturations, the second coordinate axis crossing the first coordinate axis such that the first and second patterns create a lattice.

15. The document of claim 14, wherein the first and second patterns are applied over the visible information.

16. The document of claim 14, wherein at least one of the first or second patterns is applied with an ink or coating detectable by sampling a physical parameter.

17. The document of claim 16, wherein the first and second patterns are readable by sampling the physical parameter of electrical resistance.

18. The document of claim 14, wherein the code stripes have variable width.

19. A method for determining a position on a document, the document comprising visible information and transparent markings encoding positional information corresponding to a first coordinate axis and a second coordinate axis, the method comprising the steps of:

a) sampling a plurality of physical parameter points on the document, each physical parameter point having one of nine physical parameter values such that the sampled points define a pattern, the nine parameter values respectively indicating;

i) a transparent marking at a first saturation corresponding to the first coordinate axis,

ii) a transparent marking at a second saturation corresponding to the first coordinate axis,

iii) a transparent marking at a first saturation corresponding to the second coordinate axis,

iv) a transparent marking at a second saturation corresponding to the second coordinate axis,

v) a transparent marking at the first saturation corresponding to the first coordinate axis and a transparent marking at the first saturation corresponding to the second coordinate axis,

vi) a transparent marking at the second saturation corresponding to the first coordinate axis and a transparent marking at the first saturation corresponding to the second coordinate axis,

vii) a transparent marking at the first saturation corresponding to the first coordinate axis and a transparent marking at the second saturation corresponding to the second coordinate axis,

viii) a transparent marking at the second saturation corresponding to the first coordinate axis and a transparent marking at the second saturation corresponding to the second coordinate axis,

ix) no transparent marking; and

b) calculating a position on the document based on the sampled physical parameter points.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the sampled points are a line having a starting point and an ending point.

21. A computer readable medium comprising instructions to perform the method of claim 19.

22. A reading device capable of performing the method of claim 19.