Method for determining the position and/or orientation of a creature relative to an environment

• US 7,236,880 B2
• Filed: 11/18/2003
• Issued: 06/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Jan G. Fager, Klas Jacobson, Monica Schofield
• Original Assignee: Jan G. Fager, Klas Jacobson, Monica Schofield
• Inventors: Schofield, Monica, Fager, Jan G., Jacobson, Klas
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Thu V.
• Application Number:
  US10/714,896
• Publication Number:
  US 20040148125A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,316 Days
• Field of Search: 340/825.49, 340/993
• US Class Current: 701/209
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/163 Determination of attitude using inertial means G01C9/00; control of attitude G05D1/49
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2462 Asset location systems combined with EAS inventory, tracking, logistic G06Q10/00; entrance control systems G07C9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/023 Power management, e.g. system sleep and wake up provisions
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/088 by monitoring a device worn by the person, e.g. a bracelet attached to the swimmer

Abstract

A method for determining the position and/or orientation of a creature (3) relative to an environment by connecting the creature (3) to a locating member (4) including a transducer (5) so that the relative positions and/or orientations of the creature (3) and the transducer (5) are arranged to be within a limited interval. The transducer determines its position and/or orientation relative to the environment by receiving incident signals from the signal sources (9) in the environment, and the position and/or orientation of the creature (3) is determined by the position and/or orientation determined for the transducer (5).

Claims

1. A method for determining at least two spatial degrees of freedom of a creature (3) relative to an environment, comprising the steps of:

connecting a creature to a locating member (4) including a transducer (5),

operating said transducer to determine at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the transducer relative to the environment by

i) the transducer receiving incident optical signals from at least two signal sources (9) located in the environment and recording the relative incident positions of the received signals on a surface of the transducer,

ii) based on the recorded relative positions of the received signals, calculating directions (φ

₁, θ

₁;

φ

₂, θ

₂;

φ

₃, θ

₃;

) of sight lines extending between respective signal source and the transducer, with respect to at least two of said at least two signal sources, and

iii) calculating said at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the transducer relative to the environment by using the directions of the sight lines,

the method further comprising;

determining said at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the creature from said at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the transducer, the creature and the locating member being mechanically connected relative to each other within a known limited spatial interval with respect to said at least two spatial degrees of freedom.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein, when the creature (3) moves, said at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the creature are repeatedly determined by the transducer (5) repeatedly determining said at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the transducer.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein, said at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the creature (3) are determined relative to preceding values of said at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the creature.

4. A method according to claim 3, characterized in that said at least two degrees of freedom determined for the creature (3) are recorded for mapping the relative movement of the creature.

5. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that said at least two spatial degrees of freedom determined for the creature (3) are recorded for mapping the movement of the creature relative to the environment.

6. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that when the creature (3) moves relative to the environment at least one property of the environment is at least one of recorded and mapped.

7. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that said determination of said at least two degrees of freedom of the creature (3) is performed while the creature moves in a non-predictable way.

8. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that said determination of said at least two degrees of freedom of the creature (3) is performed while the creature moves in a trained way.

9. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that when the creature (3) moves, the movement of the creature is directed by means of said at least two degrees of freedom determined for the creature.

10. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

using a signal receiving direction area that constitutes a solid angle exceeding 0.2 steradianes (sr) and which solid angle is formed by the collected amount of signal receiving directions in which the transducer is arranged to receive incident signals from said signal sources (9).

11. A method according to claim 10, characterized in that the signal receiving direction area constitutes a solid angle that exceeds 1 steradian.

12. A method according to claim 10, characterized in that the signal receiving direction area constitutes a solid angle that exceeds 2 steradians.

13. A method according to claim 10, characterized in that the signal receiving direction area constitutes a solid angle that exceeds 4 steradians.

14. A method according to claim 10, further comprising using of said signal receiving direction area which is topologically connected.

15. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that occurences caused by at least one of the presence of the creature (3) and the actions of the creature are recorded.

16. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that information is transferred from the locating member (4) to the creature (3) via an information communicating means (6).

17. A method according to claim 16, characterized in that information about the viewing direction of the creature (3) is transferred.

18. A method according to claim 16, characterized in that information about the movement direction of the creature (3) is transferred.

19. A method according to any of claim 16, characterized in that information about the nature of the environment is transferred.

20. A method according to claim 16, characterized in that information about movement paths (16) is transferred.

21. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that information is transferred from the creature (3) to the locating member (4) via an information receiving means (7).

22. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that information from the locating member (4) is transferred to at least one central computer unit (13).

23. A method according to claim 22, characterized in that information is transferred to the creature (3) through an information transferring means arranged in the environment and controlled by said computer unit (11, 13).

24. A method according to claim 23, characterized in that information from said information transferring means is transferred to the creature (3) through a representation unit (15) of the locating member (4).

25. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that information from at least one central computer unit (13) is transferred to the locating member (4).

26. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that information from the transducer (5) is transferred to at least one computer unit (11) of the locating member (4).

27. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that information from at least one computer unit (11) of the locating member (4) is transferred to the transducer (5).

28. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the nature of the environment is recorded by the creature (3) by means of a sensor.

29. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that said at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the transducer (5) are determined by recording the relative incident directions of the signals received by means of the transducer.

30. A method for determining at least two spatial degrees of freedom of a creature (3) relative to an environment, comprising the steps of:

connecting the creature to a locating member (4) including a transducer (5),

operating said transducer to determine at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the transducer relative to the environment by

i) the transducer receiving incident signals from at least two signal sources (9) located in the environment by means of at least one phase-darray and recording the relative directions of the signals received,

ii) based on the recorded relative directions of the received signals, calculating directions (φ

₁, θ

₁;

φ

₂, θ

₂;

φ

₃, θ

₃;

) of sight lines extending between respective signal source and the transducer, with respect to at least two of said at least two signal sources, and

iii) calculating said at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the transducer relative to the environment by using the directions of the sight lines,

the method further comprising;

determining said at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the creature from said at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the transducer, the creature and the locating member being mechanically connected relative to each other within a known limited spatial interval with respect to said at least two spatial degrees of freedom.

31. A method according to claim 30, characterized in that for said signals microwaves are used.

32. A method according to claim 30, characterized in that for said signal acoustic waves are used.

33. A method according to claim 30, characterized in that that said at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the transducer (5) are determined by receiving incident optical signals from the signal sources (9) in the environment.

34. A method according to claim 30, wherein when the creature (3) moves said at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the creature are repeatedly determined by the transducer (5) repeatedly determining said at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the transducer.

35. A method according to claim 30, wherein said at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the creature (3) are determined relative to preceding values of said at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the creature.

36. A method according to claim 30, characterized in that said at least two spatial degrees of freedom determined for the creature (3) are recorded for mapping the movement of the creature relative to the environment.

37. A method according to claim 30, characterized in that when the creature (3) moves relative to the environment at least one property of the environment is recorded and/or mapped.

38. A method according to claim 30, characterized in that occurrences caused by the presence of the creature (3) and/or the actions thereof are recorded.

39. A method according to claim 30, characterized in that the nature of the environment is recorded by the creature (3) by means of a sensor.

40. A method for locating a phenomenon (22) in an environment, comprising the steps of:

connecting a creature (3) to a locating member (4) including a transducer (5) mechanically connected to a component (23) intended for pointing out phenomena in the environment,

directing the pointing component by the creature towards the phenomenon from at least one pointing position,

operating the transducer to determine at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the transducer relative to the environment by

i) the transducer receiving incident signals from at least two signal sources (9) located in the environment,

ii) calculating directions (φ

₁, θ

₁;

φ

₂, θ

₂;

φ

₃, θ

₃;

) of sight lines extending between respective signal source and the transducer, with respect to at least two of said at least two signal sources, and

iii) calculating said at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the transducer relative to the environment by using the directions of the sight lines,

the method further comprising;

determining at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the pointing component from said at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the transducer, the pointing component and the transducer being mechanically connected relative to each other within a known limited spatial interval with respect to said at least two spatial degrees of freedom, and

determining at least one spatial degree of freedom of the pointed out phenomenon relative to the environment from said at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the pointing component.

41. A method according to claim 40, characterized in that the pointing component (23) is directed by the creature (3) towards the phenomenon (22) from two different pointing positions.

42. A method according to claim 40, characterized in that said at least one spatial degree of freedom of the pointed out phenomenon is determined by means of a model (28) of the environment.

43. A method for determining if at least two spatial degrees of freedom of a phenomenon (22) relative to an environment is in accordance with a reference, comprising the steps of:

connecting a creature to a locating member (4) including a transducer (5),

defining a reference by the introduction of at least one condition regarding at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the locating member relative to the environment,

operating said transducer to determine at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the transducer relative to the environment by

i) the transducer receiving incident signals from at least two signal sources located in the environment,

ii) calculating directions (φ

₁, θ

₁;

φ

₂, θ

₂;

φ

₃, θ

₃;

) of sight lines extending between respective signal source and the transducer, with respect to at least two of said at least two signal sources, and

iii) calculating said at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the transducer relative to the environment by using the directions of the sight lines,

the method further comprising;

determining said at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the locating member from said at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the transducer, the creature and the transducer being mechanically connected relative to each other within a known limited spatial interval with respect to said at least two spatial degrees of freedom, and

comparing said at least two degrees of freedom determined for the locating member with the reference so that at least one possibly occurring state in which said at least one condition is fulfilled may be recorded.

44. A method according to claim 43, characterized in that the locating member (4) is put by the creature (3) into mechanical contact with an object (19, 30) in the environment for fixing the locating member or a part thereof and thereby the transducer (5) relative to the object so that said at least one condition is fulfilled.

45. A method according to claim 44, characterized in that the locating member (4) and the object (19, 30) are moved into engagement with each other so that said at least one condition is fulfilled.

46. A method according to claim 43, characterized in that states in which said at least one condition is fulfilled is recorded only when a further predefined measure is performed substantially at the same time by the creature (3).

47. A method for determining at least two spatial degrees of freedom of an object (30) relative to an environment by means of a creature (3), comprising the steps of:

connecting a creature to a locating member (4) including a transducer (5),

putting the locating member into mechanical contact with the object by the creature,

operating said transducer to determine at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the transducer relative to the environment by

i) the transducer receiving incident signals from signal sources (9) located in the environment,

ii) calculating directions (φ

_a, θ

₁;

φ

₂, θ

₂;

φ

₃, θ

₃;

) of sight lines extending between respective signal source and the transducer, with respect to at least two of said at least two signal sources,

iii) calculating said at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the transducer relative to the environment by using the directions of the sight lines,

the method further comprising;

determining said at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the locating member from said at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the transducer, and

determining at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the object from said at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the locating member.

48. A method according to claim 47, characterized in that said at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the object (30) is determined relative to preceding values of said at least two spatial degrees of freedom of the object.

49. A method according to claim 47, characterized in that the locating member (4) and the object (30) are moved into engagement with each other for fixing their relative values of said at least two spatial degrees of freedom.