Object detection system and object detection method

• US 8,243,288 B2
• Filed: 07/19/2010
• Issued: 08/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Taguchi, Ayumu
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, SANG H
• Application Number:
  US12/838,521
• Publication Number:
  US 20110019203A1
• Time in Patent Office: 757 Days
• Field of Search: 356602-614, 356/3.01, 356/3.03, 356/3.1, 356/3.15, 356/4.1, 356/141.1, 382/154
• US Class Current: 356/614
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 5/32 Holograms used as optical elements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00

Abstract

Disclosed herein is an object detection system including, a light radiation section, a light sweeping block, a light reflection body, a reflected-light detection section, and a reflected-light analysis section.

Claims

1. An object detection system comprising:

light radiation means for radiating light of a two-dimensional pattern to an object;

light sweeping means for carrying out a sweeping operation by continuously changing the radiation direction of said light of a two-dimensional pattern within a space determined in advance;

light reflection means attached to a predetermined location on said object to serve as a detection subject and used for reflecting said light of a two-dimensional pattern in a direction opposite to said radiation direction of said light of a two-dimensional pattern;

reflected-light detection means for detecting said light reflected by said light reflection means to appear as light arriving at said reflected-light detection means; and

reflected-light analysis means for computing vertical-direction and horizontal-direction angles on the basis of a signal representing said reflected light detected by said reflected-light detection means,

wherein,

said two-dimensional pattern is configured to include code series generated by using two-dimensional M-sequence random numbers indicating the nonexistence and existence of a square pattern,

said reflected-light analysis means computes;

one of said vertical-direction and horizontal-direction angles of said light reflection means by identifying said code series, and the other vertical-direction and horizontal-direction angle of said light reflection means by detecting a phase shift of said identified code series.

2. The object detection system according to claim 1 wherein said reflected-light analysis means computes said vertical-direction and horizontal-direction angles by:

finding an inner product of a complex conjugate of a Fourier transform signal of said signal representing said detected light and a Fourier transform code series of said code series corresponding to said detected light for each of said code series; and

carrying out inverse Fourier transform processing on each of said inner products.

3. The object detection system according to claim 1 wherein said reflected-light analysis means finds a vertical-direction azimuth of said light reflection means by division to compute a value according to a ratio of the output level of light generated by a specific one of said code series to the output level of light generated by another one of said code series.

4. The object detection system according to claim 1, said object detection system comprising:

two means pairs each composed of said light radiation means and said light sweeping means; and

position detection means for computing a position of said light reflection means in a three-dimensional coordinate system from vertical-direction and horizontal-direction angles found as said vertical-direction and horizontal-direction angles of said light reflection means from said signal representing said reflected light for each of said means pairs each composed of said light radiation means and said light sweeping means.

5. An object detection method comprising the steps of:

radiating light of a two-dimensional pattern to an object;

carrying out a sweeping operation by continuously changing the radiation direction of said light of a two-dimensional pattern within a space determined in advance;

letting a detection subject attached to a predetermined location on said object reflect said light of a two-dimensional pattern in a direction opposite to said radiation direction of said light of a two-dimensional pattern;

detecting said reflected light arriving from said detection subject; and

computing vertical-direction and horizontal-direction angles, which are each formed by a line connecting light radiation means for radiating said light of a two-dimensional pattern to said detection subject and a reference line in a vertical or horizontal direction respectively, on the basis of a signal representing said detected reflected light,

wherein,

said two-dimensional pattern is configured to include code series generated by using two-dimensional M-sequence random numbers indicating the nonexistence and existence of a square pattern,

one of said vertical-direction and horizontal-direction angles is computed by identifying said code series, and the other vertical-direction and horizontal-direction angle is computed by detecting a phase shift of said identified code series.

6. An object detection system comprising:

a light radiation section configured to radiate light of a two-dimensional pattern to an object;

a light sweeping block configured to carry out a sweeping operation by continuously changing the radiation direction of said light of a two-dimensional pattern within a space determined in advance;

a light reflection body attached to a predetermined location on said object to serve as a detection subject and used for reflecting said light of a two-dimensional pattern in a direction opposite to said radiation direction of said light of a two-dimensional pattern;

a reflected-light detection section configured to detect said light reflected by said light reflection body to appear as light arriving at said reflected-light detection section; and

a reflected-light analysis section configured to compute vertical-direction and horizontal-direction angles, which are each formed by a line connecting said light radiation section to said light reflection body and a reference line in a vertical or horizontal direction respectively, on the basis of a signal representing said reflected light detected by said reflected-light detection section,

wherein,

said two-dimensional pattern is configured to include code series generated by using two-dimensional M-sequence random numbers indicating the nonexistence and existence of a square pattern,

said reflected-light analysis section finds a vertical-direction azimuth of said light reflection body by division to compute a value according to a ratio of the output level of light generated by a specific one of said code series to the output level of light generated by another one of said code series.