Positioning apparatus and method

• US 8,269,624 B2
• Filed: 11/09/2007
• Issued: 09/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Inventors: Chen, Yung-Yu, Chang, Shyang-Jye, Shen, Sheng-Chih, Yu, Ren-Yuan, Wang, Shih-Hao
• Primary Examiner(s): Bugg, George
• Assistant Examiner(s): NWUGO, OJIAKO K
• Application Number:
  US11/979,904
• Publication Number:
  US 20080158052A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,775 Days
• Field of Search: 340/539.13, 701/215, 701/220, 702/94
• US Class Current: 340/539.13
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/49 whereby the further system is an inertial position system, e.g. loosely-coupled
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile

Abstract

A positioning apparatus is disclosed, which comprises: a position detection module, including an inertial sensor, a magnetometer, and a global positioning device, being used for detection a movement of an object and thus generating a positioning signal accordingly; wherein the positioning signal is transmitted to a control unit and then to a signal processing device where it is being processed and converted into an angular/displacement signal to be transmitted to a monitoring device by way of a signal transmission device for enabling the monitoring device to track the movement of the object. In a preferred embodiment, both of the monitoring device and the signal transmission device are respectively being configured with a displaying unit for displaying the movement of the object. In addition, the positioning apparatus further comprises an identity module, for providing a unique identification code to the object to be used for identifying the same. With the aforesaid apparatus, the object can be positioned and monitored in a remote manner no matter it is being shielded or not.

Claims

1. A positioning method, comprising the steps of:

(a) a position detection module detecting a movement of an object and thus generating a corresponding positioning signal, wherein the step of detecting the movement of an object includes the steps of (1) an inertial sensor with an accelerator and a gyroscope detecting and measuring three accelerations of an object'"'"'s movement along three corresponding orthogonal axes of a coordinate system so as to measure variations in the object'"'"'s movement, (2) a magnetometer providing an azimuth angle with respect to an absolute coordinate system for the object, and (3) a global positioning device locating the position of the object with respect to the absolute coordinate system, wherein the position detection module switches locating the position of the object between using the global positioning device and using the inertial sensor and the magnetometer in response to the global positioning device receiving a satellite signal such that the position detection module uses only the inertial sensor and the magnetometer when the global positioning device does not receive a satellite signal;

(b) a control unit receiving the positioning signal;

(c) a signal processing device processing the positioning signal from the control unit and generating an angular/displacement signal accordingly;

(d) a signal transmission device with a wireless transmission module and a receiving unit transmitting the angular/displacement signal, wherein the step of transmitting the angular/displacement signal includes the steps of the wireless transmission module transmitting the angular/displacement signal of the signal processing device in a wireless manner and the receiving unit wirelessly receiving the angular/displacement signal transmitted from the wireless transmission module and then transmitting the received angular/displacement signal, wherein the control unit, the signal processing device and the wireless transmission module are integrated with the position detection module; and

(e) a monitoring device with a displaying unit receiving the angular/displacement signal from the receiving unit while using the same for tracking the movement of the object, and the displaying unit displaying the movement of the object via the signal transmission device enabling the monitoring device, the monitoring device being integrated with the receiving unit and remotely located from the position detection module so as to be independent from a location and movement of the position detection module.

2. The positioning method of claim 1, wherein the control unit and the signal processing device is integrated and modularized as a single device.

3. The positioning method of claim 2, wherein the single device is a chip.

4. The positioning method of claim 1, wherein the position detection module further includes an identity module, the method further comprising the step of:

the identity module providing a unique identification code to the object to be used for identifying the same.

5. The positioning method of claim 1, wherein the receiving unit is connected to the monitoring device by a wireless communication system with access point (AP) ability.

6. The positioning method of claim 1, wherein the receiving unit further comprises a displaying unit for displaying the movement of the object.

7. A positioning apparatus comprising:

a position detection module configured to detect a movement of an object and thus generate a positioning signal accordingly, the position detection module including

a magnetometer configured to determine an azimuth angle with respect to an absolute coordinate system for the object,

a global positioning device configured to locate the position of the object with respect to the absolute coordinate system,

an inertial sensor configured to detect and measure three accelerations along three orthogonal axes of a coordinate system so as to determine variations in the object'"'"'s movement, wherein the inertial sensor comprises an accelerator configured to detect the accelerations from the movement of the object and a gyroscope configured to detect an angular velocity variation from the movement of the object,

a control unit configured to receive the positioning signal from the position detection module,

a signal processing device configured to process the positioning signal from the control unit and to generate an angular/displacement signal in response thereto, and

a signal transmission device for transmitting the angular/displacement signal, wherein the signal transmission device comprises a wireless transmission module configured to transmit the angular/displacement signal of the signal processing device in a wireless manner, and a receiving unit configured to wirelessly receive the angular/displacement signal transmitted from the wireless transmission module and then transmit the received angular/displacement signal, wherein

the position detection module is configured to switch locating the position of the object between using the global positioning device and using the inertial sensor and the magnetometer in response to the global positioning device receiving a satellite signal such that the position detection module uses only the inertial sensor and the magnetometer when the global positioning device does not receive a satellite signal, and

the control unit, the signal processing device and the wireless transmission module are integrated with the position detection module; and

a monitoring device configured to receive the angular/displacement signal from the receiving unit while using the same for tracking the movement of the object, wherein the monitoring device comprises a displaying unit for displaying the movement of the object, the monitoring device being integrated with the receiving unit and remotely located from position detection module so as to be independent from a location and movement of the position detection module.

8. The positioning apparatus of claim 7, wherein the control unit and the signal processing device is integrated and modularized as a single device.

9. The positioning apparatus of claim 8, wherein the single device is a chip.

10. The positioning apparatus of claim 7, wherein the receiving unit is connected to the monitoring device by a wireless communication system with access point (AP) ability.

11. The positioning apparatus of claim 7, wherein the receiving unit further comprises a displaying unit for displaying the movement of the object.

12. The positioning apparatus of claim 7, wherein the position detection module further comprises:

an identity module, for providing a unique identification code to the object to be used for identifying the same.