Magnetic vector sensor positioning and communications system

• US 9,298,281 B2
• Filed: 12/14/2013
• Issued: 03/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Correlated Magnetics Research, LLC
• Original Assignee: Correlated Magnetics Research, LLC
• Inventors: Roberts, Mark D., Fullerton, Larry W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Edun, Muhammad N
• Application Number:
  US14/106,736
• Publication Number:
  US 20140184505A1
• Time in Patent Office: 836 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/21 characterised by their sensors, purposes or types
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/235 using a wireless connection, e.g. infrared or piconet
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/126 Rotatable input devices for instruments
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/143 Touch sensitive instrument input devices
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/145 Instrument input by combination of touch screen and hardware input devices
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/10 Input arrangements, i.e. from user to vehicle, associated with vehicle functions or specially adapted therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04106 Multi-sensing digitiser, i.e. digitiser using at least two different sensing technologies simultaneously or alternatively, e.g. for detecting pen and finger, for saving power or for improving position detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/014 Hand-worn input/output arrangements, e.g. data gloves
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0338 with detection of limited linear or angular displacement of an operating part of the device from a neutral position, e.g. isotonic or isometric joysticks
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03543 Mice or pucks G06F3/03541 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03544 having dual sensing arrangement, e.g. two balls or two coils used to track rotation of the pointing device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03545 Pens or stylus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/046 by electromagnetic means

Abstract

A system is described herein for monitoring the movement of one or more magnets located external to a device using the vector data from one or more magnetic vector sensors incorporated in the device to determine a position and/or to communicate information.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a first device comprising a screen and at least one vector magnetic sensor that senses the magnetic field produced by the Earth;

a second device comprising a magnet;

the first device utilizes the at least one vector magnetic sensor which interfaces with the magnet in the second device to obtain vector data which corresponds to an absolute orientation and location of the second device within a coordinate system based on an absolute orientation and location of the first device; and

the first device utilizes the vector data to map the location of the second device to a location on the screen.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first device further utilizes the vector data to map the motion of the second device to the screen.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the first device conveys control signals to the second device to control movement of the second device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the second device is a stylus with a head and a handle, wherein the head contains the magnet that is orientated such that a corresponding magnetic pole is substantially perpendicular to a lengthwise direction of the handle;

or

the second device is a stylus with a head and a handle, wherein the head contains the magnet that is orientated such that a corresponding magnetic pole is substantially parallel to a lengthwise direction of the handle.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the second device is a mouse which has the magnet with a first orientation where a magnetic moment of the magnet is parallel to a surface on which the mouse resides;

or

the second device is a mouse which has the magnet with a second orientation where a magnetic moment of the magnet is perpendicular to a surface on which the mouse resides.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the second device is a mouse which has two magnets both with a first orientation where two magnetic moments of the two magnets are parallel to a surface on which the mouse resides;

or

the second device is a mouse which has two magnets both with a second orientation where two magnetic moments of the two magnets are perpendicular to a surface on which the mouse resides;

or

the second device is a mouse which has a first magnet and a second magnet, wherein the first magnet has a first orientation where a magnetic moment of the first magnet is parallel to a surface on which the mouse resides, and wherein the second magnet has a second orientation where a magnetic moment of the second magnet is perpendicular to said surface on which the mouse resides.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the second device is a joy stick input device comprising a base and a control handle, wherein the control handle is configured to pivot within the base at a pivot point, and wherein the control handle has the magnet with a first orientation that is perpendicular to an axis of an at rest position of the control handle;

or

the second device is a joy stick input device comprising a base and a control handle, wherein the control handle is configured to pivot within the base at a pivot point, and wherein the control handle has the magnet with a second orientation that is parallel to an axis of an at rest position of the control handle.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the second device is a joy stick input device comprising a base and a control handle, wherein the control handle is configured to pivot within the base at a pivot point, wherein the control handle has the magnet with an orientation that is perpendicular to an axis of an at rest position of the control handle, and wherein the base has a second magnet with a magnetic moment that is parallel to a surface on which the joy stick input device resides;

or

the second device is a joy stick input device comprising a base and a control handle, wherein the control handle is configured to pivot within the base at a pivot point, wherein the control handle has the magnet and a second magnet which collectively have an alternating polarity orientation that is parallel to an axis of an at rest position of the control handle, and wherein the base has a third magnet with a magnetic moment that is parallel to a surface on which the joy stick input device resides;

or

the second device is a joy stick input device comprising a base and a control handle, wherein the control handle is configured to pivot within the base at a pivot point, wherein the control handle has the magnet and two additional magnets which collectively have polarity orientations corresponding to a Barker 3 code and have orientations that are parallel to an axis of an at rest position of the control handle, and wherein the base has a magnet with a magnetic moment that is parallel to a surface on which the joy stick input device resides.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

at least two more first devices each of which has at least one vector magnetic sensor; and

the second device is a joy stick input device comprising a base and a control handle, wherein the control handle is configured to pivot within the base at a pivot point, wherein the control handle has the magnet which has a predetermined orientation to an axis of an at rest position of the control handle;

the first device and the at least two more first devices utilize their respective at least one vector magnetic sensor which interfaces with the magnet in the second device to obtain respective vector data corresponding to an absolute orientation and location of the control handle within a coordinate system based on an absolute orientation and location of the respective first device and the at least two more first devices; and

the first device obtains the vector data from the at least two more first devices and uses all of the vector data to map the location of the control handle to a location on the screen.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the screen is a touchscreen.

14. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

additional first devices each of which incorporate at least one vector magnetic sensor, wherein the first device and the additional first devices utilize their respective at least one vector magnetic sensor to interface with said magnet in said second device to obtain vector data which corresponds to said absolute orientation and location of said second device within the coordinate system based on the absolute orientations and locations of the first device and the additional first devices.

11. A system comprising:

a first device comprising a screen and at least one vector magnetic sensor;

a second device comprising a magnet;

the first device utilizes the at least one vector magnetic sensor which interfaces with the magnet in the second device to obtain vector data which corresponds to an absolute orientation and location of the second device within a coordinate system based on an absolute orientation and location of the first device; and

the first device utilizes the vector data to map the location of the second device to a location on the screen, wherein the first device performs a calibration process prior to enabling the motion of the second device to be mapped to the screen, wherein the first device further utilizes the vector data to map the motion of the second device to the screen, wherein the calibration process comprises;

determine the absolute orientation and location of the first device within the coordinate system;

determine a location of the magnet in the second device relative to the orientation and location of the first device; and

determine the absolute orientation and location of the second device based on a priori knowledge of an arrangement of the magnet in the second device.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the calibration process further comprises one of the following:

moving the second device to locations within a predefined pattern where the second device is some distance away from the first device or the second device is in contact with or near contact with the first device;

moving the first device relative to the second device where the orientation and location of the second device is fixed;

or

leaving the first device fixed and moving the second device and then leaving the second device fixed and moving the first device.

13. A system comprising:

a first device comprising a screen and at least one vector magnetic sensor;

a second device comprising a magnet;

the first device utilizes the at least one vector magnetic sensor which interfaces with the magnet in the second device to obtain vector data which corresponds to an absolute orientation and location of the second device within a coordinate system based on an absolute orientation and location of the first device; and

the first device utilizes the vector data to map the location of the second device to a location on the screen, wherein the second device incorporates the magnet and at least one other magnet, wherein the magnet and the at least one other magnet is a coded magnetic array.

15. A first device which interfaces with a second device that has a magnet, the first device comprising:

a screen;

at least one vector magnetic sensor that senses the magnetic field produced by the Earth;

a processor; and

a memory that stores processor-executable instructions where the processor interfaces with the memory and executes the processor-executable instructions to enable the following operations;

interface with second device which comprises a magnet;

obtain vector data which corresponds to an absolute orientation and location of the second device within a coordinate system based on an absolute orientation and location of the first device; and

utilize the vector data to map the location of the second device to a location on the screen.

16. The first device of claim 15, wherein the processor further executes the processor-executable instructions to utilize the vector data to map the motion of the second device to the screen.

17. The first device of claim 15, wherein the processor further executes the processor-executable instructions to:

interface with additional first devices each of which incorporate at least one vector magnetic sensor;

utilize the at least one vector magnetic sensor in each additional first device to obtain vector data which corresponds to said absolute orientation and location of said second device within the coordinate system based on the absolute orientations and locations of the first device and the additional first devices.

18. The first device of claim 15, wherein the processor further executes the processor-executable instructions to convey control signals to the second device to control movement of the second device.

19. The first device of claim 15, wherein the screen is a touchscreen.

20. A first device which interfaces with a second device that has a magnet, the first device comprising:

a screen;

at least one vector magnetic sensor;

a processor; and

a memory that stores processor-executable instructions where the processor interfaces with the memory and executes the processor-executable instructions to enable the following operations;

interface with second device which comprises a magnet;

obtain vector data which corresponds to an absolute orientation and location of the second device within a coordinate system based on an absolute orientation and location of the first device; and

utilize the vector data to map the location of the second device to a location on the screen, wherein the processor further executes the processor-executable instructions to utilize the vector data to map the motion of the second device to the screen, wherein the processor further executes the processor-executable instructions to perform a calibration process prior to enabling the motion of the second device to be mapped to the screen, wherein the calibration process comprises;

determine the absolute orientation and location of the first device within the coordinate system;

determine a location of the magnet in the second device relative to the orientation and location of the first device; and

determine the absolute orientation and location of the second device based on a priori knowledge of an arrangement of the magnet in the second device.

21. A method implemented by a first device which interfaces with a second device, wherein the first device comprises a screen and at least one vector magnetic sensor that senses the magnetic field produced by the Earth, and wherein the second device comprises a magnet, the method comprising:

obtaining vector data which corresponds to an absolute orientation and location of the second device within a coordinate system based on an absolute orientation and location of the first device; and

utilizing the vector data to map the location of the second device to a location on the screen.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising utilizing the vector data to map the motion of the second device to the screen.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprises:

interfacing with additional second devices each of which incorporate a magnet;

utilizing the at least one vector magnetic sensor which interfaces with the magnet in each additional second device to obtain vector data which corresponds to an absolute orientation and location of each additional second device within the coordinate system based on the absolute orientation and location of the first device; and

utilize the vector data to map the location of each additional second device to a location on the screen, wherein each additional second device does not touch the screen of the device.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising conveying control signals to the second device to control movement of the second device.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein the screen is a touchscreen.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the second device does not touch the touchscreen of the first device.

27. A method implemented by a first device which interfaces with a second device, wherein the first device comprises a screen and at least one vector magnetic sensor, and wherein the second device comprises a magnet, the method comprising:

obtaining vector data which corresponds to an absolute orientation and location of the second device within a coordinate system based on an absolute orientation and location of the first device; and

utilizing the vector data to map the location of the second device to a location on the screen;

utilizing the vector data to map the motion of the second device to the screen; and

performing a calibration process prior to mapping the motion of the second device to the screen, wherein the calibration process comprises;

determining the absolute orientation and location of the first device within the coordinate system;

determining a location of the magnet in the second device relative to the orientation and location of the device; and

determining the absolute orientation and location of the second device based on a priori knowledge of an arrangement of the magnet in the second device.