5568results about "Compasses" patented technology

Apparatuses and methods to sense proximity of an object and operate a proximity sensor of a portable device. In some embodiments, a method includes receiving an ambient light sensor (ALS) output, and altering, based on the ALS output, an effect of a proximity sensor output on control of a proximity determination. The ALS sensor and the proximity sensor may be located adjacent to an earpiece of a portable device. In some cases, the proximity determination may be a proximity of an object to the proximity sensor, and altering the effect may include changing the proximity of the object from a proximity greater than a first threshold to a proximity less than the first threshold. Other apparatuses and methods and data processing systems and machine readable media are also described.

Systems are arranged to provide a user information which relates to objects of interest. A user may point a hand held device toward an object to address it. The device determines which objects are being addressed by making position and attitude measurements and further a reference and search of a database containing preprogrammed information relating to objects. Information relating to objects determined as objects presently being addressed is thereafter presented at a user interface. Devices of these systems include a point reference, a direction reference, a position determining support, attitude determining support, a computer processor and database, and a user interface. Methods of systems include the steps of addressing an object, determining position and attitude, searching a database, and presenting information to a user.

A position measurement apparatus includes a movable stage structure, a measurement unit using a laser to measure a moved position of the stage and to output a corresponding measured value, a first filter configured to attenuate a first component of a certain frequency region of the measured value outputted by the measurement unit, a second filter connected in parallel with the first filter configured to attenuate a second component other than the certain frequency region of the measured value outputted by the measurement unit, a third filter connected in series to the second filter with the series connection of the second and third filters connected in parallel with the first filter, configured to attenuate the first component of the certain frequency region of the measured value outputted by the measurement unit, and a processing unit configured to combine an output of the first filter and an output of the series connection of the second and third filters and to thereby output a first combined value.

A system is provided for capturing motion of a moving object via a plurality of motion sensor modules placed on various body segments. The sensor modules capture both 3D position and 3D orientation data relating to their respective body segments, thereby gathering motion data having six degrees of freedom with respect to a coordinate system not fixed to the body. Each body sensor collects 3D inertial sensor data and, optionally, magnetic field data. In embodiments, either DSP circuitry within the sensor modules or an external computing device, processes the sensor data to arrive at orientation and position estimates by using an estimation algorithm, such as a Kalman filter or a particle filter. The processing includes biomechanical model constraints that allow flexibility in the joints and provide characteristics for various joint types. To improve estimation accuracy, the system may be integrated with various types of aiding sensors.

A multi-panel electronic device and method are disclosed. In a particular embodiment, a method includes receiving first acceleration data from a first sensor coupled to a first portion of an electronic device. The method further includes receiving second acceleration data from a second sensor coupled to a second portion of the electronic device, where a position of the first portion is movable with respect to a position of the second portion. The method further includes determining a configuration of the electronic device at least partially based on the first acceleration data and the second acceleration data.

A method and apparatus are provided to acquire direct thermal measurements, for example, from a LiDAR collecting vehicle or air vessel, of an overhead electrical conductor substantially simultaneous with collection of 3-dimensional location data of the conductor, and utilize temperature information derived from the direct thermal measurements in line modeling, line rating, thermal line analysis, clearance analysis, and / or vegetation management.

A system, apparatus and method for three-dimensional scanning and digitization of the surface geometry of objects are claimed. The system includes a hand-held apparatus that is auto-referenced. The system is auto-referenced since it does not need any positioning device to provide the 6 degree of freedom transformations that are necessary to integrate 3D measurements in a global coordinate system while the apparatus is manipulated to scan the surface. The system continuously calculates its own position and orientation from observation while scanning the surface geometry of an object. To do so, the system exploits a triangulation principle and integrates an apparatus that captures both surface points originating from the reflection of a projected laser pattern on an object's surface and 2D positioning features originating from the observation of target positioning features.

The present invention provides an electromagnetic tracking system that includes a field generator and a field sensor arranged to generate and detect, respectively, an electromagnetic field. Both the transmitter and receiver coils are connected to signal conditioning and processing circuitry to provide outputs indicative of the coil signals. A processor operates on the signals to determine the coordinates of the sensing assembly relative to the generator assembly. The signal processor produces ratiometric outputs, and applies a mutual inductance model to solve for position / orientation coordinates. In some embodiments, a disturber in the form of a conductive ring or a sheath is disposed about an interfering piece of equipment to moderate and standardize disturbances due to eddy currents.

A system and method for locating, tracking, and / or monitoring the status of personnel and / or assets (“trackees”), both indoors and outdoors, is provided. Tracking data obtained from various sources utilizing any number of tracking methods may be provided as input to a mapping application. The mapping application generates position estimates for trackees using a suite of mapping tools to make corrections to the tracking data. The mapping application further uses information from building data, when available, to enhance position estimates. Indoor tracking methods including, sensor fusion methods, map matching methods, and map building methods may be implemented to take tracking data from one or more trackees and compute a more accurate tracking estimate for each trackee. Outdoor tracking methods may be implemented to enhance outdoor tracking data by combining tracking estimates such as inertial tracks with magnetic data, compass data, and / or with GPS, if and when available.

A portable coordinate measurement machine for measuring the position of an object in a selected volume includes a positionable articulated arm having a plurality of jointed arm segments. The arm includes a measurement probe having an integrated line laser scanner mounted thereon. The laser may be a thermally stabilized laser.

A highly miniaturized electronic data acquisition system includes MEMS sensors that can be embedded onto moving device without affecting the static / dynamic motion characteristics of the device. The basic inertial magnetic motion capture (IMMCAP) module consists of a 3D printed circuit board having MEMS sensors configured to provide a tri-axial accelerometer; a tri-axial gyroscope, and a tri-axial magnetometer all in communication with analog to digital converters to convert the analog motion data to digital data for determining classic inertial measurement and change in spatial orientation (rho, theta, phi) and linear translation (x, y, z) relative to a fixed external coordinate system as well as the initial spatial orientation relative to the know relationship of the earth magnetic and gravitational fields. The data stream from the IMMCAP modules will allow the reconstruction of the time series of the 6 degrees of freedom for each rigid axis associated with each independent IMMCAP module.