Patent · US Expired

Computer vision system for position monitoring in three dimensions using non-coplanar light sources attached to a monitored object

US5227985A · kind A · utility

445Cited by
10References
15Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateAug 19, 1991
Grant dateJul 13, 1993
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 19, 2011

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01S5/163
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A sensing system for monitoring the position and orientation of a rigid object (20). At least 4 point light sources (24) are mounted on the surface of the object (20) in a noncoplanar arrangement. A single electronic camera (26) captures images (59) of the point light sources (24). Locations of the images (59) of the light sources (24) are detected in each video image, and a computer runs a task using these locations to obtain close approximations of the rotation matrix and translation vector (33) of the object (20) in a camera coordinate system (74) at video rate. The object is held by an operator (90) for three-dimensional cursor (94) control and interaction with virtual reality scenes (96) on computer displays (88), and for remote interactive control of teleoperated mechanisms.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.