Apparatus and method for determining orientation parameters of an elongate object

US7023536B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Electronic Scripting Products, Inc. · US

Inventors

• Guanghua G. Zhang · San Jose, US
• Dale Buermann · San Diego, US
• Michael J. Mandella · Palo Alto, US
• Hector H. Gonzalez-Banos · Mountain View, US
• Stewart R. Carl · Cupertino, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 8, 2004
• Grant date: Apr 4, 2006
• Expiry date: Jun 3, 2024

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06F3/03545
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

An apparatus and method employing principles of stereo vision for determining one or more orientation parameters and especially the second and third Euler angles θ, ψ of an elongate object whose tip is contacting a surface at a contact point. The apparatus has a projector mounted on the elongate object for illuminating the surface with a probe radiation in a known pattern from a first point of view and a detector mounted on the elongate object for detecting a scattered portion of the probe radiation returning from the surface to the elongate object from a second point of view. The orientation parameters are determined from a difference between the projected and detected probe radiation such as the difference between the shape of the feature produced by the projected probe radiation and the shape of the feature detected by the detector. The pattern of probe radiation is chosen to provide information for determination of the one or more orientation parameters and can include asymmetric patterns such as lines, ellipses, rectangles, polygons or the symmetric cases including circles, squares and regular polygons. To produce the patterns the projector can use a scanning arrangement or a …