Abstract: The present invention relates to an optical pointing device which preferably uses infrared light as a source and a camera as a detector. Movements of the camera with respect to the light source which remains fixed are sensed in the detector portion of the camera to determine the direction in which the camera is pointing with respect to, for example, a display screen adjacent the light source. The electronics included in the present invention are designed to act, responsive to sensing of the position of the camera with respect to the light source to cause corresponding movements of a cursor on the display screen. Other modes of operation of the present invention are also disclosed.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is an omnidirectional distance measurement system which transmits and receives ultrasound waves using as many as four transmitting-receiving transducers having specially shaped beamwidths. Through the use of four such ultrasonic transducers, the system may be set up to obtain any beamwidth from 5.degree. up to 360.degree. in both the horizontal and vertical planes. In the preferred embodiment, the present invention is able to detect the distance and direction to up to four objects in a prescribed work area at any one time and may also detect the speed of any one of the objects if desired.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a line-of-sight measuring system. The system comprises a passive optical pointing device which measures the relative change in line-of-sight of a focusing reflector attached to a target such as the operator of the device, located within a prescribed three dimensional space. The system utilizes a source of light adjacent a position sensing detector which source of light causes light to be reflected off the focusing reflector amd back to the position sensing detector. In this way, the line-of-sight between the object within the prescribed space and a particular location on a two dimensional screen positioned adjacent the prescribed space may be determined with great accuracy. The present invention also includes the electronic circuitry which interfaces the present invention with a computer such as a personal computer including an input keyboard and a display screen. Other applications of the present invention are also disclosed herein.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an improved voice control system which is designed to be adaptable to existing computers so that the existing computers may be operated through the use of voice commands. In the preferred embodiment, the present invention is connected into the existing keyboard control means and the computer itself with the system including a priority switch controlled by software giving the keyboard priority over voice entries so that the keyboard may still be used even with the present invention connected into the circuit. In the preferred embodiment, voice commands are utilized so that the existing hardware with existing software incorporated therewith may be effectively operated in a foolproof manner. The present invention uses existing voice recognition chip technology and existing speech synthesizer chip technology in a new and unique way.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an improved directional microphone system which utilizes at least two directional microphones. The microphones included in the system are connected to an electrical circuit which is programmed to cancel static noise and to facilitate dynamic gain control. The received signals from the two microphones are fed into a microcomputer where a fast Fourier transformation is made on the two signals in order to go from the time domain to the frequency domain. A lowpass and highpass filtering technique is used to cancel the dynamic noise. The frequency components of the incoming signals are further used to utilize an area and phase sorting technique to allow only the pickup of the wanted sound in a well-defined area. An inverse fast Fourier transformation is made and the modified signal is outputted in the time domain. Sounds generated from outside the work area are essentially cancelled out by a combination of the directionality of the microphones and the sorting techniques employed.

Abstract: Disclosed herein are method and apparatus for position and orientation measurement using a magnetic field and retransmission thereof. In a first embodiment, three coils are deployed as a three-axis antenna. A magnetic field is transmitted sequentially from the three coils each of which coil comprises the transmitter and receiver. Three passive resonant circuits are used as retransmitters and attached to an object the position and orientation of which are to be measured. The three coils, one from each of the retransmitters, are deployed as a three-axis antenna. In a second embodiment of the present invention, the three coils mentioned above with reference to the first embodiment are deployed merely as a three-axis receiver. As such, a separate coil is provided for the purpose of transmission. The three-axis retransmitter is attached to the object, the position and orientation of which are to be determined.

Abstract: A system is disclosed which enables the measurement of the position and orientation of a permanent magnet within a three dimensional region in five degrees of freedom. In order to sense the position and orientation of the permanent magnet, three three-axis antennas are created with each antenna being composed of three mutually orthogonal Hall-effect devices. As is known, Hall-effect devices produce an output voltage proportional to the product of the input current, the magnet flux density and the sine of the angle between the magnet flux density and the plane of the Hall-effect device. The output voltages from the nine Hall-effect devices utilized in the system are inputted into a microprocessor device which first calculates an estimate of the position and orientation of the magnet utilizing a nonlinearized algorithm. Subsequently, the microprocessor uses a linearized algorithm to calculate the precise position and orientation of the permanent magnet.

Abstract: Disclosed are two embodiments of displacement sensing devices utilizing adjustable tuned circuits. In a first embodiment, a sensor comprising a capacitor and an adjustable coil connected together is attached to two relatively movable objects; the relative displacement of which is to be measured. An electrical circuit is provided which includes an oscillator which may be swept through a predetermined range of frequencies so as to variably excite a source coil. As the oscillator is swept through these frequencies, a comparator compares the voltage output of the oscillator with the voltage output of the source coil. When the frequency of the oscillator is equal to the resonant frequency of the sensor circuit at its particular coil displacement, a voltage drop across the source coil will be sensed by the electrical circuitry and from this information, the circuitry may calculate the actual displacement of the two objects with respect to one another.

Abstract: A device is disclosed which enables calculation of the location of an object within a three dimensional work area. The system utilizes a pair of position sensing detectors each of which is surrounded by light emitting diodes (LED's) and requires attachment of a retro-reflector to each target whose position is to be determined. In a preferred embodiment, each position sensing detector is surrounded by infrared LED's of two different light wavelengths. Two targets are present in the work area each with a retro-reflector attached thereto and each including a single bandpass filter, in front of its retro-reflector, one target having a bandpass filter corresponding to one LED wavelength and the other target having a bandpass filter corresponding to the other LED wavelength. Circuitry is also disclosed which drives the LED's and interprets the signals received by the position sensing detectors so that the position of the two targets may be determined and displayed in the form of x, y, and z coordinates.

Abstract: A system measures the (x, y) coordinates of a target, for example, a pointed finger on a flat surface such as a rectangular plate. A pair of ultrasonic transducers are placed on the plate so that one transducer is located at each of the two left corners of the plate or at each of the two top corners of the plate. The transducers transmit short ultrasonic pulses which are reflected as echos off the target and then received by the transducers. The time elapsed between the transmitting of each pulse and receiving its echo is converted into distances between the transducers and the target, which distances are then converted into the target's (x, y) coordinates.The system is designed to clamp onto a number of flat surfaces, thereby allowing the system to be used with printed representations of keyboards, graphs, CRT monitors and standard television screens. The system is interfaced with any of a variety of computers and provides a signal representative of the location of the target to the computer.