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Home Coded Positioning-system-using-infrared-radiation

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Details
Inventors: Curran, Kenneth J.; Smith, III, Jay;
Assignee: Smith Engineering (Los Angeles, CA)
Primary Examiner: Hjerpe; Richard
Assistant Examiner: Kim; Juliana S.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Price, Gess & Ubell

A positioning controller having a receiving side for receiving light from a light source is disclosed. The receiving side includes an axis extending perpendicularly therefrom, and a vertical plane and a horizontal plane intersecting at the axis. The positioning controller includes three sensors. The reference sensor is positioned between the other two sensors, and is masked to receive light within a predetermined range of acute angles measured from the axis. One of the other two sensors is a vertical angle sensor that is masked to receive a larger quantity of light from a first side of the horizontal plane and from a second side of the horizontal plane. The third sensor is a horizontal angle sensor that is masked to receive a larger quantity of light from a first side of the vertical plane than from a second side of the vertical plane. The positioning controller further includes circuitry for determining an orientation of the positioning controller using the amounts of light received by the reference sensor, the vertical angle sensor, and the horizontal angle sensor.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention resolves the above-mentioned shortcomings with a positioning apparatus which uses infrared light for generating positioning data.
An infrared beacon is placed near the television, and a positioning controller having an infrared sensor derives positioning data from reception of infrared light from the beacon.
The present invention measures the angle of the controller relative to the beacon.
The positioning controller of the presently preferred embodiment is held by a user during operation of games run by a microprocessor.
By changing the pitch of the positioning controller, a user can move a displayed object up and down.
Also, by changing the yaw of the positioning controller, the user can cause the cursor to move left and right on the screen.
The movement of the cursor on the screen roughly corresponds to the angular movement of the positioning controller held by the user.
If the present invention is set for a full scale at 20 degrees, the full scale will be the same whether the positioning controller is 1 foot or 100 feet away from the beacon.
The angle for full scale can thus be set so that rotation of the positioning controller to the set angle results in the cursor being positioned at an edge of the television screen.
According to the present invention, a user can rotate the positioning controller the same amount for the same displayed cursor movement, regardless of the distance between the user and the television.
The present invention operates independently of screen color, brightness, and size.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a positioning controller having a receiving side for receiving light from a light source.
The receiving side includes an axis extending perpendicularly therefrom, and a vertical plane and a horizontal plane intersecting at the axis.
The positioning controller includes three sensors.
The reference sensor is positioned between the other two sensors, and is masked to receive light from a predetermined range of acute angles measured from the axis


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