Claims
- 1. Method for use in encoding position-related information in at least one portion of an image, the at least one portion including a plurality of image elements, the method comprising:
determining a reference modulation pattern to be applied to a characteristic of the elements, the reference modulation pattern having a reference angular orientation and a reference frequency; determining at least two position modulation patterns having the same or different frequencies, the position modulation patterns being radially symmetrical about respective center points; and modifying the characteristic of the image elements in accordance with a coded pattern that is a combination of the reference and position modulation patterns.
- 2. Method for use in decoding position information and reference orientation information encoded in at least one portion of an image, the at least one portion including a plurality of image elements, the method comprising:
determining in a coded pattern in the elements a reference modulation pattern that is associated with a reference angular orientation and a reference frequency and defines a reference axis; determining in the coded pattern two or more position modulation patterns that are associated with one or more frequencies and are radially symmetric about respective position center points, the position modulation patterns having in the at least one portion respective angular orientations that correspond to offsets between the respective position center points and a center of the reference axis in the at least one portion; and determining the relative position of the at least one portion based on the reference orientation and the angular orientations.
- 3. An image in which is encoded position-related information, the image including:
at least one portion including a plurality of image elements, and a characteristic of the elements which is modulated to include a coded modulation pattern, the coded modulation pattern including contributions of
i. a reference elemental component having a reference angular orientation and a reference frequency and defining a reference axis in the at least one portion, and ii. two or more position components having one or more frequencies, each position component also having an angular orientation that corresponds to an offset between a center of the reference axis and an associated position center point.
- 4. Method according to claim 1, wherein the characteristic is intensity values of the elements.
- 5. Method according to claim 2, wherein the characteristic is intensity values of the elements.
- 6. Image according to claim 3, wherein the characteristic is intensity values of the elements.
- 7. Method according to claim 1, wherein the reference modulation pattern is a sinusoidal linear pattern and the position modulation patterns are radially symmetrical sinusoidal patterns.
- 8. Method according to claim 2, wherein reference modulation pattern is a sinusoidal linear pattern and the position modulation patterns are a radially symmetrical sinusoidal patterns.
- 9. Image according to claim 3, wherein the reference component is a sinusoidal linear pattern and the position components are radially symmetrical sinusoidal patterns.
- 10. Method according to claim 1 further including the step of assigning different spatial frequencies to the reference and position modulation patterns.
- 11. Method according to claim 1, wherein one or more symbols that represent a data message and error correction redundancy information are encoded into the at least one portion of the image by determining for each given symbol a data modulation pattern having a frequency and an angular orientation relative to the reference orientation that corresponds to the given data symbol.
- 12. Method according to claim 2, further including
determining in the coded pattern one or more data modulation patterns having respective frequencies and respective angular orientations relative to the reference angular orientation, associating respective symbol values with the angular orientations associated with the data modulation patterns, arranging the symbols in accordance with the respective frequencies of the data modulation patterns to reproduce data and error correction information, and determining after manipulation of the data and error correction information that the reference axis is correctly identified if the data are error-free.
- 13. Image according to claim 3, wherein the coded modulation pattern further includes data components having frequencies and an angular orientation relative to the reference orientation that correspond to respective data symbols, the data symbols representing a data message and error correction redundancy information.
- 14. Apparatus for use in encoding position beacons in at least one portion of an image, the at least one portion including a plurality of image elements, the apparatus including:
a position information encoder that associates one or more position beacons with respective position modulation patterns in the elements, the position modulation patterns being radially symmetrical about respective center points that have predetermined locations in the image; an angular symbology encoder that associates a reference axis with a reference modulation pattern in the elements; and a processor that encodes the plurality of elements by combining the position modulation patterns and the reference modulation pattern to determine a coded pattern that represents changes to a characteristic of the plurality of the elements to encode the position information in the plurality of the elements.
- 15. Apparatus of claim 14 wherein
the angular symbology encoder further associates one or more data symbols with respective data modulation patterns that are associated with angular orientations relative to the reference modulation pattern in the elements, the angular orientations being selected so as to have values that correspond to the respective one or more data symbols, and the processor further encodes the plurality of elements by combining the data modulation patterns with the reference modulation pattern and the position modulation patterns.
- 16. Apparatus for use in decoding the position information encoded in at least one portion of an image and determining the relative position of the portion in the image, the at least one portion including a plurality of image elements, the apparatus comprising:
a mechanism that determines a first set of values of angular orientations of position modulation patterns in the elements of the at least one portion relative to a reference modulation pattern, the values corresponding to offsets between respective position center points about which the position modulation patterns are radially symmetrical and a center point of a reference axis in the at least one portion, the reference axis being associated with the reference modulation pattern, the reference modulation pattern and the position modulation patterns being produced by applying modulations to a characteristic of the elements; and a decoder for determining the position in the image of the at least one portion based on the first set of angular orientation values.
- 17. Apparatus of claim 16 wherein
the mechanism further determines a second set of values of angular orientations of data modulation patterns in the elements relative to the reference modulation pattern, the values corresponding respectively to one or more data symbols; and the decoder further assigns the one or more data symbols to the respective angular orientations and arranges the symbols in order according to the frequencies associated with the respective data modulation patterns to reproduce a data message and error correction information and the decoder determines that the reference orientation is correctly identified if after manipulation of the data symbols the data message is error-free.
- 18. Apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the characteristic comprises intensity values of the elements.
- 19. Apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the characteristic comprises intensity values of the elements.
- 20. Apparatus according to claim 15, wherein at least one of the reference and the data modulation patterns comprises a linear sinusoidal modulation pattern of the characteristic.
- 21. Apparatus according to claim 17, wherein at least one of the reference and the data modulation patterns comprises a linear sinusoidal modulation pattern of the characteristic.
- 22. Apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the position modulation pattern has a higher spatial frequency than any of the reference and the data modulation patterns.
- 23. Apparatus according to claim 15, wherein certain or all of the position modulation patterns have identical spatial frequencies.
- 24. Apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the position modulation patterns have higher spatial frequencies than any of the reference and the data modulation patterns.
- 25. Apparatus according to claim 17, wherein certain or all of the position modulation patterns have identical spatial frequencies.
- 26. Method according to claim 1, wherein certain or all of the position modulation patterns have identical spatial frequencies.
- 27. Computer-readable memory comprising computer-executable program instructions for use in encoding position-related information in at least one portion of an image, the at least one portion including a plurality of image elements, the instructions, when executed, causing:
determining a reference modulation pattern to be applied to a characteristic of the elements, the reference modulation pattern having a reference angular orientation and a reference frequency; determining at least two position modulation patterns having the same or different frequencies, the position modulation patterns being radially symmetrical about respective center points having predetermined locations; and modifying the characteristic of the image elements in accordance with a coded pattern that is a combination of the reference modulation pattern and the position modulation patterns.
- 28. Computer-readable memory comprising computer-executable program instructions for use in decoding position-related information encoded in at least one portion of an image, the at least one portion including a plurality of image elements, the instructions, when executed, causing:
determining in a coded pattern in the elements a reference modulation pattern that is associated with a reference angular orientation and a reference frequency and defines a reference axis; determining in the coded pattern two or more position modulation patterns that are associated with one or more frequencies and are radially symmetrical about respective position center points having predetermined locations, the position modulation patterns having in the at least one portion respective angular orientations relative to the reference angular orientation that correspond to offsets between the respective position center points and a center of the reference axis; and determining the relative position of the at least one portion based on the angular orientations.
- 29. Memory according to claim 27, wherein the characteristic comprises intensity values of the elements.
- 30. Memory according to claim 28, wherein the characteristic comprises intensity values of the elements.
- 31. Memory according to claim 27 wherein the instructions, when executed, further causing
determining in the coded pattern one or more data modulation patterns, the data modulation patterns having frequencies and angular orientations relative to the reference frequency and angular orientation that correspond to the respective data and error correction symbols, and further modifying the characteristic of the image in accordance with a code pattern that includes the data modulation patterns.
- 32. Memory according to claim 28 wherein the instructions, when executed, further causing
determining for a given one of data and error correction symbols encoded into the at least one portion a data modulation pattern, the data modulation pattern having a frequency and an angular orientation relative to the reference angular orientation that corresponds to the given symbol, associating respective symbol values with the angular orientations associated with the data modulation patterns, arranging the symbols in accordance with the respective frequencies of the data modulation patterns to reproduce the data and error correction symbols, and determining that the reference axis associated with the reference modulation pattern is correctly identified if error-free data is available after manipulation of the reproduced data and error correction symbols.
- 33. Memory according to claim 27, wherein the position modulation patterns are radially symmetrical sinusoidal modulation patterns of the characteristic.
- 34. Memory according to claim 28, wherein the position modulation patterns are radially symmetrical sinusoidal modulation patterns of the characteristic.
- 35. Memory according to claim 27, wherein the position modulation patterns have higher spatial frequencies than the reference pattern.
- 36. Memory according to claim 27, wherein at least certain of the position modulation patterns have identical spatial frequencies.
- 37. Method according to claim 2 further including
determining a second relative position based on the reference and angular orientations; using the two relative positions to determine a relative direction of movement.
- 38. Method according to claim 2 further including
determining a second relative position based on the reference and angular orientations; using the two relative positions to determine a relative distance or measurement.
- 39. Method according to claim 2 further including
determining a second relative position based on the reference and angular orientations; Using the relative position information to direct a device to a designated position.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/371,077, which was filed on Apr. 9, 2002, entitled ANGULAR SYMBOLOGY WITH POSITIONING and is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/921,172, which was filed on Aug. 2, 2001, entitled DATA ENCODING AND DECODING USING ANGULAR SYMBOLOGY, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60371077 |
Apr 2002 |
US |