The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 22, 1998
Filed:
Jul. 10, 1996
Hobart R Everett, Jr, San Diego, CA (US);
Gary A Gilbreath, San Diego, CA (US);
Rebecca S Inderieden, San Diego, CA (US);
Theresa T Tran, San Diego, CA (US);
John M Holland, Salem, VA (US);
The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
An optically based position location system, comprises multiple reflectors ositioned at known locations in an environment; a vehicle for traveling along a path in the environment; a first sensor for generating and detecting a collimated and polarized first light signal reflected from one of the reflectors, and for generating a first output signal in response to detecting the first light signal; a second sensor for generating and detecting a collimated and polarized second light signal reflected from the reflector reflecting the first light signal, and for generating a second output signal in response to detecting the second light signal; and a data processor which uses the first and second output signals for determining the distance between a reference coordinate on the vehicle and the reflector.