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:
Oct. 16, 2001
Filed:
Apr. 18, 2000
Kenneth W. Baun, Trabuco Canyon, CA (US);
John E. Smith, Mission Viejo, CA (US);
John E. Hoot, San Clemente, CA (US);
Michael A. Wachala, Riverside, CA (US);
Brian G. Tingey, Fountain Valley, CA (US);
Brent G. Duchon, Garden Grove, CA (US);
Stanley H. Dewan, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA (US);
Meade Instruments Corporation, Irvine, CA (US);
Abstract
A fully automated telescope system is able to be fully operable in both Alt-Az and polar configurations. In either configuration, the telescope aligns itself to be celestial coordinate system following a simplified initialization procedure during which the telescope tube is first pointed north and then pointed towards a user's horizon. A command processor, under application software program control orients the telescope system with respect to the celestial coordinate system given the initial directional inputs. The initial telescope orientation may be further refined by initially inputting a geographical location indicia, or by shooting one or two additional celestial objects. Once the telescope's orientation with respect to the celestial coordinate system is established, the telescope system will automatically move to and track any desired celestial object without further alignment invention by a user.