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:
May. 20, 2003
Filed:
Aug. 14, 1998
Kenneth J. Curran, Thousand Oaks, CA (US);
Jay Smith, III, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Other;
Abstract
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.