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:
Aug. 19, 2003
Filed:
May. 16, 2001
Ivan Faul, Boulder, CO (US);
Waldean A. Schulz, Boulder, CO (US);
Brett R. Skelton, Boulder, CO (US);
Ronald M. Pasquini, Boulder, CO (US);
Abstract
Disclosed is a wireless instrument tracking system. The wireless instrument tracking system is used for determining the location of at least one point relative to the instrument in a three-dimensional space relative to a three-dimensional coordinate tracking system. Advantageously, a first wireless instrument can be placed into the optical field with the wireless instrument including a wireless receiver and at least one optical position indicator. The optical position indicator is typically light emitting diodes ( ) and communicates with corresponding measurement sensors ( ) across a wireless optical link. The wireless optical link is time multiplexed with repetitive time frames divided into time slots. Each LED ( ) emits an infrared signal or flashes in a respective time slot of a time frame. The measurement sensors ( ) are preferably CCD cameras. The LEDs ( ) are synchronized with the cameras and once synchronized each LED ( ) flashes in a different time slot in synchronization with the camera frame rate.