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. 09, 2014
Filed:
Sep. 20, 2010
Ian Buehring, Leicester, GB;
Ian Buehring, Leicester, GB;
Guidance IP Limited, Liecester, GB;
Abstract
A position reference sensor for a marine vessel comprises an optical assembly including a pulsed laser device for emitting laser light, a lens arrangement comprising a lenticular lens for producing a vertically fanned beam () of the laser light emitted by the pulsed laser device and a photodiode () comprising a plurality of photodetectors Rx, Ry, Rz for detecting laser light () that has been emitted by the pulsed laser device and reflected by a retro-reflective target () towards the photodiode (). The level of reflected laser light incident upon each photodetector is individually detectable and the position reference sensor further comprises an actuator for varying the inclination of the optical assembly. The actuator is automatically controllable based on the level of reflected laser light incident upon each photodetector Rx, Ry, Rz. A position reference sensor for a marine vessel comprises an optical assembly including a pulsed laser device for emitting laser light, a lens arrangement comprising a lenticular lens for producing a vertically fanned beam () of the laser light emitted by the pulsed laser device and a photodiode () comprising a plurality of photodetectors Rx, Ry, Rz for detecting laser light () that has been emitted by the pulsed laser device and reflected by a retro-reflective target () towards the photodiode (). The level of reflected laser light incident upon each photodetector is individually detectable and the position reference sensor further comprises an actuator for varying the inclination of the optical assembly. The actuator is automatically controllable based on the level of reflected laser light incident upon each photodetector Rx, Ry, Rz.