Passive magnetic head tracker
AssigneeHarman International Industries, Incorporated
InventorTodd S. Welti
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A wearable device worn on the head of a user determines the head orientation of the user. A tracking application executing on the wearable device determines the orientation of the wearable device relative to a frame of reference. A mobile application executing on a mobile device likewise determines the orientation of the mobile device relative to the frame of reference. The frame of reference may be magnetic north or an inertial reference frame shared between the wearable device and the mobile device. The tracking application estimates the head orientation of the user, relative to the mobile device, based on the relative orientations of the wearable device and the mobile device.
Claims23
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing program instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to determine an orientation of a head of a user relative to a body of the user, by performing the steps of:
- determining a first orientation of a first device relative to a shared spatial reference frame, wherein the first device is worn on the head of the user;
- determining a second orientation of a second device relative to the shared spatial reference frame, wherein the second device is stationary relative to the body of the user, but is not stationary relative to the head of the user;
- and
- comparing the first orientation to the second orientation to determine a relative orientation between the first device and the second device, wherein the relative orientation reflects the orientation of the head of the user relative to the body of the user.
A system configured to determine an orientation of a head of a user relative to a body of the user, comprising:
- a first device, including:
- a first sensor array configured to determine a first orientation of the first device relative to a shared spatial reference frame, wherein the first device is worn on the head of the user,
- a first memory configured to store a first software application, and
- a first processor configured to execute the first software application, wherein the first processor, in conjunction with executing the first software application, compares the first orientation to a second orientation of a second device relative to the shared spatial reference frame to determine a relative orientation between the first device and the second device, wherein the second device is stationary relative to the body of the user, but is not stationary relative to the head of the user, and the relative orientation reflects the orientation of the head of the user relative to the body of the user.
A computer-implemented method for determining an orientation of a head of a user relative to a body of the user, the method comprising:
- determining a first orientation of a first device relative to a shared spatial reference frame, wherein the first device is worn on the head of the user;
- determining a second orientation of a second device relative to the shared spatial reference frame, wherein the second device is stationary relative to the body of the user, but is not stationary relative to the head of the user;
- and
- comparing the first orientation to the second orientation to determine a relative orientation between the first device and the second device, wherein the relative orientation reflects the orientation of the head of the user relative to the body of the user.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.