Optical communication system for position-finding of a portable electronic device in free space
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsTong Chen, Mark T. Winkler
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A optical communication system including a source device and an endpoint device. The source device include an array of laser diodes and is configured to drive the laser diodes to project a sequence of patterns into the field of view of the source device to define a set of serially-projected codes, each of which isolated to one respective angular division of the field of view of the source device. The endpoint device receives a serially-projected code from the source device which varies based which angular division of the field of view of the source device is occupied by the endpoint device.
Claims19
An apparatus for projecting angular-encoded information into its field of view, the apparatus comprising:
- a substrate;
- an array of laser diodes disposed on the substrate;
- and
- a drive circuit coupled to each laser diode of the array of laser diodes and configured to drive the laser diodes to project a sequence of patterns into the field of view, the sequence of patterns defining a set of encrypted serially-projected codes, each encrypted serially-projected code isolated to one respective angular division of the field of view.
A method of operating an apparatus to project angular-encoded information into a field of view of the apparatus, the method comprising:
- projecting a sequence of patterns into the field of view by:
- driving a first group of laser diodes disposed in a first pattern;
- and
- driving a second group of laser diodes disposed in a second pattern;
- wherein:
- projecting the sequence of patterns into the field of view defines a set of encrypted serially-projected codes, each encrypted serially-projected code isolated to one respective angular division of the field of view of the apparatus.
A method of operating an apparatus to receive angular-encoded information via optical communication, the method comprising:
- receiving an encrypted serially-projected code at a photosensitive element of the apparatus;
- correlating the encrypted serially-projected code to an angle using a lookup table;
- determining, based at least in part on the angle, an angular orientation of the apparatus relative to a source device that projected the serially-projected code;
- and
- determining, based at least in part on the angle, a position of the apparatus relative to the source device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.