System and method for creating and conducting astronomical tours
OwnerKenneth W. Baun, John E. Hootinventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An intelligent telescope system independently acquires and tracks designated celestial objects with little to no knowledge of the night sky being required by a user. The telescope system hosts and runs an application routine in order to have the telescope system conduct a tour of interesting celestial objects that are visible from an observer's location. Tour programs are created by a user and stored in memory in the system's microprocessor controlled command module or, alternatively, pre-defined tour programs are downloaded from a repository, such as in Internet web site, for storage in the system's memory and subsequent use.
Claims20
An automated telescope system comprising:
- an intelligent telescope configured for rotation about two orthogonal axes;
- a signal bus, configured to pass data and control signals between and among peripheral devices connected thereto;
- a central control processor coupled to the signal bus, the control processor including memory means for storing executable instructions, the control processor communicating data and control signals between and among peripheral devices coupled to the signal bus, said control signals including telescope positioning commands;
- first and second motor assemblies, each motor assembly including:
- an electric motor coupled to move the telescope about one of the two orthogonal axes;
- an intelligent control circuit coupled to the motor and to the signal bus, the intelligent control circuit developing control signals for commanding motor movement;
- and
- a position indication circuit coupled to a respective axis and to the control circuit, the position indication circuit providing position indication signals to the respective control circuit;
- and
- a tour program including a listing of celestial objects, implemented as executable instructions and stored in the memory means, the tour program automatically commanding telescope movement to designated ones of said celestial objects.
In an automated telescope system of the type including an intelligent telescope configured for rotation about two orthogonal axes, the telescope having a central control processor including memory means for storing executable instructions, the control processor configured to automatically command telescope movement to an object upon designation of the object by an operator in operative response to said executable instructions, a method for sequentially moving among a plurality of desired objects in automated fashion comprising:
- preparing a tour program, the program including a listing of celestial objects, implemented as executable instructions;
- storing said program in the memory means;
- and
- executing the program through the central control processor, the tour program automatically commanding telescope movement to designated ones of said celestial objects.
In an automated telescope system of the type including an intelligent telescope configured for rotation about two orthogonal axes, the telescope having a central control processor including memory means for storing executable instructions and a display, the control processor configured to automatically command telescope movement to an object upon designation of the object by an operator in operative response to said executable instructions, a system for commanding sequential motion among a plurality of desired objects in automated fashion comprising:
- a tour program, the program including a listing of celestial objects, implemented as executable instructions and stored in the memory means, the tour program automatically commanding telescope movement to designated ones of said celestial objects;
- a title string for each of the celestial objects;
- a descriptive text string for the celestial objects;
- and
- wherein the title string is displayed to a user for selection, the telescope automatically slewing to the celestial object upon selection by the user.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.