Positioning system
AssigneeHarmonic Drive Systems Inc.
InventorYoshinori Ito
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A positioning system in which a absolute sensor detection signals are communicated to a controller, which is a personal computer, via a PC card. The PC card is provided with sensor connection terminals, a converter for converting sensor detection signals to digital position signals, PC connection terminals, a sensor drive circuit, and a switching circuit. The sensor switching circuit switches sensor connection terminals in accordance with commands from the personal computer, whereby one absolute sensor is excited or driven by the drive circuit, and detection signals from that sensor are converted to digital position signals that are fed to the personal computer. Using a PC card thus configured makes it possible to readily configure a positioning system having a plurality of absolute sensors.
Claims7
A positioning system comprising:
- a drive mechanism that moves a control object to a target position;
- absolute sensors that detect an absolute position of a control object moved by the drive mechanism;
- a control apparatus that controls the drive mechanism based upon detection results of the absolute sensors;
- and
- an interface apparatus via which absolute sensor output signals are input into the control apparatus;
- the control apparatus being comprised by a personal computer and the interface apparatus being comprised by a PC card inserted into a card slot in the PC.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.