Patent ID: 7432718
Filing Date: 2008-10-07
Classification: G01S,H04R,H04S

Abstract:
1. An electronic device, comprising: a main body; a drive mechanism configured to move the main body; a detector having three quasi-electrostatic field sensors, each sensor mounted in the main body and for detecting a respective distance between the respective sensor and an object which is present in a space around the main body; a calculator configured to calculate a distance and a direction of the object relative to the main body based on three detected distances from the three quasi-electrostatic field sensors; and a controller configured to control the drive mechanism to change an orientation of the main body toward the object dependent on the calculated direction, wherein during operation each of said three quasi-electrostatic field sensors generates a number of quasi-electrostatic fields respectively corresponding to a number of frequencies which respectively correspond to a number of distances from the respective sensor, detects a variation or variations in the number of quasi-electrostatic fields due to the object, identifies the respective frequency corresponding to the quasi-electrostatic field whose variation exceeds a predetermined value, and obtains the respective distance corresponding to the identified frequency as the distance between the respective sensor and the object, such that the three quasi-electrostatic sensors detect the three distances between the three sensors and the object, and wherein during operation the calculator calculates a point of intersection of three geometric shapes in which each shape has one of the three distances as a radius thereof and is centered on the respective sensor, and specifies the distance and the direction of the object relative to the main body by use of the point of intersection.