Abstract:
Disclosed is an interactive spatial orientation method and system. The method includes: sequentially scanning, by a scanning apparatus, a receiving apparatus in a first direction and a second direction perpendicular to each other; converting, by the receiving apparatus, received optical signals generated from the first scanning and the second scanning into radio waves carrying results of the first scanning and the second scanning, and transferring the radio waves to a processing apparatus; synthesizing, by the processing apparatus, the results of the first scanning and the second scanning to obtain six degrees of freedom information of the receiving apparatus. The system includes a scanning apparatus; a receiving apparatus; and a processing apparatus.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    The present application claims the benefit of Chinese Patent Application No. 201610281117.0 filed on Apr. 29, 2016. All the above are hereby incorporated by reference. 
       TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0002]    The present application relates to the field of spatial orientation, and more particularly relates to an interactive spatial orientation method and system. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE APPLICATION 
       [0003]    Spatial orientation generally uses an optical or ultrasonic mode for positioning and measuring, and derives the spatial position of an object to be measured by building models. A general optical spatial orientation system determines the spatial position of an object by using a laser for scanning and a light sensor for receiving. This kind of spatial orientation system tends to consist of large measuring equipments, and have long measurement time and poor capability of real-time measurements, thus substantially limiting the application. 
       SUMMARY OF THE APPLICATION 
       [0004]    There is provided an interactive spatial orientation method, including: sequentially scanning, by a scanning apparatus, a receiving apparatus in a first direction and a second direction perpendicular to each other; converting, by the receiving apparatus, received optical signals generated from the first scanning and the second scanning into radio waves carrying results of the first scanning and the second scanning, and transferring the radio waves to a processing apparatus; synthesizing, by the processing apparatus, the results of the first scanning and the second scanning to obtain six degrees of freedom information of the receiving apparatus. 
         [0005]    The interactive spatial orientation method may include: firstly emitting, by the scanning apparatus, a first laser plane to scan an area to be scanned in the first direction, a starting time t 0  of the first scanning being recorded to be t 0 =0, and a first scanning function representing a relationship between a scan angle φ of the first scanning and a scan time t of the first scanning being φ=f(t); receiving, by the receiving apparatus comprising an optical signal receiving module array matrix, a first laser signal generated from the first scanning, recording a receiving time t φ  as t φ =(t 1 , t 2 , . . . , t n ), and transferring a result of the first scanning to the processing apparatus; receiving, by the processing apparatus, the result of the first scanning; secondly emitting, by the scanning apparatus, a second laser plane to scan the area to be scanned in the second direction perpendicular to the first direction, a starting time t′ 0  of the second scanning being recorded, and a second scanning function representing a relationship between a scan angle ψ of the second scanning and a scan time t′ of the second scanning being ψ=g(t′−t′ 0 ); receiving, by the receiving apparatus, a second laser signal generated from the second scanning, recording a receiving time t′ ψ  as t′ ψ =(t′ 1 , t′ 2 , . . . , t′ n ), and transferring a result of the second scanning to the processing apparatus; receiving, by the processing apparatus, the result of the second scanning; calculating, by the processing apparatus, a coordinate array (φ, ψ) according to following functions: 
         [0000]      φ= f ( t   φ ),
 
         [0000]      ψ g ( t′   ψ   −t   0 ),
 
         [0000]    and reversely calculating position and orientation information of the scanning apparatus to obtain the six degrees of freedom information of the receiving apparatus based on the optical signal receiving module array matrix. 
         [0006]    The interactive spatial orientation method may further include: determining, by the processing apparatus, a key scan area according to the six degrees of freedom information of the receiving apparatus; obtaining, by the processing apparatus, nonlinear functions φ′, ψ′ matching the key scan area and previously saved in the processing apparatus; replacing, by the processing apparatus, the first scanning function and the second scanning function with the nonlinear functions φ′, ψ′, respectively; and re-executing the first scanning and the second scanning to obtain updated six degrees of freedom information of the receiving apparatus. 
         [0007]    The interactive spatial orientation method may further include: determining, by the processing apparatus, a key scan area according to the six degrees of freedom information of the receiving apparatus; generating, by the processing apparatus, nonlinear functions φ″, ψ″ according to the key scan area and rules set in advance; replacing, by the processing apparatus, the first scanning function and the second scanning function with the nonlinear functions φ″, ψ″, respectively; and re-executing the first scanning and the second scanning to obtain updated six degrees of freedom information of the receiving apparatus. 
         [0008]    There is also provided an interactive spatial orientation system, including: a scanning apparatus; a receiving apparatus; and a processing apparatus, wherein the scanning apparatus sequentially scans the receiving apparatus in a first direction and a second direction perpendicular to each other; the receiving apparatus converts received optical signals generated from the first scanning and the second scanning into radio waves carrying results of the first scanning and the second scanning, and transfers the radio waves to the processing apparatus; and the processing apparatus synthesizes the results of the first scanning and the second scanning to obtain six degrees of freedom information of the receiving apparatus. 
         [0009]    The scanning apparatus may include a longitude scanning device and a latitude scanning device; and the longitude scanning device and the latitude scanning device each may include: a synchronizing module; an emitting side embedded control module; a drive circuit; a laser source; and a scanning module; wherein the drive circuit is electrically connected with the laser source and the emitting side embedded control module respectively; the emitting side embedded control module is electrically connected with the synchronizing device; and the scanning module is electrically connected with the laser source and the drive circuit respectively; and the synchronizing module of the longitude scanning device and the synchronizing module of the latitude scanning device are electrically connected with each other and synchronize related information. 
         [0010]    The longitude scanning device and the latitude scanning device each may further include a flash light electrically connected with the drive circuit, and the flash light flashes at a beginning of a scan cycle. 
         [0011]    The laser source may include a laser device emitting a laser; and an optical shaping system; wherein the laser emitted by the laser device is arranged in the optical shaping system to form a laser plane. 
         [0012]    The scanning module may reflect the laser plane to enter into an area to be scanned. 
         [0013]    The scanning module may include a rotating polyhedron with reflective properties on a surface and rotating along at least one rotary shaft. 
         [0014]    The scanning module may further include an exit light processing module; and the exit light processing module processes an exit light exit from the rotating polyhedron and changes a light path of the exit light. 
         [0015]    The scanning module may include a scanning galvanometer rotating or vibrating along at least one rotary shaft respectively. 
         [0016]    The scanning module may further include an exit light processing module; and the exit light processing module processes an exit light exit from the scanning galvanometer and changes a light path of the exit light. 
         [0017]    The scanning module may include a microelectromechanical mirror. 
         [0018]    The scanning module may further include an exit light processing module; and the exit light processing module processes an exit light exit from microelectromechanical mirror and changes a light path of the exit light. 
         [0019]    The microelectromechanical mirror may include: a fixed plane with an outer ring; and a rotating circular mirror set up on the fixed plane; wherein the outer ring on the fixed plane and the rotating circular mirror form a comb-shaped driver; and an angle between the rotating circular mirror and the fixed plane is changed by controlling a current inputting the driver. 
         [0020]    The microelectromechanical mirror may be a two-dimension controllable microelectromechanical mirror; and the two-dimension controllable microelectromechanical mirror may include: a two-dimension rotating circular mirror; and two outer rings nestedly set up on the position in which the two-dimension rotating circular mirror is located. 
         [0021]    The receiving apparatus may include: a receiving side embedded control module; an optical signal receiving module array; a receiving side wireless transmission module; and a power module; wherein the receiving side embedded control module is electrically connected with the optical signal receiving module array, the power module, and the receiving side wireless transmission module respectively; and the receiver wireless transmission module is electrically connected with the power module. 
         [0022]    The optical signal receiving module array may include at least 12 sensors, and the sensors are set up in a way that at least 4 sensors are not in the same plane no matter what angle the sensors project. 
         [0023]    The processing apparatus may include a processing side wireless transmission module and a calculation processor; wherein the processing side wireless transmission module is electrically connected with the calculation processor. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0024]    The present application will be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments in the following, in the accompanying drawings: 
           [0025]      FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of the interactive spatial orientation method and system according to an illustrative embodiment of the present application; 
           [0026]      FIG. 2  is a structure schematic diagram of the scanning apparatus of the interactive spatial orientation method and system according to an illustrative embodiment of the present application; 
           [0027]      FIG. 3  is a structure schematic diagram of the interactive spatial orientation method and system according to an illustrative embodiment of the present application; 
           [0028]      FIG. 4  is a diagram of the scanning module of the interactive spatial orientation method and system according to the first embodiment of the present application; 
           [0029]      FIG. 5  is a diagram of the scanning module of the interactive spatial orientation method and system according to the second embodiment of the present application; 
           [0030]      FIG. 6  is a diagram of the scanning module of the interactive spatial orientation method and system according to the third embodiment of the present application; and 
           [0031]      FIG. 7  is a diagram of the scanning module of the interactive spatial orientation method and system according to the fourth embodiment of the present application. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0032]    The present application provides an interactive spatial orientation method and system with simple equipments and shorter measuring time, aiming at the drawback of the current spatial orientation with miscellaneous equipment and long measuring time. 
         [0033]    To make the technical feature, objective and effect of the present application be understood more clearly, now the specific implementation of the present application is described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. 
         [0034]      FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of the interactive spatial orientation method and system according to the present application. In the axes, the horizontal axis represents the time t, and the vertical axis represents the light intensity 1×. When the measurement is started, a flash signal is given, and the receiving apparatus receives an optical signal with a light intensity that is far greater than or far less than the light intensity of the measured laser. The flash signal is mainly used to determine the measurement period, so the light intensity of the flash signal is required to be distinguished from the light intensity of the measured laser. The longitude measurement is firstly done after the flash is completed. The scan is conducted referring to the function φ=f(t) which represents the relationship between the scan angle and the scan time and is pre-defined. During the measurement, a measuring time t φ  is recorded after the receiving apparatus receives the measured laser signal. A latitude measurement which is similar to the longitude measurement is carried out after completion of the longitude measurement. The starting time of the measurement is recorded to be t′ 0 , and the scan is conducted referring to the function ψ=g(t′−t′ 0 ) which represents the relationship between the scan angle and the scan time. A measuring time t′ ψ  is recorded after the receiving apparatus receives the measured laser signal. The scan angles φ and ψ are calculated by substituting the measured data t φ  and t′ ψ  into the functions φ=f(t φ ) and w=g(t′ ψ −t′ 0 ). Based on an optical signal receiving apparatus array matrix, the position and orientation information of the scanning apparatus is reversely calculated to get the six degrees of freedom information of the receiving apparatus. According to the calculation, in order to obtain the six degrees of freedom information of the receiving apparatus, it is required that at least 4 sensors are not in the same plane to transfer data. To ensure that the six degrees of freedom information can be measured in the scan range regardless of the orientation of the receiving apparatus, it is required that at least 4 sensors are not in the same plane no matter what angle the sensors project. According to the calculation, at least 12 sensors need to be set up on the receiving apparatus. 
         [0035]    Referring to  FIG. 2  to  FIG. 3 , the interactive spatial orientation system of the present application comprises a scanning apparatus  1 , a receiving apparatus  2  and a processing apparatus  3 . The scanning apparatus  1  comprises a longitude scanning device  4  and a latitude scanning device  5 . The internal structures of the longitude scanning device  4  and the latitude scanning device  5  are the same, but the scan directions are different. Normally, the angle between the scan direction of the longitude scanning device  4  and the scan direction of the latitude scanning device  5  is 90°. Information is transmitted between the longitude scanning device  4  and the latitude scanning device  5  via their synchronizing modules  12 . The longitude scanning device  4  and the latitude scanning device  5  respectively comprise an emitting side embedded control module  11 , a drive circuit  16 , a laser source  13  and a scanning module  14 . The scanning module  14  is electrically connected with the laser source  13  and the drive circuit  16  respectively. The drive circuit  16  is electrically connected with the laser source  13  and the emitting side embedded control module  11  respectively. The emitting side embedded control module  11  is electrically connected with the synchronizing module  12 . 
         [0036]    The receiving apparatus  2  comprises a receiving side embedded control module  22 , an optical signal receiving module array  21 , a receiving side wireless transmission module  24 , and a power module  23 . The optical signal receiving module array  21  is configured for receiving the optical signal, and comprises at least 12 optical sensors  211 . The 12 optical sensors are set up on the surface of the receiving apparatus in a way that at least 4 sensor are not in the same plane no matter what angle the sensors project. The receiving side embedded control module  22  is electrically connected with the optical signal receiving module array  21 , the power module  23 , and the receiving side wireless transmission module  24  respectively. The receiving side wireless transmission module  24  is electrically connected with the power module  23 . 
         [0037]    The processing apparatus  3  comprises a processing side wireless transmission module  32  and a calculation processor  31 . The processing side wireless transmission module  32  is electrically connected with the calculation processor  31 . The processing side wireless transmission module  32  and the receiving side wireless transmission module  24  communicate to each other by wireless means. 
         [0038]    As shown in  FIG. 2 , a flash light  15  for flashing can be added. Under the control of the processing apparatus  3  or the scanning apparatus  1 , the flash light  15  begins to scan at the beginning of the scan cycle. 
         [0039]    The working process of the interactive spatial orientation system of the present application is as follows:
       firstly, the flash light  15  flashes at the beginning of the scan, and at the same time the longitude scanning device  4  emits a laser plane to scan the area to be scanned, and records the scan starting time to be t 0 =0; the relationship between the scan angle and the scan time is φ=f(t); the optical signal receiving module array  21  receives the laser signal, and transmits an electrical signal to the receiving side embedded control module  22 ; the receiving side embedded control module  22  records the receiving time to be t φ =(t 1 , t 2 , . . . , t n ), and transfers related information to the processing apparatus  3  via the receiving side wireless transmission module  24 ; via the processing side wireless transmission module  32 , the processing apparatus  3  receives the signal transferred by the receiving side wireless transmission module  24 ; the scanning process of the latitude scanning device  5  is similar to that of the longitude scanning device  4 , and the differences are listed as follows:
 
the scan direction of the latitude scanning device  5  is perpendicular to the scan direction of the longitude scanning device  4 ; the scan starting time is recorded to be t′ 0 ; the relationship between the scan angle and the scan time of the latitude scanning apparatus  5  is recorded to be ψ=g(t′−t′ 0 ); the receiving side embedded control module  22  records the receiving time to be t′ ψ =(t′ 1 , t′ 2 , . . . , t′ n ). The calculation processor  31  calculates a coordinate array (φ, ψ) according to the following function:
       
 
         [0000]      φ= f ( t   φ ),
 
         [0000]      ψ= g ( t′   ψ   −t′   0 )
 
         [0000]    and based on a known optical signal receiving module array matrix  21 , reversely calculates the position and orientation information of the scanning apparatus  1  to get the six degrees of freedom information of the receiving apparatus  2 . 
         [0041]    After calculating the six degrees of freedom information of the receiving apparatus  2 , according to the six degrees of freedom information of the receiving apparatus  2 , the calculation processor  31  determines a key scan area, and obtains nonlinear scanning functions φ′, ψ′ matching the key scan area and previously saved in the processing apparatus  3 , or according to the key scan area and rules set in advance, generates nonlinear scanning functions φ″, ψ″. A common rule is that the angle range needed to be scanned is obtained from the angle range of the receiving apparatus  2  and the angle value calculated by the maximum possible moving distance of the receiving apparatus in the scanning time. Beyond the angle range needed to be scanned, the scanning apparatus scans with the fastest speed, and within the angle range needed to be scanned, the scanning apparatus scans with a normal scan speed. 
         [0042]    The scanning functions φ=f(t) and ψ=g(t′−t′ 0 ) for last scan are replaced with the updated scanning functions φ′, ψ′ or φ″, ψ″, and a scan is re-executed. 
         [0043]    By constantly updating the scanning functions, the scanning efficiency can be improved greatly, and the accuracy of the scanning can be improved. 
         [0044]    Now referring to  FIG. 4 ,  FIG. 4  is the schematic diagram of the scanning module  14  according to a first embodiment. Since the structure of the longitude scanning device  4  is the same as that of the latitude scanning device  5 , only the structure of the longitude scanning device  4  is described here. The laser source  13  comprises a laser device  131  and an optical shaping system  132 . The laser emitted by the laser device  131  is arranged in the optical shaping system  132  to form the needed light path, for example, the laser can be arranged to form a laser plane. The laser enters into the rotating polyhedron  141  along the light path. The rotating polyhedron  141  is a polyhedron with reflective properties on the surface and can rotate along at least one rotary shaft. When there is only one rotary shaft, it can scan in one direction; if there are two rotary shafts perpendicular to each other, it can scan in two directions perpendicular to each other by adjusting the incident light. After reflecting by the surface of the rotating polyhedron  141 , the incident laser is emitted out of the scanning apparatus  1  and enters into the area to be scanned. With the rotation of the rotating polyhedron  141 , the light exit angle exited from the scanning apparatus  1  is constantly changing, and the scanning range is covered. In order to further change the exit angle of the exit light, an exit light processing module  17  can be set up in front of the scanning module  14  to further process the exit light. 
         [0045]    Now referring to  FIG. 5 ,  FIG. 5  is the schematic diagram of the scanning module  14  according to a second embodiment. The structure of the scanning module  14  of the second embodiment is basically the same as that of the first embodiment. The difference is that in the second embodiment a scanning galvanometer  142  is used to replace the rotating polyhedron  141  which is slightly larger in volume. The scanning galvanometer  142  comprises a galvanometer  1421  with reflective properties on the surface. By controlling the vibration or rotation of the galvanometer  1421 , the scanning galvanometer  142  can change the light path of the light emitted by the laser source  13 . The scanning galvanometer  142  can also rotate or vibrate along at least one rotating shaft. 
         [0046]    Now referring to  FIG. 6 ,  FIG. 6  is the schematic diagram of the scanning module  14  according to a third embodiment. The structure of the scanning module  14  of the third embodiment is basically the same as that of the first embodiment. The difference is that in the third embodiment the microelectromechanical mirror  143  is used to replace the rotating polyhedron  141  which is slightly larger in volume. The microelectromechanical mirror  143  comprises a rotatable circular mirror  1431  set up on a fixed plane  1432  with an outer ring  1433 . The outer ring  1433  on the fixed plane  1432  and the rotating circular mirror  1431  form a comb-shaped driver. By controlling the current inputting the driver, the angle between the rotating circular mirror  1431  and the fixed plane  1432  can be changed to achieve the effect of one dimensional rotation control. The control frequency is up to 1000 Hz. This kind of precise control and high control frequency is very important in nonlinear scanning, which can not only realize the complex nonlinear function scanning, but also shorten the scan time and greatly reduce the scanning error. 
         [0047]    Now referring to  FIG. 7 ,  FIG. 7  is the schematic diagram of the scanning module  14  according to a fourth embodiment. In the fourth embodiment, the scanning module of the longitude scanning device  4  and the scanning module of the latitude scanning device  5  are made to be one, namely, a 2D controllable microelectromechanical mirror  144 . There is an angle between the two sets of the laser source  13 , and the emitted laser enters into the 2D controllable microelectromechanical mirror  144  respectively. The 2D controllable microelectromechanical mirror  144  nestedly set up two outer rings  1442  on the position in which the 2D rotating circular mirror  1441  is located to realize the scanning control of two dimensions by only one 2D rotating circular mirror  1441 . After reflecting by the 2D rotating circular mirror  1441 , the incident laser is emitted out of the scanning apparatus  1  and enters into the area to be scanned. 
         [0048]    Compared with the prior art, the invention simplifies the calculation by scanning along the longitude direction and the latitude direction respectively and sequentially, and the number of measuring instruments is reduced and the structure becomes simpler. A lot of scanning time is saved by the nonlinear scanning method. Scanning instruments can skip some area where the target cannot exist and focus on the scanning of the area where the target may exist, which greatly improves the efficiency of scanning and real-time performance of the spatial orientation. The mass of the rotating body becomes small by using the rotating polyhedron  141 , the scanning galvanometer  142  and the microelectromechanical mirror  143 , which is helpful in reducing a centrifugal force generated by the rotation or the vibration and increasing the stability of the equipment. The quantity of the rotating body is reduced to 1 by using the 2D controllable microelectromechanical mirror  144 , which further simplifies the device. The periodic flash of the flash light allows the system to better determine the scan cycle and prevents data confusion between different periods. The exit light processing module  17  can increase or decrease the exit angle of the exit laser, and enlarge the range of the scanning. 
         [0049]    While the embodiments of the present application are described with reference to the accompanying drawings above, the present application is not limited to the above-mentioned specific implementations. In fact, the above-mentioned specific implementations are intended to be exemplary not to be limiting. In the inspiration of the present application, those ordinary skills in the art can also make many modifications without breaking away from the subject of the present application and the protection scope of the claims. All these modifications belong to the protection of the present application.