Patent ID: 8427632

Claim:
A method of image-based positioning using an apparatus comprising an image-capturing device integrated with a focused-radiation source and a processor; said method comprising: (A) selecting a plane located in a field of view (FOV) from the group consisting of: {a sky-facing plane; a ground-facing plane; a backward (user-facing) plane; a forward-facing plane; a side-plane; and an arbitrary plane}; (B) pointing said image-capturing device camera at said selected plane located at said FOV of said image-capturing device; (C) capturing an image of an object located in said plane on a display of said image-capturing device; (D) directing a focused ray of radiation generated by said focused-radiation source to said object; (E) detecting at least one return signal generated by reflection of said focused ray, of radiation from said object; (F) displaying each said detected return signal from said object as a return_object_point on said display; (G) measuring an offset data from each said displayed return_object_point to a reference point on said display; (H) processing said offset data in order to determine a distance from said object located in said FOV to said display of said image-capturing device; (I) repeating said steps (A-H) to generate a stream of distances from said object located in said FOV to said display of said image-capturing device; and (K) if said object is stationary, processing said stream of distances from said object located in said FOV to said display of said image-capturing device to determine the display's movement over said selected plane.