Patent ID: 7383728

Claim:
An apparatus for monitoring an orientation of an object in 3-dimensional space, said apparatus being mountable to said object, comprising: a 3-axis sensor configured to sense a magnitude of tilt along each of a first axis, a second axis, and a third axis; at least one memory operative to store data representative of the sensed magnitude of tilt along each of said first, second, and third axes; and at least one processor operative to process the data stored in said at least one memory, wherein said at least one processor is operative: to determine an angle between each of said first, second, and third axes and a horizontal plane; to select two of said first, second, and third axes corresponding to two smallest angles between said first, second, and third axes and the horizontal plane; and to generate an indication of the orientation of said object based upon the sensed magnitude of tilt along the two selected axes.