Patent ID: 7003386

Claim:
A system for determining the position of a working part of a tool on a machine comprising: a position-determining apparatus comprising at least one detector equipment placed generally at a designated place on the machine spaced away from the working part of the tool, the position-determining apparatus configured to provide data that corresponds to the position and orientation of the designated place on the machine in a fixed coordinate system; at least one position relationship device configured to determine a positional relationship of the working part of the tool relative to the designated place on the machine in a machine-based coordinate system; a calculating device resident on the machine configured to provide at least one of the position and the orientation and inclination of the working part of the tool in the fixed coordinate system based upon the position and orientation of the designated place on the machine in a fixed coordinate system and the positional relationship of the working part of the tool relative to the designated place on the machine in the machine-based coordinate system, wherein said calculating device uses earlier calculation results to calculate a probable position, orientation, direction of work and speed a certain time in advance for the working part of the tool.