Patent ID: 8381982

Claim:
A method of determining a coordinate position and rotational orientation of an object within a predefined coordinate space, the method comprising: a) providing a plurality of unique position markers having identifying indicia and positional reference indicia thereupon, the markers being arranged at predetermined known positional locations within the coordinate space, the known positional locations and known angular orientations being stored in a map, so that at least two position markers are always within view of the object; b) using an image acquisition system mounted on the object, acquiring an image of the at least two position markers M 1 , M 2 within view: c) establishing a center point N 1 , N 2 of each respective marker M 1 , M 2 and determining a line segment N 1 -N 2 connecting the respective center points N 1 , N 2 ; d) determining a center point O of the field of view of the image acquisition system; e) determining line segments O-N 1 , O-N 2 respectively connecting point O with the centers N 1 , N 2 of the respective position markers M 1 , M 2 ; f) using the lengths and directions of line segments O-N 1 , O-N 2 to calculate the position of the object relative to the known positions of the markers M 1 , M 2 , thereby determining the location of the object within the coordinate space; and g) using the direction of line segment N 1 -N 2 to calculate the rotational orientation of the object within the coordinate space.