Remote controlled vehicle with a handheld display device

1. A remote controlled vehicle system, comprising a remote vehicle with an on-board camera and a handheld computer comprising a microprocessor, a visual display and one or more sensors, configured to, while the visual display is oriented in a person's hand(s) such that a horizontal line of sight of the person aligns more closely with the z-axis of the visual display than with the y-axis of the visual display:

a. generate a signal to display video from the remote vehicle's camera;

b. generate a signal to control the movement of the remote vehicle;

c. generate a signal to establish an orientation of the remote vehicle's camera;

d. generate a signal to update the location of the remote vehicle along the axis of the orientation of the remote vehicle's camera using x-axisometer data from at least one of the sensors indicating pivot down or pivot up of the handheld computer and an x-axisometer sensor reference data, wherein said use of x-axisometer sensor data to update the location of the remote vehicle is effectively decoupled from use of v-axisometer sensor data, thereby enabling v-axisometer sensor data of the handheld computer to be used independently of x-axisometer sensor data of the handheld computer to update the orientation of the remote vehicle's camera; and

e. generate a signal to update the orientation of the remote vehicle's camera using v-axisometer data from at least one of the sensors indicating pivot left or pivot right of the handheld computer and a v-axisometer sensor reference data, wherein said use of v-axisometer sensor data to update the orientation of the remote vehicle's camera is effectively decoupled from use of x-axisometer sensor data, thereby enabling x-axisometer sensor data of the handheld computer to be used independently of v-axisometer sensor data of the handheld computer to update the location of the remote vehicle.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the video from the vehicle's camera is produced to appear three-dimensional.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the video from the vehicle's camera comprises a videoconference stream.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein:

a. the updated location of the vehicle is established in the direction of the orientation of the vehicle's camera if the x-axisometer data indicates a pivot down posture relative to the x-axisometer sensor reference data; and

b. the updated location of the vehicle is established in the opposite direction of the orientation of the vehicle's camera if the x-axisometer data indicates a pivot up posture relative to the x-axisometer sensor reference data.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the x-axisometer sensor reference data comprises one or more neutral zone thresholds.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the magnitude of vehicle's location change is based on the x-axisometer data relative to the x-axisometer sensor reference data.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein:

a. the updated orientation of the vehicle's camera is established left if the v-axisometer data indicates an aim left posture relative to the v-axisometer sensor reference data; and

b. the updated orientation of the vehicle's camera is established right if the v-axisometer data indicates an aim right posture relative to the v-axisometer sensor reference data.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the v-axisometer sensor reference data comprises one or more neutral zone thresholds.

9. The system of claim 1 , further configured to generate a signal to update the location of the vehicle using z-axisometer data from at least one of the sensors indicating tip left or tip right of the handheld computer and a z-axisometer sensor reference data.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein:

a. the updated location of the vehicle is established in the direction perpendicularly left of the orientation of the vehicle's camera if the z-axisometer data indicates a tip left posture relative to the z-axisometer sensor reference data; and

b. the updated location of the vehicle is established in the direction perpendicularly right of the orientation of the vehicle's camera if the z-axisometer data indicates a tip right posture relative to the z-axisometer sensor reference data.

11. The system of claim 1 , further configured to generate a signal to jump the vehicle to a new location.

12. The system of claim 1 , further configured to generate a signal to establish a view lock of the vehicle, wherein the location of the vehicle is locked or the orientation of the vehicle's camera is locked or both the location of the vehicle and the orientation of the vehicle's camera are locked.

13. A remote controlled vehicle system, comprising a remote vehicle with an on-board camera and a handheld computer comprising a microprocessor, a visual display and one or more sensors, configured to, while the visual display is oriented in a person's hand(s) such that a horizontal line of sight of the person aligns more closely with the z-axis of the visual display than with the y-axis of the visual display:

a. generate a signal to display video from the remote vehicle's camera;

b. generate a signal to control the movement of the remote vehicle;

c. generate a signal to establish an orientation of the remote vehicle's camera; and

d. generate a signal to update the location of the remote vehicle's camera using z-axisometer data from at least one of the sensors indicating tip left or tip right of the handheld computer and a z-axisometer sensor reference data, wherein said use of z-axisometer sensor data to update the location of the remote vehicle is effectively decoupled from use of v-axisometer sensor data, thereby enabling v-axisometer sensor data of the handheld computer to be used independently of z-axisometer sensor data of the handheld computer to update the orientation of the remote vehicle's camera, and:

i. the location of the remote vehicle's camera is established in the direction perpendicularly left of the orientation of the remote vehicle's camera if the z-axisometer data indicates a tip left posture relative to the z-axisometer sensor reference data; and

ii. the location of the remote vehicle is established in the direction perpendicularly right of the orientation of the remote vehicle's camera if the z-axisometer data indicates a tip right posture relative to the z-axisometer sensor reference data.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the video from the vehicle's camera is produced to appear three-dimensional.

15. The system of claim 13 , wherein the z-axisometer sensor reference data comprises one or more neutral zone thresholds.

16. The system of claim 13 , wherein the magnitude of vehicle change is based on the z-axisometer data relative to the z-axisometer sensor reference data.

17. A remote controlled vehicle system, comprising a remote vehicle with an on-board camera and a handheld computer comprising a microprocessor, a visual display and one or more sensors, configured to, while the visual display is oriented in a person's hand(s) such that a horizontal line of sight of the person aligns more closely with the z-axis of the visual display than with the y-axis of the visual display:

a. generate a signal to display video from the remote vehicle's camera;

b. generate a signal to control the movement of the remote vehicle;

c. generate a signal to establish an orientation of the remote vehicle's camera;

d. generate a signal to update the location of the remote vehicle along the axis of the orientation of the remote vehicle's camera using x-axisometer data from at least one of the sensors indicating pivot up or pivot down of the handheld computer and an x-axisometer sensor reference data, wherein said use of x-axisometer sensor data to update the location of the remote vehicle is effectively decoupled from use of v-axisometer sensor data, thereby enabling v-axisometer sensor data of the handheld computer to be used independently of x-axisometer sensor data of the handheld computer to update the orientation of the remote vehicle's camera, and:

i. the location of the remote vehicle is established in the direction of the orientation of the remote vehicle's camera if the x-axisometer data indicates a pivot down posture relative to the x-axisometer sensor reference data;

ii. the location of the remote vehicle is established in the opposite direction of the orientation of the remote vehicle's camera if the x-axisometer data indicates a pivot up posture relative to the x-axisometer sensor reference data; and

iii. the magnitude of remote vehicle location change is based on x-axisometer data relative to x-axisometer sensor reference data; and

e. generate a signal to update the orientation of the remote vehicle's camera using v-axisometer data from at least one of the sensors indicating pivot left or pivot right of the handheld computer and a v-axisometer sensor reference data, wherein said use of v-axisometer sensor data to update the orientation of the remote vehicle's camera is effectively decoupled from use of x-axisometer sensor data, thereby enabling x-axisometer sensor data of the handheld computer to be used independently of v-axisometer sensor data of the handheld computer to update the location of the remote vehicle, and:

i. the orientation of the remote vehicle's camera is established left if the v-axisometer data indicates an aim left posture relative to a v-axisometer sensor reference data; and

ii. the orientation of the remote vehicle's camera is established right if the v-axisometer data indicates an aim right posture relative to the v-axisometer sensor reference data.

18. The system of claim 17 , further configured to generate a signal to update the location of the vehicle's camera using z-axisometer data from at least one of the sensors indicating tip left or tip right of the handheld computer and a z-axisometer sensor reference data, and:

i. the location of the vehicle is established in the direction perpendicularly left of the orientation of the vehicle's camera if the z-axisometer data indicates a tip left posture relative to the z-axisometer sensor reference data;

ii. the location of the vehicle is established in the direction perpendicularly right of the orientation of the vehicle's camera if the z-axisometer data indicates a tip right posture relative to the z-axisometer sensor reference data; and

iii. the magnitude of vehicle location change is based on z-axisometer data relative to z-axisometer sensor reference data.

19. The system of claim 17 , further configured to generate a signal to jump the vehicle to a new location in response to a movement sequence.

20. The system of claim 17 , further configured to generate a signal to establish a view lock of the vehicle in response to a movement sequence, wherein the location of the vehicle is locked or the orientation of the vehicle's camera is locked or both the location of the vehicle and the orientation of the vehicle's camera are locked.