Granted Patent B2

US 12,624,945 · App. 18/542,415 · Granted May 12, 2026

Inventors: Christian Graesser (Vallentuna, SE); Jacques Rondeau (Carquefou, FR)

Assignee: Trimble Inc.

G01C15/002H05B45/12G01S19/14

Abstract

Claims (50)

1 . A target for use in surveying applications, the target comprising:

a plurality of light sources arranged around a longitudinal axis of a base element of said target and configured to emit light radially;

a sensor unit; and

a control unit configured to:

obtain information regarding an orientation of said target relative to a surveying instrument aimed at said target, based on at least a measurement received from said sensor unit;

identify, based on the obtained information regarding the orientation of the target relative to the surveying instrument, a first subset of the plurality of light sources arranged to emit light towards the surveying instrument, and a second subset of the plurality of light sources arranged to emit light away from the surveying instrument; and

control the plurality of light sources such that the first subset of light sources emit light with a higher intensity than the second subset of light sources.

2 . A method for operating a target for use in surveying applications, the target comprising a plurality of light sources arranged around a longitudinal axis of a base element of said target and configured to emit light radially, the method comprising:

obtaining information regarding an orientation of said target relative to a surveying instrument aimed at said target based on at least a measurement received from a sensor unit of the target;

identifying, based on the obtained information regarding the orientation of the target relative to the surveying instrument, a first subset of the plurality of light sources arranged to emit light towards the surveying instrument, and a second subset of the plurality of light sources arranged to emit light away from the surveying instrument; and

controlling the plurality of light sources such that the first subset of light sources emit light with a higher intensity than the second subset of light sources.

3 . The target of claim 1 , wherein:

said sensor unit comprises a plurality of sensors distributed around the longitudinal axis of the base element of the target, and configured to detect a signal emitted by the surveying instrument.

4 . The target of claim 1 , wherein:

said sensor unit comprises at least one imaging sensor configured to obtain at least one image of a surrounding of the target.

5 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the information regarding the orientation of the target relative to the surveying instrument is obtained by:

receiving, from the surveying instrument, an input indicative of a surveying instrument orientation in a common reference frame;

determining, based on measurements received from said sensor unit, a target orientation in the common reference frame; and

determining, based on the received input and the determined target orientation in the common reference frame, the orientation of the target relative to the surveying instrument.

6 . The target of claim 1 , wherein:

said sensor unit comprises a compass.

7 . The target of claim 1 , wherein:

said sensor unit comprises an inertial measurement unit, IMU.

8 . The method of claim 2 , wherein:

the information regarding an orientation of the target relative to the surveying instrument obtained by:

receiving, from the surveying instrument, a position of the surveying instrument in a common reference frame;

obtaining, based on a position input received from an external sender, a position of the target in the common reference frame;

determining, based on measurements received from said sensor unit, a target orientation in the common reference frame; and

determining the orientation of the target relative to the surveying instrument based on the position of the surveying instrument, the position of the target, and the target orientation, in the common reference frame.

9 . The target of claim 1 , wherein:

said sensor unit comprises a global navigation satellite system, GNSS, receiver.

10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein

said position input received from an external sender comprises a target position input received from said surveying instrument.

11 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the control of the plurality of light sources comprises controlling the second subset of light sources to be turned off.

12 . The target of claim 1 , wherein said plurality of light sources comprises at least six light sources arranged symmetrically around the longitudinal axis of the base element.

13 . The method of claim 2 , wherein said sensor unit comprises a plurality of sensors distributed around the longitudinal axis of the base element of the target, configured to detect a signal emitted by the surveying instrument, and the information regarding the orientation of the target relative to the surveying instrument is obtained by:

obtaining, from said plurality of sensors, a detection of a signal emitted by the surveying instrument toward the target; and

determining the orientation of the target relative to the surveying instrument based on a relative signal strength, of the signal, detected by the plurality of sensors.

14 . The method of claim 2 , wherein said sensor unit comprises at least one imaging sensor configured to obtain at least one image of a surrounding of the target, and the information regarding the orientation of the target relative to the surveying instrument is obtained by:

obtaining, from the at least one imaging sensor, at least one image of a surrounding of the target;

identifying a surveying instrument in the obtained image; and

determining the orientation of the target relative to the surveying instrument based on a position of the identified surveying instrument in the obtained image.

15 . The method of claim 2 , wherein said sensor unit comprises a compass, a common reference frame is a global reference frame, and the determination of the target orientation in the common reference frame comprises:

receiving a measurement from the compass; and

determining the target orientation in the common reference frame based on the measurement from the compass.

16 . The method of claim 2 , wherein said sensor unit comprises an inertial measurement unit, IMU, and the determination of the target orientation in a common reference frame comprises:

determining a first position track of the target, in a target reference frame, based on measurements from said IMU;

obtaining a second position track of the target, in the common reference frame, based on a position input received from an external sender; and

determining the target orientation in the common reference frame by aligning said first position track and said second position track.

17 . The method of claim 8 , wherein said sensor unit comprises a global navigation satellite system, GNSS, receiver, and wherein said position input received from an external sender comprises a target position input received via said GNSS receiver.

Assignments (2)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (24)