IPC분류정보
국가/구분 |
United States(US) Patent
등록
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국제특허분류(IPC7판) |
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출원번호 |
US-0950568
(2004-09-28)
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발명자
/ 주소 |
- Chen, Chin Chuan
- Liu, Yan
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출원인 / 주소 |
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대리인 / 주소 |
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인용정보 |
피인용 횟수 :
9 인용 특허 :
14 |
초록
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One aspect of the invention provides a method for calibrating an alt-az telescope system with a latitude of an observer location. The telescope system comprises a telescope tube mounted for pivotal motion about altitude and azimuthal axes and a latitude indicator coupled to a corresponding one of th
One aspect of the invention provides a method for calibrating an alt-az telescope system with a latitude of an observer location. The telescope system comprises a telescope tube mounted for pivotal motion about altitude and azimuthal axes and a latitude indicator coupled to a corresponding one of the altitude and azimuthal axes. The latitude indicator indicates a latitude value which varies with movement of the telescope tube about the corresponding axis. The method involves obtaining encoder information indicative of a first angular position of the telescope tube about the corresponding axis, wherein at the first angular position, the latitude indicator indicates a first latitude value. The orientation of the telescope tube is then adjusted to a second angular position, wherein at the second angular position, the latitude indicator indicates a second latitude value that differs from the first latitude value by an amount corresponding to the observer latitude. The method then involves subtracting the encoder information at the first angular position from the encoder information at the second angular position to determine a difference value indicative of the latitude of the observer location.
대표청구항
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1. A method for calibrating an alt-az telescope system with a latitude of an observer location to allow the telescope system to automatically track celestial objects, the method comprising:providing a telescope tube mounted to a base for pivotal motion about an altitude axis that is generally parall
1. A method for calibrating an alt-az telescope system with a latitude of an observer location to allow the telescope system to automatically track celestial objects, the method comprising:providing a telescope tube mounted to a base for pivotal motion about an altitude axis that is generally parallel to a plane of the base and an azimuthal axis that is generally normal to the plane of the base;providing a latitude indicator coupled to a corresponding one of the altitude and azimuthal axes, the latitude indicator indicating a altitude value which varies with movement of the telescope tube about the corresponding axis;inputting an internal latitude representation of the latitude of the observer location in a controller of the telescope system by:providing the controller with access to information indicative of a first angular position of the telescope tube about the corresponding axis, wherein at the first angular position, the latitude indicator indicates a first latitude value; adjusting an orientation of the telescope tube about the corresponding axis to a second angular position, wherein at the second angular position, the latitude indicator indicates a second latitude value that differs from the first latitude value by an amount corresponding to the observer latitude; providing the controller with access to information indicative of the second angular position; and performing a subtraction operation in the controller to subtract the information indicative of the first angular position from the information indicative of the second angular position and to thereby determine a difference value, the difference value indicative of the latitude of the observer location and whereby the internal latitude representation is based on the difference value.2. A method according to claim 1 wherein providing the latitude indicator comprises providing a dial-type latitude indicator comprising latitude indicia that indicate latitude values and a pointer element, the latitude indicia and the pointer element moveable relative to one another with movement of the telescope tube about the corresponding axis.3. A method according to claim 2 wherein when the telescope tube is in the first angular position, the pointer element points at one of the latitude indicia which indicates the first latitude value.4. A method according to claim 3 wherein when the telescope tube is in the second angular position, the pointer element points at one of the latitude indicia which indicates the second latitude value.5. A method according to claim 4 wherein providing the controller with access to the information indicative of the first angular position comprises obtaining a first encoder count value from an encoder coupled to the corresponding axis.6. A method according to claim 5 wherein providing the controller with access to the information indicative of the second angular position comprises obtaining a second encoder count value from the encoder coupled to the corresponding axis.7. A method according to claim 6 comprising, prior to adjusting the orientation of the telescope tube, physically recalibrating the dial-type latitude indicator, such that the pointer element points at one of the latitude indicia which indicates zero degrees latitude and the first latitude value is zero degrees latitude.8. A method according to claim 7 comprising storing the difference value in memory as a system representation of the observer latitude.9. A method according to claim 7 comprising processing the difference value to obtain trigonometric functions of the observer latitude and storing the trigonometric functions of the observer latitude.10. A method according to claim 9 wherein processing the difference value comprises at least one of: scaling the difference value and subtracting an offset from the difference value.11. A method according to claim 7 comprising obtaining trigonometric functions of the observer latitude from a look up table stored in memory.12. A method according to claim 7 wherein adjusting the orientation of the telescope tube comprises controllably actuating a motor coupled to the corresponding axis using feedback from the encoder coupled to the corresponding axis.13. A method according to claim 12 comprising, prior to providing the controller with access to the information indicative of the first angular position, adjusting the telescope tube to an orientation wherein the telescope tube is generally parallel to the base and adjusting the telescope tube to an orientation wherein the telescope tube is pointed generally toward true North.14. A method according to claim 13 comprising recalibrating a system representation of the altitude coordinate when the telescope tube is in the orientation wherein the telescope tube is generally parallel to the base and recalibrating a system representation of the azimuthal coordinate when the telescope tube is in the orientation wherein the telescope tube is pointed generally toward true north.15. A method according to claim 14 wherein the corresponding axis is the altitude axis.16. A method according to claim 14 wherein the corresponding axis is the azimuthal axis.17. A method according to claim 1 wherein providing the controller with access to the information indicative of the first angular position comprises obtaining a first encoder count value from an encoder coupled to the corresponding axis.18. A method according to claim 17 wherein providing the controller with access to the information indicative of the second angular position comprises obtaining a second encoder count value from the encoder coupled to the corresponding axis.19. A method according to claim 1 wherein adjusting an orientation of the telescope tube comprises controllably actuating a motor coupled to the corresponding axis using feedback from an encoder coupled to the corresponding axis.20. A method according to claim 1 comprising, prior to providing the controller with access to the information indicative of the first angular position, adjusting the telescope tube to an orientation wherein the telescope tube is generally parallel to the base and adjusting the telescope tube to an orientation wherein the telescope tube is pointed generally toward true north.21. A method according to claim 20 comprising recalibrating a system representation of the altitude coordinate when the telescope tube is in the orientation wherein the telescope tube is parallel to the base and recalibrating a system representation of the azimuthal coordinate when the telescope tube is in the orientation wherein the telescope tube is pointed toward true North.22. A method according to claim 1 wherein the corresponding axis is the altitude axis.23. A method according to claim 1 wherein the corresponding axis is the azimuthal axis.24. A method according to claim 2 comprising, prior to adjusting the orientation of the telescope tube, physically recalibrating the dial-type latitude indicator, such that the pointer element points at one of the latitude indicia which indicates zero degrees latitude and the first latitude value is zero degrees latitude.25. A method according to claim 1 wherein the latitude indicator comprises an electronic-type latitude indicator having a display which indicates latitude values.26. A method according to claim 25 comprising, prior to adjusting the orientation of the telescope tube, electronically recalibrating the latitude indicator such that the display indicates zero degrees latitude and the first latitude value is zero degrees latitude.27. A method according to claim 1 wherein the difference value is scalable by a linear scaling factor to obtain an actual observer latitude.28. A method according to claim 7 wherein the difference value is scalable by a linear scaling factor to obtain an actual observer latitude.29. A method according to claim 1 wherein the difference value is related to an actual observer latitude by a non-linear mathematical relationship.30. A method according to claim 7 wherein the difference value is related to an actual observer latitude by a non-linear mathematical relationship.31. An alt-az telescope system for automatically tracking celestial objects, the system comprising:a mount for supporting a telescope tube the mount having a base and altitude and azimuthal pivot joints configured to pivot the telescope tube about an altitude axis that is generally parallel to a plane of the base and an azimuthal axis that is generally normal to the plane of the base and corresponding altitude and azimuthal encoders connected to detect information indicative of angular positions of the telescope tube about its altitude and azimuthal axes;a latitude indicator coupled to a corresponding one of the altitude and azimuthal pivot joints, the latitude indicator indicating a latitude value which varies with movement of the corresponding pivot joint; anda controller connected to the altitude and azimuthal encoders so as to receive angular position information from the encoders, the controller configured to receive input of a latitude of an observer location by obtaining first angular position information from the encoder associated with the corresponding pivot point at a first angular position obtaining second angular position information from the encoder associated with the corresponding pivot point at a second angular position subtracting the first angular position information from the second angular position information to determine a difference value, the difference value indicative of the latitude of an observer location when the first and second angular positions are selected such that a difference in the latitude information indicated by the latitude indicator at the first and second angular positions corresponds to the observer latitude and whereby an internal latitude representation of the latitude of the observer location is based on the difference value.32. A telescope system according to claim 31 wherein the latitude indicator comprises a dial-type latitude indicator, the dial-type latitude indicator comprising latitude indicia that indicate latitude values and a pointer element, the latitude indicia and the pointer element moveable relative to one another with movement of the corresponding pivot joint.33. A telescope system according to claim 31 wherein the dial-type latitude indicator is physically recalibratable, such that the pointer element is adjustable to point at one of the latitude indicia which corresponds to zero degrees latitude when the corresponding pivot joint is in the first angular position.34. A telescope system according to claim 33 comprising a memory for storing at least one of: the difference value; a scaled version of the difference value; an offset version of the difference value; a scaled and offset version of the difference value; and one or more trigonometric functions of the latitude of the observer location indicated by the difference value.35. A telescope system according to claim 31 wherein the difference value is scalable by a linear scaling factor to obtain an actual observer latitude.36. A telescope system according to claim 31 wherein the difference value is related to an actual observer latitude by a non-linear mathematical relationship.37. A method for entering a latitude value into & an alt-az telescope control system to adios the telescope control system to automatically track celestial objects, the method comprising:providing a telescope tube mounted to a base for pivotal motion about an altitude axis that is generally parallel to a plane of the base and an azimuthal axis that is generally normal to the plane of the base; providing a latitude indicator coupled to a corresponding one of the altitude and azimuthal axes, the latitude indicator indicating a latitude value which the telescope tube about the varies with movement of corresponding axis;inputting an internal latitude representation of the latitude of the observer location in a controller of the telescope system by:providing an encoder coupled to the corresponding axis, the encoder producing an encoder signal indicating an angular position of the telescope tube about the corresponding axis; providing a controller with access to information indicative of a first angular position of the telescope tube about the corresponding axis from the encoder signal, wherein at the first angular position, the latitude indicator indicates a first latitude value adjusting an orientation of the telescope tube about the corresponding axis to a second angular position, wherein at the second angular position the latitude indicator indicates a second latitude value that differs from the first latitude value by an amount corresponding to the observer latitude; providing the controller with access to information indicative of the second angular position of the telescope tube about the corresponding axis from the encoder signal; and subtracting the information indicative of the first angular position from the information indicative of the second angular position in the controller to determine a difference value the difference value indicative of the latitude of the observer location and whereby an internal latitude representation of the latitude of the observer location is based on the difference value.38. A method according to claim 1 comprising controllably moving the telescope tube about the altitude axis using feedback from an encoder coupled to the altitude axis and controllably moving the telescope tube about the azimuthal axis using feedback from an encoder coupled to the azimuthal axis to track a celestial object according to tracking equations: where Alt represents an altitude coordinate of the telescope tube, Az represents an azimuthal coordinate of the telescope tube, Vs represents a sidereal rate and Lat is a value representative of the difference value.39. A method according to claim 38 comprising processing the difference value prior to using the difference value as the Lat value in the tracking equations, wherein processing the difference value comprises at least one of: scaling the difference value; adding an offset to the difference value; and processing the difference value in accordance with a non-linear mathematical relationship.40. A telescope system according to claim 31 wherein the controller is configured to controllably move the telescope tube about the altitude and azimuthal axes using feedback from the altitude and azimuthal encoders to track a celestial object according to tracking equations: where Alt represents an altitude coordinate of the telescope tube, Az represents an azimuthal coordinate of the telescope tube, Vs represents a sidereal rate and Lat is a value representative of the difference value.41. A telescope system according to claim 40 wherein, prior to using the difference value as the Lat value in the tracking equations, the controller is configured to process the difference value by performing at least one of: scaling the difference value; adding an offset to the difference value; and processing the difference value in accordance with a non-linear mathematical relationship.
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