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How us20120249774 is patentable?

It just looks like structured light + 6DoF pose estimation.

Besides being obvious, this video uploaded on Mar 31, 2011 pre-dates the application.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structured_light

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It looks like this is the inverse of a normal structured light application. Structured light is usually used to determine unknown 3d shapes from a fixed point. This application uses a pattern of light on a known 3d shape to determine the location of the light and camera. The claims in this application all require a known cone or cylinder to be in the room. The light on that known structure is used to figure out the location of the camera or light source. Ultimately the application is for stabilizing the flight of an aerial vehicle.

I'm not sure what the video is showing but I do not see a fixed, known cone or cylinder anywhere.

Also obviousness is determined as of the date of the application. "Seems obvious now" is not the proper test. The question is "in light of everything known as of the day before the application, and prior to reading this application, was this obvious". It is very hard to put yourself where you would have been before having read something.

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  • As far as I read the patent, it is structured light as it first identifies object and second uses
    – ptest
    Commented Mar 12, 2013 at 1:36
  • As far as I read the patent, it is structured light as it first identifies 3D shapes and second uses two sequential sets of 3D data to determine the change in pose by using something like ICP. This is the exact same as the video. The cone referenced in the patent is the projected infrared light from a 3D sensor.
    – ptest
    Commented Mar 12, 2013 at 1:44
  • The cone is an actual physical cone. Since the shape is known then the resulting light pattern can be used to back calculate the position of the source/camera. I do not see a cone or a cylinder in the video. More generally, without any explanation of what we are seeing it doesn't "teach" anything very specific.
    – George White ♦
    Commented Mar 12, 2013 at 3:35
  • If it does fall broadly into the field of structured light that does not necessarily mean it has been done before.
    – George White ♦
    Commented Mar 12, 2013 at 21:20
  • Based on the robots at cyphyworks.com it seems that the "cone" is a cone of projected light, in infra-red. Paper associated with the original video dx.doi.org/10.1109/MFI.2012.6343046
    – ptest
    Commented Mar 14, 2013 at 20:18

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