Samsung patents light-based positioning system using polarized filters
Samsung describes a device that determines its location by analyzing light from a source. It uses filters to weaken the light and split it into different polarization directions, which sensors then convert into electrical signals. The device calculates its position based on these specific light patterns.
In the filing’s own words
A position estimation apparatus includes a filter configured to have an attenuation ratio that varies depending on a transmission point of an optical signal and to output a second optical signal by attenuating a first optical signal emitted from a light source according to the attenuation ratio; a plurality of polarization filters configured to have different polarization directions, each of the plurality of polarization filters configured to output a corresponding third optical signal, of a plurality of third optical signals, by polarizing the second optical signal; a plurality of photoelectric devices, each of the plurality of photoelectric devices configured to convert at least one of the plurality of third optical signals into a corresponding electrical signal of a plurality of electrical signals; and a processing circuitry configured to estimate a position of the position estimation apparatus based on the plurality of electrical signals.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A position estimation apparatus comprising: a filter configured to have an attenuation ratio that varies depending on a transmission point of an optical signal and to output a second optical signal by attenuating a first optical signal emitted from a light source according to the attenuation ratio; a plurality of polarization filters configured to have different polarization directions, each of the plurality of polarization filters configured to output a corresponding third optical signal, of a plurality of third optical signals, by polarizing the second optical signal; a plurality of photoelectric devices, each of the plurality of photoelectric devices configured to convert at least one of the plurality of third optical signals into a corresponding electrical signal of a plurality of electrical signals; and a processing circuitry configured to estimate a position of the position estimation apparatus based on the plurality of electrical signals.
Facts
- Company
- Samsung (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.)
- Official title
- APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR POSITIONING USING OPTICAL SIGNAL
- Publication number
- US20260299101A1
- Application number
- 19406222
- Filed
- Dec 2, 2025
- Published
- Oct 1, 2026
- Inventors
- 5
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G01S 7/499 Physics & computingG01S 7/4802 Physics & computingG01S 17/42 Physics & computingMore from Samsung in Chips & hardware
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.