JP2003150309A - Screen position point device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable prompt pointing of a target position by an intuitively com prehensive method such as pointing a pointing stick onto a screen. SOLUTION: This screen position point device is provided with a remote controller 10 that irradiates laser light so as to draw linear traces, a display screen part 22 for displaying video and an optical sensor array part 21 on which optical sensor cells are continuously arranged by encircling the surrounding of the display screen part 22 and specifies pointing positions on the display screen part 22 by calculating specific positions of laser light traces 24 from positional information of the laser light made incident on the optical sensor array part 21 from the remote controller 10. Thus, the screen position point device to enable a user to specify a desired position on the screen and to promptly point the target position with intuitive operations without being affected by the previous pointer position can be realized.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a position pointing device for detecting a pointed position on a screen by using a remote controller.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the start of digital broadcasting, televisions are required to have interactivity. In order to improve operability when selecting menus and playing games on the TV screen, it is important to move the pointer displayed on the TV screen to the desired location quickly and easily. . Currently, the pointer is moved to the target position by pressing the cursor key that moves the pointer up, down, left, or right, which is attached to the remote controller, or by holding it down for a certain period of time.

As a prior example of a device for indicating a screen position,
There is one that uses a laser pointer, and a TFT that incorporates a position sensor that detects the position where the laser light is incident.
There are those that use a liquid crystal display and those that take a picture of the screen of a display device with a camera and detect the position where the laser light is incident from the difference from the displayed image.

Further, in order to perform the above-mentioned operations, a mouse, a trackball, a pen tablet, etc. are used in a computer.

[0005]

However, in the method using the cursor keys described above, in the case of selection from the menu, the cursor keys are repeatedly pressed until the target position is reached. With a pointer that moves smoothly, such as a mouse cursor on a computer, it becomes difficult to stop it at the target position if you increase the moving speed of the pointer, and it will take time to move to the target position if you decrease the moving speed. It will be. In any case, it is not a suitable way to move the pointer to the target position quickly and horizontally on the TV screen.

Further, the TFT liquid crystal display in which the position sensor is embedded, which is mentioned in the above-mentioned conventional technique, is a technique which cannot be applied to an ordinary CRT display or a projection television because the display device itself needs to be processed.

In the method of photographing the screen of the display device with a camera, the photographed image and the original image being displayed are image-processed and compared with each other to detect the position where the laser light is radiated. It will be a large scale.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to make it possible to promptly indicate a desired position by an intuitive and easy-to-understand method such as pointing a screen with a pointing stick, and not only for a specific display device such as a liquid crystal display. It is an object of the present invention to provide a screen position pointing device which can be applied to a display device such as a CRT or the like which is difficult to modify.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a screen position pointing device according to claim 1 of the present invention, a remote controller for irradiating a laser beam so as to draw a linear trajectory, and an image. A display screen section for displaying and a photosensor array section in which photosensor cells are continuously arranged so as to surround the periphery of the display screen section, and the position of the laser beam incident on the photosensor array section from the remote controller. By calculating the specific position of the laser beam trajectory from the information, the designated position on the display screen unit is specified.

As described above, by calculating the specific position of the laser beam locus from the position information of the laser beam incident on the optical sensor array section from the remote controller, the designated position on the display screen section is specified, so that the user It is possible to realize a screen position pointing device that can specify the position on the screen that the user wants to point, and is not bound to the position of the pointer immediately before, and can quickly point the target position by an intuitive operation.

A screen position pointing device according to a second aspect is the screen position pointing device according to the first aspect, which outputs laser light incident position determining means for outputting position information of the optical sensor cell on which the laser light of the optical sensor array section is incident. And a pointed position calculating means for calculating the pointed position from the position information. In this way, since the laser light incident position determination means for outputting the position information of the optical sensor cell on which the laser light of the optical sensor array part is incident and the indicated position calculation means for calculating the indicated position from the position information are provided, the laser It is possible to specify where the designated position is by calculation from the position information where the light is detected, and the coordinates of the designated position are output from the screen position pointing device.

A screen position pointing device according to a third aspect is the screen position pointing device according to the first or second aspect, wherein the remote controller irradiates the laser light so as to draw a cross-shaped locus, and the cross-shaped laser light. The pointed position on the display screen is specified by calculating the position of the intersection of the loci. In this way, the remote controller irradiates the laser light so as to draw a cross-shaped locus and calculates the intersection position of the cross-shaped laser light locus to specify the designated position on the display screen unit. The intersection point of the laser beam with a cross-shaped trajectory emitted from the controller is the position you want to point to, and if that position is inside the area surrounded by the photosensors, the laser light will be detected at four locations in the photosensor array section. It will be incident. It is possible to specify where the intersection of the cross-shaped laser light is located from the position information of the four positions where the laser light is detected, and the coordinates of the intersection are used as the output of the screen position pointing device.

A screen position pointing device according to a fourth aspect is the screen position pointing device according to the first, second or third aspect, wherein the display screen portion is provided in the television receiver. In this way, since the display screen section is provided in the television receiver, it is possible to improve operability in selecting a menu or playing a game on the television screen.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a screen position pointing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, an example using laser light that draws a cross-shaped trajectory that intersects at right angles is shown.

In FIG. 1, 10 is a remote controller, 20 is a television receiver, 21 is an optical sensor array section, and 22 is a display screen section.

The remote controller 10 is characterized in that it can irradiate a laser beam that draws a linear locus, here a cross-shaped locus, in a fixed direction. 24 is a laser beam locus. Two laser light sweep mechanisms 30 using a laser light sweep rotation mirror 31 as shown in FIG.
32 is a laser diode, and 33 is a laser beam.

The mechanism for sweeping this laser light to the left and right is diverted by using the technology used for the laser light output of the bar code reader and the technology for obtaining a free display pattern with the laser pointer, and thus a cross-shaped light locus. Can be realized.

In FIG. 1, the front portion of the television receiver 20 surrounds the display screen portion 22, and the cells of the optical sensor are continuously arranged to identify the position where the laser light is incident. And a display screen section 22 for displaying an image. FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a corner portion of the front surface of the television receiver 20. The optical sensor array section 21 is
It is configured by arranging small photosensor cells 25 continuously.

Inside the television receiver 20, laser light incident position determination means 26 for searching the optical sensor array portion 21 and outputting the cell position of the optical sensor hit by the laser light according to the block diagram of FIG. Using the coordinate data of the optical sensor cell 25 that has detected the laser light obtained from the laser light incident position determination means 26, the pointing position calculation means 27 calculates the coordinates corresponding to the intersection of the cross-shaped laser light, and the resulting pointing position. Output coordinate data. The coordinate data is used to display the pointer 23 at that position (FIG. 1) and can be used as input data for processing by the application program.

When a laser beam is directed toward the screen using the remote controller 10 from almost the front of the TV screen, the optical sensor array section 21 and the laser beam locus 24.
The positional relationship between and is as shown in FIG. Figure 5
(A), (b) and (c) are cases where the screen is instructed, and FIGS. 5 (d), (e) and (f) are cases where the screen is not instructed.

The laser light incident position determination means 26 sequentially searches all the cells of the photosensor array section 21 to obtain position information of the detected laser light. At this time,
As shown in FIG. 6, when the laser beam trajectory 24 diagonally crosses the row of the optical sensor cells 25, the plurality of optical sensor cells 2
5 will receive light, but continuous photosensor cells 2
When the light is received at 5, it is considered that the light is received at one place, and the central cell is treated as the light receiving position.

As a result of searching the optical sensor array section 21, if four light receiving positions are obtained as shown in FIGS. 5 (a), 5 (b) and 5 (c), these are output to the pointing position calculating means 27. To do. Even in the case of FIG. 5 (f) in which the designated position is outside the screen, it is output to the designated position calculation means 27 and processed according to the flowchart of FIG. 8 described later. When the number of points is less than 4 as shown in FIG. 5D, the pointed position calculation means 27 is notified of the information indicating that the outside of the screen is instructed. Further, when the photosensor cells that detect light are continuous, it is regarded as one position, and therefore, in the case of FIG. If the number is 5 or more, it is considered that the reading of the optical sensor information has failed, and the search for the optical sensor array unit 21 is performed again.

The pointed position calculating means 27 detects the light 4
It receives the coordinate data of a point as an input, calculates the coordinates of the intersection of the laser beam loci, and outputs the coordinate data.

When coordinate data of four light receiving positions are given like points A, B, C and D in FIG. 7, the locus of the laser beam is divided into two points, each of which is two points. When a straight line passing through is created, a set of straight line AB and straight line CD as shown in FIG. 7A, and straight line AC and straight line BD shown in FIG. 7B.
And three combinations of a straight line AD and a straight line BC shown in FIG. 7C can be considered. Pointed position calculation means 2
In FIG. 7, the intersection of the two straight lines is the closest to the right angle from among these three ways. In this case, FIG. 7B is selected as the correct combination, and the coordinates are calculated.

In order to determine the point where the intersection of two straight lines is the closest to a right angle, the property that the inner product of orthogonal vectors is 0 is used to consider a unit vector parallel to two straight lines of each combination. , After finding the inner product for all combinations, select the one whose inner product is closest to zero.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the processing in the designated position calculating means 27. The pointing position calculation means 27 detects the laser light from the laser light incident position determination means 26 4
Receives point coordinate data or off-screen notification as input. If it is an out-of-screen notification, the designated position calculation means 27 also outputs an out-of-screen notification and ends. If it is the coordinate data of four points, the inner product of the unit vectors parallel to the respective straight lines is obtained by the set of straight lines AB and CD, the set of straight lines AC and BD, and the set of straight lines AD and BC in FIG. Among the above three sets of straight lines, the set whose inner product is closest to 0 is selected and the intersection coordinates of the two straight lines are calculated. The coordinates of the indicated position on the screen are output and the process ends.

FIG. 9 shows a flowchart for detecting the screen designated position. In order to determine the screen pointing position, the light sensor cells on which light is incident are examined with respect to the upper, lower, left, and right sides of the light sensor array unit 21. If there are three or more photosensor cells that have detected the laser light on one side, it is determined that the trajectory of the laser light is on the photosensor array, and the fact that there is a designated position outside the screen is notified. As a result of acquiring the position information of the cells that have detected the laser light on all sides, if the number of points exceeds 4 and the number of points is less than 4, laser light detection fails and there is an intersection of laser light loci on the sensor. Retry assuming that the area outside the area surrounded by the optical sensor array section is instructed.
From the cell position information of the four points obtained above, the intersections are obtained as described above.

In the above description, an example of using laser light that draws a cross-shaped trajectory that intersects at right angles is used. However, according to the block diagram of FIG. 4, the position information of the laser light that has entered the sensor array portion 21 is used to determine the laser light incident position. The means 26 notifies the designated position calculating means 27 of the designated position such as the center of the shape of the laser beam trajectory or the intersection of straight lines, and the like.
If it can be calculated, the shape of the laser beam trajectory does not need to be an orthogonal cross shape.

The resolution of how finely the position on the display screen can be indicated is influenced by the pitch interval of the photosensor cells. When the pitch of the photo sensor cells cannot be made sufficiently small, the photo sensor cells are arranged in a plurality of rows while being shifted, as shown in FIG. 10, instead of being arranged in a row. can do. In this case, one optical sensor cell 25
Is an example in which four columns are arranged by shifting by 1/4.

[0030]

According to the screen position pointing device of the first aspect of the present invention, by calculating the specific position of the laser beam locus from the position information of the laser beam incident on the optical sensor array section from the remote controller. Since the specified position on the display screen is specified, the position on the screen that the user wants to specify can be specified, and the target position can be quickly specified by intuitive operation without being bound by the previous pointer position. It is possible to realize a screen position pointing device capable of performing the above.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a laser light incident position determining means for outputting the position information of the optical sensor cell on which the laser light of the optical sensor array portion is incident, and an indicated position calculating means for calculating the indicated position from the position information. Therefore, it is possible to specify where the indicated position is by calculation from the position information of the laser light detected, and the coordinates of the indicated position are output from the screen position indicating device.

In the third aspect, the remote controller is
By irradiating the laser light so as to draw a cross-shaped locus and calculating the intersection position of the cross-shaped laser light locus, the specified position on the display screen is specified, so the cross-shaped pattern emitted from the remote controller If the intersection of the laser beams having a locus is a desired position and the position is within the area surrounded by the optical sensors, the laser beams will be incident on the optical sensor array section at four locations. It is possible to specify where the intersection of the cross-shaped laser light is located from the position information of the four positions where the laser light is detected, and the coordinates of the intersection are used as the output of the screen position pointing device.

According to the present invention, since the display screen section is provided in the television receiver, it is possible to improve operability in selecting a menu or playing a game on the television screen.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a screen position pointing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of an optical sensor array section according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a laser beam sweep rotation mirror according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of coordinate data processing according to the embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 5 shows the relationship between the laser light and the optical sensor array section, where (a) to (c) indicate the inside of the screen.
(D)-(f) is explanatory drawing which shows the case where the inside of a screen is not instructed.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of light reception determination of the photosensor array unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

7A to 7C are explanatory views showing combinations of a light receiving position and a laser beam locus.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a pointed position calculation means according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for detecting a screen pointing position according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a layout explanatory diagram of an optical sensor cell according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Remote controller 20 TV receiver 21 Optical sensor array section 22 Display screen section 23 pointer 24 Laser light trajectory 26 Laser light incident position determination means 27 Pointed position calculation means

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A remote controller for irradiating a laser beam so as to draw a linear trajectory, a display screen section for displaying an image, and a light in which optical sensor cells are continuously arranged so as to surround the periphery of the display screen section. And a sensor array section,
A screen characterized by specifying a designated position on the display screen unit by calculating a specific position of the laser beam trajectory from position information of the laser beam incident on the optical sensor array unit from the remote controller. Position pointing device. 2. A laser beam incident position determination means for outputting position information of a photosensor cell on which a laser beam of an optical sensor array section is incident, and a pointed position calculation means for calculating a pointed position from the position information. Item 1. A screen position pointing device according to item 1. 3. The remote controller specifies the designated position on the display screen by irradiating the laser light so as to draw a cross-shaped locus and calculating the intersection point position of the cross-shaped laser light locus. 1. A screen position pointing device according to 1 or 2. 4. The screen position pointing device according to claim 1, wherein the display screen unit is provided in a television receiver.