JP2017058817A - Information processing device, program, and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To appropriately detect the operation position of an operation by fingers of both hands while suppressing costs when detecting coordinates indicated by an indication unit that performs an indication operation on the face of a board.SOLUTION: When detecting coordinates of an indication operation performed by fingers of both hands on the board face of a display 200, a coordinate detection system 500 receives a light radiated from a periphery light-emission unit and propagating down the board face of the display with the detection units 11a-11d a computer 100, the system in which a detection control unit 131 acquires the received amount of light of the detection units in correlation to an incident direction, a block area extraction unit 132 extracts a block area where the received amount of light is below a prescribed standard, a block area feature value calculation unit 133 calculates its feature value, and a block area clustering unit 134 performs clustering to each block area on the basis of the feature value of each block area. A trigonometric measurement unit 136 calculates the coordinates of the indication operation on the basis of the feature value of each cluster obtained by clustering.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a program, and a recording medium.

Conventionally, a display device with a touch panel is known in which a display screen and a coordinate input device are integrated, and an image displayed on the display screen can be controlled while touching the display screen. Further, in such an apparatus, using the retroreflective member and the optical unit, the direction of the operation position optically performed on the coordinate input surface is detected from sensors provided at two different positions, respectively. A technique for calculating the coordinates of the operation position based on the detection result is known.
Such a technique is described in Patent Document 1, for example.

However, in the conventional optical coordinate input device as described above, when the touch of both hands is performed and the shadows of a plurality of fingers overlap, the touch cannot be detected correctly. For this reason, there has been a problem in that a gesture operation function using both hands cannot be provided.
In this regard, the number of touch points that can be detected increases by increasing the number of optical sensors for detecting the operation position, but the touch cannot be detected correctly if the shadows of multiple fingers overlap. Remains. In addition, the cost increases.

When a capacitive sensor is used, the number of touch points that can be input is increased and a touch with both hands can be detected, but the cost is further increased. In addition, when an arrayed optical sensor is used, the number of touch points that can be input increases, but it is not possible to sufficiently reduce erroneous detection due to overlapping of shadows of a plurality of fingers.
Also, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for stably inputting coordinates with little deterioration in accuracy even when two pointing tools overlap, but even with this configuration, both hands 10 When a large number of touches are made simultaneously like a finger of a book, it is difficult to correctly detect the operation position.

  The present invention solves the above-described problems, and appropriately detects the operation position of the fingers of both hands while reducing the cost when detecting the coordinates instructed by the instruction unit that performs the instruction operation on the board surface. The purpose is to enable detection. Note that it is not necessary to be able to individually detect the operation positions of all fingers.

  In order to achieve the above object, an information processing apparatus according to the present invention detects a coordinate instructed by an instruction unit that performs an instruction operation on a board surface. The information processing apparatus is irradiated with a predetermined light source and travels on the board surface. A light receiving means for receiving light, a light quantity acquisition means for acquiring the received light quantity of the light receiving means in association with an incident direction, and a cut-off area in which the received light quantity acquired by the light quantity acquisition means is below a predetermined reference A feature quantity calculating means for calculating a feature quantity; a clustering means for clustering each block area based on the feature quantity for each block area calculated by the feature quantity calculation means; and a feature of each cluster obtained by the clustering means. Coordinate calculation means for calculating the coordinates instructed by the instruction unit based on the quantity is provided.

  According to the above configuration, it is possible to appropriately detect the operation position of the operation with the fingers of both hands while suppressing the cost when detecting the coordinates instructed by the instruction unit that performs the instruction operation on the board surface. it can.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the coordinate detection system containing the computer which is one Embodiment of the information processing apparatus of this invention. It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions of the computer shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the structure of the function for detecting the coordinate with which instruction | indication operation was made with which the coordinate detection system shown in FIG. 1 was equipped. It is a flowchart of the process which specifies the coordinate of instruction | indication operation by the function of each part shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of extraction of a interruption | blocking area | region, and labeling. It is a flowchart of an example of the process of clustering performed by step S14 of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of a process of FIG.6 S30. It is a figure which shows the example of instruction | indication operation with respect to the board surface of a display. It is explanatory drawing about the clustering of the interruption | blocking area | region performed when operation of FIG. 8A is made. It is a figure which shows another example of instruction | indication operation with respect to the board surface of a display. It is explanatory drawing about the clustering of the interruption | blocking area | region performed when operation of FIG. 9A is made. It is a figure which shows another example of instruction | indication operation with respect to the board surface of a display. It is explanatory drawing about the clustering of the interruption | blocking area | region by the process of FIG. 6 performed when operation of FIG. 10A is made. It is a flowchart of another example of the process of clustering performed by step S14 of FIG. It is explanatory drawing about the clustering of the interruption | blocking area | region by the process of FIG. 11 performed when operation of FIG. 10A is made. It is a figure which shows another structural example of a light emission part and a detection part.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is an example of a system configuration diagram of a coordinate detection system including a computer 100 which is an embodiment of an information processing apparatus of the present invention.
The coordinate detection system 500 includes a display 200, four detection units 11a to 11d (in the case of indicating any one or more detection units, simply referred to as the detection unit 11), and four peripheral light emitting units 15a to 15d (any one or more detection units). When the detection unit is shown, it is simply referred to as a peripheral light emitting unit 15), a computer 100, and a PC (Personal Computer) 300 as an additional element.

The four peripheral light emitting units 15a to 15d are arranged around the display 200 or are detachably mounted. A PC is connected to the computer 100, and the computer 100 can display an image output from the PC 300 on the display 200.
An application corresponding to the coordinate detection system 500 is installed in the computer 100, and the application detects a position operated by the user based on a signal from the detection unit 11. The application analyzes the gesture based on the operation position and controls the computer 100. This control is referred to as “gesture operation” in this specification. The application can display an operation menu on the display 200.

  For example, when the user touches a menu for drawing a line and then draws a figure on the board surface of the display 200 with the pointing tool 13, the computer 100 analyzes the position touched by the pointing tool 13 in real time, Create coordinates. The computer 100 connects the time-series coordinates to create a line and displays it on the display 200. In the figure, since the user has moved the pointing tool 13 along the shape of a triangle, the computer 100 records a series of coordinates as one stroke (triangle). Then, it is combined with the image of the PC 300 and displayed on the display 200.

  Thus, even if the display 200 does not have a touch panel function, by applying the coordinate detection system 500, the user can perform various operations by simply touching the display 200 with the pointing tool 13. Here, as will be described later, the user can input the position with the finger without using the pointing tool 13.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a hardware configuration diagram of the computer 100.
The computer 100 is a commercially available information processing apparatus or an information processing apparatus developed for a coordinate detection system. The computer 100 includes a CPU 101, a ROM 102, a RAM 103, an SSD (Solid State Drive) 104, a network controller 105, an external storage controller 106, a sensor controller 114, which are electrically connected via a bus line 118 such as an address bus or a data bus. A GPU 112 and a capture device 111 are included.

  The CPU 101 executes an application and controls the overall operation of the coordinate detection system 500. The ROM 102 stores an IPL (Initial Program Loader) and the like, and mainly stores a program executed by the CPU 101 at startup. The RAM 103 serves as a work area when the CPU 101 executes an application. The SSD 104 is a nonvolatile memory that stores an application 119 for the coordinate detection system and various data. The network controller 105 performs processing based on a communication protocol when communicating with a server or the like via a network (not shown). The network is a LAN or a WAN (for example, the Internet) to which a plurality of LANs are connected.

The external storage controller 106 performs writing to or reading from the removable external memory 117. The external memory 117 is, for example, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory, an SD card, or the like. The capture device 111 captures (captures) video displayed on the display device 301 by the PC 300. The GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) 112 is a processor dedicated to drawing that calculates the pixel value of each pixel of the display 200. The display controller 113 outputs the image created by the GPU 112 to the display 200.
Four detectors 11a to 11d are connected to the sensor controller 114, and coordinates are detected by a triangulation method using an infrared light blocking or pen light emission method. Details will be described later.

In the present embodiment, the computer 100 does not need to communicate with the pointing tool 13, but may have a communication function. In this case, as shown in the figure, the computer 100 has an electronic pen controller 116 and receives a pressing signal from the pointing tool 13 (when the pointing tool 13 has a notification means). Thereby, the computer 100 can detect whether or not the tip is pressed.
The application for the coordinate detection system may be distributed while being stored in the external memory 117, or may be downloaded from a server (not shown) via the network controller 105. The application may be compressed or executable.

  A characteristic feature of the coordinate detection system according to the present embodiment having the above-described configuration is that even when the user performs an instruction operation on the surface of the display 200 using the fingers of both hands as an instruction unit, the instruction operation is performed. This is a point where the designated coordinates can be detected. However, the coordinates of all the fingers are not necessarily detected individually. Basically, even when the pointing operation is performed using 10 fingers of both hands at the same time, the position of the pointing operation with the right hand and the pointing operation with the left hand are not performed. The focus is on making it possible to distinguish the position. Hereinafter, the operation for this detection will be described in detail.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a function included in the coordinate detection system 500 for detecting coordinates for which an instruction operation has been performed in the display 200 based on detection signals from the respective detection units 11.
In FIG. 3, ten circles in the area surrounded by the broken line A show examples of the position of the pointing operation with ten fingers of both hands.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the coordinate detection system 500 includes a detection control unit 131, a block region extraction unit 132, a block region feature amount calculation unit 133, a block region clustering unit 134, a clustering region feature amount calculation unit 135, and a triangulation unit. 136 functions are provided. These functions are realized by the CPU 101 executing the application 119 in the computer 100.

  Among the above, the detection control unit 131 controls each detection unit 11 to determine the amount of incident light received from the light source of the peripheral light-emitting unit 15 and traveling on the surface of the display 200 and entering the detection unit 11 in the incident direction. The function of the light quantity acquisition means acquired in association with is provided. The acquisition of the received light amount is performed individually for each of the detection units 11a to 11d. Unless otherwise specified, each unit described below processes the received light amount acquired from each of the detection units 11a to 11d separately for each detection unit. Further, the range in which the light receiving direction is changed may be a range in which the coordinates where the instruction operation is performed are desired to be detected. When changing the light receiving direction, it is not necessary to drive each detection unit 11 itself. For example, incident light from different directions is imaged for each predetermined pixel range (or one pixel) of the image sensor, and each predetermined pixel range is formed. It is conceivable that the amount of light detected in step 1 is used as the received light amount of incident light from the corresponding incident direction. The received light quantity may be acquired as a luminance value.

  The blocking area extraction unit 132 has a function of extracting a blocking area in which the received light amount falls below a predetermined reference based on the received light amount in each incident direction acquired by the detection control unit 131. For example, for each incident direction, the amount of light when there is no obstacle on the board is stored in advance as a standard amount of light, and the ratio of the detected amount of light to the standard amount of light is continuously below a predetermined threshold value of 40%. It is conceivable to extract a range of directions as a blocking area. Further, the blocking area extraction unit 132 labels the extracted blocking areas with an identification number or the like so that the extracted blocking areas can be distinguished from each other.

  Therefore, for example, when an instruction operation with ten fingers is performed on the board surface, there are many directions in which light is blocked by each finger as shown in the blocking regions R (0) to R (6) shown in FIG. It is extracted as a blocking area. In FIG. 5, the vertical axis represents the amount of received light (or luminance value), and the horizontal axis represents the incident direction.

  Since a plurality of fingers may overlap in the same direction as viewed from the detection unit 11, when the number of fingers used for the instruction operation is large, it is normal that a smaller number of blocking regions are extracted. . In the example of FIG. 5, there are seven blocking regions, but the first four blocking regions R (0) to R (3) are left-handed, and the remaining three blocking regions R (4) to R (6 ) Is by the right hand. Further, each blocking area may be labeled so that the number increases as the incident angle changes in one direction (monotonically increases or decreases), and is classified into clusters in the order of the numbers in the clustering process described later.

  Next, the block region characteristic amount calculation unit 133 has a function of calculating the feature amount of each block region extracted by the block region extraction unit 132. The feature amount to be calculated includes, for example, the light barycentric coordinates, the width in the light axis direction (vertical width) of the blocking area, the width in the incident axis direction (horizontal width), the number of pixels in the blocking area, and the distance to the adjacent blocking area (for example, And the end points (left end point and right end point) of the blocking area, and these values are used for clustering or removal of outliers if necessary. The blocking area feature amount calculation unit 133 functions as a feature amount calculation unit together with the blocking region extraction unit 132.

  The block region clustering unit 134 has a function of clustering means for clustering each block region based on the block region feature amount calculated by the block region feature amount calculation unit 133. This clustering can be performed based on, for example, the horizontal width of each blocking area and the distance to the adjacent blocking area, details of which will be described later.

  The clustering region feature amount calculation unit 135 has a function of calculating the feature amount of the clustering region where each cluster obtained by clustering by the blocking region clustering unit 134 exists. The feature quantity of the clustering region is also a cluster feature quantity. Further, as the cluster feature amount, for example, the light intensity centroid of the clustering area, the end points (left end point and right end point) of the clustering area, the distance between the clustering areas (for example, defined as the distance between the light intensity centroids of the clustering area), and the like are calculated. It is possible. However, the clustering region feature value calculation unit 135 only needs to calculate only the feature values provided to the triangulation unit 136.

  The triangulation unit 136 calculates the light intensity centroid of each clustering region calculated by the clustering region feature amount calculation unit 135 (a specific position on the incident direction axis that is the horizontal axis in FIG. 5, that is, a value indicating a specific incident angle). Thus, a function of coordinate calculation means for calculating the coordinate where the pointing operation is performed on the board in the manner of triangulation is provided. Moreover, the result is provided to the PC 300 and provided with a function to be used for various controls.

  In calculating the coordinates of the instruction operation, it is assumed that the incident direction corresponding to the light intensity centroid of each clustering region is the direction in which the instruction operation classified into the corresponding cluster is performed as viewed from the detection unit 11. Accordingly, if the directions in which the instruction operation is performed can be specified based on the received light amounts acquired from the two pairs of detection units 11, the coordinates on which the instruction operation has been performed on the board surface can be obtained based on the directions of the triangulation. . For example, an algorithm described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2015-56064 or Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2015-118426 can be adopted as an algorithm for obtaining the coordinates.

  When there are a plurality of clusters, the direction of the instruction operation corresponding to each cluster is specified based on the received light quantity acquired from the required number of detection units 11, and the instruction operation corresponding to each cluster is performed based on the information. Find the coordinates. Therefore, for example, if a blocking area caused by an instruction operation with fingers of both hands can be detected and separated into a cluster related to an operation with the left hand and a cluster related to an operation with the right hand, the feature value of each cluster can be used to indicate with the left hand. The coordinates of the operation and the coordinates of the pointing operation with the right hand can be calculated respectively.

Next, FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of processing for specifying the coordinates of the pointing operation by the function of each unit shown in FIG. This process is periodically executed by the CPU 101 of the computer 100.
In the process of FIG. 4, the CPU 101 first controls each detection unit 11 to acquire the received light amount of incident light incident on the detection unit 11 in association with the incident direction for each incident direction (S <b> 11). This process corresponds to the function of the detection control unit 131.

Next, based on the received light amount in each incident direction acquired in step S11, the CPU 101 extracts a cut-off area where the received light amount falls below a predetermined reference and labels it (S12). This process corresponds to the function of the cut-off area feature amount calculation unit 133.
Next, the CPU 101 calculates the feature amount of each blocking area labeled in step S12 (S13). Here, the width of each blocking area and the distance from the adjacent blocking area may be calculated. This process corresponds to the function of the cut-off area feature amount calculation unit 133.

  Next, the CPU 101 clusters each block area based on the feature amount of each block area calculated in step S13 (S14). As the clustering algorithm, for example, the algorithm shown in FIG. 6 or 11 can be adopted. The characteristics of these processes will be described in detail later. This process corresponds to the function of the blocking area clustering unit 134.

Next, the CPU 101 calculates the feature amount of each cluster obtained by the clustering in step S14 (S15). Here, the light intensity centroid of the clustering region where each cluster exists may be obtained. This process corresponds to the function of the clustering region feature quantity calculation unit 135.
Next, the CPU 101 calculates the coordinates for which an instruction operation has been performed on the board in the manner of triangulation from the light intensity centroid of each clustering area calculated in step S15 (S16). This process corresponds to the function of the triangulation unit 136.

  With the above processing, the CPU 101 can calculate the coordinates at which the pointing operation is performed even when the pointing operation with the fingers of both hands is performed on the board surface. In the above processing, the coordinates can be calculated even when the instruction operation is performed only at one place, and when the instruction operation is not performed at all, it can be detected through the fact that the blocking area is not extracted.

Next, FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of an example of the clustering process executed in step S14 of FIG.
In the process of FIG. 6, the CPU 101 first substitutes 0 for each of the variables N and M (S21). Thereafter, it is determined whether or not a blocking region R (N) (that is, R (0)) exists (S22). If “No” here, there is no blocking area, and the process is terminated without performing clustering. In this case, the result of the instruction operation is not performed in the process of FIG.

On the other hand, if Yes in step S22, the CPU 101 increments the size of the cluster C (M) (that is, the first cluster C (0)) by 1 (S23). It is assumed that the initial size of the cluster is 0.
Next, the CPU 101 clusters the blocking region R (N) (initially R (0)) into the cluster C (M) (initially C (0)) (S24). Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the size of the cluster C (M) is less than a threshold value (S25).

  The threshold value in step S25 may be a value corresponding to the number of instruction units that are not hidden behind other instruction units when viewed from the detection unit 11 among a group of instruction units to be classified into one cluster. For example, when the fingers of both hands are used as the instruction unit, and the fingers of the left hand and the fingers of the right hand are to be classified into separate clusters, the fingers of the fingers that appear without being hidden behind the other fingers of one hand are viewed from the detection unit 11. You just have to think about how many the numbers are. Based on an experiment (actual measurement) by the inventor, it has been found that this number is often 4. Therefore, the threshold value is 4 here.

  In the case of Yes in step S25, the CPU 101 next determines whether or not the next blocking area R (N + 1) exists (S26). If this exists, the distance between the blocking region R (N) and the blocking region R (N + 1) is calculated (S27). If the distance is larger than the predetermined threshold (Yes in S28), M is incremented by 1 (S29). In other words, the clustering of the blocking area to the previous cluster is finished, and the clustering for the next cluster is started. If No in step S28, step S29 is skipped.

  The processes of steps S28 and S29 are for determining that the area is not a blocked area by fingers of the same hand when the distance between adjacent blocked areas is long and classifying the subsequent blocked areas into different clusters. It is. Therefore, the threshold value used in step S28 is preferably set to a value that cannot be considered as an interval between a plurality of blocking regions generated by a finger of one hand.

Next, the CPU 101 increments the size of the cluster C (M) according to the width of the blocking area R (N) (S30). This process is shown in FIG. 7 in more detail. The width W (N) of the blocking region R (N) is compared with the five threshold values T1 to T5, and the size of the cluster C (M) is set as follows. It increments like this.
(A) When W (N) <T1, 1 increment (b) When T1 ≦ W (N) <T2, 2 increment (c) When T2 ≦ W (N) <T3, 3 increment (d) T3 When ≦ W (N) <T4, 4 increments (e) When T4 ≦ W (N) <T5, nothing is done if it is not more than 5 increments (f)

  The blocking region may be formed by connecting a plurality of regions corresponding to a plurality of fingers. Even in such a case, the number of blocking areas is one. However, as described above, when the blocking areas corresponding to the fingers of one hand are to be classified into one cluster, it is appropriate to count the size as 1. It's not a count. Therefore, the processing of FIG. 7 is to count the wide cut-off area where the areas corresponding to a plurality of fingers are connected to one as the size of a plurality of texts. Therefore, T1 is a value indicating the upper limit of the width of the blocking area formed by one finger, T2 is a value indicating the upper limit of the width of the blocking area formed by two fingers, and the above threshold values T1 to T1. It is good to set T5.

Returning to the description of FIG. 6, after step S30, the CPU 101 increments N by 1 (S31), returns to the step S24 with the next blocking area as a classification target, and repeats the process.
If the answer is No in step S25, the CPU 101 clusters all the blocked areas that have not yet been clustered into the next cluster C (M + 1) that is currently the classification destination (S32), and ends the process.
In the case of No in step S26, clustering has been completed for all the cut-off areas, so the process ends.
This is the end of the description of FIG.

Next, some specific examples of clustering by the processing of FIG. 6 will be described.
First, let us consider a case where an instruction operation with the left hand finger is performed in the area 401 and an instruction operation with the right hand finger is performed in the area 402 on the board surface of the display 200 shown in FIG. 8A. In this case, the position of the finger of the left hand and the position of the finger of the right hand are separated on the left and right of the diagonal line indicated by the broken line and do not overlap when viewed from any detection unit 11 at the four corners.
Therefore, for example, as shown in FIG. 8B, the blocking areas R (0) to R (3) with the left hand and the blocking areas R (4) to R (6) with the right hand are extracted separately. Is done.

  Consider applying the processing of FIG. 6 to this blocking region. Assuming that the widths of all the blocking regions are less than the threshold value T1, after step S23, steps 24 to S31 are repeated three times, and step S24 is executed once more, thereby blocking regions R (0) to R (3 ) Is clustered into cluster C (0), the size of cluster C (0) is 4, so the determination in step S25 is N. Then, it progresses to step S32, the remaining interruption | blocking area | region R (4) -R (7) is clustered to cluster C (1), and a process is complete | finished.

By this procedure, as shown in FIG. 8B, the blocking regions R (0) to R (3) with the left hand fingers and the blocking regions R (4) to R (6) with the right hand fingers are separated into separate clusters C Clustering can be performed on (0) and C (1).
Therefore, the coordinates of the pointing operation with the left hand and the coordinates of the pointing operation with the right hand can be obtained separately based on the feature quantities of these clusters.

In the example shown in FIG. 9A, the positions of the region 401 and the region 402 are closer than in the case of FIG. 8A. However, the position of the finger of the left hand does not overlap the position of the finger of the right hand when viewed from any of the detection units 11 at the four corners, as in the case of FIG. 8A.
Accordingly, the extracted block areas as shown in FIG. 9B are the block areas R (0) to R (3) with the left hand finger and the block areas R (4) to R (4) with the right hand finger as in FIG. 8B. R (6) can be clustered into separate clusters C (0) and C (1).

Therefore, the computer 100 can detect a gesture that shortens the distance between both hands, as shown in FIGS. 8A to 9A. If this detection result is transmitted to the PC 300, the user can perform a gesture operation on the PC 300 using the fingers of both hands.
As described above, the detection unit 11 necessary for realizing this function is not particularly expensive as long as it has a function of detecting the amount of received light in association with the incident direction for a predetermined range. Therefore, it can be said that gestures using fingers of both hands can be detected at low cost.

  However, in the process of FIG. 6, as shown in FIG. 10A, when the region 401 and the region 402 are on one diagonal line, that is, when viewed from a certain inspection unit 11, If the area blocked by the finger of the right hand overlaps, appropriate clustering may not be possible.

  Here, it is assumed that the blocking region when the instruction operation is performed at the position illustrated in FIG. 10A is extracted as illustrated in FIG. 10B. As can be seen from the comparison with FIG. 10A, the six blocking areas R (0) to R (5) shown in FIG. 10B are divided by the boundary between the blocking area by the left hand finger and the blocking area by the right hand finger. I don't mean. However, when the process of FIG. 6 is applied, as in the case of FIGS. 8B and 9B, the first four blocking regions R (0) to R (3) and the other blocking regions R (4) to R (5). Are clustered into separate clusters.

  Therefore, the clustering is not necessarily performed for each finger of one hand, and the feature amount of each cluster does not reflect the position of the pointing operation by the left and right hands. Therefore, if the operation is performed so as to change from the state of FIG. 9A to the state of FIG. 10A, the feature amount changes discretely somewhere in between. For example, when the zoom operation is performed with both hands, the amount of enlargement / reduction suddenly changes before and after the clusters of both hands overlap.

FIG. 11 shows a clustering process that improves this point.
The process in FIG. 11 is different from that in FIG. 6 only in the case of No in step S25. If the answer is No in step S25, the CPU 101 determines whether or not the next blocking area R (N + 1) exists (S41). If this does not exist, clustering is complete and the process is terminated. On the other hand, if it exists, the distance between the blocking region R (N) and the blocking region R (N + 1) is calculated (S42).

  If the distance is larger than the predetermined threshold (Yes in S43), the subsequent blocking areas are considered to be derived from a different instruction operation up to the blocking area R (N). Cluster to cluster C (M + 1) (S44), and the process ends. On the other hand, if the answer is No in step S43, there is a possibility that it does not originate from a different instruction operation, so the remaining cut-off areas are clustered into the same cluster C (M) as before (S44). In this case, since the coordinates of the operation instruction by the left and right hands cannot be detected correctly, the gesture operation is temporarily invalidated (S46), and the process is terminated. This invalidation may be applied only to the coordinates of the instruction operation calculated based on the current clustering result.

  According to the above processing, the cut-off areas extracted as shown in FIG. 10B are all clustered into the same cluster C (0) as shown in FIG. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent an incorrect value from being calculated as the coordinates of the pointing operation by the left and right hands. And it is possible to prevent malfunction of gesture operation using both hands. In addition, if the gesture operation is temporarily invalidated in the case of No in step S43, the prevention of malfunction can be further ensured.

  For example, when an operation is performed with one finger or one pointing tool, only one blocking area is extracted. Accordingly, in both the processing of FIG. 6 and the processing of FIG. 11, immediately after clustering the blocking region R (0) into the cluster C (0), No is made in step S26, and the clustering is terminated. In this case, the feature amount of the cluster C (0) matches the feature amount of the only blocking region R (0) belonging to the cluster C (0). For this reason, in step S16, the coordinates of the pointing operation can be calculated according to the feature amount of the blocking region R (0). Therefore, neither the process of FIG. 6 nor the process of FIG. 11 is inconvenient for detecting operations with a small number of fingers or pointing tools.

Although the description of the embodiment is finished as described above, in the present invention, the specific configuration of the apparatus, the specific processing procedure, the data format, and the like are not limited to those described in the embodiment.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, the example in which the four peripheral light emitting units 15a to 15d and the four detection units 11a to 11d are provided around the board surface that is the target of the instruction operation has been described. However, other than this, a configuration using a retroreflecting plate can be adopted.

FIG. 13 shows the configuration of the display 200 in this case.
In the example of FIG. 13, retroreflecting plates 213 are provided in three directions around the display 200, and a light blocking illumination 211 and an input device 212 are provided at two vertices as a configuration corresponding to the detection unit 11.
Then, the light emitted from the light emitting means such as a laser provided in the light blocking illumination 211 via the optical system including the cylindrical lens is allowed to travel on the board surface as parallel light along the surface of the display 200. The light traveling parallel to the board surface is recursively reflected by the retroreflective plate 213 which is a retroreflective member disposed so as to surround the display 200, returns again along the same optical path, and enters the input device 212. Accordingly, when an instruction operation is performed on the board surface with fingers or the like, the light that travels parallel to the board surface is blocked and the amount of light incident on the input device 212 changes. If the light blocking illumination 211 emits a large number of beams having different angles and the input device 212 detects the light amount of the beam at each angle, the received light amount is the same as in the detection unit 11 of the above-described embodiment. Can be acquired in association with the incident direction.

  In the present invention, the board surface is not limited to the display 200 and may be configured as an arbitrary object. Further, it is not hindered to use a virtual plane having no physical reality as a board surface.

The embodiment of the program of the present invention is a program for causing a computer to control required hardware to realize the functions of the computer 100 in the above-described embodiment.
Such a program may be stored in a ROM or other nonvolatile storage medium (flash memory, EEPROM, etc.) provided in the computer from the beginning. However, it can also be provided by being recorded on an arbitrary nonvolatile recording medium such as a memory card, CD, DVD, or Blu-ray disc. The functions described above can be realized by installing the programs recorded in these recording media into a computer and executing them.

Furthermore, it is also possible to download from an external device that is connected to a network and includes a recording medium that records the program, or an external device that stores the program in a storage unit, and install and execute the program on a computer.
In addition, it is needless to say that the configurations of the embodiments and modifications described above can be arbitrarily combined and implemented as long as they do not contradict each other.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11: Detection part, 13: Indicator, 15: Peripheral light emission part, 100: Computer, 101: CPU, 102: ROM, 103: RAM, 104: SSD, 105: Network controller, 106: External storage controller, 114: Sensor Controller: 112: GPU; 111: Capture device; 116: Electronic pen controller; 117: External memory;
118: Bus line, 119: Application, 131: Detection control unit, 132: Blocking region extraction unit, 133: Blocking region feature amount calculation unit, 134: Blocking region clustering unit, 135: Clustering region feature amount calculation unit, 136: Triangle Surveying unit, 200: display, 211: light blocking illumination, 212: input device, 213: retroreflective plate, 300: PC, 301: display device, 401, 402: area, 500: coordinate detection system

JP 2006-146816 A

Claims (6)

An information processing apparatus that detects coordinates instructed by an instruction unit that performs an instruction operation on a board surface,
A light receiving means for receiving light irradiated from a predetermined light source and traveling on the board surface;
A light quantity acquisition means for acquiring a received light quantity of the light receiving means in association with an incident direction;
A feature amount calculating means for extracting a cut-off area in which the received light amount acquired by the light amount acquiring means is below a predetermined reference, and calculating the feature amount;
Clustering means for clustering each block region based on the feature amount of each block region calculated by the feature amount calculation unit;
An information processing apparatus comprising: coordinate calculation means for calculating coordinates instructed by the instruction unit based on the feature amount of each cluster obtained by the clustering means. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
An information processing apparatus characterized in that clustering by the clustering means is performed based on the size of a block region belonging to each cluster. An information processing apparatus according to claim 2,
In the clustering by the clustering means, the respective incident areas are sequentially classified into one cluster so that the corresponding incident direction changes monotonously, and when the size of the one cluster exceeds a predetermined threshold, Based on the distance between the last classified area and the next classified area, classify the next classified area into another cluster, or treat all remaining blocked areas as before. An information processing apparatus that determines whether to classify into the same cluster. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3,
In the clustering by the clustering means, the coordinate calculating means calculates when all the remaining block areas are classified into the same cluster based on the distance between the block area classified last and the block area to be classified next. An information processing apparatus comprising means for temporarily invalidating an operation based on the coordinates obtained. A program for causing a computer to function as an information processing device that detects coordinates instructed by an instruction unit that performs an instruction operation on a board surface,
The computer,
A control means for controlling a light receiving means for receiving light emitted from a predetermined light source and traveling on the board surface;
A light quantity acquisition means for acquiring a received light quantity of the light receiving means in association with an incident direction;
A feature amount calculating means for extracting a cut-off area in which the received light amount acquired by the light amount acquiring means is below a predetermined reference, and calculating the feature amount;
Clustering means for clustering each block region based on the feature amount of each block region calculated by the feature amount calculation unit;
A program for functioning as a coordinate calculation means for calculating coordinates instructed by the instruction section based on a feature amount of each cluster obtained by the clustering means.   A computer-readable recording medium storing the program according to claim 5.

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