JP2570966B2 - Point device device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a point device using a line of sight input, and more particularly to a technique for smoothly performing a user interface in a computer system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional point device, when a human and a computer system interact with each other using a graphical user interface such as an icon, a mouse, a light pen, a joystick, and the like are generally used.

A conventional point device will be described with reference to the drawings, taking a mouse device as an example. FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram of a mouse device which is a conventional point device device.

The conventional mouse device system includes a coordinate detecting means 1 'comprising a coordinate measuring means 11' and a correcting means 12 ', a cursor displaying means 2, a menu item detecting means 3, a menu item executing request Detecting means 4, menu item executing means 5, coordinates 100, selected menu item information 30
0. Here, a human who is a user of the computer system moves the mouse device, thereby detecting a two-dimensional coordinate displacement by the coordinate displacement detecting means 11 'of the coordinate detecting means 1', and using the displacement as an input, the correcting means 1
New coordinates 100 are calculated by 2 ', and the cursor on the display is moved. When the coordinates 100 are determined, the computer system uses the cursor display means 2 to display a cursor at the corresponding coordinates on the display to notify the user of the coordinates to which the user is currently pointing. At the same time, the menu item detecting means 3 detects the menu item overlapping the cursor by using the coordinates 100 as an input, and stores information on the detected menu item in the selected menu item 300. Then, the computer system executes the menu item execution request detecting means 4
Thus, when an execution request from the user is received, the menu item execution means 5 is activated, and the fact that the request from the user has been received is notified. The menu item executing means 5 refers to the selected menu item information 300 and executes a process corresponding to the selected menu item in the system.

[0005]

When a user of a system interacts with the system, it is common to use a keyboard, but recently, menu items (options) displayed on a display are point device devices. Opportunities to select using are also increasing.

However, in order to point to a menu item with the above-mentioned conventional point device (e.g., a device such as a mouse), the user must release his / her hand from the keyboard, and it takes time to move the cursor. There were drawbacks.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a point device using a line-of-sight input which reduces the above-mentioned user's loss time and improves work efficiency.

[0008] Therefore, the point device device of the present invention is a means for measuring and calculating the coordinates of where the user is looking at the display based on the position and movement of the human eye who is a user of the computer system, and the calculated coordinates. The user
Means for correcting with information of individual differences due to physical characteristics of the user, means for measuring information of individual differences of users, means for storing information of individual differences, and a memory for storing information of individual differences,
A means for displaying a cursor at the corrected and finally determined coordinates on the display, a means for detecting a menu item on the display overlapping the displayed cursor, and an execution request for the detected menu item are performed. And a means for transmitting the detected execution request to the computer system.

[0009]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system using an embodiment of a point device according to the present invention.

The system according to the embodiment of the present invention comprises a coordinate detecting means 1 comprising a coordinate measuring means 11 and a correcting means 12, a cursor displaying means 2, a menu item detecting means 3, a menu item execution request detecting means 4, Menu item executing means 5;
Individual difference measuring means 6, individual difference registering means 7, coordinates 100
, Individual difference information 200, and selection menu item information 300
It is composed of

Coordinates 100 represent coordinate data obtained by the coordinate detecting means 1, and individual difference information 200 is stored by the individual difference registering means 7, and the individual difference information used as correction information by the coordinate detecting means 1 is stored in the coordinate data 100. The selected menu item information 300 indicates information on the menu item pointed to by the cursor of the cursor display unit 2.

Next, the operation of the point device of this embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the point device device of this embodiment.

[0015] As an example, consider a task in which several menu items (options) are displayed on the display, and one of them is selected and executed.

As described in the section of the prior art, the coordinate detecting means 1 'for obtaining the coordinates 100 in the case of the mouse apparatus according to the prior art uses the coordinate displacement measuring means 11' to displace the X and Y coordinates. Is detected, and the coordinates 100 are corrected by the correction means 12 ′ to obtain coordinates 100 to be newly pointed.

On the other hand, the case of the point device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

In the point device according to the present embodiment, first, the coordinates on the display which the user looks at are measured by the coordinate measuring means 11 based on the angle of the face of the user, the position of the eyeball, and the movement thereof. The measurement results performed here are:
It is thought to depend heavily on the physical characteristics of the user, etc., and it is considered that there are considerable individual differences. This one
As information on human differences, for example, the physical characteristics of the user
There is an eyeball size, pupil size, nose height, etc.
These are different for each user. However,
If each user registers once, that user will use it
It is not information that changes every time. For example, coordinate measuring means 1
At 1, install a small camera when measuring the angle of the face
If you use glasses, you can measure a small camera
Is the direction in which the glasses are facing. Face facing
There is a slight deviation between the direction and the direction in which the glasses are facing. This
To correct this, you can adjust the height of the nose, the placement of both ears and the nose, etc.
It is necessary to correct for different physical characteristics depending on the situation.
Also, depending on the position of the eyeball (where the iris is facing),
Even if you consider measuring the target (the point you are staring at),
Because the size of the eyes and the size of the pupil vary from person to person,
Requires different corrections.

In order to obtain more accurate coordinates, correction means 1
2 is a method of measuring coordinates measured mechanically with glasses, etc.
Coordinates based on information 200 (eyeball size, pupil size, etc.)
The coordinates obtained by the measuring means 11 are corrected (step 1).

The individual difference information 200 is measured by the user in advance by the individual difference measuring means 6 and stored in the individual difference information 200 by the individual difference registration means 7. In addition, the individual difference information 200 referred to here is data that can be collected from any user and includes elements sufficient for the corrector 12 to obtain an accurate coordinate 100 (step). 2).

The computer system uses the coordinate detecting means 1 to determine the exact coordinates 1 on the display that the user is looking at.
00 is obtained. When the coordinates 100 are determined, the computer system uses the cursor display means 2 to display a cursor at the corresponding coordinates on the display to inform the user of the coordinates to which the user is currently pointing (step 3).

At the same time, the menu item detecting means 3 detects the menu item overlapping the cursor by using the coordinates 100 as input, and stores information on the detected menu item in the selected menu item 300 (step 4).

The user moves his / her line of sight, points to a target menu item, and issues an execution request to the computer system (step 5).

When the computer system receives the execution request from the user by the menu item execution request detecting means 4,
The menu item executing means 5 is activated to notify that the user's request has been accepted. The menu item executing means 5 refers to the selected menu item information 300 and executes a process corresponding to the selected menu item in the system (step 6).

The individual difference information 200 does not necessarily need to be provided inside the point device, and an external storage device (for example, an IC card) can be used as in the second invention.

Also, as in the third invention, a plurality of individual difference information 200 is registered in the computer system, and the
It is also possible to specify the individual difference information 200 by D or the like.

[0027]

As described above, the point device device of the present invention allows a user to select a menu item only by looking at the display, and allows the user to release a mouse or other device from the keyboard. Can also be used, and the effect of reducing the time for moving the cursor can be achieved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a system using an embodiment of a point device device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the point device device of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram of a mouse device which is a conventional point device device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 1 'coordinate detecting means 2 cursor displaying means 3 menu item detecting means 4 menu item execution request detecting means 5 menu item executing means 6 individual difference measuring means 7 individual difference registering means 11, 11' coordinate measuring means 12, 12 'correction Means 100 Coordinate 200 Individual difference information 300 Selection menu item information

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A means for measuring and calculating coordinates of a position on a display based on the position and movement of a human eye as a user of a computer system, and using the calculated coordinates as physical characteristics of the user. Means for correcting with the information of the individual difference, means for measuring the information of the individual difference of the user, means for storing the information of the individual difference, a memory in which the information of the individual difference is stored, and the correction Means for displaying a cursor at the coordinates on the display finally determined, a means for detecting a menu item on the display overlapping the displayed cursor, and a request to execute the detected menu item is sent. Means for detecting that
Means for transmitting the detected execution request to a computer system. 2. The point device according to claim 1, wherein the memory storing the information on the individual difference is an IC card. 3. The memory according to claim 1, wherein a memory for storing the information on the individual difference is secured in the computer system, and the information on the individual difference is specified when a user is specified. Point device equipment.