JP4824799B2 - Pointing system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a pointing system, and more particularly, to a pointing system that designates position designation and coordinate data on a display screen of a personal computer (personal computer).

  As conventional pointing devices, for example, a mouse, a digitizer, a light pen, a track / ball, a tablet, and the like are known.

  A mouse or a track ball is a device that indicates a position on coordinates according to a moving direction and a moving amount.

  Digitizers and light pens are devices that directly specify coordinate positions.

  Also, an input device as a pointing device that does not need to be operated on a desk or the like is disclosed.

JP 07-44315 A

  However, the conventional pointing device as described above has a problem that there are many restrictions when inputting.

  For example, the mouse needs to be operated on a desk, etc., and the tablet, digitizer, light pen, etc. need to touch the input surface, which has the problem that the user's operability is limited. .

  In addition, since a track / ball or the like is generally provided integrally with a notebook personal computer main body, there is a problem that it cannot be operated away from the main body.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a pointing system with good user operability.

  In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, a pointing system according to the first aspect of the present invention is a pointing system including a pointing device and a terminal device, wherein the pointing device has a light beam with high brightness at the center. A light source body that emits a diffused light beam, wherein the terminal device has a plurality of light receiving sensors for detecting the diffused light beam from the pointing device, and the direction of the pointing device in the light receiving state of the light receiving sensor. Determining means for determining; pointer display means for displaying a pointer on the display screen; and moving means for moving the pointer displayed by the pointer display means in accordance with the orientation of the pointing device determined by the determining means. It is characterized by having.

  According to the present invention, the movement of the pointing device in the three-dimensional space can be recognized on the terminal device side, and the pointer can be moved and displayed in accordance with the movement. The pointing device can be operated in a state where there is no device, and the operability of the user is improved.

It is a conceptual diagram of the pointing system of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the pointing system of Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a sequence diagram explaining the flow of a process of the pointing system of Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the pointing system of Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a sequence diagram explaining the flow of a process of the pointing system of Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a figure of initial position determination explanation of a pointing device. It is a figure explaining operation at the time of initial position determination of a pointing device. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the pointing system of Embodiment 3 of this invention. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a light receiving unit and a pointing device according to a third embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining a light emitting / receiving operation of the third embodiment. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram when the pointing device according to the third embodiment is oriented in the center / front direction of the display screen. It is explanatory drawing in the case where the pointing device of Embodiment 3 is the direction which has the center and angle of a display part. It is explanatory drawing when the pointing device of Embodiment 3 is toward the diagonal center of a display part.

  Hereinafter, a pointing system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.
(Description of the concept of the present invention)
FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of the pointing system of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, in this pointing system, a pointer 3 displayed on a screen of a display 2 such as a personal computer (personal computer) is displayed in accordance with a moving state when the user shakes the hand while holding the pointing device 1. It is a system that moves up, down, left and right according to the movement of the hand.

  Further, communication between the pointing device 1 and the display 2 can be performed by a sensor including a light emitting element and a light receiving element.

A short-range wireless technology such as Bluetooth may be used.
(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the pointing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  The pointing system 100 includes a terminal device 110 such as a personal computer (personal computer) and a pointing device 120.

  The terminal device 110 receives a light beam from the pointing device 120 and converts it into an electrical signal, a control unit 112 that recognizes the converted electrical signal and determines the movement state of the pointing device 120, It has a main function unit 113 that controls the movement of the pointer based on the determined movement state, and a display unit 114 that displays the pointer.

  The pointing device 120 includes a push button 121 that is an interface with a user, a movement state detection unit 122 that detects movement in at least two directions (horizontal and vertical) by an acceleration sensor, an angle sensor, and the like, and a movement with the push button 121. A control unit 123 that outputs an electrical signal such as a moving state to be transmitted to the terminal device 110 according to a signal from the state detection unit 122, and an electrical signal such as a moving state that is converted into an optical signal and output as a light beam. And a light emitting unit 124.

  In addition, about an acceleration sensor and an angle sensor, what is necessary is just to use a well-known technique, Therefore, those detailed description is abbreviate | omitted.

  A signal output from the push button 121 to the control unit 123 is referred to as a key signal, and a signal output from the movement state detection unit 122 to the control unit 123 is referred to as a sensor signal.

  The control unit 112 and the main function unit 113 of the terminal device 110 and the control unit 123 of the pointing device 120 are realized by appropriately reading and executing a program recorded in a ROM or RAM (not shown) by a CPU (not shown). To do.

Next, a processing flow of the pointing system according to the first embodiment will be described.
FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram illustrating the flow of processing of the pointing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  First, the control unit 123 of the pointing device 120 waits for a signal from the push button 121 or the moving state detection unit 122 by polling or interruption (step S110).

  When the controller 123 recognizes the key signal (step S111), the controller 123 converts the key code into a signal (step S113). When the controller 123 recognizes the sensor signal (step S112), the controller 123 converts the sensor code into a signal (step S113).

  Subsequently, the control unit 123 outputs the key code or the sensor code to the light emitting unit 124, and causes the light emitting unit 124 to emit and output the key code or the sensor code as a light beam.

  Then, in the terminal device 110, when the light receiving unit 111 receives light from the pointing device 120 when the control unit 112 is in a light reception waiting state by polling or interruption, a signal of a key code or a sensor code is transmitted to the control unit 112 ( Step S120).

  The control unit 112 determines whether the received signal is a key code or a sensor code (step S121), and in the case of a key signal (step S122), performs a predetermined operation according to the key signal (step S123). .

  On the other hand, in the case of the sensor signal (step S124), the control unit 112 recognizes the movement state based on the sensor signal and outputs a pointer movement command to the main function unit 113.

  The main function unit 113 activates a display controller such as a cathode ray tube controller (CRTC) according to the movement state (step S125), and moves and displays the pointer on the display unit 114 (step S126).

  The movement (change angle) of the pointing device 120 is faithfully reproduced on the display unit 114 by setting the distance between the pointing device 120 and the display unit 114, the size of the display unit 114, and the like as constants. it can.

  However, sensuously, if the pointer moves according to the swing angle of the actual pointing device 120, it is difficult to make a fine adjustment, and therefore, the display unit 114 actually changes a fraction of the swing angle of the pointing device 120. Preferably reproduced above.

  These processes can be realized by the control unit 113 executing a program.

  Therefore, according to the first embodiment, the movement of the pointing device 120 in the three-dimensional space can be recognized on the terminal device 110 side, and the pointer can be moved and displayed in accordance with the movement.

Therefore, the user can operate the pointing device 120 in a state where there is no spatial restriction, and the operability for the user is improved.
(Embodiment 2)
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the pointing system according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  The pointing system 200 includes a terminal device 210 such as a personal computer and a pointing device 220.

  The terminal device 210 detects a light beam from the pointing device 220 with a plurality of light receiving elements and converts the light receiving unit 211 into an electric signal for each light receiving element, and recognizes the converted electric signal to indicate the pointing device 220. A control unit 212 that determines the movement state of the pointer based on the coordinates based on the arrangement of the received light receiving elements, a main function unit 213 that controls the movement of the pointer based on the determined movement state, and a display unit 214 that displays the pointer. have.

  In addition, the pointing device 220 includes a push button 221 that is an interface with the user, a control unit 222 that issues a command to send a light beam to the terminal device 210 in accordance with a signal (key signal) of the push button 221, and an output as a light beam And a light emitting portion 223 that performs.

  Note that the control unit 212 and the main function unit 213 of the terminal device 210 and the control unit 222 of the pointing device 220 are realized by appropriately reading and executing a program recorded in a ROM or RAM (not shown) by a CPU (not shown). To do.

  Next, a processing flow of the pointing system according to the second embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram illustrating the flow of processing of the pointing system according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  First, the control unit 222 of the pointing device 220 waits for key input of the push button 221 by polling or interruption (step S210).

Then, the control unit 222 causes the light emitting unit 223 to perform continuous light emission or intermittent light emission (step S211).
Then, in the terminal device 211, when the light receiving unit 211 receives continuous light emission or intermittent light emission (step S220), the control unit 212 recognizes the initial position based on the signal at that time as described later (step S221).

  In addition, when the key signal is included in the received signal (step S222), the control unit 212 performs a predetermined operation according to the key signal (step S223).

  On the other hand, when recognizing the key signal (step S212), the control unit 222 converts the key code into a signal (step S213), outputs the key code to the light emitting unit 224, and causes the light emitting unit 224 to emit and output the key code as a light beam. .

  Then, in the terminal device 210, when any of the plurality of light receiving elements of the light receiving unit 211 receives a light beam from the pointing device 220 while the control unit 212 is waiting for light reception by polling or interruption, a key signal of a key code is received. The data is sent to the control unit 212 (step S221).

  When the control unit 212 recognizes that the received signal is different from the light receiving element at the time of initial position recognition (step S224), the control unit 212 calculates the change (step S225), recognizes the movement state, and performs a pointer movement command. Is output to the main function unit 213.

  The main function unit 213 activates a display controller such as a cathode ray tube controller (CRTC) according to the movement state (step S226), and moves and displays the pointer on the display unit 214 (step S227).

  As described above, in the pointing system, it is necessary to recognize the initial position of the pointing device 220 on the display unit 214 side and detect the movement state from the difference from the data regarding the initial position.

  Hereinafter, the recognition of the initial position will be described.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the initial position determination of the pointing device.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an operation when determining the initial position of the pointing device.

  The display unit 214 compares the intensities of light received when the user shakes the pointing device 220 with his / her hand, determines the strongest point, and determines the pointing device in front of the strongest point. 220 is recognized as an initial position.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 6A, when the pointing device 220 is in front of the display unit 214, the pointing device 220 faces the center of the display unit 214 when the strength is strongest. The display unit 214 recognizes the pointing device 220 as the initial position, assuming that the pointing device 220 is substantially in the center.

  Further, for example, as shown in FIG. 6B, when the pointing device 220 is diagonally to the right side with respect to the display unit 214, the pointing device 220 is connected to the display unit 214 when the strength is strongest. When the display device 214 faces the right side, the pointing device 220 is recognized as being at the left end, and this is recognized as the initial position.

  When recognizing the initial position, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, “Please point the remote control (pointing device 220) to the cursor and press the enter key (push button 221)” on the display unit 214, etc. This message is preferably displayed to guide the user's operation.

  Therefore, according to the second embodiment, the movement of the pointing device 220 in the three-dimensional space can be recognized on the terminal device 210 side, and the pointer can be moved and displayed in accordance with the movement.

For this reason, the user can operate the pointing device 220 in a state where there is no spatial restriction, and the operability for the user is improved.
(Embodiment 3)
FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the pointing system according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
The pointing system 300 includes a terminal device 310 such as a personal computer and a pointing device 320.

  The terminal device 310 receives a light beam from the pointing device 320 and converts it into an electrical signal, a control unit 312 that recognizes the converted electrical signal and determines the movement state of the pointing device 320, It has a main function unit 313 that controls the movement of the pointer based on the determined movement state, and a display unit 314 that displays the pointer.

  Note that the control unit 312 and the main function unit 313 of the terminal device 310 are realized by appropriately reading and executing a program recorded in a ROM, a RAM, or the like (not shown) by a CPU (not shown).

  The pointing device 320 includes a push button 321 that is an interface with the user, a control unit 322 that outputs an electrical signal that transmits a light beam to the terminal device 310 in accordance with a signal from the push button 321 (key signal), And a light emitting unit 323 that converts an electrical signal into an optical signal and outputs it as a light beam.

  Note that the control unit 322 of the pointing device 320 is realized by appropriately reading and executing a program recorded in a ROM, a RAM, or the like (not shown) by a CPU (not shown).

  Next, the relationship between the light receiving unit 311 and the pointing device 320 according to the third embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between the light receiving unit and the pointing device according to the third embodiment.

  (A) shows the arrangement state, and (b) shows the structure of the light receiving section.

  In (a), the light receiving unit 311 is an area sensor that detects an area that receives a light beam, and receives the light beam from the pointing device 320.

  Further, as shown in (b), the light receiving unit 311 includes an area sensor 311b and a lens 311c that are attached to face the housing 311a.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining the light emitting / receiving operation of the third embodiment.

  FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram when the pointing device according to the third embodiment is oriented toward the center / front of the display screen.

  FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram in the case where the pointing device according to the third embodiment is oriented with the center and angle of the display unit.

  FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram when the pointing device according to the third embodiment is oriented obliquely toward the center of the display unit.

  The light emitted from the pointing device 320 is a diffused light including a high-luminance light at the center, collected by the lens 311c, and received by the area sensor 311b.

  At this time, the control unit 312 accurately determines the position of the light emitting point by recognizing the light emitting point in the focused state of the diffused light.

  Further, the control unit 313 recognizes the position of the pointing device 320 from the state of light emission spread in the defocused state.

  For example, as in (1) and (3) shown in FIG. 11, when defocusing is performed concentrically with respect to the light emitting point, the control unit 312 causes the pointing device 320 to be on the screen of the display unit 314. Judged to be center / front-facing.

  When (1) and (3) shown in FIG. 12 are defocused with respect to the light emitting point and the light emitting point is at the center as shown in (2), the control unit 312 It is determined that the pointing device 320 has a center / angle orientation with respect to the screen of the display unit 314.

  In addition, as shown in (1) and (3) in FIG. 13, when the light emitting point is defocused and deviated with respect to the light emitting point, the control unit 312 The pointing device 320 determines that the screen is obliquely directed toward the center with respect to the screen of the display unit 314.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 13, whether the light emission point position at the focus position shifts up, down, left, or right at the light emission point position when the focus shifts to the near distance side and becomes defocused. By detecting whether the light emitting point is shifted to the far side or defocused and whether it shifts up, down, left, or right, the pointing device moves from the position tilted up, down, left, or right with respect to the display screen. You can determine if you are aiming for 314.

  Therefore, according to the third embodiment, by detecting the light emitting point at the focus position, the position of the light emitting point is accurately determined, and the defocus position (a slightly out of focus position is detected to detect the light emitting point). Because the light spread bias is detected, the position of the pointing device and the direction of the display screen can be determined from the position of the highest luminance point (light emitting point) and the spread bias. Can do.

  Note that the characteristics of how the light of the light emitting part of the pointing device spreads can be determined more accurately by conducting experiments and the like in advance and preparing them as constants.

  Therefore, when the user is operating in front of the display screen and is aiming straight at the display screen or aiming at the edge of the display screen, or an oblique position where the user has an angle with the display screen It is possible for the control unit to recognize whether the display screen is aimed at the center of the display screen or the end of the display screen.

  In the first to third embodiments, the coordinate system used when detecting the movement state of the pointing device in the three-dimensional space is the same as the coordinate system on the display screen.

  Further, when a virtual three-dimensional space is displayed on the display screen, a coordinate system for detecting the movement of the pointing device is converted into a three-dimensional coordinate system obtained by translating the coordinate system of the virtual three-dimensional space. It is good.

  For example, when moving the pointer in the depth direction on the screen, the user moves the pointing device forward, and when moving the pointer forward on the screen, the user moves the pointing device backward.

  According to this, for example, in a three-dimensional simulation game, the character (pointer) movement on the screen can be realistically expressed by the user's experience.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Pointing device 2 Display 3 Pointer 100 Pointing system 110 Terminal device 111 Light receiving part 112 Control part 113 Main function part 113 Control part 114 Display part 120 Pointing device 121 Push button 122 Movement state detection part 123 Control part 124 Light emission part 200 Pointing system 210 Terminal device 211 Light receiving unit 211 Terminal device 212 Control unit 213 Main function unit 214 Display unit 214 Display unit 220 Pointing device 221 Push button 222 Control unit 223 Light emitting unit 300 Pointing system 310 Terminal device 311b Area sensor 311c Lens 311 Light receiving unit 311a Case 312 Control Unit 313 Main Function Unit 313 Control Unit 314 Display Unit 320 Pointing Device 321 Push Button 322 Control Unit 323 Light unit

Claims (1)

In a pointing system composed of a pointing device and a terminal device,
The pointing device includes a light source body that emits light continuously or intermittently ;
The terminal device is
A detecting means arranged with a plurality of light receiving sensors for detecting light from the pointing device;
Determining means for determining the orientation of the pointing device in the light receiving state of the detecting means;
Pointer display means for displaying a pointer on the display screen;
And a moving means for moving the pointer displayed by said pointer display means according to the orientation of the pointing device is determined by said determining means,
The detection means detects a light beam when a user using the pointing device emits light while shaking the light source body for setting an initial position of the pointing device;
The determination means recognizes the position where the light reception intensity of the light beam detected by the detection means is the highest as the initial position of the pointing device, and then the light reception state in the detection means and the light reception at the time of the initial position recognition. A pointing system that recognizes a moving state of the pointing device by comparing the state .

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