JP2004023359A - Presentation system using data presenting apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a presentation system using a data presenting apparatus which exactly designates a specified point without making a displayed image hard to see, and also expands the variety of a presentation or further enriches the presentation without increasing the size of the apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: The system comprises an imaging unit for photographing materials, an indication mark taken by the imaging unit, a controller for converting the position of the indication mark to a screen coordinate on an image displaying means to generate a point image, an image composer for composing the point image with images supplied from the imaging unit or an image holding means other than the imaging unit, and an image output unit for outputting a composed image by the image composer to the image displaying means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a presentation material presenting apparatus for photographing materials such as manuscripts, photographs, and three-dimensional objects, and displaying the captured images on image display means such as a screen or a display. The present invention relates to a presentation system using a presentation device.
[0002]
[Prior art]
When projecting materials such as manuscripts on an image display means such as a screen and making a presentation explaining the contents of the materials to an audience while referring to the images, instead of an OHP (overhead projector), which has been widely used in recent years, , A document presentation device is used. The material presentation device has a moving image camera such as a video camera having a material as a subject, and some devices include a material mounting table for mounting the material. Such a material presentation device is used to project a material image captured by a camera from a projection device such as a liquid crystal projector onto a screen.
[0003]
By the way, in a presentation, the presenter, who is the presenter, often proceeds with the explanation while pointing (pointing) to a specific part of the display image. As a method for this, a pen or a pointing stick is directly applied to the material to that point. , Or using a digitizer as an external device.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, the method of directly pointing a material with a pointing stick or the like has caused complaints that the shadow of the pointing stick appears, or the presenter's hand appears, making it difficult to see the image. Although such dissatisfaction does not occur when a digitizer is used, it is necessary to purchase the digitizer separately, and further, the size of the apparatus is increased, and a new problem such as, for example, storage is caused.
[0005]
Therefore, the present invention not only makes it possible to accurately and clearly point to a specific location without making the displayed image difficult to view in a presentation using the material presentation device, and also widens the variety of the presentation, It is an object of the present invention to provide a presentation system using a material presentation device that can be further enhanced and does not increase the size of the device.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention is directed to an imaging unit that captures a material, an instruction mark captured by the imaging unit, a control unit that converts a position of the instruction mark into screen coordinates of an image display unit to generate a point image, An image synthesizing unit for synthesizing a point image with an image supplied from an image holding unit other than the imaging unit, and an image output unit for outputting an image synthesized by the image synthesizing unit to an image display unit. I have.
[0007]
In the present invention, a presenter or the like operates an instruction mark instead of a conventional pointer or the like. When the instruction mark is photographed by the imaging unit, the position of the instruction mark is converted into screen coordinates of the image display means by the control unit, and a point image is generated at the screen coordinate position. The point image is synthesized by the image synthesizing unit with the image from the imaging unit or the image supplied from the image holding unit other than the imaging unit, and is displayed on the image display unit. That is, the movement of the instruction mark is reflected as a point image on the display image. Therefore, by operating the instruction mark, “pointing” for pointing the point image to a desired position can be performed.
[0008]
In performing such pointing, when displaying an image supplied from an image holding unit other than the imaging unit on the image display unit, a point image is combined with the display image. In addition, when the image captured by the imaging unit is displayed on the image display means, the display image is temporarily stored as a still image, and then the pointing image is captured by the imaging unit. Is done. In this case, for example, if the material is photographed to be a still image, the material can be directly instructed by the instruction mark.
[0009]
According to the present invention, it is possible to perform pointing by reflecting the movement of the indication mark in the display image while capturing the indication mark with the imaging unit as described above. Is fundamentally different, so that there is no problem that the display image is obstructed by the pointing stick or the hand to make it difficult to see, and accurate and clear pointing can be performed. In addition, since it is not necessary to use an external device such as a digitizer, and a general well-known image processing technique can be applied, the configuration can be made inexpensively and the apparatus does not become large.
[0010]
As a specific technique for combining the point image with the display image as described above, there is a method of setting a predetermined range in the angle of view of the imaging unit on the virtual screen and instructing the virtual screen with an instruction mark. Here, if the imaging direction of the imaging unit can be arbitrarily changed, for example, the imaging direction of the imaging unit can be directed to the direction of the presenter, and the virtual screen can be set within the angle of view. In that case, the pointing operation is performed by moving the instruction mark on the virtual screen without directly pointing the material with the instruction mark. By changing the shooting direction of the imaging unit, for example, the inside of the venue, an audience, or the like can be shot, and the audience can point to the display image. For this reason, the diversity of the presentation can be expanded, and the presentation can be further enhanced.
[0011]
Examples of the image holding unit of the present invention include a personal computer, a storage device provided inside the device of the present invention, and an external storage device. The image display unit includes an image holding unit or an image pickup unit. Is displayed.
[0012]
As for the indication mark of the present invention, the position that is more conspicuous on the image pickup section than the background is easier to recognize the position, and thus easier to generate a point image. Such an indication mark may be a reflective object having a relatively high reflectance with respect to the background of the indication mark itself, a light-emitting object which is relatively bright and lit or blinks with respect to the background, or a color different from the background. And the like.
[0013]
In the case where the instruction mark is constituted by a flashing light-emitting object, if the light-emitting object is recognized as the instruction mark based on the flashing cycle of the flashing light-emitting object, the instruction mark can be recognized more reliably. For example, if the blinking light-emitting object is photographed by the image pickup unit of the present apparatus, and the luminance data at the time of lighting and the luminance at the time of light-off are compared to find a lighting position, the influence of noise due to background light is reduced.
[0014]
According to the present invention, the instruction mark photographed by the imaging unit is reflected as a point image on the image displayed by the image display unit, and the point image may be any point, circle, arrow, line, or the like. Images. Further, the point image can be synthesized into a continuous line following the movement of the instruction mark.
[0015]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration and functions of a presentation system according to one embodiment, and FIG. 2 shows a specific image of the present system including a document presentation device 1.
[0016]
(1) Outline of System First, an outline of the configuration and operation of the present system will be described with reference to FIG.
In the present system, the switching unit 5 switches the image data relating to the three types of images, namely, the image captured by the imaging unit 2, the external image generated by the personal computer 3 and the like, and the image stored in the storage device 4 to one. The image data is stored in the frame memory 6, and the image data is input from the image output unit 8 to the image display means such as a screen or a display via the image synthesizing unit 7, where an image corresponding to the image data is displayed.
[0017]
Further, in the present system, a presenter performing a presentation operates the instruction mark 9 to perform pointing. The instruction mark 9 is photographed by the imaging unit 2, and the captured image is input to the control unit 10. In addition, a signal of a shooting direction sensor 11 that detects a shooting direction of a camera 23 described later is input to the control unit 10. After recognizing the shooting direction of the camera 23, the control unit 10 calculates the position of the indication mark 9 and converts it into screen coordinates of the image display means to generate a point image. The generated point image is input to the image synthesizing unit 7, and the image synthesizing unit 7 synthesizes the point image with the image input from the frame memory 6. Therefore, an image in which the point image is combined with the image from any one of the imaging unit 2, the personal computer 3, and the storage device 4 is displayed on the image display unit.
[0018]
(2) Specific Configuration of System Next, a specific configuration of the present system will be described with reference to FIGS.
In FIG. 2, P is a presenter, and 12 is a liquid crystal projector. FIG. 2 shows the personal computer 3. What the presenter P has in his hand is a pen 90 having a light-emitting object provided at the tip as the above-mentioned instruction mark 9. The light emitting object is configured by an LED or the like that emits light when a switch is turned on. Pointing at the time of presentation is performed by the instruction mark 9 that the pen 90 emits light. The pen 90 is also used when setting a virtual screen 31 described later.
[0019]
The document presentation device 1 includes a document table 21 on which a document S such as a manuscript is placed, and a camera 23 supported on the document table 21 via an arm 22. The camera 23 constitutes the imaging unit 2 of FIG.
[0020]
The arm 22 supporting the camera 23 is an inverted L-shaped arm in which a horizontal portion 22b extending forward (in the direction of the presenter P) is attached to the upper end of a vertical portion 22a extending in the vertical direction. The horizontal part 22b is attached to the vertical part 22a so as to be horizontally rotatable. The expansion and contraction of the vertical portion 22a and the horizontal rotation of the horizontal portion 22b are manually performed, and can be fixed at any position. The horizontal portion 22b is fixed in a state of extending forward so that the material S usually placed on the material mounting table 21 can be photographed.
[0021]
The camera 23 is attached to the distal end of the horizontal portion 22b of the arm 22 via a camera platform or the like so as to be able to swing up and down in a range of about 90 ° in which the shooting direction is downward to forward. The photographing direction is manually or automatically switched to one of two positions, a downward direction for photographing the material S placed on the material mounting table 21 and a forward direction facing forward. The shooting direction (downward or upward) of the camera 23 is detected by the shooting direction sensor shown in FIG. The camera 23 has a zoom function and an autofocus function.
[0022]
The switching unit 5, the frame memory 6, the image synthesizing unit 7, the image output unit 8 and the control unit 10 shown in FIG. Further, image data is input from the image output unit 8 to the liquid crystal projector 12, and an image based on the image data is projected from the liquid crystal projector 12 onto a screen.
[0023]
(3) Operation of Presentation System Next, the operation of the present system will be described in the order of A: setting of virtual screen, B: generation of screen coordinates, C: pointing at presentation, D: position for pointing. FIG. 4 shows the order of operations A to C.
[0024]
A: Setting of Virtual Screen The virtual screen is set within the angle of view according to the shooting direction of the camera 23. Here, the concept and setting method of the virtual screen are described with the shooting direction of the camera 23 being arbitrary. I do. Reference numeral 30 in FIG. 3 indicates an imaging range, that is, an angle of view of the camera 23 of the imaging unit 2, and a rectangular virtual screen 31 is set within the angle of view 30. The virtual screen 31 is a two-dimensional space having a rectangular X-axis (horizontal axis) and a Y-axis (vertical axis) for the presenter P to perform pointing with the pointing mark 9 of the pen 90. The video of the instruction mark 9 is read by the camera 23 as the instruction mark data 9a on the image data.
[0025]
The virtual screen 31 can be set as needed according to the following procedure. The procedure will be described with reference to FIG. 4. First, the camera 23 is set to wide-angle shooting, one of two diagonal positions of the virtual screen 31 to be set is caused to emit light, and the reference point A is marked (step S1). . The reference point A is photographed by the camera 23 (step S2), and its position is input to the control unit 10. Next, once the instruction mark 9 is turned off, the instruction mark 9 is caused to emit light at a position that is a diagonal corner point with respect to the reference point A, and the reference point B is marked (step S3). The reference point B is photographed by the camera 23 (step S4), and the position is input to the control unit 10. Subsequently, the control unit 10 generates the virtual screen 31 based on a diagonal line connecting the fixed reference points A and B captured by the camera 23 (Step S5). As described above, the fixed virtual screen 31 is set within the angle of view of the camera 23.
[0026]
According to the above-described method, the virtual screen 31 can be set each time in accordance with a pointing scene. However, the virtual screen 31 can be set based on, for example, a luminescent material provided on the document mounting table 21. In addition, it can be fixedly set in advance within the angle of view of the camera 23.
[0027]
B: Generation of Screen Coordinates After step S5 in FIG. 4, screen coordinates are generated. The screen coordinates correspond to the ratio of the number of pixels in the X direction and the number of pixels in the Y direction of the display image (image based on the image data input to the frame memory 6) displayed on the screen. It is obtained by calculating in each direction from the positions in the X direction and the Y direction. Reference numeral 32 in FIG. 3 indicates this, and the screen coordinates 32 are held by the control unit 10.
[0028]
C: Pointing During Presentation Step S7 and subsequent steps in FIG. 4 are the pointing process during presentation. That is, the pointing is performed by arbitrarily moving the illuminated instruction mark 9 in the virtual screen 31 (step S7). The instruction mark 9 is photographed by the camera 23 (step S8), and the image is input to the control unit 10. The control unit 10 recognizes the photographing direction of the camera 23, calculates the position of the instruction mark one by one, and screens the image. Convert to coordinates (step S9). Next, a point image is generated at the screen coordinate position (step S10). Reference numeral 33 in FIG. 3 is a point image generated on the screen coordinates 32, in this case, an arrow. On the other hand, reference numeral 34 in FIG. 3 is the display image, and the display image 34 and the point image 33 are input to the image synthesizing unit 7. Then, the image synthesizing unit 7 synthesizes the display image 34 and the point image 33 (Step S11), and the synthesized image 35 is projected from the liquid crystal projector 12 on the screen (Step S12).
[0029]
D: Position for Pointing The above A to C are processes up to the display of the point image, and this process is executed in various scenes of the presentation such as the position of the presenter P and who is to be pointed to. Can be. Here, the following three examples will be described.
[0030]
a) FIG. 5 shows a case where the presenter P points to the material S placed on the material mounting table 21 of the material presentation device 1. In this case, the material S is photographed with the camera 23 facing downward, and the virtual screen is set within the photographing range. Here, when the image displayed on the screen is the personal computer 3 or the storage device 4, only the point image based on the image of the instruction mark 9 is combined with the display image. However, when the material S, that is, the image captured by the camera 23 is displayed, the hand of the pen 90 or the presenter P is reflected. Therefore, if the image captured by the camera 23 is processed as a still image and a point image is synthesized with the still image, only the point image can be synthesized.
[0031]
b) FIG. 6 shows a case where the presenter P away from the material presentation device 1 performs pointing. In this case, the virtual screen 31 is set in front of or next to the presenter P, and the camera 23 is pointed forward so as to photograph the instruction mark 9 operated in the virtual screen 31. The image to be displayed on the screen is a still image of the image captured by the camera 23, or the personal computer 3 or the storage device 4.
[0032]
c) FIG. 7 shows a case where the audience member Q makes a question or the like to the presenter P while pointing. The camera 23 is pointed at the audience Q, and the virtual screen 31 is set in a space in front of or at the side of the audience Q. Also in this case, the image displayed on the screen is a still image of the image captured by the camera 23 or the personal computer 3 or the storage device 4.
[0033]
The above is one embodiment of the present invention. According to this embodiment, it is fundamentally different from the conventional method of directly instructing a material with an indicator rod or the like, and the instruction mark 9 is photographed by the imaging unit 2 Since the pointing is performed by reflecting the movement on the display image, the problem that the display image is obstructed by the pointing stick or the hand to make it difficult to see does not occur, and accurate and clear pointing can be performed. In addition, since it is not necessary to use an external device such as a digitizer, and a general well-known image processing technique can be applied, the configuration can be made inexpensively and the apparatus does not become large.
[0034]
In addition, since the shooting direction of the camera 23 constituting the imaging unit 2 can be arbitrarily changed and the virtual screen 31 can be set according to the shooting direction, the degree of freedom of the position of the presenter P increases. Also, as described above, the audience Q can easily perform the pointing, and further, for example, can photograph the state in the hall, the audience, and the like between presentations regardless of the pointing. From these things, the diversity of the presentation can be expanded and the presentation can be enhanced.
[0035]
In the above embodiment, the indication mark 9 is formed of a light-emitting object such as an LED, but the indication mark may not be particularly a light-emitting object, for example, a reflection object having a high reflectance relative to the background, An object having a color different from the background may be employed. That is, the visibility is high, and such an instruction mark is preferable because the position can be easily recognized and the point image can be easily generated.
[0036]
Further, it may be configured by a light-emitting object that blinks an instruction mark. In this case, if the light-emitting object is recognized as the indication mark based on the blinking cycle of the blinking light-emitting object, the indication mark can be more reliably recognized. For example, by comparing the luminance data when the blinking instruction mark is turned on and the luminance data when the blinking instruction mark is turned off and searching for the position where the light is turned on, the influence of noise due to background light is reduced.
[0037]
FIG. 8A is an image of luminance data when the instruction mark 9 emits light, and the material S is shown within the shooting range of the camera 23. FIG. 8B is an image of the luminance data when the instruction mark is turned off. By subtracting the luminance data at the time of light emission from the luminance data at the time of light emission, as shown in FIG. Only are detected.
[0038]
When the camera 23 adopts such a method, for example, the pen 23 has a light emitting portion of infrared light that emits light in synchronization with the light emission of the blinking instruction mark, and the red light is displayed on the document presentation device 1 side. A light-receiving sensor including a photodiode or the like for receiving external light may be provided so that the light-receiving sensor can take a picture when the light-receiving sensor receives infrared light and when it does not. Conversely, infrared light or the like may be emitted toward the pen 90 from the material presentation device 1 side, and the instruction mark may emit light in synchronization with this. In this case, the indication mark may emit light in synchronization with the infrared light that is the blinking signal. Note that in both of the above examples, it is possible to obtain the same operation even when light emission is performed asynchronously.
[0039]
Further, the point image according to the present invention can be an arbitrary image such as a point, a circle, a line, or the like by an image processing technique as well as an arrow as shown in FIG. Furthermore, by repeating the composition while connecting the screen coordinates of the moving instruction mark with a line, a long continuous line can be displayed. If this is applied, characters and the like can be drawn on the display image. .
[0040]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, the pointing mark is photographed by the imaging device, and the movement is combined with the display image as a point image to perform the pointing. Not only can the user point accurately and clearly, but also various effects can be obtained such that the variety of presentations can be expanded and the presentations can be enhanced, and the apparatus does not become large. Play.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration and functions of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a specific image of a system configuration.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an image of a process from setting of a virtual screen to pointing.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a process from setting of a virtual screen to pointing.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a presenter performs pointing while shooting a material.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a presenter performs pointing at a position distant from the document presentation device.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a state in which an audience points.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an image for detecting the position of a blinking instruction mark based on luminance data.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Material presentation apparatus, 2 ... Imaging part, 3 ... Personal computer (image holding means)
4 storage device (image holding means), 7 image synthesis unit, 8 image output unit
9: instruction mark, 10: control unit, 30: angle of view, 31: virtual screen,
32: screen coordinates, 33: point image, P: presenter, S: material.

Claims (8)

An imaging unit for photographing the material,
An instruction mark photographed by the imaging unit;
A control unit that converts the position of the instruction mark into screen coordinates of an image display unit and generates a point image,
An image combining unit that combines the point image with an image supplied from the image capturing unit or an image holding unit other than the image capturing unit,
A presentation system using a material presentation device, comprising: an image output unit that outputs an image synthesized by the image synthesis unit to the image display unit. The presentation system according to claim 1, wherein the pointing mark points at a virtual screen set in an arbitrary range of an angle of view of the imaging unit. The presentation system according to claim 1, wherein an imaging direction of the imaging unit can be arbitrarily changed. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image holding unit is at least one of a personal computer, an external storage device storing images, and an internal storage device. Presentation system. The instruction mark is a reflective object having a relatively high reflectance with respect to the background, or a light-emitting object that is relatively bright with respect to the background and is lit or blinking, or an object having a color different from the background. A presentation system using the material presentation device according to any one of claims 1 to 4. 5. The flashing light emitting object detecting means for recognizing the flashing light emitting object as a flashing light based on the flashing cycle of the flashing light emitting object. A presentation system using the material presentation device according to any one of the above. The presentation system according to claim 1, wherein the control unit generates the point image into an arbitrary image such as a point, a circle, an arrow, a line, and the like. The presentation system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the image compositing unit composes the point image into a continuous line following the movement of the instruction mark.

Images