JP5200261B2 - Laser pointer system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a laser pointer that can irradiate a screen or the like with laser light and can give a required command to a personal computer for presentation or the like.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a laser pointer that is used in a place such as a presentation or a meeting and indicates a part of a screen projected on a screen by a projector, an OHP, or the like with a laser beam is well known.

  In addition to laser light irradiation, a device capable of performing remote operations such as changing a display screen by wireless communication with a personal computer or other information processing apparatus has been developed. As a specific example of such a laser pointer, a pen-shaped housing is provided with an operation unit for laser irradiation (press button), an operation unit for page feed command, and an operation unit for page return command. A laser pointer that can irradiate a laser beam by operating each operation unit or give a command similar to that of a mouse as well as a page feed or page return command to the information processing apparatus. it can.

  In the above-described configuration, a plurality of laser pointers with remote control functions can be communicated to a single receiver, and a user other than the performer can communicate with the information processing apparatus as described above in a presentation. A system capable of giving a command including a mouse function has also been devised (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2006-162024 A

  Here, when the laser pointer is recognized by the receiver so as to be remotely operable, an operation of ID setting is required in which the laser pointer receives an ID held by the receiver. However, when a plurality of laser pointers set an ID for a single receiver, the ID is received by a laser pointer other than the required laser pointer, and the required laser pointer is not recognized correctly, so-called interference. There is a problem that this happens.

  Moreover, the above interference does not always occur only in the same system. That is, the ID request signal from the laser pointer may be received by a receiver used in another similar system, and then the presentation progress of the other system may be inferior. Conceivable. On the other hand, if the laser pointer to be used for another presentation erroneously receives an ID transmitted from the receiver, the receiver receives a remote operation related to the other presentation. Of course, a situation in which the progress of the presentation that has a problem is hindered.

  The present invention focuses on such problems, and a plurality of laser pointers with a remote control function having a mouse function and the like are correctly recognized by a single receiver, and each laser pointer preferably communicates with the receiver. The purpose is to provide a system to obtain.

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention takes the following measures. That laser pointer system according to the present invention, a plurality of laser pointers capable of performing remote control and a single receiver to be connected to the information processing apparatus to said information processing apparatus, ID request issued from the laser pointer By sequentially performing ID setting by receiving a signal by the receiver, the receiver and the plurality of laser pointers that have performed the ID setting each perform wireless communication to perform the remote operation, From the time when the receiver receives the ID request signal from any one of the plurality of laser pointers for which the ID setting is not performed until the ID setting for the one laser pointer is completed Is configured to reject reception of an ID request signal from another laser pointer.

  If this is the case, communication between a plurality of laser pointers and the receiver will interfere, specifically, the ID is transmitted to a laser pointer different from the laser pointer that transmitted the ID request signal. It is possible to effectively avoid problems such as being carried out. Furthermore, it is possible to effectively suppress interference with other similar systems such as an ID being transmitted to a laser pointer provided for another similar system.

  In order to be able to set IDs of a large number of laser pointers simply and quickly by performing quick ID setting, an ID request button for placing the receiver in an ID request waiting state capable of receiving the ID request signal It is desirable to set the ID request waiting time for continuing the ID request waiting state within a predetermined time after the ID request button is pressed. Specifically, the predetermined time is preferably set to 8 seconds to 12 seconds. If the predetermined time is shorter than 8 seconds, the work related to the user ID setting is not in time, and a complicated operation such as redoing of the work is caused. The time required for setting the ID becomes long, and a long time is required for setting the IDs of a plurality of laser pointers.

  In particular, in order to more effectively avoid interference with other similar systems, the distance at which the laser pointer and the receiver can perform the ID setting is set to be greater than the distance at which the laser pointer can perform the remote operation. It is desirable to set a short distance. As a specific configuration for encouraging the ID setting operation to be performed only based on the clear intention of the user, the distance at which the ID setting can be performed is approximately one user having a receiver. It is desirable to set it to 0.3 to 1.2 m, which is a distance that can be performed at a place. If the distance described above is 0.3 m or less, the position of the laser pointer is likely to be outside the range where ID setting is possible, and there is a risk that ID setting will be complicated. On the other hand, if the distance is 1.3 m or longer, the possibility of the above-described interference cannot be sufficiently reduced.

  If the receiver transmits the same ID to each of the plurality of laser pointers, it is easy to use an ID different from that of the receiver constituting the other system, and the interference with other systems is simplified. Can be effectively avoided by using a simple configuration.

  In order to make it possible to set IDs of a large number of laser pointers more simply and quickly, it is assumed that the laser pointer has an ID request transmission button for transmitting the ID request signal. It is desirable to set the time during which ID transmitted from the receiver can be received within a certain period of time after is pressed.

  Specifically, it is preferable to set the certain time to 1 to 3 seconds. That is, if the fixed time is shorter than 1 second, the receiver cannot receive the ID request signal for some reason, and a complicated operation such as redoing the ID setting work is caused. As a result, the time required for setting the ID of one laser pointer becomes long, and a lot of time is required for setting the ID of a plurality of laser pointers.

  According to the present invention, the communication between a plurality of laser pointers and the receiver may interfere, specifically, the ID is transmitted to a laser pointer different from the laser pointer that transmitted the ID request signal. Therefore, it is possible to provide a laser pointer system that can effectively avoid such a problem. At the same time, it is possible to provide a laser pointer system capable of effectively suppressing interference with other similar systems such as IDs transmitted to laser pointers provided for other similar systems. .

1 is an external view showing a laser pointer system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The external view of the laser pointer provided to the system. The front view. The left side view. The right side view. The external view of the receiver provided to the system. The flowchart for demonstrating ID setting in the same system.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the laser pointer system S according to the present embodiment used in a presentation, a meeting, or the like displays slides, pages, etc., and images and / or sounds while using a plurality of laser pointers 1. Is used, and the information processing device 6 for recording / recording is used. Specifically, the information processing device 6 is a personal computer, a multi-function television receiver, a disk reproducing device, a recording device, or the like. As shown in FIG. 1, a projector 7, a monitor, Connect devices such as an amplifier, speaker, camera, and microphone. The information processing device 6 is connected to a receiver 5 that is a single receiver that receives a radio signal transmitted from the laser pointer 1.

  That is, the laser pointer system S according to the present embodiment performs remote operations such as changing the display screen of the receiver 5 and the information processing apparatus 6 connected to the personal computer or other information processing apparatus 6 as shown in FIG. It is composed of a plurality of laser pointers 1 to be obtained, and in a presentation such as a conference or research presentation, not only the performer but also other members can perform remote operations such as changing the display screen. Therefore, not only for the progress of the presentation, but also for the case where the display screen is frequently changed in subsequent discussions, it is possible for multiple members to promptly change the display screen. The flow can be made smooth. In this embodiment, the maximum distance that the laser pointer 1 that has undergone the ID setting can communicate with the receiver 5 and perform remote operation is set to 30 m as an example.

  In this embodiment, the plurality of laser pointers 1 communicate with the receiver 5 in the same manner as described above, and an ID request signal issued from the laser pointer 1 is received by the receiver in order to operate the information processing apparatus 6. ID setting by receiving 5 is performed sequentially. By doing so, the receiver 5 and the required number of laser pointers 1 can easily communicate with each other easily by the ID setting. In the present embodiment, the laser pointer 1 and the receiver 5 are connected to each other so that the ID setting work can be performed with a clear will by the member and the receiver does not misidentify the laser pointer used for other presentations in the vicinity. The distance that can be set is set within 1 m.

  Here, in the laser pointer system S according to the present embodiment, the laser 5 is received after the receiver 5 receives an ID request signal from any one of the plurality of laser pointers for which the ID setting is not performed. Until the ID setting for the pointer 1 is completed, reception of ID request signals from other laser pointers 1 is rejected.

  Hereinafter, the configuration of the laser pointer 1 and the receiver 5 constituting the laser pointer system S and the ID setting procedure performed by the laser pointer 1 and the receiver 5 will be described.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 to 5, the laser pointer 1 includes a main body 2 having a grip portion 23 that a user grips, an irradiation operation portion 30, a command operation portion 31, and a second command provided on the upper surface of the main body 2. In addition to the operation unit 32, the operation unit 33 mainly includes a cursor operation unit 33, a first click button 34a, a second click button 34b, and a third click button 34c.

  The main body 2 has a shape that is gently curved at an intermediate portion in the front-rear direction while extending in the front-rear direction, and the rear portion (front of the hand as viewed from the user) from the portion where the bending starts is the grip portion 23. The main body 2 incorporates a wireless transceiver 41 for transmitting a wireless signal toward the information processing apparatus 6, a laser element 42 for oscillating laser light, a control circuit 43 for controlling the transceiver 41 and the laser element 42, and the like. ing. The transceiver 41, the laser element 42, the control circuit 43 and the like are located in the first half of the main body 2. In addition, a battery box 25 that houses batteries is provided in a lower region of the rear half of the main body 2.

  The irradiation operation unit 30 is operated for the purpose of irradiating laser light. On the other hand, the command operation unit 31 and the second command operation unit 32 are operated for the purpose of controlling the function of the software executed on the information processing apparatus 6. The operation on the second command operation unit 32 has the opposite meaning to the operation on the command operation unit 31. For example, when the software is presentation software that sequentially displays a plurality of slides or pages, the operation on the command operation unit 31 means that the slide or page is switched to the next one, and the operation on the second command operation unit 32 Means to return the slide or page to the previous one. In a presentation or a meeting, the operation frequency of the irradiation operation unit 30 and the command operation unit 31 is relatively high, and the operation frequency of the second command operation unit 32 is considered to be lower than that.

  Further, as described above, the laser pointer 1 has a cursor operation unit 33, a first click button 34a, a second click button 34b, and a function to function as a wireless mouse (pointing device) on the upper surface of the main body 2 as described above. A third click button 34c is further provided. The cursor operation unit 33 is for optically detecting the position of the user's finger placed directly on the lens unit 33a. The cursor operation unit 33 can also be pressed. Pressing the cursor operation unit 33 means clicking the left button of an existing mouse, and long pressing of the cursor operation unit 33 means clicking the center button (scroll wheel) of the mouse. The first click button 34a on the right side of the cursor operation unit 33 is the right button of the mouse, the second click button 34b on the left end of the periphery is the Alt key and Tab key of the keyboard, and the third click is on the left end of the periphery. The button 34c corresponds to hold of the left button. Thus, the laser pointer 1 corresponds to a command signal for moving the mouse cursor in accordance with the movement of the finger stroking the cursor operation unit lens 33a, and an operation applied to the cursor operation unit 33 or the click buttons 34a, 34b, 34c. A command signal is transmitted toward the information processing terminal 6. The cursor operation unit lens 33a and the click buttons 34a, 34b, and 34c are also configured so as not to protrude greatly from the main body surface.

  Further, the laser pointer 1 is activated on the left side of the main body 2 shown in FIG. 4 on the information processing terminal 6 so as to start, play / pause, and so-called media playback software that displays and plays content such as video and audio. A start button 35a, a play / pause button 35b, and a stop button 35c that can perform operations such as stop are provided.

  In this embodiment, a power switch 36, a screen switching button 37, and an ID request transmission button 38 are provided on the right side of the main body 2 shown in FIGS. The power switch 36 is a normal switch for turning on / off the power of the laser pointer 1 itself. When the screen switching button 37 is pressed during execution of a slide show by presentation software or the like, the screen switching button 37 transmits a signal equivalent to pressing the B key of the keyboard. As a result, the screen display becomes black (darkens). To return to the original slide display, the screen switching button 37 may be pressed again.

  The ID request transmission button 38 is used to cause the wireless transceiver 41 to transmit an ID request signal for requesting an ID from the receiver 5 when pressed when performing the above-described ID setting. Will be described in detail later.

  The buttons and switches described above, that is, the irradiation operation unit 30, the command operation unit 31, the second command operation unit 32, the cursor operation unit 33, the first click button 34a, the second click button 34b, and the third The click button 34 c, the start button 35 a, the play / pause button 35 b, the stop button 35 c, the power switch 36, the screen switching button 37, and the ID request transmission button 38 are electrically connected to the control circuit 43. That is, when the irradiation operation unit 30 is operated, the control circuit 43 drives the laser element 42 to oscillate the laser beam and irradiates it forward. Then, the command operation unit 31, the command operation unit 31, the second command operation unit 32, the cursor operation unit 33, the first click button 34a, the second click button 34b, and the third click button 34c, which are other buttons, When the start button 35 a, the play / pause button 35 b, the stop button 35 c, the power switch 36, the screen switching button 37, and the ID request transmission button 38 are operated, the control circuit 43 sends a signal related to a predetermined command via the transceiver 41. Send.

  In the present embodiment, the tips, that is, the upper ends of the operation units 30, 31, 32, 33, 34a, 34b, 34c are positioned so as not to protrude from the surface, that is, the upper surface of the main body 2. Then, on the upper surface of the main body 2, recesses 21, 22, 33 b adjacent to the peripheral edges of the operation units 30, 31, 32, 33 are formed. The recesses 21, 22, and 33 b have a substantially bowl-shaped inner periphery, and surround the peripheral edges of the operation units 30, 31, and 32 over the entire periphery. In particular, the recesses around the irradiation operation unit 30 and the recesses around the command operation unit 31 are continuous, forming an integrated recess 21 that surrounds both operation units 30 and 31. The recess 21 is isolated from the recess 22 around the second command operation unit 32.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the receiver 5 projects a connection plug 52 (USB, IEEE 1394, etc.) for connecting to the information processing device 6 forward from a housing 51 containing a control circuit or the like. A signal received via the plug 52 is sent to the information processing apparatus 6 and is supplied with power from the information processing apparatus 6. A part of the upper and lower surfaces of the casing 51 is cut away so that the user can easily grasp the cutout portion 54 to insert and remove the receiver 5.

  In the present embodiment, the receiver 5 is provided with an ID request waiting button 55 for sequentially setting IDs for a plurality of laser pointers 1 on the rear end surface of the main body, and a plug 52 is connected to the inside via a connection plug. The receiver 5 has a receiver-side transceiver 56 shown by a broken line for transmitting a signal received via the information processing device 6 or the receiver 5 itself to transmit with the laser pointer 1.

  Therefore, the laser pointer system S according to the present embodiment prepares a plurality of the above-described laser pointers 1 not only in the two laser pointers 1 as shown in FIG. By sequentially setting IDs according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 7, any member among the members participating in the presentation can perform a required remote operation on the information processing apparatus 6. The ID setting procedure will be described in detail below with reference to FIG.

  First, ID setting is possible only when the laser pointer 1 and the receiver 5 are in an idle state. Here, the idle state is a state in which the ID request transmission button 38 is not pressed in the laser pointer 1 and is not in any step of FIG. 7, and the ID request waiting button 55 is not pressed in the receiver 5. It is assumed that the state does not exist in any step of FIG.

  When the ID request waiting button 55 of the receiver 5 is pressed (step S201), an ID request waiting state is started (step S202). On the other hand, as the laser pointer ID request transmission button 38 is pressed (step 101), the laser pointer 1 transmits an ID request signal so as to reach only within a radius of 1 m (step S102).

  If the receiver 5 in the ID request waiting state receives the ID request signal within 10 seconds (step S203) (step S204), the receiver 5 ends the ID request waiting state (step S205). A state of refusing to receive any remote operation or ID request signal from the laser pointer 1 other than the transmitted laser pointer is started. After that, the lot-specific ID of the receiver 5 is transmitted so as to reach only within the radius of 1 m (step S206), and the ID setting end signal waiting state from the laser pointer 1 is started (step S207). On the other hand, if the ID request signal from any laser pointer cannot be received within 10 seconds (step S203), the ID request waiting state is terminated and the idle state is entered.

  Here, in step S206, a unique ID of each receiver 5 is transmitted at least as described above, and the same ID is set for the other laser pointers 1 for setting IDs before and after. To send. Further, in the present embodiment, in addition to the unique ID, a mode in which so-called channel information can be transmitted so that the receiver 5 can accurately communicate with each laser pointer 1 is adopted. For such channel transmission, various existing techniques such as a technique relating to frequency setting, a technique relating to a time slot, or a technique relating to a code multiplex division scheme can be applied.

  If the laser pointer 1 can receive the ID transmitted in step S206 within 2 seconds (step S103) after transmitting the ID request signal based on step S102 (step S104), the laser pointer 1 Stores the ID in a built-in storage means (not shown) (step S105). On the other hand, when the laser pointer 1 cannot receive the ID within 2 seconds from the transmission of the ID request signal (step S102) (step S103), it shifts to the idle state.

  Then, the ID storing laser pointer 1 transmits an ID setting completion signal thereafter (step S106).

  On the other hand, on the receiver 5 side, when the ID setting completion signal can be received within 8 seconds (step S208) after the ID setting completion waiting state is started based on step S207 (step S209), the receiver 5 A state in which communication with the laser pointer 1 can be performed, that is, the ID setting is completed, and then the idle state is set. On the other hand, if the ID setting completion signal cannot be received within 8 seconds (step S208), the ID setting is not completed and the process shifts to the idle state.

  Here, the idle state from step S208 or step S209 means that any remote operation or ID request from the laser pointer 1 other than the laser pointer 1 that has transmitted the ID request signal continued from step S205. It also means that the state in which the signal reception refusal is terminated and that the ID setting completion signal waiting state based on step S207 is terminated are included.

  With the configuration as described above, the laser pointer system S according to the present embodiment allows the receiver 5 as a receiver until the ID setting for the laser pointer 1 in the ID setting operation as shown in FIG. 7 is completed. Is configured to reject the reception of the ID request signal from the other laser pointer 1, so that the communication between the plurality of laser pointers 1 and the receiver 5 interferes, specifically, the ID request signal. The problem that an ID is transmitted to a laser pointer 1 different from the laser pointer 1 that transmitted the message is effectively avoided. Furthermore, it is possible to effectively suppress interference with other similar systems such as an ID being transmitted to a laser pointer 1 provided for another similar system.

  Further, in this embodiment, in order to be able to quickly and quickly set IDs and set IDs of a large number of laser pointers 1, the ID request waiting state is continued after the ID request button is pressed. ID request waiting time is set within 10 seconds. That is, with such a configuration, it takes a long time to set the ID of one laser pointer 1 even if a task related to the user's ID setting is not in time and a complicated operation such as redoing the work is invited. This can be effectively avoided.

  In particular, in the present embodiment, since the distance at which the laser pointer 1 and the receiver 5 can set the ID is set to be within 1 m, interference with other similar systems during ID setting can be avoided more effectively. It also contributes to prompting the ID setting operation to be performed only by the operation based on the clear will of the user. In this configuration, the above-mentioned distance is set to 0.3 m, and the position of the laser pointer 1 is likely to be out of the range where ID setting is possible, and the ID setting may be complicated, and the distance is 1.3 m. In the case described above, it is possible to effectively avoid the fact that the above-described effect of avoiding interference can not be fully enjoyed.

  In this embodiment, it is assumed that the receiver 5 transmits the same ID to each of the plurality of laser pointers 1, and the possibility of interference with the receivers 5 of other lots constituting another system is simplified. However, it has been eliminated.

  Further, in the present embodiment, in order to be able to set IDs of a large number of laser pointers 1 more simply and quickly, the laser pointer 1 has an ID request transmission button for transmitting the ID request signal. It is assumed that the time during which the ID transmitted from the receiver 5 can be received after the ID request transmission button is pressed is set within 2 seconds. By doing so, such a fixed time is set to a time shorter than 1 second, the receiver 5 cannot receive the ID request signal for some reason, and the ID setting work is forced to be redone. The problem that the time required for setting the ID of one laser pointer 1 is also long can be effectively avoided by setting the time to exceed 3 seconds.

  Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the specific configuration of each unit is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the aspect of the laser pointer with the mouse function is disclosed, but of course, it is an aspect applied to the one having only the function such as page feed of the presentation software without the mouse function. May be. In addition, specific modes related to the shape of the laser pointer and the function and shape of the receiver are not limited to those of the above-described embodiment, and various modes including the existing ones can be applied.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Laser pointer 38 ... ID request transmission button 5 ... Receiver (receiver)
55 ... ID request wait button 6 ... Information processing device S ... Laser pointer system

Claims (8)

And a plurality of laser pointers capable of performing remote control and a single receiver to be connected to the information processing apparatus to said information processing apparatus, by an ID request signal emitted from the laser pointer to the receiver receives By sequentially performing ID setting, the receiver and the plurality of laser pointers that have performed the ID setting each perform wireless communication to perform the remote operation,
From the time when the receiver receives the ID request signal from any one of the plurality of laser pointers for which the ID setting is not performed until the ID setting for the one laser pointer is completed Is configured to refuse reception of an ID request signal from another laser pointer. An ID request waiting button for entering an ID request waiting state in which the receiver can receive the ID request signal, and an ID for continuing the ID request waiting state after the ID request waiting button is pressed The laser pointer system according to claim 1, wherein the request waiting time is set within a predetermined time. The laser pointer system according to claim 2, wherein the predetermined time is set to 8 to 12 seconds. The laser according to claim 1, 2, or 3, wherein a distance that the laser pointer and the receiver can perform the ID setting is set to be shorter than a distance that the laser pointer can perform the remote operation. Pointer system. The laser pointer system according to claim 4, wherein a distance at which the ID can be set is set to 0.3 to 1.2 m. 6. The laser pointer system according to claim 1, wherein the receiver transmits the same ID to each of the plurality of laser pointers. The laser pointer has an ID request transmission button for transmitting the ID request signal, and the time during which the ID transmitted from the receiver can be received after the ID request transmission button is pressed is within a certain time. 7. The laser pointer system according to claim 1, wherein the laser pointer system is set as follows. 8. The laser pointer system according to claim 7, wherein the predetermined time is set to 1 to 3 seconds.

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