JP5614849B2 - Command signal transmitting apparatus and operation method thereof - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a command signal transmission apparatus and an operation method thereof.

  Conventionally, for example, there is a technique of transmitting a command signal to a computer using a finger and causing the computer to execute an operation according to the command signal.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 12A, many smartphones can realize an operation by displaying a button BT on the touch display 111 and touching the button BT with a finger.

  Further, as described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, there is a method of operating a smartphone by using a method of identifying a finger gesture without contact and photographing a gesture associated with a specific operation with a camera of the smartphone.

JP 2010-15294 A JP 2005-321966 A

(1) Problem of high operation difficulty The above-described method of displaying a button on a touch display has a problem that the operation difficulty increases depending on the position where the button is displayed. This problem is particularly serious when one hand is occupied by a luggage and a smartphone is operated with one hand.

  For example, consider a case where the right hand is blocked and the smartphone is operated with only the left hand.

  If the button BT is displayed at the bottom of the touch display 111 as shown in FIG. 12A, the button BT can be easily pressed with the thumb. However, if the button BT is displayed on the upper part of the touch display 111 as shown in FIG. 12B, the thumb is fully extended and the button BT is pushed, or the smartphone is held again as shown in FIG. It is necessary to press the button BT, which not only increases the difficulty of the operation, but also has a risk of dropping the smartphone during the operation.

(2) Problem with low robustness The above-described method of operating a smartphone with a finger gesture associated with a specific operation has a problem of low robustness when recognizing a gesture.

  For example, consider a case where the right hand is blocked and the smartphone is operated with only the left hand.

  In this case, as shown in FIGS. 13 (a) and 13 (b), a method of recognizing the gesture of the left index finger with the camera 12 on the back surface 11b of the smartphone with the smartphone in the left hand is conceivable. The method of Patent Document 1 specifies a monochromatic object region using color information or the like in an image captured by the camera 12, so that there is a possibility that a finger gesture can be recognized depending on conditions.

  However, when an object close to the color of the hand appears in the background where the finger gesture is performed, this method results in a decrease in recognition accuracy. In addition, since the distance between the camera 12 and the finger is short, the camera is not well focused on the finger or the finger is often out of the shooting area of the camera 12, and the recognition accuracy of the finger gesture is likely to decrease.

  The method of Patent Document 2 that uses position information of other objects in space in addition to color information is more robust than a method that uses only color information. However, this method is difficult to apply to a smartphone that is operated while moving because position information of other objects in the space needs to be registered in the system in advance.

  As described above, in the technique of transmitting a command signal to a computer using a finger, the command signal transmitting device having a high degree of operation difficulty and low robustness, and therefore easy to operate and having high robustness, and an operation method thereof Realization of is desired.

In order to solve the above problems, the present application has taken the following measures.

The first aspect of the present invention is
A command signal transmitting apparatus that transmits a command signal indicating a command for causing a computer to perform a desired operation to the computer,
The body,
A camera provided on the main body and imaging the direction of the outside of the main body;
An instruction storage unit in which instructions are stored in advance;
An image acquisition unit for acquiring an image captured by the camera;
An image feature detection unit for detecting a feature generated in the image due to at least a part of a space in front of the camera being blocked;
A command reading unit that reads a command from the command storage unit if the detected feature satisfies a predetermined condition;
A command signal transmitter for transmitting a command signal indicating the command to a computer,
The instruction storage unit
A command is stored in association with a position identifier indicating a position of a low brightness area having a brightness equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold in the image,
The image feature detection unit
In the image, by counting pixels having brightness below the threshold for each region, the position of the low brightness region in the image is determined,
The instruction reading unit
A command signal transmitting apparatus that reads a command associated with a position identifier indicating the position is used as a solving means.

The second aspect of the present invention
An operation method of an instruction signal transmitting apparatus for transmitting an instruction signal indicating an instruction for causing a computer to perform a desired operation to the computer,
The command signal transmitting device includes a main body, a camera provided in the main body and imaging a direction outside the main body, and a command storage unit in which a command is stored in advance.
The operation method is as follows:
An image acquisition unit of the command signal transmission device acquires an image captured by the camera;
An image feature detection unit of the command signal transmission device detecting a feature generated in the image due to at least a part of a space in front of the camera being blocked;
A command reading unit of the command signal transmitting device reads the command from the command storage unit if the detected feature satisfies a predetermined condition;
A command signal transmitting unit of the command signal transmitting device includes a step of transmitting a command signal indicating the command to a computer;
The instruction storage unit
A command is stored in association with a position identifier indicating a position of a low brightness area having a brightness equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold in the image,
The image feature detection unit
In the image, by counting pixels having brightness below the threshold for each region, the position of the low brightness region in the image is determined,
The instruction reading unit
The command associated with the position identifier indicating the position is read, and the operation method of the command signal transmitting device is characterized in that the solution means.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a command signal transmitting apparatus that is easy to operate and highly robust, and an operation method thereof.

It is a figure which shows the external appearance of the smart phone incorporating the command signal transmitter which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the command signal transmitter which concerns on 1st Embodiment. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of operation of the command signal transmission device 10. It is a figure which shows the typical example of an image. It is a figure which shows an example of the arrangement | sequence data transmitted to the lightness determination part 151 from the image acquisition part 14. FIG. It is a flowchart which shows an example of operation | movement in FIG.5 S9 which the lightness determination part 151 performs. It is a figure which shows an example of the arrangement | sequence data transmitted to the low lightness area | region ratio determination part 152 from the lightness determination part 151. FIG. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the command signal transmitter which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation flow of the command signal transmitting apparatus 100. It is a figure which shows the typical example of an image. It is a flowchart which shows an example of operation | movement by step SS11 of FIG. 10 which image feature detection part 15A performs. It is a figure which shows an example of the method of operating the conventional smart phone. It is a figure which shows an example of another method of operating the conventional smart phone.

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

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an appearance of a smartphone incorporating the command signal transmission device according to the first embodiment.

  The smartphone 1 includes a main body 11, a camera 12 that images the direction of the outside of the main body 11, and components (described later in detail) provided inside the main body 11.

  When the smartphone 1 is held naturally, it looks from the front surface 11a of the main body 11 as shown in FIG. 1A, and from the back surface 11b of the main body 11 as shown in FIG. A touch display 111 is provided on the front surface 11a, and a lens 12a of the camera 12 is provided on the back surface 11b.

  The camera 12 is disposed at a position where the index finger UP can block the space in front of the lens 12a without particularly stretching or changing the way of holding the finger.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the command signal transmitting apparatus according to the first embodiment.

  The command signal transmission device 10 is incorporated in the smartphone 1 described above, and is used together with the touch display 111 and the touch display control unit 112 which is a computer that controls the touch display 111 and is incorporated in the smartphone 1.

  The command signal transmitting apparatus 10 is captured by the camera body 12, the main body 11 (not shown in the figure), the camera 12, the command storage unit 13 in which commands for controlling the touch display 111 are stored in advance. An image acquisition unit 14 that acquires an image (hereinafter, the image is referred to as the image), an image feature detection unit 15 that detects a feature generated in the image when at least a part of the space in front of the camera 12 is blocked, A command reading unit 16 that reads a command from the command storage unit 13 if the detected feature satisfies a predetermined condition, and a command signal transmission unit that transmits a command signal indicating the read command to the touch display control unit 112 17.

  The image feature detection unit 15 includes a lightness determination unit 151 that determines whether or not the lightness of each pixel constituting the image is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, and an area (low lightness value) that includes pixels having a lightness value equal to or lower than the threshold value. A low lightness area ratio determination unit 152 that calculates a ratio of an area (referred to as an area) to an image (referred to as a low lightness area ratio) and determines whether the low lightness area ratio is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold.

  The instruction storage unit 13 stores an instruction to be read when the area ratio of the low brightness area is larger than a predetermined threshold. Here, it is assumed that this command is a command for “turning off the display of the touch display 111”.

(Operation of the first embodiment)
Next, an example of the operation of the command signal transmission device 10 will be described. Here, an operation of turning off the display on the touch display 111 using the index finger UP of FIG. 1 will be described.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation flow of the command signal transmitting apparatus 10.

  First, the user closes the space in front of the lens 12a with the index finger UP (S1).

  Next, the camera 12 generates an image indicating the space in front of the lens 12a closed with the index finger UP, that is, images the space in front of the lens 12a (S3).

  Next, the image acquisition unit 14 acquires an image captured by the camera 12 (S5).

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a typical example of an image.

  In many cases, in the space in front of the lens 12a, the portion B covered with the index finger UP is black, and the uncovered portion W is white. In the portion W, a scene or an object in front of the lens 12a is reflected, but since it is not blocked by the index finger UP, outside light enters and the portion W not blocked by the index finger UP is a blocked portion. Brighter than B.

  Returning to FIG. 3, the image acquisition unit 14 converts the image into array data, and transmits the array data to the brightness determination unit 151 of the image feature detection unit 15 (S7).

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of array data transmitted from the image acquisition unit 14 to the brightness determination unit 151.

The array data includes a row for each pixel constituting the image.
Each row includes a pixel ID indicating the corresponding pixel, coordinates indicating the position of the pixel in the image, and each color component amount constituting the color of the pixel, that is, an R value, a G value indicating the component amount of red, green, and blue, B value.

  The pixel ID is expressed by an integer value of 1 to N (integer). N is the total number of pixels in the image, in other words, the total number of rows of array data.

  The coordinates consist of the horizontal coordinate and vertical coordinate of the pixel with the upper left corner of the image as a reference. The R value, the G value, and the B value are expressed by integer values of 0 to 255, for example.

  Returning to FIG. 3, next, the lightness determination unit 151 determines, for each pixel of the image, whether the lightness of the pixel is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold, writes the determination result into the array data, and writes the array data to the low lightness. It transmits to the area | region ratio determination part 152 (S9).

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the operation in step S9 of FIG. 5 performed by the lightness determination unit 151. Here, when the R value is equal to or less than the threshold value Th (R), the G value is equal to or less than the threshold value Th (G), and the B value is equal to or less than the threshold value Th (B), the R value, It is known in advance that the brightness of the pixel having the G value and the B value is not more than a certain threshold value, and the brightness determination unit 151 stores the threshold values Th (R), Th (G), and Th (B) in advance. Suppose that That is, the brightness threshold value is actually stored. For example, the threshold values Th (R), Th (G), and Th (B) are all 30. Each threshold is preferably set high when the surrounding environment of the smartphone 1 is bright and low when it is dark.

  Further, for example, the lightness determination unit 151 counts the total number of rows of array data, that is, the total number N of pixels constituting the image, and stores this.

  As shown in FIG. 6A, first, the lightness determination unit 151 initializes a variable i for the pixel ID to 1 (T1).

  Next, the lightness determination unit 151 determines whether or not the variable i is equal to or less than the total number of pixels N (T3). If the variable i is equal to or smaller than the total number of pixels N (T3: YES), the lightness determination unit 151 determines whether the lightness of the pixel corresponding to the variable i is equal to or less than a threshold value, and writes the determination result in the corresponding row of the array data ( T5). Subsequently, the lightness determination unit 151 adds 1 to the variable i (T7), and returns the control to step T3.

  On the other hand, if the variable i is larger than the total number of pixels N (T3: NO), the lightness determination unit 151 transmits the array data to the low lightness area ratio determination unit 152 (T9), and ends the process.

  As shown in FIG. 6B, in step T5, the lightness determination unit 151 first reads a row including a pixel ID equal to the variable i from the array data (T51).

  Next, the lightness determination unit 151 determines whether or not the R value of the read row is equal to or less than a threshold value Th (R) (T52).

  If the R value is equal to or less than the threshold Th (R) (T52: YES), the lightness determination unit 151 determines whether the G value of the read row is equal to or less than the threshold Th (G) (T53).

  If the G value is equal to or smaller than the threshold Th (G) (T53: YES), the lightness determination unit 151 determines whether or not the B value of the read row is equal to or smaller than the threshold Th (B) (T54).

  If the B value is equal to or less than the threshold Th (B) (T54: YES), the brightness determination unit 151 writes a low brightness flag “1” indicating that the brightness of the pixel is equal to or less than the threshold to the read row (T55). Then, the control proceeds to step T7.

  On the other hand, the lightness determination unit 151 determines that the R value is greater than the threshold Th (R) (T52: NO), the G value is greater than the threshold Th (G) (T53: NO), or the B value is the threshold. If greater than Th (B) (T53: NO), a low brightness flag “0” indicating that the brightness of the pixel is greater than the threshold value is written to the read row (T56), and control proceeds to step T7.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of array data transmitted from the lightness determination unit 151 to the low lightness area ratio determination unit 152.

  For example, in the row of the pixel ID “1”, the R value “0” is 30 (threshold Th (R)) or less, and the G value “0” is 30 (threshold Th (G)) or less. In addition, since the B value “0” is 30 (threshold Th (B)) or less, the low brightness flag “1” is written. Since the rows with pixel IDs “2” and “3” also satisfy this condition, the low brightness flag “1” is written.

  On the other hand, in the row of the pixel ID “1001”, for example, since the R value “40” is larger than 30 (threshold value Th (R)), the low brightness flag “0” is written. The row of pixel IDs “1002” and “1003” is also written with the low brightness flag “0” because any of the R value, G value, and B value satisfies this condition.

  Returning to FIG. 3, the low lightness area ratio determination unit 152 sets the lightness below the threshold value determined for the lightness (threshold value indirectly or substantially determined by the threshold value Th (R) as described above). The low lightness area ratio, which is the ratio of the area occupied by the low lightness area composed of the pixels having the pixels, is calculated, it is determined whether or not the low lightness area ratio is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value, and the determination result is sent to the instruction reading unit 16 Notification is made (S11).

  Specifically, the low lightness area ratio determination unit 152 calculates a value obtained by dividing the number of rows including the low lightness flag “1” by the total number of lines in the array data, that is, a low lightness area ratio. It is determined whether or not a predetermined threshold (for example, 0.8) or more, and the determination result is notified to the instruction reading unit 16 (S11). When the number of rows including the low brightness flag “1” is 1700 and the total number of rows is 2000, the low brightness area ratio is 1700/2000 = 0.85. In this case, the determination result is “the low brightness area ratio is equal to or greater than the threshold”.

  Next, when the determination result is “the low lightness area ratio is equal to or greater than the threshold” (S13: YES), the command reading unit 16 issues a command from the command storage unit 13, that is, a command to “turn off display on the touch display 111”. Is transmitted to the command signal transmission unit 17 (S15). On the other hand, if the determination result is “the low brightness area ratio is less than the threshold” (S13: NO), the process is terminated.

  If the command signal transmission part 17 receives the command of step S15, the command signal which shows this command will be transmitted to the touch display control part 112 (S17).

  When receiving the command signal, the touch display control unit 112 follows the command, that is, controls the touch display 111 to turn off (erase) the display (S19), and the process ends.

  As described above, the command signal transmitting apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment transmits a command signal indicating a command for causing the computer (112) to perform a desired operation to the computer (112). Yes, a main body 11, a camera 12 that images the direction of the outside of the main body 11, a command storage unit 13 that stores commands in advance, and an image acquisition unit that acquires images captured by the camera 12 14, an image feature detection unit 15 that detects a feature generated in an image when at least a part of a space in front of the camera 12 is blocked, and the detected feature satisfies a predetermined condition (S <b> 13: YES). Then, the camera includes a command reading unit 16 that reads a command from the command storage unit 13 and a command signal transmission unit 17 that transmits a command signal indicating the command to the computer (112). By a simple operation of plugging up at least a part of the two previous space, moreover, with a high robustness can transmit a command signal to the computer (112).

  Specifically, the instruction storage unit 13 stores an instruction to be read when the ratio of the area occupied by the low-lightness area having the lightness equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold in the image satisfies a predetermined condition. The image feature detection unit 15 obtains the ratio of the area occupied by the low brightness area in the image and determines whether the area ratio satisfies the above condition (S11). The command signal can be transmitted to the computer (112) by closing the space in front of the camera 12 so that the ratio satisfies the condition.

  In addition, in 1st Embodiment, although the command signal transmitter 10 was integrated in the smart phone 1, the command signal transmitter 10 may be integrated in another apparatus and may exist independently. Further, the constituent elements of the command signal transmitting apparatus 10 may be appropriately distributed among a plurality of apparatuses.

  In the first embodiment, the R value, the G value, and the B value are used to determine whether the brightness of the pixel is equal to or less than the threshold value. However, other color systems may be used.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the second embodiment, the same or similar apparatus and apparatus configuration as those in the first embodiment are used, and the same or similar elements are redundantly described by using the reference numerals used in the first embodiment. For brevity, the description will focus on matters different from the first embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the command signal transmission device is incorporated in a smartphone 1 including a main body 11 and a camera 12.

  FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the command signal transmission apparatus according to the second embodiment.

  The command signal transmission device 100 is used with a web browser 115 incorporated in the smartphone 1 and a web browser control unit 116 that is a computer that controls the web browser 115.

  The command signal transmitting apparatus 10 is configured to detect the position of the low brightness area where the command for controlling the main body 11 (not shown in the figure), the camera 12, and the web browser 115 has a brightness equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold in the image. A command storage unit 13A that is stored in advance in association with a position identifier indicating the image, an image acquisition unit 14 that acquires an image, and a feature that occurs in the image when at least part of the space in front of the camera 12 is blocked If the detected feature satisfies a predetermined condition, the command is read out from the command storage unit 13A, that is, associated with a position identifier indicating the position of the low brightness area that is the feature of the image. A command reading unit 16A that reads the command from the command storage unit 13A and a command signal transmission unit 17 that transmits a command signal to the web browser control unit 116.

  The image feature detection unit 15A includes a lightness determination unit 151A that determines whether or not the lightness of each pixel constituting the image is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, and the left and right of the low lightness region with respect to the horizontal center of the image. And a low brightness area position determination unit 152A for determining which of the two is present.

  The instruction storage unit 13A stores an instruction in association with the position of the low-lightness area in the image, and shows a feature that the low-lightness area exists on the left side with respect to the horizontal center of the image. A feature corresponding to a so-called “return” operation of the web browser 115 is stored in association with the position identifier (referred to as position identifier L), and the low brightness area exists on the right side with respect to the horizontal center of the image. Is stored in association with a position identifier (referred to as a position identifier R) indicating the so-called “forward” operation of the web browser 115.

(Operation of Second Embodiment)
Next, an example of the operation of the command signal transmission device 100 will be described. Here, an operation of causing the web browser 115 to execute “return” or “forward” using the index finger UP of FIG. 1 will be described.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an operation flow of the command signal transmitting apparatus 100.

First, the user closes the space in front of the lens 12a with the index finger UP (SS1).
Next, the camera 12 generates an image indicating the space in front of the lens 12a closed with the index finger UP, that is, images the space in front of the lens 12a (SS3).

  Next, the image acquisition unit 14 acquires an image captured by the camera 12 (SS5).

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a typical example of an image.
When the user wants to perform a “return” operation on the web browser 115, the left side of the space in front of the lens 12a is closed, whereby an image as shown in FIG. 10A is obtained.

  On the other hand, when the user wants the web browser 115 to perform the “forward” operation, the user closes the right side of the space in front of the lens 12a, whereby an image as shown in FIG. 10B is obtained. Returning to FIG. 9, the image acquisition unit 14 converts the image into array data, and transmits the array data to the image feature detection unit 15A (SS7). The array data is data in a format as shown in FIG.

  The image feature detection unit 15A obtains a position identifier indicating the position of the low brightness area in the image based on the array data, and transmits the position identifier to the instruction reading unit 16A (SS11).

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation in step SS11 of FIG. 10 performed by the image feature detection unit 15A. Here, when the R value is equal to or less than the threshold value Th (R), the G value is equal to or less than the threshold value Th (G), and the B value is equal to or less than the threshold value Th (B), the R value, It is known in advance that the brightness of the pixel having the G value and the B value is below a certain threshold value, and the brightness determination unit 151A stores the threshold values Th (R), Th (G), and Th (B) in advance. Suppose that That is, the brightness threshold value is actually stored. For example, the threshold values Th (R), Th (G), and Th (B) are all 30. Each threshold is preferably set high when the surrounding environment of the smartphone 1 is bright and low when it is dark.

  Further, for example, the lightness determination unit 151A counts the total number N of pixels constituting the image and stores it. Further, it is assumed that the lightness determination unit 151A counts the total number of pixels W in the horizontal direction and stores this.

  As shown in FIG. 11A, first, the lightness determination unit 151A initializes the variable i for the pixel ID to 1, and also determines the lightness that is present in two variables, that is, the left half of the image and equal to or less than the threshold value. A variable Count (L) indicating the number of pixels having the value and a variable Count (R) indicating the number of pixels existing in the right half of the image and having a lightness equal to or less than the threshold value are initialized to 0 (TT1).

  Next, the lightness determination unit 151A determines whether or not the variable i is equal to or less than the total number of pixels N (TT3).

  If the variable i is less than or equal to the total number of pixels N (TT3: YES), the lightness determination unit 151A determines whether the lightness of the pixel corresponding to the variable i is less than or equal to a threshold value. The unit 152A updates the variable Count (L) or the variable Count (R) according to the position of the pixel (TT5). Subsequently, the lightness determination unit 151A adds 1 to the variable i (TT7), and returns to Step TT3.

  On the other hand, if the variable i is larger than the total number of pixels N (TT3: NO), the low brightness area position determination unit 152A compares the variable Count (L) with the variable Count (R) (TT9). That is, the low brightness area position determination unit 152A determines whether the low brightness area exists on the left or the right with respect to the horizontal center of the image (TT9).

  When the variable Count (L) is larger than the variable Count (R), that is, when the low brightness area is in the left part of the image (TT9: YES), the low lightness area position determination unit 152A uses the command identifier to read the position identifier L. It transmits to 16A (TT11) and finishes the process.

  On the other hand, if the variable Count (L) is equal to or less than the variable Count (R), that is, if the low brightness area is in the right part of the image (TT9: NO), the low brightness area position determination unit 152A reads the command of the position identifier R. It transmits to the part 16A (TT13) and finishes the process.

  As shown in FIG. 11B, in step TT5, the lightness determination unit 151A performs steps T51 to T54 in the same manner as the operation of the lightness determination unit 151 shown in FIG. If (R) is greater (T52: NO), or if the G value is greater than the threshold Th (G) (T53: NO), or if the B value is greater than the threshold Th (B) (T53: NO), Control proceeds to step TT7.

  On the other hand, the low brightness region position determination unit 152A determines that the R value is equal to or less than the threshold value Th (R) (T52: YES), the G value is equal to or less than the threshold value Th (G) (T53: YES), and the B value is equal to the threshold value Th. (B) If the following (T54: YES), the horizontal coordinate is read from the row including the same pixel ID as the variable i of the array data, and it is determined whether or not the coordinate is less than the value obtained by dividing the total number of pixels W by 2. (TT61).

  If the coordinate in the horizontal direction is less than the value obtained by dividing the total number of pixels W by 2 (TT61: YES), the low brightness area position determination unit 152A adds 1 to the variable Count (L) (TT63), and performs control at step TT7. Proceed to

  On the other hand, if the horizontal coordinate is equal to or greater than the value obtained by dividing the total number of pixels W by 2 (TT61: NO), the low brightness area position determination unit 152A adds 1 to the variable Count (R) (TT65), and performs control. Proceed to step TT7.

  Returning to FIG. 9, when the instruction reading unit 16A receives the position identifier L from the low brightness area position determination unit 152A, the instruction associated with the position identifier L from the instruction storage unit 13A, that is, the so-called “of the web browser 115”. When the command corresponding to “return” is read out and the command is transmitted to the command signal transmission unit 17 while the location identifier R is received, the command associated with the location identifier R from the command storage unit 13, that is, the web browser 115. The command corresponding to the so-called “advance” is read, and the command is transmitted to the command signal transmitter 17 (SS15).

  If the command signal transmission part 17 receives the command of step SS15, the command signal which shows this command will be transmitted to the web browser control part 116 (SS17).

  When receiving the command signal, the web browser control unit 116 controls the web browser 115 according to the command corresponding to the command signal, that is, causes the web browser 115 to perform a “return” or “forward” operation. (SS19), the process ends.

  As described above, the command signal transmitting apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment transmits a command signal indicating a command for causing the computer (116) to perform a desired operation to the computer (116). Yes, the main body 11, the camera 12 that images the direction outside the main body 11, a command storage unit 13A that stores commands in advance, and an image acquisition unit that acquires images captured by the camera 12 14 and an image feature detection unit 15A that detects a feature that occurs in an image when at least a part of the space in front of the camera 12 is blocked, and the detected feature satisfies a predetermined condition (TT9: YES, etc.) ), A command reading unit 16A that reads a command from the command storage unit 13A and a command signal transmission unit 17 that transmits a command signal indicating the command to the computer (116). And, in an easy operation of plugging up at least a part of the front space of the camera 12, moreover, with a high robustness can transmit a command signal to the computer (116).

  Specifically, the instruction storage unit 13A stores instructions in association with position identifiers L and R indicating the positions of low-lightness areas having lightness equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold in the image. The detection unit 15A obtains the position of the low brightness area in the image (TT9), and the instruction reading unit 16A reads the command associated with the position identifier indicating the position (SS15), so the low brightness area is determined in advance. The command signal can be transmitted to the computer (116) by closing the space in front of the camera 12 so as to exist at the specified position.

  In the second embodiment, it is determined whether the low brightness area exists on the right side or the left side of the image. However, the image is divided into a plurality of parts, and in which part the low brightness area exists. May be determined.

  A computer program for causing a computer to function as the command signal transmission device according to each embodiment can be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium such as a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, or a magnetic tape. It can be widely distributed by being transmitted through a communication network such as the Internet.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Smartphone 10,100 ... Command signal transmitter 11 ... Main body 12 ... Camera 12a ... Lens 13, 13A ... Command memory | storage part 14 ... Image acquisition part 15, 15A ... Image feature detection part 16, 16A ... Command reading part 17 ... Command Signal transmitting unit 111 ... Touch display 112 ... Touch display control unit 115 ... Web browser 116 ... Web browser control unit 151, 151A ... Lightness determination unit 152 ... Low lightness region ratio determination unit 152A ... Low lightness region position determination unit L, R ... Location identifier

Claims (3)

A command signal transmitting apparatus that transmits a command signal indicating a command for causing a computer to perform a desired operation to the computer,
The body,
A camera provided on the main body and imaging the direction of the outside of the main body;
An instruction storage unit in which instructions are stored in advance;
An image acquisition unit for acquiring an image captured by the camera;
An image feature detection unit for detecting a feature generated in the image due to at least a part of a space in front of the camera being blocked;
A command reading unit that reads a command from the command storage unit if the detected feature satisfies a predetermined condition;
A command signal transmitter for transmitting a command signal indicating the command to a computer,
The instruction storage unit
A command is stored in association with a position identifier indicating a position of a low brightness area having a brightness equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold in the image,
The image feature detection unit
In the image, by counting pixels having brightness below the threshold for each region, the position of the low brightness region in the image is determined,
The instruction reading unit
A command signal transmitting apparatus that reads a command associated with a position identifier indicating the position. An operation method of an instruction signal transmitting apparatus for transmitting an instruction signal indicating an instruction for causing a computer to perform a desired operation to the computer,
The command signal transmitting device includes a main body, a camera provided in the main body and imaging a direction outside the main body, and a command storage unit in which a command is stored in advance.
The operation method is as follows:
An image acquisition unit of the command signal transmission device acquires an image captured by the camera;
An image feature detection unit of the command signal transmission device detecting a feature generated in the image due to at least a part of a space in front of the camera being blocked;
A command reading unit of the command signal transmitting device reads the command from the command storage unit if the detected feature satisfies a predetermined condition;
A command signal transmitting unit of the command signal transmitting device includes a step of transmitting a command signal indicating the command to a computer;
The instruction storage unit
A command is stored in association with a position identifier indicating a position of a low brightness area having a brightness equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold in the image,
The image feature detection unit
In the image, by counting pixels having brightness below the threshold for each region, the position of the low brightness region in the image is determined,
The instruction reading unit
A method of operating a command signal transmitting apparatus, comprising: reading a command associated with a position identifier indicating the position. A computer program for operating a computer as the command signal transmitting apparatus according to claim 1 .

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