JPH06153017A - Remote controller for equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To remotely operate an equipment at the same place without the need of a remote controller at hand by virtually providing plural control items outputting a control command to the equipment to be controlled at the same spatial area as a human body. CONSTITUTION:CPU 4 extracts the part of the human body 2 and discriminates the part based on infrared picture data from a picture processing part 3 in accordance with a program stored in ROM 5. At the same time, the partial picture of the human body 2 and the virtual switch picture of the equipment 6 which is virtually arranged in the spatial area of the peripheral part of the human body 2 are simultaneously screen-displayed in a monitor 7, and the screen displayed picture data is fed back. When the prescribed area (hand part, for example) of the extracted part in the human body 2, which is screen- displayed in the monitor 7, is overlapped with the virtual switch area for more than prescribed quantity, the control command of the virtual switch is outputted to the unit 6.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a remote control device for remotely controlling various electric devices such as televisions and air conditioners.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to remotely control a device such as a television or an air conditioner, a device for generating signals for remote control such as ultrasonic waves, infrared rays, radio waves, so-called remote control device is required, and this remote control device is operated. The operator controls the equipment by operating it at their hands.

Recently, the number of remote control devices such as televisions and air conditioners such as stereos and video controlled by remote control devices has increased. I had to select each device that the remote control device belonged to, and I had a problem with its location.

Therefore, an image display remote control device for remotely controlling a plurality of controlled devices by one remote control device is provided.
It is proposed in JP-A-63-208372. This device is equipped with a display for displaying the operation contents necessary for operating the controlled devices, and remotely controls a plurality of controlled devices by selecting the operation contents displayed on the display by one remote control device. ing.

Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-278696 proposes an apparatus for detecting infrared rays emitted from a human body, analyzing the frequency of the detection signal, and remotely controlling the equipment based on the analysis result. .

[0006]

However, in the conventional device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-208372, the remote control device still needs to be used for remote control of the device, and the remote control device is accidentally lost. There was a risk of it getting lost. In addition, it is troublesome for the elderly and people with disabilities to operate the remote control device in which a plurality of buttons are arranged, and there is a risk of giving an erroneous command.

On the other hand, in the conventional apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-278696, it is possible to perform remote control of equipment without using a remote control device at hand, but to remotely control a plurality of equipment. It was necessary to equip each device with an infrared detecting means, and it was not possible to remotely control a plurality of devices at the same place. Further, since the frequency of the infrared detection signal depends on the operation speed of the part of the human body detected by the infrared detection means, there is a risk of giving an erroneous command.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a remote control device for a device that does not require a remote control device to be at hand and enables remote control of the device at the same place. The purpose is to

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a monitor, an image pickup means for detecting an image of a human body, a human body image detected by the image pickup means are displayed on a screen on the monitor, and controlled. When a plurality of control item images of a device are displayed on the screen of the monitor and the human body image overlaps the control item image by a predetermined amount or more on the display screen, a control command of the overlapping control item is issued to the controlled device. And a control means for outputting to the remote control device of the equipment.

A second invention is a monitor, an image pickup means for detecting infrared rays radiated from a human body as an image, and an infrared image from the image pickup means is subjected to extraction processing by using upper and lower limits of a skin temperature band as thresholds. And a part for extracting a part of the human body, and an extracted part image extracted by the part extracting part is displayed on the screen of the monitor, and a plurality of control item images of the controlled device are displayed on the screen of the monitor. A remote control of the device, which includes a control means for outputting a control command of the overlapping control item to the controlled device when the extracted part image overlaps the control item image by a predetermined amount or more on the display screen. It is a control device.

[0011]

According to the present invention, since a plurality of control items for outputting a control command to the controlled device are virtually provided in the same space area as the human body, the operation of the human body can be performed without the need for a remote control device at hand. The controlled device can be remotely controlled based on the.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings showing the embodiments thereof.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a remote control device for equipment showing an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an image pickup means for detecting an image of the human body 2, which is composed of an infrared camera for detecting infrared rays emitted from the human body 2 as image data. An image processing unit 3 controls driving of the infrared camera 1, binarizes the detected image data, and then supplies the infrared image data to a CPU (microcomputer) 4, and 5 is an image processing unit 3. Based on the infrared image data of the human body 2 and the air conditioner, V
ROM, 7 which stores a program for remotely controlling five kinds of controlled electric devices 6 of TR, TV, lighting and stereo
Is a monitor that displays on the screen the infrared camera 1, the image processing unit 3, the CPU 4, the extracted region image of the human body 2 extracted by the ROM 5, and the virtual switches representing a plurality of control items of the device 6, and the screen display image. The data is fed back to the CPU 4. Reference numeral 8 is a speaker for notifying a user of the content of a control command output from the CPU 4 to the device 6.

Here, the CPU 4 extracts a part of the human body 2 based on the infrared image data from the image processing unit 3 and determines the kind of the part according to a program stored in the ROM 5, and extracts an image of the extracted part of the human body 2. And the virtual switch image of the device 6 virtually arranged in the space area around the human body 2 are simultaneously displayed on the screen of the monitor 7, and the screen display image data is fed back. Then, when a predetermined region (hand part in this embodiment) of the extracted portion of the human body 2 displayed on the monitor 7 overlaps the virtual switch region by a predetermined amount or more, a control command for the virtual switch is output to the device 6. It is composed.

In extracting a part of the human body 2, data is extracted by using the brightness value of the infrared image data corresponding to the upper limit value and the lower limit value of the skin temperature band as a threshold value to extract the part. In this example, the upper limit of the skin temperature band is 38 ° C.
In addition, the lower limit value was set to 30 ° C. FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of the extraction site in this case. The stippled area in the figure indicates the extraction site. In addition, the type of the extracted region is determined based on the area information and the position information of each extracted region. For example, when the region extraction result is shown in FIG. The parts and the other extracted part regions B and C are discriminated as the hand, and the region B is discriminated as the right hand and the region C as the left hand based on the positional relationship of the hand.

Next, the operation of the remote control device for equipment according to the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, the contents of the virtual switch of the device 6 are initialized (S101). Specifically, the command contents for selecting the above-mentioned five types of devices 6 for the virtual switch contents (hereinafter,
(Abbreviated as device selection command).

Next, the infrared image data of the human body 2 is detected by the infrared camera 1, and the infrared image data obtained by binarizing the detected data by the image processing unit 3 is read (S103).

Then, the infrared image data is subjected to threshold processing in the range of the brightness value corresponding to the skin temperature band (S10).
5) A number is assigned to each region in the detection data of the skin temperature band (hereinafter, abbreviated as labeling) (S1
07). In this embodiment, the skin temperature range is 30 to 38 ° C.
However, the optimum value may be determined according to conditions such as environment and clothes.

Next, the labeled areas are sorted in descending order of area, and the label numbers are again assigned in order (S109). Then, in the next step S111, the head, right hand, and left hand regions of the human body 2 are determined based on the area information and the position information of the label. Specifically, it is assumed that the label 1 having the largest area is the head, the right side of the labels 2 and 3 is the right hand, and the other is the left hand, and after the tracking process for a predetermined time, the right hand and the left hand. To judge.

Next, the extracted region image is displayed on the screen of the monitor 7 so that the head region of the human body 2 becomes substantially the center of the screen, and the virtual switch of the device 6 is placed in the space region near the head region. The screen is displayed (S113). Specifically, if the virtual switch content is a device selection command,
The screen shown in is displayed on the monitor 7. If the virtual switch content is the command content for controlling the operation of the selected device 6, the area corresponding to the control command for various operations of the selected device and the OFF corresponding to the control command for terminating the operation of the selected device.
The area and the screen are displayed on the monitor 7. For example, when the VTR is operated, the screen shown in FIG. 5 is displayed on the monitor 7.
Here, the stippled area in the figure shows the extracted region of the human body 2, and the square area shows the virtual switch area.

Then, an overlapping area in which the hand area of the human body 2 displayed on the monitor 7 overlaps the virtual switch area of the device 6 is extracted (S115), and whether the area of the overlapping area is a specified value or more. It is determined (S117).
In this embodiment, 50% of the maximum projected area of the hand region is set as the specified value.

Specifically, first, the screen display image data of the monitor 7 is divided into virtual switch image data and extracted part image data of the human body 2, and 1 is assigned to the virtual switch area and the hand area of the human body 2, respectively, and others. 0 is assigned to the area of. Next, the AND output of the virtual switch image data and the extracted part image data of the human body 2 is obtained, and the AND output is 1
Area, that is, the overlapping area of the hand area and the virtual switch area is extracted. Then, obtain the area of the extraction region,
It is determined whether the area is 50% or more of the maximum projected area of the hand region.

In step S117, if NO in step S103, the process returns to step S103, and if YES in step S117, a control command for the virtual switch region in which the hand regions overlap is output to the device 6, and the speaker 8 outputs the command content. Is notified by voice (S119), and the process proceeds to the next step S121.

In step S121, step S119
It is determined whether or not the control command for the virtual switch area selected in step 3 is an OFF command, and if NO, the next step S123.
If YES, the contents of the virtual switch are set in the device selection command (S125), and the process returns to step S103.

In the next step S123, it is determined whether or not the contents of the virtual switch is a device selection command. If NO, the process returns to step S103, and if YES, the process proceeds to the next step S127.

In step S127, step S119
After setting the command contents for controlling the operation of the device 6 selected in step 1 to the virtual switch contents, the process returns to step S103.

By repeating the above routine, a remote control device is not required at hand, and a virtual switch, that is, a virtual control item area is provided in the spatial area around the human body 2, and a plurality of devices 6 are provided at the same location. Remote control of can be done.

Therefore, for example, when remotely controlling the VTR, the hand of the human body 2 is moved to the VTR area of the virtual switch area as shown in FIG. 4 while looking at the image displayed on the monitor 7. This causes the CPU 4 to output a VTR selection command to the device 6. Then, the contents of the virtual switch displayed on the monitor 7 are changed into commands for controlling the operation of the VTR as shown in FIG. 5, and the hand of the human body 2 is moved while watching the image displayed on the monitor 7. To select a desired operation command. That is, VT
In the case of R reproduction, as shown in FIG. 5, the hand of the human body 2 is moved to the PLAY area of the virtual switch area, and the reproduction control command is output from the CPU 4 to the VTR. Also, VTR
To the CUE area for fast-forwarding, to the PAUSE area for temporary stop, to the STOP area for stop, to the REV area for rewind, and to the OFF area to end the VTR operation. The hand part of the human body 2 is moved, and the selected desired operation command is output from the CPU 4 to the VTR.

Similarly, when remotely controlling the device 6 other than the VTR, the contents of the virtual switch displayed on the screen of the monitor 7 are displayed in the device selection command shown in FIG. While looking, the hand of the human body 2 is moved to select the desired device 6 command. In other words, when controlling the air conditioner remotely, it is in the air conditioner area, when remotely controlling the TV, in the TV area, when remotely controlling the lighting, in the lighting area, when remotely controlling the stereo, in the stereo area. By moving the hand part of 2,
A desired device selection command selected from the CPU 4 is output to the device 6, and the contents of the virtual switch displayed on the monitor 7 are changed to commands for controlling various operations of the selected device. Then, similarly to the VTR operation, the hand portion of the human body 2 is moved while watching the image displayed on the monitor 7, and the selected desired operation command is output from the CPU 4 to the selected device.

In the above embodiment, the infrared camera 1 is used as the image pickup means for detecting the image of the human body. However, the image pickup means is not limited to the infrared camera, and other image pickup means such as a color camera may be used. I do not care. However, in this case, it is necessary to perform a data extraction process depending on whether the image data is the skin color (skin color) to extract the human body part.

[0032]

As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of control items for outputting a control command to the controlled device are virtually provided in the same space area as the human body, so that a remote control device to be placed at hand is required. The remote control device is not lost.

Further, since the controlled device is remotely controlled by moving the human body while looking at the display screen of the monitor, erroneous command output to the controlled device is reduced and a plurality of devices can be remotely controlled at the same place. Becomes

Further, according to the second invention, the part of the human body is extracted based on the infrared image emitted from the human body, and the control command is output to the controlled device based on the operation of the extracted part. The accuracy of the device can be further improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a remote control device for equipment showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an extracted part when the part of the human body is extracted according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the remote control device for equipment according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display screen of a monitor 7 when a virtual switch is a device selection command.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display screen of the monitor 7 when a virtual switch is a control command for controlling the operation of a selected device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 infrared camera (imaging means) 2 human body 3 image processing unit 4 CPU 5 ROM 6 device 7 monitor 8 speaker

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A monitor, an image pickup means for detecting an image of a human body, a human body image detected by the image pickup means is displayed on a screen of the monitor, and a plurality of control item images of a controlled device are displayed on the monitor. And a control means for displaying a control command for the overlapping control item to the controlled device when the human body image overlaps the control item image by a predetermined amount or more on the display screen. A remote control device for equipment. 2. A means for extracting a part of a human body from the human body image, wherein the control means displays the extracted part image extracted by the part extraction means on the screen of the monitor and displays the extracted part image of the controlled device. When a plurality of control item images are displayed on the screen of the monitor and the extracted part image overlaps the control item image by a predetermined amount or more on the display screen, a control command of the overlapping control item is given to the controlled device. The remote control device for the equipment according to claim 1, wherein the remote control device outputs. 3. A monitor, an image pickup means for detecting infrared rays emitted from a human body as an image, and an infrared image from the image pickup means is subjected to extraction processing by using upper and lower thresholds of a skin temperature band as threshold values, and A unit for extracting a part, and an image of the extracted part extracted by the part extracting unit is displayed on the screen of the monitor, and a plurality of control item images of the controlled device are displayed on the screen of the monitor. When the extracted portion image overlaps with the control item image on the screen by a predetermined amount or more, a control unit that outputs a control command of the overlapping control item to the controlled device is provided. Control device. 4. A means for determining the type of the extracted portion based on the area information and / or position information of each portion extracted by the portion extracting means, wherein the control means displays the extracted portion image on the monitor. Is displayed on the screen, and a plurality of control item images of the controlled device are displayed on the screen on the monitor in the vicinity of the head image discriminated by the discriminating means, and the discriminating means discriminates on the display screen. 4. The remote control device for a device according to claim 3, wherein when a hand image overlaps the control item image by a predetermined amount or more, a control command for the overlapping control item is output to the controlled device.