JPH0720988A - Pointing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable a user to perform a pointing on a display without using any hand. CONSTITUTION:A coordinate detecting means 1 finds which coordinates on the display the fine of sight of the user points at. The coordinate detecting means 1 consists of a means 11 which measures the coordinates on the display on the basis of the position and motion of the eye of the user and a means 12 which corrects the coordinates on the basis of information 200 on an individual difference. The information 200 on the individual difference is measured by using an individual difference measuring means 6 and stored in an individual difference registering means 7. A cursor is displayed on the display by a cursor display means 2 according to the coordinates 100 determined by the coordinate detecting means 1. At the same time, a menu item detecting means 3 generates selected menu item information 300 on a menu item pointed by the cursor. Once the user makes a request to execute the menu item, a menu item execution request detecting means 4 starts a menu item executing means 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a point device apparatus by line-of-sight input, and more particularly to a technique for smoothly performing a user interface in a computer system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional point device, a mouse, a light pen, a joystick or the like is generally used when a human and a computer system interact with each other using a graphical user interface such as an icon.

Of these, a conventional point device unit will be described with reference to the drawings, taking a mouse unit as an example. FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram of a mouse device which is a conventional point device device.

In this conventional mouse device system, coordinate detecting means 1'comprising coordinate measuring means 11 'and correcting means 12', cursor display means 2, menu item detecting means 3, and menu item execution request. Detecting means 4, menu item executing means 5, coordinates 100, and selected menu item information 30.
It is composed of 0 and 0. Here, a person who is a user of the computer system moves the mouse device to detect the displacement of the two-dimensional coordinates by the coordinate displacement detection means 11 'of the coordinate detection means 1', and the displacement is input to the correction means 1
A new coordinate 100 is calculated by 2 ', and the cursor on the display is moved. When the coordinate 100 is determined, the computer system uses the cursor display means 2 to display the cursor at the corresponding coordinate on the display to notify the user of the currently pointed coordinate. At the same time, the menu item detecting means 3 receives the coordinate 100 as an input, detects a menu item overlapping the cursor, and stores information on the detected menu item in the selected menu item 300. Then, the computer system uses the menu item execution request detecting means 4
Thus, when the execution request from the user is received, the menu item executing means 5 is activated to notify that the request from the user has been accepted. The menu item execution means 5 refers to the selected menu item information 300 and executes the processing corresponding to the selected menu item in the system.

[0005]

When a user of a system interacts with the system, a keyboard is generally used, but recently, a menu item (option) displayed on a display is pointed to by a device device. Opportunities to choose using are also increasing.

However, in order to point a menu item with the above-mentioned conventional pointing device (device such as mouse), the user has to take his / her hand off the keyboard, and it takes a long time to move the cursor. There was a drawback.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a point device apparatus by line-of-sight input that reduces the above-mentioned user's lost time and improves work efficiency.

Therefore, the point device apparatus of the present invention is a means for measuring and calculating the coordinates of the position of the human eye, who is the user of the computer system, on the display according to the position and movement of the eyes, and the calculated coordinates. Means for correcting the individual difference information by the user, a means for measuring the information of the individual difference of the user, a means for storing the information of the individual difference, a memory for storing the information of the individual difference, and Means for displaying the cursor at the coordinates finally determined on the display, means for detecting the menu item on the display that overlaps with the displayed cursor, and execution request for the detected menu item. Means for detecting
And a means for transmitting the detected execution request to the computer system.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system using an embodiment of a point device apparatus according to the present invention.

The system of the embodiment of the present invention comprises a coordinate detecting means 1 comprising a coordinate measuring means 11 and a correcting means 12, a cursor displaying means 2, a menu item detecting means 3, and a menu item execution request detecting means 4. , Menu item execution means 5,
Individual difference measuring means 6, individual difference registration means 7, and coordinates 100
And information about individual differences 200 and information about selected menu items 300
It consists of and.

The coordinate 100 represents the coordinate data obtained by the coordinate detecting means 1, the individual difference information 200 is stored by the individual difference registration means 7, and the individual difference information used by the coordinate detecting means 1 as correction information is obtained. The selected menu item information 300 represents the information of the menu item pointed by the cursor of the cursor display means 2.

Next, the operation of the point device according to this embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the point device apparatus of this embodiment.

As an example, consider a case where several menu items (choices) are displayed on the display, and one of the menu items is selected and executed.

As described in the section of the prior art, the coordinate detecting means 1'for obtaining the coordinate 100 in the case of the mouse device of the conventional example is the displacement of the X coordinate and the Y coordinate by the coordinate displacement measuring means 11 '. Is detected and the coordinate 100 is corrected by the correction means 12 'to obtain the coordinate 100 to be newly pointed.

On the other hand, the case of the point device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

In the point device apparatus of this embodiment, first, the coordinate measuring means 11 measures the coordinates of the user's face, the position of the eyeball, the movement of the user, and the like on the display which the user looks at. The measurement results performed here are
It seems that it depends greatly on the physical characteristics of the user, etc., and is considered to include considerable individual differences.

In order to obtain more accurate coordinates, the correction means 12 corrects the coordinates obtained by the coordinate measurement means 11 based on the individual difference information 200 (step 1).

The individual difference information 200 is previously measured by the user by the individual difference measuring means 6 and stored in the individual difference information 200 by the individual difference registration means 7. Further, the individual difference information 200 referred to here is data that can be collected from any user, and includes sufficient elements for obtaining the correct coordinate 100 by the correction means 12 (step. 2).

The computer system uses the coordinate detecting means 1 to obtain the exact coordinates 1 on the display which the user is gazing at.
Get 00. When the coordinate 100 is determined, the computer system uses the cursor display means 2 to display the cursor at the corresponding coordinate on the display and informs the user of the currently pointed coordinate (step 3).

At the same time, the menu item detecting means 3 receives the coordinate 100 as an input, detects a menu item overlapping the cursor, and stores information on the detected menu item in the selected menu item 300 (step 4).

The user moves his line of sight, points to the desired menu item, and makes an execution request to the computer system (step 5).

In the computer system, when the menu item execution request detecting means 4 receives the execution request from the user,
The menu item executing means 5 is activated to notify that the user's request has been accepted. The menu item execution means 5 refers to the selected menu item information 300 and executes the process corresponding to the selected menu item in the system (step 6).

The individual difference information 200 does not necessarily have to be provided inside the point device, and an external storage device (for example, an IC card) can be used as in the second invention.

Further, as in the third aspect of the invention, a plurality of pieces of individual difference information 200 are registered in the computer system, and the user's I
It is also possible to specify the information 200 of the individual difference by D or the like.

[0027]

As described above, in the point device apparatus of the present invention, the user can select the menu item just by looking at the display, and the user does not have to release the mouse or other device from the keyboard. Can also be used, and has the effect of reducing the time for moving the cursor.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a system using an embodiment of a point device apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the point device device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram of a mouse device, which is a conventional point device device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 1'coordinate detection means 2 cursor display means 3 menu item detection means 4 menu item execution request detection means 5 menu item execution means 6 individual difference measurement means 7 individual difference registration means 11, 11 'coordinate measurement means 12, 12' correction Means 100 Coordinates 200 Information on individual differences 300 Information on selected menu items

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A means for measuring and calculating the coordinates of where the display is seen by the position and movement of the human eye who is the user of the computer system, and the means for calculating the calculated coordinates for the individual difference between the users. Means to correct with information,
Means for measuring the information of the individual difference of the user, means for storing the information of the individual difference, a memory for storing the information of the individual difference, and the corrected and finally determined display on the display. Means for displaying a cursor at coordinates, means for detecting a menu item on the display overlapping the displayed cursor, means for detecting that an execution request for the detected menu item has been made, and the detection And a means for transmitting the executed request to the computer system. 2. The point device device according to claim 1, wherein the memory in which the information of the individual difference is stored is an IC card. 3. The memory for storing the information on the individual difference is secured in the computer system, and the information on the individual difference is specified when a user is specified. Point device equipment.