JPH11249802A - Device and method for reporting position - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device and a method for reporting position with which the position of a liquid crystal panel or liquid crystal projector is reported and further the position of a room is reported. SOLUTION: This position reporting device has an oscillation circuit 11 for oscillating a signal at the prescribed frequency a modulation circuit 12 for superimposing position information by modulating the signal from the oscillation circuit 11 corresponding to an external signal concerning the position information, a driving circuit 13 for driving a fluorescent lamp 14 based on the signal, to which the position information is superimposed, from the modulation circuit 12, and a fluorescent lamp 14 to be emitted and driven by the driving circuit 13.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a position notifying device and device for notifying position information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a position notifying device for notifying position information, a light pen for detecting a position on a cathode ray tube (CRT) has conventionally been provided. The light pen has a pen-like shape having a light receiving portion at the tip, and C
This is a light-sensitive pick input device used with its tip close to the display screen of the RT.

In this light pen, the position of the tip on the screen can be known by the timing of the synchronization of the light emission of the pixels of the CRT screen detected by the light receiving section and the operation of the scanning line.

Further, as a position notifying device, there are provided a pressure detecting device for detecting a position using a physical sensor and a device for detecting a position by a scanning timing of a display on a raster scan screen.

[0005]

With the recent downsizing, personalization, and mobileization of computer devices, lightweight and thin liquid crystal panels and liquid crystal projectors have become widespread as display devices.

In these liquid crystal panels and liquid crystal projectors, it is not possible to use a conventional position notifying device such as the above-mentioned light pen utilizing the operation timing. Also, it is difficult to notify a position by a physical sensor or a raster scan.

On the other hand, there is a case where it is necessary to notify the position of the room where the user is in the building, without being limited to the display device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a position notifying apparatus and method for notifying a position on a liquid crystal panel or a liquid crystal projector and further notifying a position of a room. Aim.

[0009]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a position notifying device according to the present invention comprises a light emitting means for emitting light, and a light emitting control means for superposing position information on light emitted from the light emitting means. And

The position notification method according to the present invention includes a light emitting step of emitting light, and a light emitting control step of superimposing position information on the light emitted in the light emitting step.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of a position notification device and method according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, a first embodiment of a position notification device is a modulatable fluorescent lamp which receives position information as an external signal.

The position notification device includes an oscillation circuit 11 for generating a signal used for modulating information on a position,
A modulation circuit 12 that superimposes position information by modulating a signal from an oscillation circuit 11 based on an external signal, and a drive circuit that drives a signal superimposed with position information from the modulation circuit 12 to an electric power required for driving a fluorescent lamp. 13 and the drive circuit 13
And a fluorescent lamp 14 driven by the.

The oscillation circuit 11 oscillates a signal having a predetermined frequency. The oscillation circuit 11 may be a phase locked loop (PLL) that is phase-locked to a signal supplied from the outside.

Alternatively, the oscillating circuit 11 does not have a spontaneous oscillating circuit inside, and the driving circuit 13 may simply synchronize a commercial power supply used for driving the fluorescent lamp 14.

The modulation circuit 12 modulates a signal from the oscillation circuit 11 based on an external signal supplied from outside, for example, amplitude modulation, frequency modulation, and phase modulation.

The modulation circuit 12 receives position information representing the position of the position notification device as an external signal. The position information may be a code capable of uniquely specifying the position, or may be a character string representing the position.

The signal to be modulated by the modulation circuit 12 is not limited to an external signal supplied from the outside, but may be, for example, position information or an identification (ID) code stored in a ROM.

The driving circuit 13 drives the fluorescent lamp 14 by switching the modulation signal for the position information given from the modulation circuit 12. This drive circuit 13 is a modulation circuit 1
On the basis of the modulation signal from the second, an AC voltage from a commercial power supply is switched using, for example, a solid state switching element.

Alternatively, switching may be performed on the voltage from the DC power supply based on the signal from the modulation circuit 12. The voltage from the switched DC power supply may be further boosted by a transformer or the like.

The fluorescent lamp 14 is a hot-cathode, low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp which is a photo miniature of a phosphor excited by ultraviolet radiation from mercury vapor.

Although the light emitted from the fluorescent lamp 14 cannot be identified by the naked eye, position information is superimposed.

That is, the signal emitted from the oscillation circuit 11 for driving the fluorescent lamp 14 is superimposed with the position information by the modulation circuit 12. This position information is obtained by increasing the frequency used for superposition of the position information to a predetermined value or more.
It can be made invisible to the naked eye.

In other words, the oscillation circuit 11 and the modulation circuit 12
The light emission control means including the driving circuit 13 and the fluorescent light 14
The light emission of the fluorescent lamp 14 is controlled so that the position information is superimposed on the light emitted from.

The position information can be obtained by converting the light emitted from the fluorescent lamp 14 into a current by, for example, a photoelectric converter, and then decoding the current by a predetermined decoding circuit.

As described above, the position notifying apparatus uses the amplitude modulation / modulation as the fluorescent lamp 14 which can be modulated by an external input.
The fluorescent tube 14 is driven by a signal obtained by modulating an external signal for position information by frequency modulation / phase modulation or the like, so that position information is superimposed on light emitted from a fluorescent lamp.

The above-described position notification device is configured by adding light emission control means including a modulation circuit 12 so that position information is superimposed on light emitted from a general inverter type fluorescent lamp.

Here, a general inverter type fluorescent lamp will be described. Generally, an inverter type fluorescent lamp is a fluorescent lamp driven by a voltage which is obtained by switching a voltage from a DC power supply and boosted by a transformer or the like, and is capable of dimming by adjusting the switching.

As shown in FIG. 2, a general inverter type fluorescent lamp has an oscillation circuit 101 for generating a signal of a predetermined frequency.
And a driving circuit 102 for switching a voltage from a DC power supply based on a signal from an oscillation circuit 101, and a fluorescent lamp 103 driven by the driving circuit 102.

The oscillation circuit 101 generates a signal of a predetermined frequency. The drive circuit 102 switches a voltage from a DC power supply or a commercial power supply based on a signal from the oscillation circuit 102 using, for example, a semiconductor switching element. The switched voltage may be further boosted by a transformer or the like. The fluorescent lamp 103 is driven by the voltage supplied from the drive circuit 102.

Next, a series of steps of the position notification method will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG.

In the first step S11, a signal of a predetermined frequency is oscillated, and in the next step S12, the signal from step S11 is modulated with respect to the position information, so that the position information is superimposed on the signal.

In the following step S13, the voltage from the DC or AC power supply is switched based on the signal from step S12, and in step S14, the fluorescent lamp is driven by the voltage switched in step S13. Then, a series of steps of the position notification method ends.

The light emitted from the fluorescent lamp in step S14 is superimposed with position information, although it cannot be recognized by the naked eye. Information on this position can be obtained by, for example, decoding after photoelectric conversion.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

According to the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, by superimposing light on light emitted from incandescent light or the like, light is superimposed on position information. .

That is, as shown in FIG. 4, an incandescent lamp 21 for emitting a predetermined amount of light and an incandescent lamp 2
And a physical modulation device 22 that performs physical modulation on the light from the light source 1 based on an external signal given from the outside.

The incandescent lamp 21 is supplied with an electric current to
A lamp that heats a filament in a glass tube and emits light by the heat radiation.

The physical modulator 22 includes an incandescent lamp 2 based on an external signal for positional information supplied from the outside.
This is a light emission control unit that superimposes position information on the light from the incandescent lamp 21 by switching the transmission or non-transmission of the light emitted from 1 to modulate the light.

As the physical modulation device, for example, a mechanical system for controlling transmission and non-transmission of light by a rotating disk having a slit serving as a transmission hole, and an electro-optical system using a liquid crystal and a polarizing plate are used. Can be mentioned.

As described above, even when the incandescent lamp 21 or the like is used as the light-emitting means, the incandescent lamp 2 is
By modulating the light from No. 1, the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained.

The modulation of light by the physical modulator 22 in the second embodiment is not limited to switching between transmission and non-transmission of light, and is, for example, an extent that the intensity of light cannot be recognized by the naked eye. Can also be changed.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described.

In the third embodiment, position information of a point on a display screen of a display device as shown in FIG. 5 is superimposed on light emitted from each point on the display screen.

That is, the display screen of the display device as shown in FIG. 5 has a plurality of pixels as unit light emitting elements,
Although arranged two-dimensionally, light emission is controlled so that each pixel emits light in which information on the position of the pixel on the display is superimposed.

In the display device, for example, a liquid crystal panel or a liquid crystal projector may be used as a display device capable of displaying an image by arranging a plurality of unit pixels two-dimensionally.

In FIG. 5, a part of a triangle is displayed on the upper left of the substantially rectangular display screen, and a circle is displayed on the lower right of the display screen. The circle overlaps a part of the triangle. In addition, while only the outline of the triangle is displayed, the inside of the circle is darker than the outside.

In the display device, the luminance levels at points A and B are generally as shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B. That is, the luminance levels at points A and B are constant over time. However, since the point B is located inside the darkened circle, the brightness level of the point B shown in FIG. 6B is lower than the brightness level shown in FIG. I have.

The luminance levels at points A and B are shown in FIG.
And (b), it is possible to determine the position on the screen from the modulated signal using the photodetector on the display.

That is, the pixel corresponding to the position on the display is modulated by the position information corresponding to the position, and the position information of the pixel is superimposed on the light emitted from the pixel.

Since the position information corresponding to the position is superimposed on the light emitted from the specific position, the position of the pixel emitting the light can be known.

Here, by suppressing the fluctuation width of the position information to be superimposed on the light emitted from the display device within a predetermined amount, the position information can be made invisible to the naked eye.

To detect the position information, the position of the light pen on the display screen is known by touching the surface of the liquid crystal panel with a light pen having a light receiving portion at the tip and decoding the current from the light pen. be able to.

As described above, the position information is superimposed on each dot on the display screen so as to be invisible to the eyes, is read with a light pen, and is analyzed by a method similar to a bar code. Is detected.

As described above, the position notifying device displays the position information on the screen by the input device by superimposing the signal indicating the position information on the display information on the display device such as the display. It is to be.

In the display of the position information by the modulation on the fluorescent lamp or the incandescent lamp in the first and second embodiments, the position of the light source that emitted the light is notified by superimposing the position information on the light. This is the same as the third embodiment.

The following can be cited as modifications of the present invention.

By constantly emitting a signal indicating a position from an incandescent lamp or a fluorescent lamp, a human or machine moving under the light can recognize its own position. In addition, information related to the location and information such as electronic news can be distributed to the surroundings.

In the above embodiment, the position information is exemplified, but the information that can be displayed is not limited to the position information. For example, a time, a character string, and the like can be displayed. When the position information is not modulated, the power consumption can be reduced by turning off the modulation circuit. Further, such a position notification device is useful in so-called “real world computing” that utilizes surrounding conditions.

[0060]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to recognize where the user is in the room or the like by the light from the fluorescent lamp or the incandescent lamp. According to the position notification device, the position can be recognized on the display device by light emitted from the specific position.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a first embodiment of a position notification device.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a general inverter fluorescent lamp.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a series of steps of a position notification method.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram schematically showing a second embodiment of the position notification device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display screen of a display device.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a temporal change of a luminance level on which position information is not superimposed.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a temporal change of a luminance level on which position information is superimposed.

[Description of Signs] 11 oscillation circuit, 12 modulation circuit, 13 drive circuit, 1
4 fluorescent lamps, 22 physical modulators

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A position notifying device comprising: a light emitting means for emitting light; and a light emitting control means for superposing position information on light emitted from the light emitting means. 2. The light-emitting means is a fluorescent lamp, the light-emission control means is an oscillating means for oscillating a signal of a predetermined frequency, a modulating means for modulating a signal from the oscillating means to superimpose position information, 2. A driving means for driving a fluorescent lamp based on a signal from the modulation means.
The position notification device according to the above. 3. The position according to claim 1, wherein said light emitting means is an incandescent lamp, and said light emission control means superimposes position information by switching transmission / non-transmission of light emitted from said light emitting means. Notification device. 4. The light emitting means is a plurality of pixels arranged two-dimensionally, and the light emission control means emits light from the pixel according to the position of each pixel in the plurality of pixels of the light emitting means. The position notification device according to claim 1, wherein position information is superimposed on the light. 5. A position notifying method comprising: a light emitting step of emitting light; and a light emitting control step of superposing position information on light emitted in the light emitting step. 6. A light emission step in which light is emitted from a fluorescent lamp. The light emission control step includes an oscillation step of oscillating a signal of a predetermined frequency, and a modulation step of modulating a signal from the oscillation step to superimpose position information. 6. The position notification method according to claim 5, comprising a step of driving the fluorescent lamp based on a signal from the modulation step.