KR101403845B1 - Input apparatus and method for using image information - Google Patents

Abstract

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an input device and a method for detecting a movement of a user and performing a control signal and a character input. The input device and method detect an area and a direction occupied by a subject adjacent to the camera to form a motion vector of the subject, store character information and input information, and store the character information corresponding to the motion vector and the input information As a control signal, and performs an operation process corresponding to the control signal.

Camera, motion vector, character information, input information

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to an input device and a method using image information,

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an input device and method, and more particularly, to an input device and a method capable of sensing a movement of a user and performing a control signal and a character input.

In mobile communication terminals, convergence for multimedia has been continuously performed. In the beginning, only the phone function is being pursued, and the functions of schedule management (schedule management, task management, D-day management), convenience functions (stop watch and alarm) are gradually added, and MP3 player or PMP (Portable Multimedia Player) Have also been added to the functions of portable electronic devices. In addition, with the addition of multimedia parts, it became common to attach devices such as cameras.

While various devices are being used for convergence, there are functional redundancies between attached devices. For example, devices such as wireless LAN and Bluetooth can duplicate data because they can perform data communication.

Conventionally, a camera attached to a mobile communication terminal has been used for capturing and storing photographs, and the number of pixels of the camera has been gradually increased to perform functions of a portable camcorder. It also has a separate camera for video calls. As various devices are attached to mobile communication terminals, mobile communication terminals are getting more complicated and the attached devices are becoming smaller and smaller.

However, despite the miniaturization of the devices attached to the mobile communication terminal, the size of the mobile communication terminal is inevitably increased, and the complexity and material cost also increase.

The present invention provides an input device and method capable of detecting a movement of a hand and performing a control signal and a character input.

According to the input apparatus of the present invention, the sensing unit senses the area and direction occupied by the subject adjacent to the camera and forms a motion vector of the subject. A storage unit for storing character information and input information; And a control unit for forming the character information and the input information corresponding to the motion vector in a control signal, and performing an operation process corresponding to the control signal.

According to an input method of the present invention, there is provided a method for inputting text, comprising: a) storing character information and input information; b) forming a motion vector of the subject by sensing the area and direction occupied by the subject adjacent to the camera; c) forming the character information and the input information corresponding to the motion vector as a control signal; And d) performing a device operation process corresponding to the control signal.

The input device using the image information of the present invention can be utilized as an input and a control device in place of an input device such as a keyboard, a touch LCD, and a mouse in various electronic devices having a camera.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, well-known functions or constructions will not be described in detail if they obscure the subject matter of the present invention.

1 is a block diagram showing an input device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The input device of the present invention includes a sensing unit 110, a storage unit 120, and a control unit 130.

The sensing unit 110 detects motion of a user image (hereinafter referred to as a subject) to form a motion vector. A method of motion vector extraction of the sensing unit 110 will be described later with reference to FIGS. 7A to 8B.

The storage unit 120 stores character information and input information. The character information includes information on a consonant as shown in FIG. 2A and information on a vowel as shown in FIG. 2B. As shown in FIG. 3, the input information stores input information corresponding to mouse input information in the form of a mapping table.

The control unit 130 compares the motion vector, the character information, and the control information to form a control signal for using the corresponding character information and input information as input signals. Also, the control unit 130 performs an operation process corresponding to the control signal using the control signal. For example, it is possible to switch to a direction input mode for receiving a direction signal from a user as an input corresponding to one triple click of a mouse, and to input character information from a user as input corresponding to two triple clicks of the mouse Can be switched to the character input mode.

That is, when the information of the subject is obtained near the camera (not shown), the roughness is low, so that it usually appears as black and the blank part appears as white. The motion of the subject is extracted as a motion vector by using the difference of the contrast between black and white, And can be converted into a control signal by using a vector.

4 is a view illustrating an example of a filter of a sensing unit according to an embodiment of the present invention. The sensing unit 110 for extracting the user's image information as a motion vector includes a border filter 210 and a center filter 220.

5 is a diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of a filter according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The filters 210 and 220 are formed of a black / white lattice, The grid is reversed so that the area and direction of the user image (hereinafter, referred to as object) information can be detected. The white portion of the grid is the portion where the subject information does not exist, and the black portion is the portion where the subject information exists. The reason why the subject information is extracted in such a lattice shape is to easily obtain the area of the subject, and to reduce the error when the subject frequently shakes, so as to make a detailed measurement. Although the grid of filters 210 and 220 should appear white, being black indicates that a portion of the object is present at that location.

6 is a diagram illustrating a process of setting a reference point of a motion vector using a border filter 210 and a center filter 220 using a user's finger according to an embodiment of the present invention. A point at which the information of the forefinger image starts at the specific area 222 of the center filter 220 and is located at the lower specific area 212 of the border filter 210 is set as the reference point SP of the motion vector. The reference point SP of the motion vector can be set by appropriately adjusting the distance between the user and the camera.

FIGS. 7A to 7D are views illustrating a method of forming a motion vector for four directions according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 7A and 7B are views showing a method of forming a motion vector in a case where the reference point SP moves rightward or leftward, that is, in the horizontal direction. The reference point SP of the motion vector can be set to the position of the black subject located in the specific region 222 of the center filter 220 where the subject is located and the specific region 212 of the lower portion of the border filter 210. Since the black and white lattices of the filters 210 and 220 are inverted at a cycle of 10 msec, the sensing unit 110 can detect whether the subject is moving. However, the setting of the reference point SP of the motion vector is not limited to that described above, and can be set at any position of the sensing unit 110. [ Assuming that the subject has moved from the reference point SP to the right or left within 500 msec, the sensing unit 110 senses the motion of the subject at intervals of 10 msec using the filters 210 and 220. [ Therefore, after 500 msec, it can be confirmed that there is no information about the subject at the start position SP, and that the information exists in the subject in the right or left specific area of the border filter 210. Therefore, the sensing unit 110 can recognize that the subject has moved to the right or left.

FIG. 7C is a diagram showing a motion vector forming method when moving upward from the reference point. The information indicating that the subject moves up at the reference point SP is extracted as black in the entire area of the center filter 220 and the black area is extracted as the upper area 214 and the lower area 212 of the border filter 210 . 7D is a diagram illustrating a motion vector forming method when the reference point is moved downward. Information indicating that the subject has moved downward at the reference point SP can be understood as a whole area of the center filter 220 is extracted as white and a lower area 212 of the edge filter 210 is extracted as black.

The motion vectors can be extracted for the four directions described with reference to FIGS. 7A to 7D, and the motion vectors can be extracted for 16 and 32 directions by subdividing the areas where the filters 210 and 220 appear as black have.

FIG. 8A is an exemplary view showing a method of forming a motion vector on information on the distant object. FIG. It is assumed that the subject is at the reference point SP. When the area occupied by the black object of the center filter 220 becomes smaller and the area occupied by the subject in the lower specific area 212 of the edge filter 210 becomes smaller, it is extracted as a motion vector meaning that the subject is distant can do. This can be switched to the action of releasing the button on the mouse, or to the action of canceling the mouse by lifting the mouse while moving the mouse, and can also switch to the action of extracting the motion vector.

FIG. 8B is an exemplary view showing a method of forming information on the approach of a subject as a motion vector. FIG. If the whole of the center filter 220 is extracted as a black color and the entire area under the left and right regions of the border filter 210 and the entire region below the border filter 210 are extracted as black, Can be extracted. This can be switched to the operation of depressing the mouse button, or to the operation of putting the mouse on the floor for starting and moving, and also to the operation of starting motion vector extraction.

Further, by using the time information of the extracted subject information, it is possible to switch to the moving speed. Taking FIG. 7A as an example, it is assumed that the reference movement time is 500 msec. If the movement time calculated by the sensing unit 110 is 300 msec, it can be extracted at a fast moving speed, and conversely, if it is 1000 msec, it can be extracted at a slow moving speed. It is applicable to all extracted motion vectors and can add motion speed to motion vectors.

While the above methods have been described through specific embodiments, the methods may also be implemented as computer readable code on a computer readable recording medium. A computer-readable recording medium includes all kinds of recording apparatuses in which data that can be read by a computer system is stored. Examples of the computer-readable recording medium include a ROM, a RAM, a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a floppy disk, an optical data storage device, and the like, and may be implemented in the form of a carrier wave (for example, transmission over the Internet) . In addition, the computer-readable recording medium may be distributed over a network-connected computer system so that computer readable code can be stored and executed in a distributed manner. In addition, functional programs, codes, and code segments for implementing the above embodiments can be easily deduced by programmers of the present invention.

While the invention has been described in connection with certain embodiments thereof, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . It is also contemplated that such variations and modifications are within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

1 is a block diagram showing an input device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2A is an exemplary view showing character information of a consonant according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

FIG. 2B is an exemplary view showing character information for a vowel according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

3 is an exemplary view showing input information corresponding to mouse input information according to an embodiment of the present invention;

4 and 5 are views showing an example of a filter of a sensing unit according to an embodiment of the present invention;

6 is a view illustrating an example of a reference point setting process of a motion vector according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 7A to 7D are views showing a method of extracting subject information in four directions according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

FIG. 8A is an exemplary view showing a method of extracting information on the distancing of a subject as subject information according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.

FIG. 8B is an exemplary view showing a method of extracting information about approach of a subject as subject information according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.

Claims (9)

An input device using image information, A sensing unit for sensing an area occupied by a subject adjacent to the camera and a moving direction of the subject to form a motion vector including speed information of the subject; A storage unit for storing character information and input information; And A control unit for forming the character information and the input information corresponding to the motion vector in a control signal and performing an operation process corresponding to the control signal, . The method according to claim 1, Wherein, Wherein the light source is formed using the difference in light and darkness of the subject. delete 3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The sensing unit includes: And a center filter and a border filter for forming motion information of the subject. The method according to claim 1, Wherein, The character information for consonants and vowels is stored in a table form, and the input information corresponding to input information of a mouse is stored in a table form. An input method using image information, a) storing character information and input information; b) forming a motion vector including velocity information of the subject by sensing an area occupied by a subject adjacent to the camera and a moving direction of the subject; c) forming the character information and the input information corresponding to the motion vector as a control signal; And d) performing a device operation process corresponding to the control signal ≪ / RTI > The method according to claim 6, Wherein, And a difference between the light and darkness of the subject. delete 8. The method according to claim 6 or 7, And a center filter and a border filter for forming a motion vector of the subject.

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