WO2018195597A1

WO2018195597A1 - An electronic ratio adjustable ruler

Info

Publication number: WO2018195597A1
Application number: PCT/AU2018/050377
Authority: WO
Inventors: Callum Flitcroft
Original assignee: Callum Flitcroft
Priority date: 2017-04-28
Filing date: 2018-04-25
Publication date: 2018-11-01

Abstract

There is provided herein an electronic ruler comprising a digital display for the display ratio adjustable ruler representations thereon. The electronic ruler may comprise physical componentry comprising a power supply which may draw power from a USB port to charge a lithium battery which may power a CPU module. The CPU module may control a digital display, such as a thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal display (TFT LCD) display. Furthermore, the CPU module may run an operating system to execute a software application which may be used to dynamically adjust the display of a ruler representation on the digital display. In a preferred embodiment, the digital display runs along an edge of the ruler such that the ruler representation can be read from an edge of the ruler in the conventional manner. The electronic ruler of this particular construction allows for multiple uses according to differing operational modes.

Description

An electronic ratio adjustable ruler

Field of the Invention

[I] This invention relates generally to an electronic ruler for displaying ratio adjustable ruler representations.

Background of the Invention

[2] Scaled rulers are used for measuring distances and transferring measurements at a fixed ratio of length. Various forms of scaled rulers exist today, including multi-edged scaled rulers comprising a plurality of commonly used scales each of which may be selected according to the relevant ratio of the plan.

[3] However, existing scaled rulers are deficient in that a nonuniform ratio is sometimes desirous. For example, it may be desirous to represent a plan at a ratio of 1:125 to maximise the representation on a standardised piece of paper, as opposed to 1:100 which may be too large or 1:150 which may be too small.

[4] Furthermore, differing rulers are required for both imperial and metric scales.

[5] Yet further, photographic reproduction of plans sometimes inadvertently shrink or enlarge the reproduction thereof, thereby distorting the ratio. As such, a 1:100 ratio may be distorted to a 1:97 ratio by photographic reproduction.

[6] The present invention seeks to provide a way which will overcome or substantially ameliorate at least some of the deficiencies of the prior art, or to at least provide an alternative.

[7] It is to be understood that, if any prior art information is referred to herein, such reference does not constitute an admission that the information forms part of the common general knowledge in the art, in Australia or any other country.

Summary of the Disclosure

[8] There is provided herein an electronic ruler comprising a digital display for the display ratio adjustable ruler representations thereon.

[9] The electronic ruler may comprise physical componentry comprising a power supply which may draw power from a USB port to charge a lithium battery which may power a CPU module. The CPU module may control a digital display, such as a thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal display (TFT LCD) display.

[10] Furthermore, the CPU module may run an operating system to execute a software application which may be used to dynamically adjust the display of a ruler representation on the digital display.

[II] In a preferred embodiment, the digital display runs along an edge of the ruler such that the ruler representation can be read from an edge of the ruler in the conventional manner. [12] The electronic ruler of this particular construction allows for multiple uses according to differing operational modes.

[13] For example, in a first operational mode, the user may easily select between imperial and metric units wherein, according to the user selection, the values and sizing of the ruler representation adjusts accordingly.

[14] In a second operational mode, the user may select a ratio according to a plurality of ratio categories such as 1:10, 1:100, 1:1000 and so on.

[15] In a third operational mode, the user may configure a custom ratio wherein, utilising a user interface input, the user may input a custom ratio such as, for example, 1:14 which may be dynamically displayed by the ruler representation.

[16] In fourth operational mode, the user may make measurements using the digital ruler according to the ratio setting. Example, the digital display may display user operable controls and comprise a haptic overlay so as to detect user interaction with the user operable controls. The user operable controls may comprise a pair of user operable controls which may be positioned along the length of the digital scale by dragging gesture so as to place the controls between plan markings. In this way, the CPU module is able to calculate and display the measurement between the plan markings on the digital display.

[17] In a fifth operational mode, the user may calibrate the ratio by positioning the user operable controls between plan markings of a known dimension (e.g. a wall with noted dimensions) and further inputting the known dimension such that the CPU module is able to calculate and adjust the ratio of the electronic ruler.

[18] In a sixth operational mode, the user may pair an electronic device to the electronic ruler and use the electronic device to capture an image of a scale alongside the ruler. The software modules of the electronic device is able to detect the relative sizing of the scale and that of the electronic ruler from the data pixels of the image using image analysis (including, in embodiments, using text recognition to identify the relevant scale) to dynamically adjust the ratio setting of the electronic ruler.

[19] Accordance with one aspect, there is provided an electronic ruler comprising a controller and a digital display operably coupled thereto, the digital display positioned along an edge of the electronic ruler, the controller configured for displaying a digital ruler representation along the edge according to a configurable ratio setting.

[20] The electronic ruler may further comprise a haptic interface overlaid the digital display configured for detecting haptic user interface gestures.

[21] The configurable ratio setting may be configurable using haptic user interface gestures.

[22] The digital ruler representation may display interval markings. [23] The digital ruler representation may display values adjacent subsets of the interval markings.

[24] The controller may be configurable in a mode of operation wherein a measurement unit may be user configurable.

[25] The measurement unit may comprise imperial and metric measurement units.

[26] The controller may be configured for controlling the digital display to display a user interface and wherein the user interface may comprise measurement unit selection controls configured for configuring the measurement unit.

[27] When receiving a user measurement unit configuration, the controller may be configured for updating the digital ruler representation.

[28] The controller may be configured for updating the positioning of interval markings of the digital ruler representation.

[29] The controller may be configurable in a mode of operation wherein ratio setting scale may be user selectable from a plurality of ratio setting categories.

[30] The controller may be configured for controlling the digital display to display a user interface and wherein user interface may comprise ratio setting category selection controls.

[31] When receiving a ratio setting category selection via the user interface, the controller may be configured for updating the digital ruler representation.

[32] The controller may be configurable in a mode of operation wherein the ratio setting may be user adjustable to a custom ratio.

[33] The controller may be configured for controlling the digital display to display a user interface and wherein the user interface may comprise a ratio adjustment controller.

[34] The ratio adjustment controller may comprise up and down ratio adjustment controls.

[35] The up and down ratio adjustment controls may be user operable for a short period to adjust the scale by an amount and further user operable for a longer period to adjust the scale by a greater amount than the amount.

[36] The controller may be configurable in a mode of operation wherein the controller may be configured for controlling digital display to display a user interface and wherein the user interface may be operable to take a measurement between two points adjacent the ruler and wherein the user interface may display a measurement reading in accordance with the ratio setting.

[37] The user interface may comprise a pair of measurement controllers user positionable along the length of the user interface and wherein the controller may be configured for calculating a distance between the pair of measurement controllers once positioned.

[38] The pair of measurement controllers may be user positionable by way of drag user interface gesture. [39] The controller may be configurable in a mode of operation wherein the controller may be configured for controlling the digital display to display user interface and wherein the user interface may be operable to take a measurement between two points adjacent the ruler and to receive a real world measurement between the two points and wherein the controller may be configured for adjusting the ratio setting according to the measurement between the two points and the real world measurement.

[40] The user interface may comprise a pair of measurement controllers user positionable along the length of the user interface and wherein the controller may be configured for calculating a distance between the pair of measurement controllers once positioned.

[41] The pair of measurement controllers may be user positionable by way of drag user interface gesture.

[42] The electronic ruler may further comprise an electronic device and wherein the controller may be configurable in a sixth mode of operation wherein the controller may be configured for pairing with the electronic device and wherein the electronic device may be configured for capturing an image of the electronic ruler and a reference scale and adjusting the ratio setting according to image analysis of the image.

[43] The electronic device may be configured for determining a first data pixel length according to interval markings of the digital ruler representations and a second data pixel length according to the reference scale and adjusting the ratio setting according to the first and second data pixel lengths.

[44] The electronic device may be configured for optical character recognition to read values of the reference scale.

[45] The electronic device may be configured for displaying a user interface and wherein the user interface may comprise on-screen positionable reference scale demarcation controllers configured for indicating the terminal ends of the reference scale.

[46] Other aspects of the invention are also disclosed.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[47] Notwithstanding any other forms which may fall within the scope of the present invention, preferred embodiments of the disclosure will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

[48] Figure 1 illustrates the functional componentry of an electronic ruler in accordance with an embodiment;

[49] Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary physical embodiment of the electronic ruler; [50] Figure 3 - 4 illustrates an exemplary first mode of operation wherein the ruler representation of the electronic ruler may be adjusted according to the measurement unit selection;

[51] Figures 5 - 6 illustrate an exemplary second mode of operation wherein the ruler representation of the electronic ruler may be adjusted according to a selected ratio category;

[52] Figures 7 - 8 illustrate an exemplary third mode of operation wherein the ruler representation of the electronic ruler may be adjusted according to a custom ratio;

[53] Figure 9 illustrates an exemplary fourth mode of operation wherein the electronic ruler may be used to take measurements according to the current ratio setting;

[54] Figures 10 - 11 illustrate an exemplary fifth mode of operation wherein measurements can be taken to adjust the ratio setting of the electronic ruler; and

[55] Figure 12 illustrates an exemplary sixth mode of operation wherein an electronic device may be paired to the electronic ruler and used to capture an image which may be analysed to adjust the ratio setting of the electronic ruler.

Description of Embodiments

[56] Figure 1 shows the control componentry of an electronic ruler 100 in accordance with an embodiment. The electronic ruler 100 comprises physical componentry 103 which executes an operating system 102 (such as the Android operating system) which further executes the software application 101.

[57] The physical componentry 103 may comprise a power module 121 which may comprise a power management unit 119 which charges and draws power from a battery 120, such as a lithium battery. The power management unit 119 may draw power from a micro USB port 118 so as to allow the periodic recharging of the electronic ruler 100.

[58] The physical componentry 103 may further comprise a CPU module 117. The CPU module 117 may comprise a CPU 114 (such as the S5P6818 micro processor). The CPU 114 may interface with an 8GB embedded Multi-Media Controller 115 and 1 GB DDR3 memory 116. The memory 116 may store the operating system 102 and the software application 101.

[59] The CPU 114 may further interface with a Mobile Industry Processor Interface 113 which may interface with a digital display 112.

[60] In embodiments, the digital display 112 may be the TL078HWXH03 digital display having a resolution of 1280 x 400, and a length of approximately 200 mm and a width of approximately 60 mm.

[61] In embodiments, a touch overlay 110 may overlay the digital display for the detection of haptic user interface gestures. [62] In embodiments, the CP 114 may interface with a Bluetooth transceiver 111 to allow for the short range communication with a paired electronic device. In this regard, it should be noted that the various functionality described herein may be performed additionally or alternatively using corresponding user interface of the electronic device.

[63] The software application 101 may comprise a plurality of settings 109, including a ratio setting. Furthermore, the software application 101 may comprise a plurality of computer program code controller modules which are executed by the CPU 114 in use.

[64] These controllers may comprise a start-up controller 104 to initialise the user interface. The controllers may further comprise a set mode controller 105 to set the mode of operation of the user interface including any one of the six modes of operation described above.

[65] The controllers may further comprise a set ratio controller 106 configured for setting the ratio setting of the electronic ruler 100. Furthermore, the controllers may comprise a measurement controller 107 for the making of measurements using the user interface. Furthermore, the controllers may comprise a calibration controller 108 for calibrating the ratio setting of the electronic ruler 100.

[66] Figure 2 shows a top perspective view of the electronic ruler 100 in accordance with an exemplary physical embodiment. As can be seen, the electronic ruler comprises a housing 112 exposing the digital display 112 at an upper surface thereof. In the embodiment shown, the housing 112 is substantially wedge-shaped so as to expose an edge of the digital display 112 as close as possible to a narrowed measuring edge of the electronic ruler 100. As can be seen, the digital display 112 displays the ruler representation 123 adjacent the narrowed edge. In this way, the electronic ruler 100 and the digitally displayed ruler representation 123 may be utilised substantially in the conventional manner.

[67] Figures 3 and 4 represent the user interface displayed by the electronic ruler 100 in accordance with a first mode of operation wherein the user is able to switch between metric and Imperial units.

[68] The user interface displays the ruler representation 123 which may comprise uniformly spaced interval markings 138, including major and minor interval markings and associated values 139.

[69] The user interface may display the current ratio setting 125.

[70] Figure 3 shows the digital display displaying a metric ruler representation 123 spanning, for example, between 0m and 15 m. However, the user interface displays measurement unit control toggles 124 which may be toggled between metric units as is substantially shown in Figure 3 and Imperial units as is substantially shown in Figure 4.

[71] As can be seen from Figure 4, the selection of the Imperial measurement unit automatically updates the ruler representation 123 to Imperial measurements, shown as feet. [72] It should be noted that when switching between metric and Imperial measurements, the ruler representation 123 is updated according to the current ratio setting. For example, for the 1:100 current ratio setting, when toggling to the Imperial unit setting, the ruler representation 123 not only updates to show Imperial measurements, but also adjusts the relative sizing of the ruler representation 123 dynamically. As such, the spacing of the interval markings 123 are dynamically adjusted and the associated values 139 updated accordingly.

[73] Figures 5 and 6 illustrate a second mode of operation of the electronic ruler 100 wherein the user is able to select commonly used ratios from a plurality of ratio categories. Specifically, the user interface shown comprises a plurality of ratio category selection controls which, in the exemplary embodiment shown, show commonly used ratio categories of 1:10, 1:100 and 1:100.

[74] As can be seen, when adjusting from the 1:10 ratio as is shown in Figure 5 to the 1:100 ratio as is shown in Figure 6, the ruler representation 123 dynamically updates to show the new ruler representation according to the new ratio.

[75] In embodiments, when selecting a particular ratio, the user interface may be configured to display the next adjacent higher and lower ratios when a particular ratio setting a selected. As such, the user may scroll through the ratio categorisations until the desirous ratio setting is found.

[76] Figure 7 and 8 show a third mode of operation wherein a user is able to input a custom ratio such as, for example, 1:14.

[77] In accordance with this embodiment, the user interface displays ratio adjustment controls 128 and an adjacent ratio value 127. In the embodiment shown, the controls 128 comprise up-and-down controls allowing the user to increase or decrease the ratio. Pressing each of the controls 128 may adjust the ratio by one whereas holding down the controls 128 may adjust the ratio by 10.

[78] As can be seen from Figure 8, the user has adjusted the ratio setting to 1:14.

[79] Figure 9 illustrates a fourth mode of operation wherein the user is able to take measurements using the electronic ruler 100.

[80] In embodiments shown, the user interface comprises a pair of measurements controls 129 which may be adjusted along the length of the ruler representation 123 by haptic dragging gestures.

[81] Each control 129 may comprise a perpendicular line meeting the edge of the ruler representation 123.

[82] In embodiment shown, the electronic ruler 100 is placed adjacent plan markings 131. As such, to measure the distance between the plan markings 131, the user adjusts the measurement controls 129 to correspond in location to the plan markings 131. [83] Once the measurement controls 129 have been placed, the CPU 114 is able to calculate the distance therebetween according to the current ratio setting and display the scale measurement 130 using the user interface.

[84] For example, where the digital display comprises a width of 20 cm and the current ratio setting is 1:100, should the measurement controls 129 be placed 10 cm apart, the CPU 114 is able to calculate that the real world distance therebetween is 10 m.

[85] Figures 10 and 11 illustrate a fifth mode of operation wherein measurements can be taken using the electronic ruler to calibrate the ratio setting thereof.

[86] Specifically, Figure 10 illustrates the user interface comprising the measurement controls 129 which may be similarly dragged across the length of the ruler representation 123 using haptic dragging gestures between plan markings 131.

[87] Now, it could be known that the real-world distance between the plan markings 131 is 10 m.

[88] As such, the user may input the correct real-world distance using user interface input 132 which may be similarly adjusted by touch sensitive up-and-down adjustment controls 133.

[89] As such, by ascertaining the distance between the measurement controls 129 and knowing the real-world distance therebetween, the CPU 114 is able to adjust the scale accordingly. For example, Figure 11 shows the ratio setting 125 having been adjusted to 1:14.

[90] For example, for a ruler representation 123 of 20 cm in length, should the measurement controls 129 be positioned 10 cm apart therealong, and should it be input to that the corresponding real world length is 10 m, the CPU 114 is able to calculate the ratio setting to be 1:100.

[91] Figure 12 illustrates an embodiment wherein a paired electronic device 135 is used to quickly and easily adjust the ratio setting of the electronic ruler 100.

[92] In accordance with this embodiment, the electronic device 135 may be provided with a software application to configure the operation thereof including communication with the electronic ruler 100 utilising the Bluetooth transceiver 111.

[93] In accordance with this embodiment, the user places the ruler 100 alongside a reference scale 134 (or other markings of known real-world distance).

[94] The user, using the camera device of the electronic device 135 then captures an image of both the ruler and the reference scale 134.

[95] As such, the electronic device 135 captures a digital image 137 of both the scale 134 and the electronic ruler.

[96] The software application of the electronic device 135 then performs image analysis on the relative pixel positioning of the reference scale 134 and the interval markings 138 of the electronic ruler 100. [97] For example, by analysing the interval markings displayed by the electronic ruler, the software application may determine that, in accordance with the current ratio setting of the electronic ruler, that 10 m represents 680 pixels across the digital image.

[98] The software application may further analyse the length of the reference scale 134 to determine that, for example, the reference scale occupies 580 pixels across the digital image.

[99] In embodiments, the software application may measure the length of the digital image of the reference scale 134 automatically by recognising the elongate nature of the scale according to a linear object image recognition technique. In alternative embodiments, the user may place on-screen interval markings to demarcate the edge bounds of the reference scale 134 on-screen.

[100] Furthermore, in embodiments, the software application of the electronic device may perform text recognition to analyse the scale values along the reference scale 134 such that, for the embodiment shown, the software application is able to perform text recognition to ascertain that the entire length of the reference scale represents 500 cm. However, alternative embodiments, the user may input the reference scale length.

[101] As such, by determining that 580 pixels represents 500 cm according to the reference scale and that 580 pixels actually represents 1000 cm according to the current displayed scale of the ruler 100, the software application is able to adjust the scale to 1:20.

[102] Having correlated the correct ratio setting, the electronic device 135 may transmit the ratio setting to the electronic ruler 110 for storage within the settings 109 within memory 116.

[103] The foregoing description, for purposes of explanation, used specific nomenclature to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that specific details are not required in order to practice the invention. Thus, the foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments of the invention are presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed; obviously, many modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical applications, they thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the following claims and their equivalents define the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. An electronic ruler comprising a controller and a digital display operably coupled thereto, the digital display positioned along an edge of the electronic ruler, the controller configured for displaying a digital ruler representation along the edge according to a configurable ratio setting.

2. An electronic ruler as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a haptic interface overlaid the digital display configured for detecting haptic user interface gestures.

3. An electronic ruler as claimed in claim 2, wherein the configurable ratio setting is configurable using haptic user interface gestures.

4. An electronic ruler as claimed in claim 1, wherein the digital ruler representation displays interval markings.

5. An electronic ruler as claimed in claim 4, wherein the digital ruler representation displays values adjacent subsets of the interval markings.

6. An electronic ruler as claimed in claim 1, wherein the controller is configurable in a mode of operation wherein a measurement unit is user configurable.

7. An electronic ruler as claimed in claim 6, wherein the measurement unit comprises imperial and metric measurement units.

8. An electronic ruler as claimed in claim 7, wherein the controller is configured for controlling the digital display to display a user interface and wherein the user interface comprises measurement unit selection controls configured for configuring the measurement unit.

9. An electronic ruler as claimed in claim 8, wherein, when receiving a user measurement unit configuration, the controller is configured for updating the digital ruler representation.

10. An electronic ruler as claimed in claim 9, wherein the controller is configured for updating the positioning of interval markings of the digital ruler representation.

11. An electronic ruler as claimed in claim 1, wherein the controller is configurable in a mode of operation wherein ratio setting scale is user selectable from a plurality of ratio setting categories.

12. An electronic ruler as claimed in claim 11, wherein the controller is configured for controlling the digital display to display a user interface and wherein user interface comprises ratio setting category selection controls.

13. An electronic ruler as claimed in claim 12, wherein, when receiving a ratio setting category selection via the user interface, the controller is configured for updating the digital ruler representation.

14. An electronic ruler as claimed in claim 1, wherein the controller is configurable in a mode of operation wherein the ratio setting is user adjustable to a custom ratio.

15. An electronic ruler as claimed in claim 14, wherein the controller is configured for controlling the digital display to display a user interface and wherein the user interface comprises a ratio adjustment controller.

16. An electronic ruler as claimed in claim 15, wherein the ratio adjustment controller comprises up and down ratio adjustment controls.

17. An electronic ruler as claimed in claim 16, wherein the up and down ratio adjustment controls are user operable for a short period to adjust the scale by an amount and further user operable for a longer period to adjust the scale by a greater amount than the amount.

18. An electronic ruler as claimed in claim 1, wherein the controller is configurable in a mode of operation wherein the controller is configured for controlling digital display to display a user interface and wherein the user interface is operable to take a measurement between two points adjacent the ruler and wherein the user interface displays a measurement reading in accordance with the ratio setting.

19. An electronic ruler as claimed in claim 18, wherein the user interface comprises a pair of measurement controllers user positionable along the length of the user interface and wherein the controller is configured for calculating a distance between the pair of measurement controllers once positioned.

20. An electronic ruler as claimed in claim 19, wherein the pair of measurement controllers are user positionable by way of drag user interface gesture.

21. An electronic ruler as claimed in claim 1, wherein the controller is configurable in a mode of operation wherein the controller is configured for controlling the digital display to display user interface and wherein the user interface is operable to take a measurement between two points adjacent the ruler and to receive a real world measurement between the two points and wherein the controller is configured for adjusting the ratio setting according to the measurement between the two points and the real world measurement.

22. An electronic ruler as claimed in claim 21, wherein the user interface comprises a pair of measurement controllers user positionable along the length of the user interface and wherein the controller is configured for calculating a distance between the pair of measurement controllers once positioned.

23. An electronic ruler as claimed in claim 22, wherein the pair of measurement controllers are user positionable by way of drag user interface gesture.

24. An electronic ruler as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an electronic device and wherein the controller is configurable in a sixth mode of operation wherein the controller is configured for pairing with the electronic device and wherein the electronic device is configured for capturing an image of the electronic ruler and a reference scale and adjusting the ratio setting according to image analysis of the image.

25. An electronic ruler as claimed in claim 24, wherein the electronic device is configured for determining a first data pixel length according to interval markings of the digital ruler

representations and a second data pixel length according to the reference scale and adjusting the ratio setting according to the first and second data pixel lengths.

26. An electronic ruler as claimed in claim 24, wherein the electronic device is configured for optical character recognition to read values of the reference scale.

27. An electronic ruler as claimed in claim 24, wherein the electronic device is configured for displaying a user interface and wherein the user interface comprises on-screen positionable reference scale demarcation controllers configured for indicating the terminal ends of the reference scale.