Coordinate input apparatus and method, coordinate input pointing device, storage medium, and computer program

• US 20010050672A1
• Filed: 04/06/2001
• Published: 12/13/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Kobayashi, Kiwamu
• Granted Patent: US 6,636,199 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/158
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1006 having additional degrees of freedom
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0304 Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means constructional details of pointing devices not related to the detection arrangement using opto-electronic means G06F3/033; optical digitisers G06F3/042
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors

Abstract

In inputting coordinate data on an information display screen from a pointing device, a signal is transmitted from the pointing device to a light-receiving element of a fixed unit by infrared light, a signal representing the tilt of the pointing device itself is received by light-receiving elements of the pointing device by infrared light, and on the basis of the signal, coordinate data is calculated by the coordinate calculation section of the pointing device. In this case, the pointing device can obtain the relative tilt of the pointing device itself as coordinate data by the interaction with respect to the fixed unit.

Claims

1. A coordinate input apparatus which comprises a fixed unit fixed at a predetermined position and a pointing device operated by a user and inputs coordinate data representing coordinates by said pointing device, comprising

said fixed unit comprises

first reception means for receiving a first signal from said pointing device, and

first transmission means for transmitting a second signal to said pointing device, and

said pointing device comprises

second reception means for receiving the second signal from said first transmission means,

coordinate calculation means for calculating the coordinate data on the basis of the second signal received by said second reception means, and

second transmission means for transmitting at least the coordinate data calculated by said coordinate calculation means to said first reception means as the first signal.

2. The apparatus according to

claim 1

, wherein said second transmission means transmits a signal containing switch information representing a start of operation and a supplementary information signal to said first reception means as the first signal.

3. The apparatus according to

claim 1

, wherein each of said first and second transmission means comprises a light-emitting element for emitting light.

4. The apparatus according to

claim 1

, wherein each of said first and second reception means comprises a light-receiving element for receiving light.

5. The apparatus according to

claim 1

, wherein said second reception means comprises a single-pixel light-receiving element and a plurality of line sensors laid out in different directions.

6. The apparatus according to

claim 5

, wherein each of said line sensors comprises a linear photoelectric conversion element having a circulative charge transfer path constituted by a plurality of cells, and

said line sensor is designed to transfer charges simultaneously from all pixels of an arbitrary linear photoelectric conversion element to a charge transfer path connected to the circulative charge transfer path as a branch and then transfer the charges to the circulative charge transfer path, or transfer the charges simultaneously from all pixels of an arbitrary linear photoelectric conversion element directly to the circulative charge transfer path.

7. The apparatus according to

claim 5

, wherein said line sensor circulates the charges on the circulative charge transfer path in synchronism with ON/OFF of an electronic shutter function and additionally accumulates the charges from the photoelectric conversion element at the same line position in every circulation of the charges, and

a signal read section is connected to a cell midway along the circulative charge transfer path to externally output a voltage proportional to the charges passing through the cell or output a voltage proportional to a difference in passing charges between two adjacent cells.

8. The apparatus according to

claim 7

, wherein

the electronic shutter function is turned on once at timings when said first transmission means emits light and said first transmission means emits no light to transfer the charges simultaneously from all pixels of the linear photoelectric conversion element to corresponding cells of the circulative charge transfer path once at each timing, and

said line sensor is designed to externally perform control to circulate the charges while additionally accumulating the charges by turning on/off the electronic shutter function and control to circulate the charges while fixing the electronic shutter function in an OFF state to stop additionally accumulating the charges.

9. The apparatus according to

claim 8

, wherein the number of times of additional accumulation of the charges of said line sensor is controlled by the external control function in accordance with a reception amount of the light emitted from said first transmission means.

10. The apparatus according to

claim 6

, wherein said second transmission means synthesizes the coordinate data with a timing signal for synchronizing operation of said line sensor with that of said first transmission means and transmits the synthesized signal to said first reception means as the first signal.

11. The apparatus according to

claim 10

, wherein said first transmission means blinks in synchronism with the electronic shutter function in accordance with a predetermined timing sequence generated on the basis of the timing signal.

25. A storage medium which stores a program for causing a computer to function as each component of the coordinate input apparatus of

claim 1

.

62. The apparatus according to

claim 1

, wherein said coordinate data represents amounts of changes in coordinates.

12. A coordinate input method in which a fixed unit fixed at a predetermined position and a pointing device operated by a user are used, and the pointing device is used to input coordinate data representing coordinates, comprising:

the first transmission step of transmitting a first signal representing a start of operation from the pointing device to the fixed unit;

the first reception step of receiving the first signal by the fixed unit;

the second transmission step of transmitting a second signal representing a direction of presence of the fixed unit itself to the pointing device;

the second reception step of receiving the second signal by the pointing device; and

the calculation step of calculating the coordinate data in the pointing device on the basis of the second signal.

13. The method according to

claim 12

, wherein each of the first and second signals is an optical signal emitted/received between the fixed unit and the pointing device.

26. A storage medium which stores a program for executing a processing procedure of the coordinate input method of

claim 12

.

56. A computer program for executing a processing procedure of the coordinate input method of

claim 12

.

63. The method according to

claim 12

, wherein said coordinate data represents amounts of changes in coordinates.

14. A coordinate input pointing device operated by a user and used to input coordinate data representing coordinates to a fixed unit fixed at a predetermined position, comprising:

transmission means for transmitting a first signal to the fixed unit;

reception means for receiving a second signal from the fixed unit; and

coordinate calculation means for calculating the coordinate data on the basis of the second signal received by said reception means,

wherein the coordinate data calculated on the basis of the second signal is transmitted to the fixed unit as the first signal.

15. The device according to

claim 14

, wherein said transmission means transmits a signal containing switch information representing a start of operation and a supplementary information signal to the fixed unit as the first signal.

16. The device according to

claim 14

, wherein said transmission means comprises a light-emitting element for emitting light.

17. The device according to

claim 14

, wherein said reception means comprises a light-receiving element for receiving light.

18. The device according to

claim 14

, wherein said reception means comprises a single-pixel light-receiving element and a plurality of line sensors laid out in different directions.

19. The device according to

claim 18

, wherein each of said line sensors comprises a linear photoelectric conversion element having a circulative charge transfer path constituted by a plurality of cells, and

said line sensor is designed to transfer charges simultaneously from all pixels of an arbitrary linear photoelectric conversion element to a charge transfer path connected to the circulative charge transfer path as a branch and then transfer the charges to the circulative charge transfer path, or transfer the charges simultaneously from all pixels of an arbitrary linear photoelectric conversion element directly to the circulative charge transfer path.

20. The device according to

claim 18

, wherein said line sensor circulates the charges on the circulative charge transfer path in synchronism with ON/OFF of an electronic shutter function and additionally accumulates the charges from the photoelectric conversion element at the same line position in every circulation of the charges, and

a signal read section is connected to a cell midway along the circulative charge transfer path to externally output a voltage proportional to the charges passing through the cell or output a voltage proportional to a difference in passing charges between two adjacent cells.

21. The device according to

claim 20

, wherein

the electronic shutter function is turned on once at timings when said first transmission means emits light and said first transmission means emits no light to transfer the charges simultaneously from all pixels of the linear photoelectric conversion element to corresponding cells of the circulative charge transfer path once at each timing, and

said line sensor is designed to externally perform control to circulate the charges while additionally accumulating the charges by turning on/off the electronic shutter function and control to circulate the charges while fixing the electronic shutter function in an OFF state to stop additionally accumulating the charges.

22. The device according to

claim 21

, wherein the number of times of additional accumulation of the charges of said line sensor is controlled by the external control function in accordance with a reception amount of the light emitted from the fixed unit.

23. The device according to

claim 19

, wherein said transmission means synthesizes the coordinate data with a timing signal for synchronizing operation of said line sensor with that of the fixed unit and transmits the synthesized signal to the fixed unit as the first signal.

24. The device according to

claim 23

, wherein the fixed unit blinks in synchronism with the electronic shutter function in accordance with a predetermined timing sequence generated on the basis of the timing signal.

27. A storage medium which stores a program for causing a computer to function as each component of the coordinate input pointing device of

claim 14

.

57. A computer program for causing a computer to function as each component of the coordinate input pointing device of

claim 14

.

64. The device according to

claim 14

, wherein said coordinate data represents amounts of changes in coordinates.

28. A coordinate input apparatus which comprises a pointing device and a main body unit and inputs coordinate information indicated by said pointing device, comprising

said main body unit comprises

first detection means for detecting a first incident direction defined as an incident direction of light emitted from said pointing device with reference to said main body unit, and

first calculation means for calculating 3D translation information of said pointing device with respect to said main body unit on the basis of a detection result from said first detection means,

said pointing device comprises

second detection means for detecting a second incident direction defined as a relative incident direction of light emitted from said main body unit with reference to said pointing device, and

second calculation means for calculating 3-axis rotation information of said pointing device on the basis of a detection result from said second detection means, and

calculation results calculated by said first and second calculation means are substantially simultaneously output.

29. The apparatus according to

claim 28

, wherein

said first detection means has first line sensors in X and Y directions, said first line sensors detecting the first incident direction,

said main body unit further comprises a plurality of first light-emitting elements, and a single-pixel light-receiving element for receiving time series information from said pointing device,

said first line sensors comprise a plurality of line sensors in at least one of the X and Y directions, which are spaced apart by a predetermined interval, and

said plurality of first light-emitting elements comprise at least three light-emitting elements linearly laid out and spaced apart by a predetermined interval.

30. The apparatus according to

claim 28

, wherein

said second detection means has second line sensors in X and Y directions, said second line sensors detecting the second incident direction, and

said pointing device further comprises at least one second light-emitting element, and a plurality of switches.

31. The apparatus according to

claim 29

, wherein said first calculation means further calculates, on the basis of the first incident direction, 3D position coordinates of said pointing device with reference to a predetermined position, an amount of change in 3D position coordinates, and a moving amount corresponding to the 3D position coordinates.

32. The apparatus according to

claim 30

, wherein

said second calculation means further calculates, on the basis of the second incident direction, a tilt of said pointing device with reference to a predetermined direction, and an amount of change in tilt, and

said second light-emitting element transmits to said main body unit information obtained by synthesizing a calculation result from said second calculation means and switch information of said plurality of switches.

33. The apparatus according to

claim 32

, wherein

a Z-axis of said pointing device is defined as a direction indicating a front side of said pointing device or a direction from said pointing device to said main body unit,

X0- and Y0-axes of said pointing device are defined as coordinate axes that rotate along the Z-axis as said pointing device itself rotates along the Z-axis, and are perpendicular to each other and perpendicular to the Z-axis of said pointing device, and

the tilt is detected as a synthesis of θ

x, θ

y, and θ

z defined on the basis of rotation along the three, X0-, Y0-, and Z-axes.

34. The apparatus according to

claim 32

, wherein

a Z-axis of said pointing device is defined as a direction indicating a front side of said pointing device or a direction from said pointing device to said main body unit,

X0_fix and Y0_fix axes of said pointing device are defined as coordinate axes that do not rotate along the Z-axis as said pointing device itself rotates along the Z-axis, and are perpendicular to each other and perpendicular to the Z-axis of said pointing device, and

the tilt is detected as a synthesis of θ

x_fix, θ

y_fix, and θ

z defined on the basis of rotation along the three, X0_fix, Y0_fix, and Z-axes.

35. The apparatus according to

claim 29

, wherein

each of said first and second line sensors is a ring CCD formed from a linear photoelectric conversion element and having a circulative charge transfer path constructed by a plurality of cells,

charges are transferred simultaneously from all pixels of an arbitrary linear photoelectric conversion element to a charge transfer path connected to the circulative charge transfer path as a branch and then transferred to the circulative charge transfer path, or transferred simultaneously from all pixels of an arbitrary linear photoelectric conversion element directly to the circulative charge transfer path, and

the charges on the circulative charge transfer path are circulated in synchronism with ON/OFF of an electronic shutter function and additionally accumulated from the photoelectric conversion element at the same line position in every circulation of the charges.

36. The apparatus according to

claim 35

, wherein in said line sensor, a signal read section is connected to a cell midway along the circulative charge transfer path to externally output a voltage proportional to the charges passing through the cell.

37. The apparatus according to

claim 35

, wherein

the electronic shutter function is turned on once during each of ON and OFF periods of light-emission-side blinking of incident light, and

the charges accumulated at each timing are transferred to adjacent cells on the circulative charge transfer path.

38. The apparatus according to

claim 36

, wherein the signal read section can nondestructively read one of a voltage proportional to a difference of charges in an odd-numbered cell with respect to those of an even-numbered cell and a voltage proportional to a difference of charges in the even-numbered cell with respect to those of the odd-numbered cell.

39. The apparatus according to

claim 35

, wherein

said line sensor is designed to externally perform control to circulate the charges while additionally accumulating the charges by turning on/off the electronic shutter function and control to circulate the charges while fixing the electronic shutter function in an OFF state to stop additionally accumulating the charges.

40. The apparatus according to

claim 37

, wherein said line sensor adaptively controls the number of times of accumulation in accordance with a light reception amount or an amount of accumulated charges.

41. The apparatus according to

claim 35

, wherein blinking of light emitted from said pointing device is synchronized with an electronic shutter function of said first line sensors of said main body unit, and blinking of light emitted from said main body unit is synchronized with an electronic shutter function of said line sensors of said pointing device.

42. The apparatus according to

claim 30

, wherein said second light-emitting element has a function of emitting light in accordance with a signal modulated by a carrier having a frequency much higher than a blinking frequency within a blinking period of light-emission-side blinking of the incident light, and transmits the time series information of blinking and the switch information on said pointing device by controlling presence/absence of modulation.

43. The apparatus according to

claim 42

, wherein said main body unit comprises a bandpass filter having a center frequency substantially equal to a modulation frequency in said second light-emitting element, and a detection circuit, and detects the time series information and switch information transmitted by said second light-emitting element by passing a signal obtained by said first light-receiving element through said bandpass filter and detection circuit.

44. The apparatus according to

claim 28

, wherein

first light-emitting operation of the light emitted from said main body unit has a first correspondence relationship synchronized with second detection operation of said second detection means,

second light-emitting operation of the light emitted from said pointing device has a second correspondence relationship synchronized with first detection operation of said first detection means, and

the first and second correspondence relationships satisfy a predetermined condition.

45. The apparatus according to

claim 44

, wherein for the synchronization, with reference to time of a leading edge or trailing edge of arbitrary lighting of the blinking obtained from a time series signal detected by detection means which is characterized by having a function of emitting light in accordance with the signal modulated by the carrier having the frequency sufficiently higher than the blinking frequency within the blinking period of light-emission-side blinking of the incident light, and transmitting the time series information of blinking and the switch information on said pointing device by controlling the presence/absence of modulation, a timing sequence as a control signal of said ring CCD is started, and a series of operations are repeated every time coordinates of one point are processed.

47. A storage medium which stores a program for causing a computer to function as each component of the coordinate input apparatus of

claim 28

.

58. A computer program for causing a computer to function as each component of the coordinate input apparatus of

claim 28

.

46. A coordinate input method of using a pointing device and a main body unit and inputting coordinate information indicated by the pointing device, comprising:

the first detection step of detecting, by the main body unit, a first incident direction defined as an incident direction of light emitted from the pointing device with reference to the main body unit;

the first calculation step of calculating 3D translation information of the pointing device with respect to the main body unit on the basis of a detection result in the first detection step;

the second detection step of detecting, by the pointing device, a second incident direction defined as a relative incident direction of light emitted from the main body unit with reference to the pointing device; and

the second calculation step of calculating 3-axis rotation information of the pointing device on the basis of a detection result in the second detection step,

wherein calculation results calculated in the first and second calculation steps are substantially simultaneously output.

48. A storage medium which stores a program for executing a processing procedure of the coordinate input method of

claim 46

.

59. A computer program for executing a processing procedure of the coordinate input method of

claim 46

.

49. A coordinate input apparatus which comprises a pointing device and a main body unit and inputs coordinate information indicated by said pointing device, comprising

said main body unit comprises

first light-emitting means for emitting light, and

first detection means for detecting light emitted from said pointing device, and

said pointing device comprises

second light-emitting means for emitting light, and

second detection means for detecting the light emitted from said main body unit,

first light-emitting operation of said first light-emitting means has a first correspondence relationship synchronized with second detection operation of said second detection means,

second light-emitting operation of said second light-emitting means has a second correspondence relationship synchronized with first detection operation of said first detection means, and

the first and second correspondence relationships satisfy a predetermined condition.

50. The apparatus according to

claim 49

, wherein

said first detection means comprises a first line sensor having a first electronic shutter function synchronized with a first blink pattern period of the light which is emitted from said pointing device in accordance with a first blink pattern,

said first line sensor outputs a signal corresponding to a difference between charges accumulated during an ON period of the first blink pattern and those accumulated during an OFF period,

said second detection means comprises a second line sensor having a second electronic shutter function synchronized with a second blink pattern period of the light which is emitted from said main body unit in accordance with a second blink pattern, and

said second line sensor outputs a signal corresponding to a difference between charges accumulated during an ON period of the second blink pattern and those accumulated during an OFF period.

51. The apparatus according to

claim 50

, wherein

the second blink pattern period is twice the first blink pattern period,

blinking in the first blink pattern period is performed a total of two times during ½

the first blink pattern period in each second electronic shutter function ON period, and

the first ON period during the second blink pattern period and the ON period of the first blink pattern period are within the second electronic shutter function ON period, and

the first electronic shutter period of the first electronic shutter function is twice the second electronic shutter period of the second electronic shutter function,

the first electronic shutter function ON period includes the twice ON periods of the second blink pattern period, and

an OFF timing of the first electronic shutter function matches one of OFF timings of the second electronic shutter function.

52. The apparatus according to

claim 51

, wherein for a combination of the second electronic shutter period and the first blink pattern period and a combination of the first electronic shutter period and the second blink pattern period satisfy the predetermined condition in that

“

for a first-order electronic shutter period Ts, a first-order blink pattern period of first-order blinking is 2*Ts, the number of times of ON operations during one first-order blink pattern period is one, the ON time of the first-order blinking is always included in an even-numbered (or odd-numbered) ON region of the first-order electronic shutter,

an nth-order blink pattern period of nth-order blinking is Ts*2ⁿ, the total number of times of ON operations is 2<sup>n−

1</sup> times at the interval Ts during ½

the nth blink pattern period in each first-order electronic shutter ON period, for a phase relationship, a first ON operation in each blink pattern period is performed during the first-order electronic shutter ON period corresponding to the first-order blinking ON period,

the nth-order electronic shutter period is Ts*2<sup>n−

1</sup>, one nth-order electronic shutter ON period includes all ON periods during one nth-order blink pattern period, and the nth-order electronic shutter OFF period matches at least one of the first-order electronic shutter OFF periods”

, and

the combination is included in combination of the nth-order blinking and electronic shutter and is a combination with different orders.

54. A storage medium which stores a program for causing a computer to function as each component of the coordinate input apparatus of

claim 49

.

60. A computer program for causing a computer to function as each component of the coordinate input apparatus of

claim 49

.

53. A coordinate input method of using a pointing device and a main body unit and inputting coordinate information indicated by the pointing device, comprising:

the first light-emitting step of emitting light from the main body unit;

the first detection step of detecting, by the main body unit, light emitted from the pointing device;

the second light-emitting step of emitting light from the pointing device; and

the second detection step of detecting, by the pointing device, the light emitted from the main body unit,

wherein first light-emitting operation in the first light-emitting step has a first correspondence relationship synchronized with second detection operation in the second detection step,

second light-emitting operation in the second light-emitting step has a second correspondence relationship synchronized with first detection operation in the first detection step, and

the first and second correspondence relationships satisfy a predetermined condition.

55. A storage medium which stores a program for executing a processing procedure of the coordinate input method of

claim 53

.

61. A computer program for executing a processing procedure of the coordinate input method of

claim 53

.