Three dimensional volumetric display input and output configurations

• US 20030142067A1
• Filed: 06/28/2002
• Published: 07/31/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Autodesk, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Silicon Graphics Incorporated (Graphics Properties Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kurtenbach, Gordon Paul, Balakrishnan, Ravin, Fitzmaurice, George William
• Granted Patent: US 6,753,847 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/156
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 30/50 the image being built up from image elements distributed over a 3D volume, e.g. voxels
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1601 Constructional details related to the housing of computer displays, e.g. of CRT monitors, of flat displays constructional details related to flat displays integrated in a portable computer, e.g. laptop, handheld computer G06F1/1637; constructional details related to television receivers H04N5/64
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/046 by electromagnetic means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04812 Interaction techniques based on cursor appearance or behaviour, e.g. being affected by the presence of displayed objects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04815 Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional, e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/388 Volumetric displays, i.e. systems where the image is built up from picture elements distributed through a volume

Abstract

The present invention is a system that allows a number of 3D volumetric display or output configurations, such as dome, cubical and cylindrical volumetric displays, to interact with a number of different input configurations, such as a three-dimensional position sensing system having a volume sensing field, a planar position sensing system having a digitizing tablet, and a non-planar position sensing system having a sensing grid formed on a dome. The user interacts via the input configurations, such as by moving a digitizing stylus on the sensing grid formed on the dome enclosure surface. This interaction affects the content of the volumetric display by mapping positions and corresponding vectors of the stylus to a moving cursor within the 3D display space of the volumetric display that is offset from a tip of the stylus along the vector.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a three-dimensional (3D) volumetric display output configuration having a display content; and

an input configuration coupled to the volumetric display output configuration and allowing a user to affect the display content.

2. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the output configuration comprises one of a dome, a cylinder, a cubical box and an arbitrary shape.

3. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the input configuration comprises one of a 3D volumetric input space mapped to the 3D volumetric display, a planer 2D input space mapped to the 3D volumetric display, a planar 2D input space mapped to a planar 2D space within the 3D volumetric display, and a non-planar 2D input space mapped to the 3D volumetric display.

4. A system as recited in claim 3, wherein the user produces inputs comprising one or directly with a hand, with a surface touching device and with an intermediary device.

5. A system as recited in claim 3, wherein the input configuration further comprises one of an input volume adjacent to the display, an input volume surrounding the display, a digitizing surface covering a surface of the display, a digitizing surface offset from the surface of the display, and an intermediary device used with the display.

6. A system as recited in claim 5, wherein the intermediary device comprises one of a stylus, a surface fitting mouse, a park able mouse, a multi-dimensional mouse, a movable input device positioned on a bottom periphery of the display and a set of identical input devices positioned spaced around a bottom periphery of the display.

7. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the input configuration comprises a non-planar 2D input space mapped to the 3D volumetric display.

8. A system as recited in claim 7, wherein the non-planar 2D input space comprises a digitizing surface covering a surface of the display and a digitizing stylus interacting with the surface.

9. A system as recited in claim 8, wherein the stylus has a tip, and the stylus and digitizing surface produce a pointing vector and a cursor is created in the display at a fixed distance from the tip along the vector.

10. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the input configuration comprises a tracking system tracking a user.

11. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the input configuration is non-spatial.

12. A system as recited in claim 11, wherein the input configuration comprises a voice recognition system allowing the use to affect the display content using voice commands.

13. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the input configuration and output configuration define a spatial correspondence between an input space and an output space.

14. A system as recited in claim 13, wherein the spatial correspondences comprises one of 3D to 3D, 2D planar to 3D, 2D planar to 2D planar and non-planar 2D to 3D.

15. A system as recited in claim 12, where the input configuration, output configuration and the user define a dynamically updatable spatial correspondence.

18. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein the display comprises a digitizing grid formed on the surface, the interacting comprises the user manipulating the stylus in a sensing region of the grid and the affecting comprises mapping a stylus position in the sensing region to a 3D display position and creating a cursor at a the 3D display position.

16. A system, comprising:

a dome shaped three-dimensional (3D) volumetric display having an enclosure surface;

an input configuration comprising;

a digitizing surface covering the enclosure surface;

a digitizing stylus having a tip and interacting with the digitizing surface under the control of a user; and

a digitizing system coupled to the digitizing surface and outputting non-planar position coordinates and a pointing vector responsive to the interaction between the stylus and the digitizing surface; and

a computer coupled between the display and the digitizing system, producing 3D content displayed in the display, mapping the non-planar position coordinates to a 3D coordinate position in the display by offsetting along the vector by an offset distance from the tip and affecting the content at the 3D coordinate position.

17. A method, comprising:

interacting, by a user, with a surface of a three-dimensional (3D) volumetric display; and

affecting the 3D content of the display responsive to the interaction.