CURSOR CONTROL METHOD AND APPARATUS

• US 20080158436A1
• Filed: 12/27/2007
• Published: 07/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PixArt Imaging Incorporated
• Original Assignee: PixArt Imaging Incorporated
• Inventors: CHAO, Tzu Yi, Lee, Yi Fang, Lin, Chih Hsin, Tsai, Chang Che, Chen, Hsin Chia, Huang, Chao Chien, Wu, Meng Tsung
• Granted Patent: US 8,169,550 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/734
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0325 using a plurality of light emitters or reflectors or a plurality of detectors forming a reference frame from which to derive the orientation of the object, e.g. by triangulation or on the basis of reference deformation in the picked up image
• 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: H04N 21/42204 User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor constructive details of casings for the remote control device H01H9/0235; user interfaces for controlling a tuning device of a television receiver through a remote control H03J9/00; remote control of peripheral devices connected to a television receiver through the remote control device of the television receiver H04B1/205
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42206 characterized by hardware details
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42222 Additional components integrated in the remote control device, e.g. timer, speaker, sensors for detecting position, direction or movement of the remote control, microphone or battery charging device

Abstract

A cursor control method for controlling a cursor on an image display includes: providing at least two reference points for generating light of a predetermined spectrum and defining a predetermined area; providing an image sensor pointing inside the predetermined area; receiving the light of the predetermined spectrum by the image sensor to form a digital image; identifying positions and shapes of the images of the reference points on the digital image to form a first parameter; performing distance and angle compensations on the first parameter; moving the aiming point of the image sensor inside the predetermined area to form a second parameter; and calculating an displacement of the images of the reference points on the digital image according to the compensated first and second parameters so as to accordingly control the cursor. The present invention further provides a cursor control apparatus.

Claims

1. A cursor control method for controlling the movement of a cursor on an image display, the method comprising the steps of:

providing at least two reference points for generating light of a predetermined spectrum and defining a predetermined area;

providing an image sensor for pointing inside the predetermined area;

receiving the light of the predetermined spectrum by the image sensor to form a digital image;

identifying positions and shapes of the images of the reference points on the digital image to form a first parameter;

performing distance and angle compensations on the first parameter;

moving the aiming point of the image sensor inside the predetermined area to form a second parameter; and

calculating a displacement of the images of the reference points on the digital image according to the compensated first parameter and the second parameter so as to accordingly control the movement of the cursor.

2. The cursor control method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

providing an optical filter in front of the image sensor for blocking light with a spectrum outside the predetermined spectrum.

3. The cursor control method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the predetermined area is determined by the emitting angles of the reference points and the viewing angle of the image sensor.

4. The cursor control method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

providing a processing unit for storing the digital image, the first and second parameters and for calculating the displacement of the images of the reference points.

5. The cursor control method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the processing unit is wirelessly or electrically coupled to the image display for data communication so as to accordingly control the movement of the cursor.

6. The cursor control method as claimed in claim 4, wherein a predetermined position parameter and a predetermined distance parameter of the images of the reference points on the digital image which is captured by the image sensor at a predetermined distance are stored in the processing unit;

the first parameter comprises a first position parameter, a first distance parameter and an image shape parameter of the images of the reference points on the digital image which is captured by the image sensor before the aiming point of the image sensor is moved, while the second parameter comprises a second position parameter and a second distance parameter of the images of the reference points on the digital image which is captured by the image sensor after the aiming point of the image sensor is moved.

7. The cursor control method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the predetermined position parameter, the first and second position parameters are average coordinates of the images of the reference points on a plane space formed by the sensing array of the image sensor, while the predetermined distance parameter, the first and second distance parameters are distances between the images of the reference points on the plane space formed by the sensing array of the image sensor.

8. The cursor control method as claimed in claim 7, wherein in the step of calculating a displacement of the images of the reference points on the digital image, the displacement is a distance between the second position parameter and the first position parameter.

9. The cursor control method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the distance compensation is implemented according to a proportional relationship between the first distance parameter and the predetermined distance parameter.

10. The cursor control method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the angle compensation is implemented according to the equation of:

$\left[\begin{array}{c}{X}^{\mathrm{\prime <br><br>}}\\ Y^{\mathrm{\prime <br><br>}}\end{array}\right]=\left[\begin{array}{cc}\cos <br><br>\left(\mathrm{\theta <br><br>}\right)& -\sin <br><br>\left(\mathrm{\theta <br><br>}\right)\\ \sin <br><br>\left(\mathrm{\theta <br><br>}\right)& \cos <br><br>\left(\mathrm{\theta <br><br>}\right)\end{array}\right]<br><br>\left[\begin{array}{c}X\\ Y\end{array}\right]$

wherein θ

denotes a rotation angle difference between the first position parameter and the predetermined position parameter;

X and Y denote average coordinates of the first position parameter before being compensated;

X′ and

Y′

denote average coordinates of the images of the reference points after being compensated.

11. The cursor control method as claimed in claim 6, wherein before the angle compensation further comprises:

identifying the image of each reference point in the first position parameter according to the image shape parameter.

12. The cursor control method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the reference points have identical sizes and shapes and the cursor control method further comprises:

providing a mercury switch such that the angle compensation can be correctly performed while a rotation angle of the image sensor is larger than 180 degrees during photographing.

13. The cursor control method as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the step of calculating a displacement of the images of the reference points on the digital image further comprises:

providing a scale factor for controlling the motion sensitivity of the cursor.

14. The cursor control method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the image display is selected from a group consisting of a computer screen, a game machine and a television.

15. The cursor control method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the image sensor is integrated in a remote controller.

16. The cursor control method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the remote controller is wirelessly or electrically coupled to the image display for data communication so as to accordingly control the movement of the cursor.

17. The cursor control method as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the step of calculating a displacement of the images of the reference points on the digital image further comprises:

performing distance and angle compensations on the second parameter.

18. The cursor control method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the reference points are manufactured as an independent device or integrated on the image display.

19. A cursor control apparatus for controlling the movement of a cursor on an image display, the apparatus comprising:

at least two reference points for generating light of a predetermined spectrum and defining a predetermined area;

an image sensor for pointing inside the predetermined area to receive the light of the predetermined spectrum to form a digital image; and

a processing unit receiving the digital image so as to accordingly control the movement of the cursor according to a displacement of the images of the reference points on the digital image.

20. The cursor control apparatus as claimed in claim 19, wherein the predetermined spectrum is infrared spectrum while the image sensor is an infrared image sensor.

21. The cursor control apparatus as claimed in claim 19, wherein the reference points are emitting light sources for emitting the light of the predetermined spectrum.

22. The cursor control apparatus as claimed in claim 21, wherein the reference points are infrared light emitting diode.

23. The cursor control apparatus as claimed in claim 19, wherein the reference points are non-emitting light sources for reflecting the light of the predetermined spectrum.

24. The cursor control apparatus as claimed in claim 23, further comprising a light source for providing the light of the predetermined spectrum.

25. The cursor control apparatus as claimed in claim 19, further comprising an optical filter disposed in front of the image sensor for blocking the light with a spectrum outside the predetermined spectrum.

26. The cursor control apparatus as claimed in claim 25, wherein the image sensor is a CMOS image sensor or a CCD image sensor.

27. The cursor control apparatus as claimed in claim 19, which comprising two reference points having shapes selected from a group consisting of a stripe shape and a dot shape respectively, dot shapes with different sizes and different shapes.

28. The cursor control apparatus as claimed in claim 19, wherein the reference points are manufactured as an independent device or integrated on the image display.

29. The cursor control apparatus as claimed in claim 19, wherein the image display is selected from a group consisting of a computer screen, a television, and a game machine.

30. The cursor control apparatus as claimed in claim 29, wherein the image sensor is integrated in a remote controller.

31. The cursor control apparatus as claimed in claim 29, wherein the reference points have identical shapes and sizes and the remote controller further comprises a mercury switch such that the cursor can be correctly controlled while a rotation angle of the image sensor is larger than 180 degrees during photographing.

32. A television remote control apparatus comprising:

a television using a user interface for function setting and tuning, wherein a cursor is shown on the television for controlling the user interface;

at least two reference points for generating light of a predetermined spectrum and defining a predetermined area; and

a remote controller, comprising;

an image sensor for pointing inside the predetermined area to receive the light of the predetermined spectrum to form a digital image; and

a processing unit, electrically coupled to the image sensor, for accordingly control the movement of the cursor according to a displacement of the images of the reference points on the digital image.

33. The television remote control apparatus as claimed in claim 32, wherein the remote controller further comprises a wireless unit electrically coupled to the processing unit for transmitting a control signal to the television so as to accordingly control the movement of the cursor.

34. The television remote control apparatus as claimed in claim 32, wherein the remote controller further comprises an optical filter disposed in front of the image sensor for blocking the light with a spectrum outside the predetermined spectrum.

35. The television remote control apparatus as claimed in claim 34, wherein the image sensor is a CMOS image sensor or a CCD image sensor.

36. The television remote control apparatus as claimed in claim 32, wherein the reference points are manufactured as an independent device or integrated on the television.

37. The television remote control apparatus as claimed in claim 32, wherein the reference points are non-emitting light sources which can reflect the light of the predetermined spectrum, and the remote controller further comprises a light source for providing the light of the predetermined spectrum for being reflected by the reference points.

38. The television remote control apparatus as claimed in claim 32, which comprising four reference points, wherein three of the reference points have identical dot shapes and the rest of the reference points has a stripe shape.

39. The television remote control apparatus as claimed in claim 32, which comprising two reference points having shapes selected from a group consisting of a stripe shape and a dot shape respectively, dot shapes with different sizes and different shapes.

40. The television remote control apparatus as claimed in claim 32, wherein the predetermined spectrum is infrared spectrum.

41. The television remote control apparatus as claimed in claim 32, wherein the reference points have identical shapes and sizes, and the remote controller further comprises a mercury switch such that the cursor can be correctly controlled while a rotation angle of the image sensor is larger than 180 degrees during photographing.