Method for Control of a Device

• US 20080188959A1
• Filed: 05/24/2006
• Published: 08/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Kneissler, Jan
• Granted Patent: US 8,190,278 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/83
• 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

Abstract

The invention describes a method for control of a device (D1, D2). This method comprises the steps of: aiming a pointing device (1) comprising a camera (2) and a source (3) of invisible light in the direction of an object (O1, O2, O3) associated with the device (D1, D2) to be controlled, upon which or in which object (O1, O2, O3) a number of retroreflective marker elements (M1, M2, M3, . . . , M11) are positioned, which retroreflective marker elements (M1, M2, M3, . . . , M11) reflects at least part of the invisible light emitted by the light source (2) back to the pointing device (1); generating a first image (IA) of a target area (A) aimed at by the pointing device (1) whereby the light source (3) is inactive; generating a second image (IB) of the target area (A) aimed at by the pointing device (1) whereby, at least during part of an exposure time for generating the second image (IB), invisible light is emitted by the light source (3) in the direction (P) of pointing; processing the target area images (IA, IB) to determine the presence of retroreflective marker elements (M1, M2, M3, . . . , M11); using information pertaining to the retroreflective marker elements (M1, M2, M3, . . . , M11) to identify of the device (D1, D2) to be controlled and/or to determine a control signal (CS1, CS2) for the identified device (D1, D2). Moreover the invention describes an adequate system for control of a device (D1, D2) and a pointing device (1) for use in such a method.

Claims

1. A method for control of a device (D₁, D₂), which method comprises the steps of:

aiming a pointing device (1) comprising a camera (2) and a source (3) of invisible light in the direction of an object (O₁, O₂, O₃) associated with the device (D₁, D₂) to be controlled, upon which or in which object (O₁, O₂, O₃) a number of retro-reflective marker elements (M₁, M₂, M₃, . . . , M₁₁) are positioned, which retro-reflective marker elements (M₁, M₂, M₃, . . . , M₁₁) reflects at least part of the invisible light emitted by the light source (2) back to the pointing device (1);

generating a first image (I_A) of a target area (A) aimed at by the pointing device (1) whereby the light source (3) is inactive;

generating a second image (I_B) of the target area (A) aimed at by the pointing device (1) whereby, at least during part of an exposure time for generating the second image (I_B), invisible light is emitted by the light source (3) in the direction (P) of pointing;

processing the target area images (I_A, I_B) to determine the presence of retro-reflective marker elements (M₁, M₂, M₃, . . . , M₁₁);

using information pertaining to the retro-reflective marker elements (M₁, M₂, M₃, . . . , M₁₁) to identify of the device (D₁, D₂) to be controlled and/or to determine a control signal (CS₁, CS₂) for the identified device (D₁, D₂).

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the process step for determining the presence of the retro-reflective marker elements (M₁, M₂, M₃, . . . , M₁₁) comprises a step of subtracting the first target area image (I_A) from the second target area image (I_B) to generate a target area marker image (I_M).

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein

after the image data of the target area images (I_A, I_B) are processed to determine the presence of retro-reflective marker elements (M₁, M₂, M₃, . . . , M₁₁), image data of the first target area image (I_A) and/or the second target area image (I_B) and/or the target area marker image (I_M) ( ) are extracted depending on the located retro-reflective markers (M₁, M₂, M₃, . . . , M₁₁);

and the extracted image data (IE₁, IE₂, IE₃) are further processed for the identification of the device (D1, D2) to be controlled and/or for determination of control signal (CS₁, CS₂) for the identified device (D1, D2).

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the image data (IE₁, IE₂, IE₃) for further processing are extracted by means of a filter rule (FR₁, FR₂) which is defined according to the device (D1, D2) to be controlled.

5. A method according to claim 3, wherein the extracted image data (IE₁, IE₂, IE₃) are transmitted for further processing to a control unit (C₁, C₂) associated with the device (D₁, D₂) to be controlled.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein the pointing device (1) transmits the image data (IE₁, IE₂, IE₃), extracted according to a specific filter rule (FR₁, FR₂), together with an information signal (FI₁, FI₂) for identifying the associated filter rule (FR₁, FR₂) and/or the device (D₁, D₂) associated with this filter rule (FR₁, FR₂).

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein the entire first target area image (I_A) or the entire second target area image (I_B) is transmitted to the control unit(s) (C₁, C₂) if the quantity of the image data (IE₁, IE₂, IE₃) extracted by means of the filter rules (FR₁, FR₂) exceeds a certain level.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein the retro-reflective marker elements (M₁, M₂, M₃, . . . , M₁₁) are designed and/or arranged in a particular manner to give a unique identifier associated with the object (O₁, O₂, O₃) of the device (D₁, D₂) to be controlled or associated with the device (D₁, D₂) to be controlled.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein the retroreflective marker (M₁, M₂, M₃, . . . , M₁₁) elements appear transparent in the visible frequency range, or appear in the visible frequency range to be identical to the surface of the object (O₁, O₂, O₃) upon which or in which they are positioned.

10. A method according to claim 1, wherein the retroreflective marker elements (M₁, M₂, M₃, . . . , M₁₁) are stickers.

11. A system (10) for controlling a device (D₁, D₂) comprising:

a pointing device (1) which comprises;

a source (3) of invisible light for emitting invisible light in the direction (P) in which the pointing device (1) is aimed,

a camera (2) for generating images (I_A, I_B) of a target area (A) in the direction (P) of pointing, which camera (2) is sensitive to the frequency range of the invisible light emitted by the light source (3),

and a synchronization unit (4) for synchronizing the light source (3) and the camera (2) so that a first image (I_A) of the target area (A) is generated whereby the light source (3) is inactive, and a second image (I_B) of the target area (A) is generated, whereby, at least during part of an exposure time for generating the second image (I_B), invisible light is emitted by the light source (3) in the direction (P) of pointing;

a number of retro-reflective marker elements (M₁, M₂, M₃, . . . , M₁₁) positioned upon or in an object (O₁, O₂, O₃) associated with the device (D₁, D₂) to be controlled, which retro-reflective marker elements (M₁, M₂, M₃, . . . , M₁₁) reflect at least part of the invisible light emitted by the light source (3) back to the pointing device (1);

an image processing unit (5) for processing the target area images (I_A, I_B) to determine the presence of retro-reflective marker elements (M₁, M₂, M₃, . . . , M₁₁);

and control means (5, C₁, C₂) for identifying the device (D₁, D₂) to be controlled and/or for determining a control signal (CS₁, CS₂) for the identified device (D₁, D₂) using information pertaining to the retro-reflective marker elements (M₁, M₂, M₃, . . . , M₁₁).

12. A pointing device (1) comprising:

a camera (2) and a source (3) of invisible light enabled to be pointed in the direction of an object (O₁, O₂, O₃) associated with a device (D₁, D₂) to be controlled, in which

object (O₁, O₂, O₃) a number of retro-reflective marker elements (M₁, M₂, M₃, . . . , M₁₁) are positioned, that can reflect at least part of the invisible light emitted by the light source (2) back to the pointing device (1);

wherein

the camera is enabled to generate a first image (I_A) of a target area (A) aimed at by the pointing device (1) whereby the light source (3) is inactive; and

the camera is enabled to generate a second image (I_B) of a target area (A) aimed at by the pointing device (1) whereby, at least during part of an exposure time for generating the second image (I_B), invisible light is emitted by the light source (3) in the direction (P) of pointing.

13. The pointing device of claim 12 further comprising means for processing the target area images (I_A, I_B) to determine the presence of retro-reflective marker elements (M₁, M₂, M₃, . . . , M₁₁) and using information pertaining to the retro-reflective marker elements (M₁, M₂, M₃, . . . , M₁₁) to identify the device (D₁, D₂) to be controlled and to determine a control signal (CS₁, CS₂) for the identified device (D₁, D₂).