Laser Pointer Mouse

• US 20090309834A1
• Filed: 06/12/2009
• Published: 12/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: TeleTracking Technologies Incorporated
• Original Assignee: UPMC
• Inventors: Adams, Brian
• Application Number:
  US12/483,475
• Publication Number:
  US 20090309834A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/166
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03542 Light pens for emitting or receiving light
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0386 for light pen

Abstract

An apparatus includes a monitor, a camera for sensing an image on the monitor, a translucent material positioned between the monitor and the camera, and a processor for receiving the sensed image from the camera, determining a location of a laser spot with respect to the sensed image, and controlling an aspect of the display in response to the location of the spot. A method performed by the apparatus is also provided.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a monitor;

a camera for sensing an image on the monitor;

a translucent material positioned between the monitor and the camera; and

a processor for receiving the sensed image from the camera, determining a location of a laser spot with respect to the sensed image, and controlling an aspect of the display in response to the location of the spot.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the translucent material is positioned adjacent to the monitor.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the translucent material comprises one of:

a matte polyester film or a matte acetate film.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

an optical bandpass filter positioned between the monitor and the camera, wherein the optical filter transmits light at the frequency of the laser spot.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the monitor includes one of:

a liquid crystal display, a cathode ray tube, or a plasma display.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a laser for producing a beam that strikes the monitor and produces the laser spot.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein translucent material provides diffuse reflection of the laser beam.

8. A method comprising:

displaying an image on a monitor;

producing an optical spot on a translucent material adjacent to the monitor;

sensing the image and optical spot; and

controlling an aspect of the image in response to the position of the optical spot.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the sensing step comprises:

capturing the image as a video frame;

converting the video frame to grayscale; and

removing background information from the video frame.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the controlling step comprises:

determining the position of the optical spot in the video frame;

sensing a click function in response to the optical spot; and

updating the monitor in response to the click function.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the click function is implemented by turning off the optical spot.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the updating step comprises:

calculating the optical position relative to the image; and

moving a cursor on the display to the calculated position.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the controlling step is performed by a processor, and the method further comprises:

determining if the processor is in a calibration mode; and

if the calibration mode is enabled, performing a calibration procedure to set calibration settings of the monitor.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the removing step comprises:

using background removal and thresholding software.