Method and apparatus for interacting with a computer generated projected image

• US 5,422,693 A
• Filed: 05/28/1993
• Issued: 06/06/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/1991
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: N-View Corporation
• Original Assignee: N-View Corporation
• Inventors: Vogeley, Arthur W., Vogeley, James H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cuchlinski, Jr., William A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dowling, William C.
• Application Number:
  US08/069,001
• Time in Patent Office: 739 Days
• Field of Search: 353/122, 353/121, 353/48, 353/46, 353/42, 353/29, 340/706, 340/707, 340/705
• US Class Current: 353/122
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0386 for light pen

Abstract

Disclosed is a method and apparatus for one or more operators to interact with a computer-controlled image projection-system. An operator-controlled radiation projector projects a beam of radiation which may be visible or invisible on the image created by the computer-controlled image projection system. A position sensing device determines the position of the projected radiation relative to the projected image and provides position information to the computer. In a preferred embodiment, the computer can then generate an additional image at or related to the spot of radiation permitting the operator to draw or paint pictures on the computer-projected image. In an additional preferred embodiment, the use of the position sensing device can be utilized to sense the position of a spot projected by one or more of a multiple gun projector which in a closed loop feedback loop can be used to control alignment of images projected by the multiple gun projector. In a preferred three-gun projector embodiment, the relationship between a spot projected by one or more projectors and its position as determined by two or less position sensors results in accurate alignment in translation, roll and magnification.

Claims

1. An apparatus for providing relative positional information between a spot of radiation and an image projected along a projection light optical path onto an image surface, said apparatus comprising:

at least one projecting means for projecting at least one image along a projection light optical path onto said image surface;

means for providing at least one spot of radiation at at least one location along said projection light optical path;

at least one position sensing means, in known alignment with said projection light optical path, for sensing the position of said at least one spot; and

means, responsive to said alignment of said sensing means with said projection optical path and said sensed position of said at least one spot, for providing a signal indicative of a position of said at least one spot relative to said image on said image surface.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said at least one position sensing means comprises a position sensing diode, responsive to light at least partially along said projection optical path including light from said image surface and light from said at least one spot, for providing an electrical output indicative of the position of said at least one spot relative to said image on said image surface.

3. An apparatus for providing relative positional information between a spot of radiation and an image projected along a projection light optical path onto an image surface, said apparatus comprising:

at least one projecting means for projecting at least one image along a projection light optical path onto said image surface;

means for providing at least one spot of radiation at at least one location along said projection light optical path;

at least one position sensing means, in known alignment with said projection light optical path, for sensing the position of said at least one spot; and

means, responsive to said alignment of said sensing means with said projection optical path and said sensed position of said at least one spot, for providing positional information about said at least one spot relative to said image on said image surface, wherein said at least one position sensing means comprises a position sensing diode, responsive to light at least partially along said projection optical path including light from said image surface and light from said at least one spot, for providing an electrical output indicative of the position of said at least one spot relative to said image on said image surface, wherein said at least one projecting means includes means for directing at least a portion of light from said image surface and light from said at least one spot to said position sensing diode.

4. An apparatus for providing relative positional information between a spot of radiation and an image projected along a projection light optical path onto an image surface, said apparatus comprising:

at least one projecting means for projecting at least one image along a projection light optical path onto said image surface;

means for providing at least one spot of radiation at at least one location along said projection light optical path;

at least one position sensing means, in known alignment with said projection light optical path, for sensing the position of said at least one spot; and

means, responsive to said alignment of said sensing means with said projection optical path and said sensed position of said at least one spot, for providing positional information about said at least one spot relative to said image on said image surface, wherein said means for providing at least one spot of radiation comprises a handheld laser pointer means for projecting a spot of laser radiation on said image surface under the control of an operator.

5. A method of providing relative positional information between a spot of radiation and an image projected along a projection light optical path onto an image surface, said method comprising the steps of:

projecting at least one image along a projection light optical path onto said image surface;

providing at least one spot of radiation at at least one location along said projection light optical path;

sensing the position of said at least one spot with at least one position sensing means in known alignment with said projection light optical path; and

providing, in response to said alignment of said sensing means with said projection optical path and said sensed position of said at least one spot, a signal indicative of a position of said at least one spot relative to said image on said image surface.

6. An apparatus for providing relative positional information between a spot of radiation and an image projected along a projection light optical path onto an image surface, said apparatus comprising:

at least one projecting means for projecting at least one image along a projection light optical path onto said image surface;

means for providing at least one spot of radiation at at least one location along said projection light optical path;

at least one position sensing means, in known alignment with said projection light optical path, for sensing the position of said at least one spot; and

means, responsive to said alignment of said sensing means with said projection optical path and said sensed position of said at least one spot, for providing positional information about said at least one spot relative to said image on said image surface, wherein;

said projecting means comprises at least two projecting means;

said means for providing at least one spot of radiation comprises a laser pointer means for projecting a spot of laser radiation on said image surface in known alignment with one of said at least two projecting means; and

said at least one position sensing means is in alignment with the other of said at least two projecting means.

7. An apparatus for providing relative positional information between a spot of radiation and an image projected along a projection light optical path onto an image surface, said apparatus comprising:

at least one projecting means for projecting at least one image along a projection light optical path onto said image surface;

means for providing at least one spot of radiation at at least one location along said projection light optical path;

at least one position sensing means, in known alignment with said projection light optical path, for sensing the position of said at least one spot; and

means, responsive to said alignment of said sensing means with said projection optical path and said sensed position of said at least one spot, for providing positional information about said at least one spot relative to said image on said image surface, wherein;

said projecting means comprises at least two projecting means;

said means for providing at least one spot of radiation comprises an electronic signal applied to one of said at least two projecting means;

said one projector means, responsive to said electronic signal, comprises a means for projecting an image of a spot on said image surface in known alignment with said one of said at least two projecting means, and

said at last one position sensing means is in alignment with the other of said at least tow projecting means, and said positional information comprises positional information of said one of said at least two projecting means relative to the other of said at least two projecting means.

8. An apparatus enabling an operator to interact with a computer, said apparatus comprising:

an image projection system, responsive to said computer, for projecting an image along a projection light optical path on an image surface;

a radiation source, controlled by said operator, for providing at least one radiation spot along said projection light optical path, where position of said spot relative to said optical path is controlled by said operator; and

position sensing means, responsive to radiation from said radiation spot on said optical path, for providing radiation spot position information with respect to said optical path to said computer.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said computer and image projection system comprise a means for generating a visible image at a position related to the position of said radiation spot.

10. The apparatus according to claim 8 in which said radiation projector projects radiation in the invisible frequency spectrum.

11. The apparatus according to claim 8 in which said radiation projector projects radiation in the visible range.

12. The apparatus according to claim 8 wherein said image surface comprises a reflective screen.

13. The apparatus according to claim 8 wherein said position sensing means comprises a position sensing diode having position outputs and means, responsive to said position sensing diode position outputs, for calculating said position information therefrom and providing said position information to said computer.

14. The apparatus according to claim 8 wherein said radiation spot is adjacent said image surface.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14 wherein said radiation from said radiation spot is reflected radiation and said position sensing means is responsive to said reflected radiation.

16. An apparatus enabling an operator to interact with a computer, said apparatus comprising:

an image projection system, responsive to said computer, for projecting an image along a projection light optical path on an image surface;

a radiation source, controlled by said operator, for providing at least one radiation spot along said projection light optical path, where position of said spot relative to said optical path is controlled by said operator; and

position sensing means, responsive to radiation from said radiation spot on said optical path, for providing radiation spot position information with respect to said optical path to said computer, wherein said image surface comprises a back projection screen.

17. A method for enabling an operator to interact with a computer, said method comprising the steps of:

projecting, in response to said computer, an image along a projection light optical path on an image surface;

providing at least one radiation spot along said projection light optical path, where position of said spot relative to said optical path is controlled by said operator; and

providing, in response to radiation from said radiation spot along said optical path, radiation spot position information with respect to said optical path to said computer.

18. An apparatus for converging beams projected onto an image surface by a multi-beam image projector, said projector having at least two image projector guns, each gun projecting an image onto said image surface, said apparatus comprising:

means for providing a spot at a position on said image surface;

first position sensing means, associated with one of said at least two image projector guns, for sensing the position of said spot relative to the image projected by said one of said at least two image projector guns;

second position sensing means, associated with another of said at least two image projector guns, for sensing the position of said spot relative to the image projected by said another of said at least two image projector guns;

means for comparing said spot position sensed by said first position sensing means with said spot position sensed by said second position sensing means and for providing an error output; and

means, responsive to said error output, for adjusting at least one of said at least two projector guns such that the sensed position of said spot is adjusted to predetermined locations relative to the image projected by each of said at least two projector guns.

19. An apparatus for converging beams projected onto an image surface by a multi-beam image projector, said projector having at least two image projector guns, each gun projecting an image onto said image surface, said apparatus comprising:

means, associated with one of said at least two image projector guns, for providing a spot at a predetermined position relative to said image projected by said one of said at least two image projector guns on said image surface;

position sensing means, associated with another of said at least two image projector guns, for sensing the position of said spot relative to the image projected by said another of said at least two image projector guns;

means for comparing said spot position sensed by said position sensing means with the position of the spot projected by said another of said at least two image projector guns and for providing an error output; and

means, responsive to said error output, for adjusting at least one of said at least two projector guns such that the sensed position of said spot is adjusted to a predetermined position relative to the images projected by the other of said at least two projector guns.

20. An apparatus for converging beams projected onto an image surface by an image projector, said projector having three image projector guns, each gun projecting an image onto said image surface, said apparatus comprising:

means, associated with one of said three image projector guns, for providing a spot at a predetermined position relative to said image projected by said one image projector gun on said image surface;

position sensing means, associated with each of the other two image projector guns, for sensing the position of said spot relative to the image projected by each of said other two image projector guns;

means for comparing said spot position sensed by said position sensing means with the position of the spot projected by said one image projector gun and for providing an error output; and

means, responsive to said error output, for adjusting at least two projector guns such that the sensed position of said spot is adjusted to a predetermined position relative to the images projected by each of said other two projector guns.

21. The apparatus according to claim 20, wherein:

each of said image projector guns includes a projection lens for projecting an image along a projection light optical path;

said position sensing means includes at least two position sensing diode means, each of said at least two position sensing diode means, associated with a respective one of said other two image projector guns and responsive to light received from a respective image along a respective optical path, comprising a means for providing an output indicative of the position of said spot relative to the position of the respective image of a respective said other image projector gun; and

said means for comparing is responsive to each of said means for providing an error output.

22. An apparatus for converging beams projected onto an image surface by an image projector, said projector having three image projector guns, each gun projecting an image onto said image surface, said apparatus comprising:

means, associated with each of two of said three image projector guns, for providing respective spots at predetermined locations relative to respective images projected by said two image projector guns on said image surface;

position sensing means, associated with the other of said three image projector guns, for sensing the position of said spots relative to the image projected by said other image projector gun;

means for comparing said respective spot positions sensed by said position sensing means with the locations of the spots projected by said two image projector guns and for providing an error output; and

means, responsive to said error output, for adjusting each of at least two of said three image projector guns such that the sensed positions of said spot is adjusted to a predetermined position relative to the image projected by an other of said three image projector guns.

23. The apparatus according to claim 22, wherein:

each of said image projector guns includes a projection lens for projecting an image along a projection light optical path;

said position sensing means includes at least one position sensing diode means, said position sensing diode means, associated with said other image projector gun and responsive to light received from said respective spots on said other image, comprising a means for providing an output indicative of the position of said respective spots relative to the position of said image from said other of said three image projector guns; and

said means for adjusting is responsive to said means for providing an error output.

24. A method of converging beams projected onto an image surface by a multi-beam image projector, said projector having at least two image projector guns, each gun projecting an image onto said image surface, said method comprising the steps of:

providing a spot at a position on said image surface;

sensing, in association with one of said at least two image projector guns, the position of said spot relative to the image projected by said one of said at least two image projector guns;

sensing, in association with another of said at least two image projector guns, the position of said spot relative to the image projected by said another of said at least two image projector guns;

comparing said sensed spot positions and providing an error output; and

adjusting, in response to said error output, at least one of said at least two projector guns such that the sensed position of said spot is adjusted to predetermined locations relative to the image projected by each of said at least two projector guns.

25. A method of converging beams projected onto an image surface by a multi-beam image projector, said projector having at least two image projector guns, each gun projecting an image onto said image surface, said method comprising the steps of:

providing, in association with one of said at least two image projector guns, a spot at a predetermined position relative to said image projected by said one of said at least two image projector guns on said image surface;

sensing, in association with another of said at least two image projector guns, the position of said spot relative to the image projected by said another of said at least two image projector guns;

comparing said spot position sensed by said position sensing step with the position of the spot projected by said another of said at least two image projector guns and providing an error output; and

adjusting, in response to said error output, at least one of said at least two projector guns such that the sensed position of said spot is adjusted to a predetermined position relative to the images projected by the other of said at least two projector guns.

26. A method of converging beams projected onto an image surface by an image projector, said projector having three image projector guns, each gun projecting an image onto said image surface, said method comprising the steps of:

providing, in association with one of said three image projector guns, a spot at a predetermined position relative to said image projected by said one image projector gun on said image surface;

sensing, in association with each of the other two image projector guns, the position of said spot relative to the image projected by each of said other two image projector guns;

comparing said sensed spot positions with the position of the spot projected by said one image projector gun and for providing an error output; and

adjusting, responsive to said error output, at least two projector guns such that the sensed position of said spot is at a predetermined position relative to the images projected by each of said other two projector guns.

27. The method according to claim 26, wherein:

each of said image projector guns includes a projection lens for projecting an image along a projection light optical path;

said sensing step includes using at least two position sensing diodes, each of said at least two position sensing diodes associated with a respective one of said other two image projector guns and responsive to light received from a respective image along a respective optical path;

providing an output, indicative of the position of said spot relative to the position of the respective image, for each respective said other image projector gun; and

said comparing step is responsive to each of said outputs.

28. A method for converging beams projected onto an image surface by an image projector, said projector having three image projector guns, each gun projecting an image onto said image surface, said method comprising the steps:

providing, in association with each of two of said three image projector guns, respective spots at predetermined positions relative to respective images projected by said two image projector guns on said image surface;

sensing, in association with the other of said three image projector guns, the respective position of said spots relative to the image projected by said other image projector gun;

comparing said sensed respective spot positions with the positions of the spots projected by said two image projector guns and for providing an error output; and

adjusting, responsive to said error output, each of at least two of said three image projector guns such that the sensed positions of said spot are adjusted to a predetermined position relative to the image projected by an other of said three image projector guns.

29. The method according to claim 28, wherein:

each of said image projector guns includes a projection lens for projecting an image along a projection light optical path;

said sensing step includes using at least one position sensing diode, said position sensing diode associated with said other image projector gun and responsive to light received from said respective spots on said other image;

providing outputs, indicative of the position of said respective spots relative to the position of said image, for said other of said three image projector guns; and

said comparing step is responsive to said outputs.