Screen overlay device for outputting cursor coordinates based on movement of a pointing device and an on-screen display relating to a menu and a method therefor

• US 5,673,087 A
• Filed: 06/07/1995
• Issued: 09/30/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kim, Sang-gyun, Choi, Eun-suk
• Primary Examiner(s): Harvey, David E.
• Application Number:
  US08/478,518
• Time in Patent Office: 846 Days
• Field of Search: 348/600, 348/601, 348/584, 348/589, 348/590, 348/593, 348/596, 348/569, 348/570, 348/511, 348/734, 345/157, 345/158, 345/159, 345/160, 345/161, 345/162, 345/163, 345/164, 345/165, 345/166, 345/167
• US Class Current: 348/511
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/033 Pointing devices displaced or positioned by the user , e.g. mice, trackballs, pens or joysticks; Accessories therefor digitisers characterised by the transducing means G06F3/041
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03549 Trackballs G06F3/03541 takes precedence
• 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 21/47 End-user applications

Abstract

A screen overlay device and method, and a television using the same are provided. The screen overlay device overlays a menu and cursor on a screen, and includes a pointing device wireless transmitter for transmitting an infrared (IR) signal corresponding to a key-input and the movement of a pointing device; an IR signal receiver/amplifier; a controller for calculating cursor coordinates corresponding to the movement of the pointing device in response to the amplified signal and outputting on-screen display (OSD) data related to the menu; an overlay unit for receiving the OSD data and cursor coordinates and generating a corresponding RGB signal in synchronization with horizontal and vertical sync signals; and an RGB synthesizer for synthesizing the RGB signal generated by the overlay using an external RGB signal in synchronization with the horizontal and vertical sync signals. The pointing device wireless transmitter includes a keypad; a trackball for converting movement of a ball into electric signals and outputting the result; a controller, connected to the keypad and trackball, which receives the electrical signal, converts the signal into predetermined data and outputs the result; and an IR transmitter, connected to the controller, which receives the predetermined data, converts the data into an IR signal and transmits the result. The screen displays all the operational controls of the system by employing an OSD function, without increasing the number of remote controller keys, so that users can select a displayed function in order to simplify control.

Claims

1. A screen overlay device for overlaying a menu and cursor on a screen comprising:

a pointing device wireless transmitter for transmitting an infrared (IR) signal corresponding to one of a key-input and movement of a pointing device;

an IR signal receiving and amplifying unit for receiving said IR signal and amplifying the signal by a predetermined gain;

a controller for calculating, in response to said amplified signal, cursor coordinates corresponding to movement of said pointing device and outputting said cursor coordinates and on-screen display (OSD) data related to the menu, wherein said controller calculates the cursor coordinates by adding a first displacement value based on the movement of the pointing device to a current first-axis coordinate value thereby generating a first sum and setting said first-axis coordinate value to a minimum first coordinate value if the first sum is less than the minimum first coordinate value and setting said first-axis coordinate value to a maximum first coordinate value if the first sum is greater than the maximum first coordinate value, and adding a second displacement value based on the movement of the pointing device to a current second-axis coordinate value thereby generating a second sum and setting said second-axis coordinate value to a minimum second coordinate value if the second sum is less than the minimum second coordinate value and setting said second-axis coordinate value to a minimum second coordinate value if the second sum is greater than the maximum second coordinate value;

an overlay unit for receiving said cursor coordinates and OSD data and generating a corresponding red-green-blue (RGB) signal in synchronization with horizontal and vertical sync signals; and

an RGB mixer for mixing said RGB signal generated by said overlay unit with an external RGB signal synchronized with said horizontal and vertical sync signals.

2. A screen overlay device according to claim 1, wherein said pointing device wireless transmitter comprises:

a keypad having a plurality of keys;

a pointing unit for converting movement of said pointing device to an electrical signal and outputting the result;

a pointing device controller connected to said keypad and said pointing unit and which receives said electrical signal, converts the signal into predetermined data and outputs the result; and

an IR transmitter, connected to said pointing device controller, which receives said predetermined data, converts the data into an IR signal and transmits the result.

3. A screen overlay device according to claim 2, wherein said pointing device is a trackball.

4. A screen overlay device according to claim 2, wherein said pointing device is a computer mouse.

5. A screen overlay device according to claim 2, wherein said pointing device controller is a microcomputer.

6. A screen overlay device for overlaying a menu and cursor on a screen comprising:

a pointing device wireless transmitter for transmitting infrared (IR) signal corresponding to one of a key-input and movement of a pointing device;

an IR signal receiving and amplifying unit for receiving said IR signal and amplifying the signal by a predetermined gain;

a controller for generating a red-green-blue (RGB) signal corresponding to on-screen display (OSD) data related to said menu in response to said amplified signal, and calculating cursor coordinates corresponding to movement of said pointing device by adding a first displacement value based on the movement of the pointing device to a current first-axis coordinate value thereby generating a first sum and setting said first-axis coordinate value to a minimum first coordinate value if the first sum is less than the minimum first coordinate value and setting said first-axis coordinate value to a maximum first coordinate value if the first sum is greater than the maximum first coordinate value, and adding a second displacement value based on the movement of the pointing device to a current second-axis coordinate value thereby generating a second sum and setting said second-axis coordinate value to a minimum second coordinate value if the second sum is less than the minimum second coordinate value and setting said second-axis coordinate value to a minimum second coordinate value if the second sum is greater than the maximum second coordinate value;

an overlay unit for generating an RGB signal corresponding to said cursor coordinates in synchronization with horizontal and vertical sync signals, mixing the generated RGB signal with the RGB signal generated by said controller, and outputting the result; and

an RGB mixer for mixing the RGB signal generated by said overlay unit with an external RGB signal in synchronization with said horizontal and vertical sync signals.

7. A method for controlling a screen overlay device in response to an infrared (IR) signal corresponding to a key-input and movement of a pointing device and overlaying a cursor and menu on a screen, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) determining whether said IR signal corresponds to movement of said pointing device;

(b) determining whether the screen is in a menu mode, if said IR signal corresponds to the movement of said pointing device in step (a);

(c) determining whether said IR signal is an X-axis signal or a Y-axis signal, only if in step (b) the screen is determined to be in a menu mode;

(d) performing an X-axis signal inspection and coordinate calculation, only if in step (c) said IR signal is determined to be an X-axis signal; and

(e) performing a Y-axis signal inspection and coordinate calculation, only if in step (c) said IR signal is determined to be a Y-axis signal,

wherein said step (d) comprises the steps of;

storing said X-axis signal as a displacement variable Δ

X;

adding said displacement variable Δ

X to a current X-axis coordinate value;

setting the current X-axis coordinate value to an X-axis minimum coordinate value X_min, if the result of said adding step is smaller than the X-axis minimum coordinate value X_min ; and

setting an X-axis maximum coordinate value X_max to the current X-axis coordinate value, if the result of said adding step is larger than the X-axis maximum coordinate value X_max.

8. A method for controlling a screen overlay device in response to an infrared (IR) signal corresponding to a key-input and movement of a pointing device and overlaying a cursor and menu on a screen, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) determining whether said IR signal corresponds to movement of said pointing device;

(b) determining whether the screen is in a menu mode, if said IR signal corresponds to the movement of said pointing device in step (a);

(c) determining whether said IR signal is an X-axis signal or a Y-axis signal, only if in step (b) the screen is determined to be in a menu mode;

(d) performing an X-axis signal inspection and coordinate calculation, only if in step (c) said IR signal is determined to be an X-axis signal; and

(e) performing a Y-axis signal inspection and coordinate calculation, only if in step (c) said IR signal is determined to be a Y-axis signal, wherein said step (e) comprises the steps of;

storing said Y-axis signal as a displacement variable Δ

Y;

adding said displacement variable Δ

Y to the current Y-axis coordinate value;

setting the current Y-axis coordinate value to a Y-axis minimum coordinate value Y_min, if the result of said adding step is smaller than the Y-axis minimum coordinate value Y_min ; and

setting the current Y-axis coordinate value to a Y-axis maximum coordinate value Y_max, if the result of said adding step is larger than the Y-axis maximum coordinate value Y_max.

9. A television employing a screen overlay device for overlaying a cursor and menu on a screen, said television comprising:

a pointing device wireless transmitter for transmitting an infrared (IR) signal corresponding to a key-input and movement of a pointing device;

an IR signal receiving and amplifying unit for receiving said IR signal and amplifying the signal by a predetermined gain;

a controller for generating a red-green-blue (RGB) signal corresponding to on-screen display (OSD) data related to said menu in response to said amplified signal, outputting a phase-locked loop (PLL) data signal corresponding to a channel selection signal and calculating cursor coordinates corresponding to movement of said pointing device by adding a first displacement value based on the movement of the pointing device to a current first-axis coordinate value thereby generating a first sum and setting said first-axis coordinate value to a minimum first coordinate value if the first sum is less than the minimum first coordinate value and setting said first-axis coordinate value to a maximum first coordinate value if the first sum is greater than the maximum first coordinate value, and adding a second displacement value based on the movement of the pointing device to a current second-axis coordinate value thereby generating a second sum and setting said second-axis coordinate value to a minimum second coordinate value if the second sum is less than the minimum second coordinate value and setting said second-axis coordinate value to a minimum second coordinate value if the second sum is greater than the maximum second coordinate value;

a tuner for selecting a television broadcast signal in response to said PLL data signal;

an intermediate frequency amplifier for receiving said selected signal, removing a carrier frequency, separating an video signal and an audio signal from said selected signal and outputting an automatic frequency control signal to said controller;

a chroma/sync signal separator unit for receiving said video signal and separating an RGB signal, a horizontal and a vertical sync signal from said video signal;

an overlay unit for generating OSD data related to said menu and an RGB signal corresponding to said cursor coordinates in synchronization with the horizontal and vertical sync signals; and

an RGB mixer for mixing the RGB signal generated by said overlay unit with the RGB signal separated by said chroma/sync signal separator in synchronization with said horizontal and vertical sync signals.

10. A screen overlay device according to claim 9, wherein said pointing device is a trackball.

11. A screen overlay device according to claim 9, wherein said pointing device is a computer mouse.