Information presentation apparatus and information display apparatus

• US 5,712,658 A
• Filed: 09/06/1994
• Issued: 01/27/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Seki, Hiroshi, Kawaguchi, Koichi, Arita, Setsuo, Nagaoka, Yukio, Yuchi, Hiroyuki, Kaji, Akira, Ohga, Yukiharu
• Primary Examiner(s): Hjerpe, Richard
• Assistant Examiner(s): LAO, LUNYI
• Application Number:
  US08/301,141
• Time in Patent Office: 1,239 Days
• Field of Search: 345/156, 345/157, 345/158, 345/166, 345/177, 345/178, 345/179, 345/180, 345/181, 345/182, 345/183, 345/145, 356/375, 348/734, 273/148 B, 463/37
• US Class Current: 345/158
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03542 Light pens for emitting or receiving light
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0386 for light pen
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/66 Trinkets, e.g. shirt buttons or jewellery items recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69

Abstract

A pointer remotely points a display screen of a large screen display device. The display screen is picked up by a monitor camera. An image processing unit extracts a feature of the pointer used for pointing based on the resulting image signal to identify the position of the pointing point and the pointer based on the feature. A computer generates information on an object to be displayed at a position pointed by the pointer. The generated information is displayed on a display device (CRT display device or large screen display device) assigned to the pointer. Even when a plurality of pointers are used, the information on the object to be displayed pointed by the pointer is properly displayed.

Claims

1. An information presentation apparatus comprising:

a display device having a display screen;

means for picking up an image of a light signal which arrives onto said display screen of said display device;

means for detecting a shape of said image of said light signal formed on the display screen of said display device based on an image signal output from said means for picking up, said light signal being a pointing signal;

means for identifying a pointer which output the light signal based on the shape detected by said means for detecting;

object specifying means for specifying an object to be displayed pointed to by the light signal and being displayed on said display screen; and

output means for outputting the identification information for the pointer and the information derived based on the specified object to be displayed.

2. An information display apparatus comprising:

a display device having a display screen;

means for picking up an image of a light signal which arrives onto said display screen of said display device;

means for detecting a shape of said image of said light signal formed on the display screen of said display device based on an image signal output from said means for picking up, said light signal being a pointing signal;

means for identifying a pointer which output the light signal based on the shape detected by said means for detecting;

object specifying means for specifying an object to be displayed pointed to by the light signal and being displayed on said display screen; and

display information selection means for selecting display information based on the information of the specified object to be displayed; and

output means for outputting the display information to the display device corresponding to the identified pointer.

3. An information presentation apparatus comprising:

a display device having a display screen;

a plurality of pointers for outputting light signals which form images of different shapes on said display screen of said display device when said light signals arrive onto said display screen;

means for picking up the images of said light signals which arrive onto said display screen of said display device;

means for detecting the shapes of the images of said light signals formed on the display screen based on image signals output from said means for picking up;

identification means for identifying said pointers which output said light signals, based on the shapes of the images detected by the means for detecting;

object specifying means for specifying an object to be displayed pointed to by a pointer which outputs a light signal and being displayed on said display screen;

output means for outputting the identification information of the pointer and the information derived based on the specified object to be displayed.

4. An information presentation apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising means for determining a pointing point by the light signal on the display screen, said object specifying means specifying the object to be displayed based on the pointing point.

5. An information presentation apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said pointers output infrared rays as the light signal.

6. An information presentation apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said image pickup means is an infrared ray camera.

7. An information presentation apparatus according to claim 6 further comprising means for generating graphic information having said shape of the image of said light signal displayed on the display screen and for outputting the graphic information to display the graphic information at the pointing point.

8. An information display apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said display device has a peripheral area on the display screen on which information is not displayed.

9. An information display apparatus according to claim 3 further comprising:

means for generating display information of a plurality of marks to be displayed at a specified positions in an area of said display screen and outputting the display information to said display device;

means for determining the positions of the images of the marks in the area picked up by said image pickup means;

means for generating position calibration information by using position information on said specified ones of the plurality of marks, and the positions of the corresponding mark images; and

means for determining the position of the light signal in the area by correcting the position of the image of the light signal by using the position calibration information,

wherein said object specifying means specifies the object to be displayed based on the determined position of the light signal.

10. An information presentation apparatus comprising:

a display device having a display screen;

a plurality of pointers for outputting light signals which form images of different shapes on said display screen of said display device when said light signals arrive onto said display screen;

means for picking up images of said light signals which arrive onto said display screen of said display device;

means for detecting the shapes of the images of said light signals formed on said display screen based on image signals output from said means for picking up;

identification means for identifying a pointer which has output a light signal, based on the shape of an image detected by the means for detecting;

object specifying means for specifying an object to be displayed which has been pointed to by the pointer which outputs the light signal and is being displayed on said display screen;

display information selection means for selecting display information based on the information of the specified object to be displayed; and

output means for generating the selected display information and outputting the display information to the display device corresponding to the identified pointer.

11. An information presentation apparatus comprising:

a first display device having a first display screen;

a second display device having a second display screen which is larger than said first display screen;

a plurality of pointers for outputting light signals which form images of different shapes on said second display screen when the light signals arrive at the second display screen so as to point to said second display screen by said light signals;

image pickup means for picking up images of said light signals which arrive onto said second display screen to output image signals;

means for detecting the shapes of the images formed on the second display screen of the light signals arriving onto said second display screen, based on said image signals;

identification means for identifying a pointer which outputs a light signal, based on the shape of an image detected by the means for detection;

object specifying means for specifying an object to be displayed which is pointed to by said pointer outputting said light signal and is being displayed on the second display screen;

display information selection means for selecting display information based on the information of the specified object to be displayed; and

output means for generating the selected display information and outputting the display information to the display device corresponding to the identified pointer.

12. An information presentation apparatus comprising:

a first display device having a first display screen;

a second display device having a second display screen larger than said first display screen;

a plurality of pointers for outputting light signals for pointing to said second display screen, said light signals forming images of different shapes on said second display screen when said light signals arrive onto said second display screen;

image pickup means for picking up images of said light signals which arrive onto said second display screen to output image signals;

means for detecting a shape of an image of a light signal formed on the second display screen when said light signal arrives at the second display screen;

identification means for identifying a pointer which outputs said light signal, based on the shape of the image detected by the means for detection;

object specifying means for specifying an object to be displayed which has been pointed to by the pointer which outputted said light signal and which is being displayed on said second display screen;

display information selection means for selecting display information based on the information of the specified object to be displayed and audio input information; and

output means for generating the selected display information and outputting the display information to the display device corresponding to the identified pointer.

13. An information presentation apparatus comprising:

a display device;

a plurality of pointers for outputting light signals which, when arriving onto a display screen of the display device, form images of different shapes on the display screen;

means for picking up images of said light signals which arrive onto said display screen;

feature extraction means for extracting a feature of each of the shapes of the images formed on the display screen of the light signals based on image signals output from said means for picking up;

pointed position detection means for detecting the point pointed to by the light signal;

allocation discrimination means for determining whether the light signal is a light signal allocated to a predetermined pointing area or not when the light signal is irradiated in the predetermined pointing area, based on the output information of said feature extraction means and said pointing point detection means; and

means for generating information allocated to the pointing area when coincidence information indicating the coincidence to the pointing signal and the pointing area is supplied from said allocation discrimination means.