Information input apparatus, information input method, and recording medium

• US 6,900,790 B1
• Filed: 03/16/1999
• Issued: 05/31/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Numazaki, Shunichi, Doi, Miwako
• Primary Examiner(s): Wu, Xiao
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Kevin M.
• Application Number:
  US09/268,656
• Time in Patent Office: 2,268 Days
• Field of Search: 345/156, 345/419, 345/158, 345/157, 715/863, 348/42, 348/51, 348/155, 348/372, 348/208, 348/370, 348/371
• US Class Current: 345/156
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/325 Power saving in peripheral device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0304 Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means constructional details of pointing devices not related to the detection arrangement using opto-electronic means G06F3/033; optical digitisers G06F3/042
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/20 Analysis of motion motion estimation for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/43, H04N19/51
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/141 Control of illumination
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/28 Recognition of hand or arm movements, e.g. recognition of deaf sign language static hand signs G06V40/113
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/188 Capturing isolated or intermittent images triggered by the occurrence of a predetermined event, e.g. an object reaching a predetermined position signal generation from motion picture films H04N5/253

Abstract

The operation characteristics of an image capture unit are changed on the basis of the captured image. If an object does not move, i.e., if the user does not input, the capture timing and the like are decreased to reduce the consumption power. The capturing condition is changed by, e.g., increasing a distance for capturing an image until an image can be captured, and even a plurality of users with different ways of use can use the apparatus without setting again the capturing conditions for the different ways of use.

Claims

1. An information input apparatus comprising:

a distant image capture unit configured to capture previous and current three-dimensional distant images, each image having three coordinates of an object;

a motion detector configured to detect a motion of the object by comparing an image processing result of the current three-dimensional distant image with an image processing result of the previous three-dimensional distant image; and

a power reducer configured to reduce a power consumption of the apparatus, the power reducer including a changer configured to change an operation characteristic of said distant image capture unit based on whether said motion detector detects the motion of the object, so as to reduce the power consumption of the apparatus.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said distant image capture unit includes:

a timing signal generator configured to generate a timing signal comprised of a pulse signal or a modulation signal;

a light emitter configured to emit light, an intensity of which changes on the basis of a signal from said timing signal generator;

a reflected light extractor configured to extract light emitted by said light emitter and reflected by the object in synchronism with the signal from said timing signal generator; and

a distant image generator configured to generate each of the current and previous three-dimensional distant images of the object on the basis of the reflected light extracted by said reflected light extractor.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said changer includes:

a period changer configured to change a period of the signal generated by said timing signal generator when said motion detector detects the motion of the object.

4. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said changer includes:

an emission intensity changer configured to change an emission intensity of said light emitter when said motion detector detects the motion of the object.

5. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said changer includes:

an emission interval changer configured to change an emission interval of said light emitter when said motion detector detects the motion of the object.

6. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said changer includes:

a period changer configured to change a period of the signal generated by said timing signal generator until the current three-dimensional distant image generated by said distant image generator is obtained with a predetermined size.

7. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said changer includes:

an emission intensity changer configured to change an emission intensity of said light emitter until the current three-dimensional distant image generated by said distant image generator is obtained with a predetermined size.

23. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the image processing result includes at least one of a barycenter processing result, an edge extraction processing result and an area calculation processing result.

8. An information input method comprising:

capturing previous and current three-dimensional distant images, each image having three coordinates of an object;

detecting a motion of the object by comparing an image processing result of the current three-dimensional distant image with an image processing result of the previous three-dimensional distant image; and

reducing a power consumption by changing an operation characteristic of said capturing step based on whether said motion detection step detects the motion of the object.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein said capturing step comprises:

emitting light, an intensity of which changes on the basis of a generated timing signal;

extracting reflected light of the emitted light reflected by an object, in synchronism with the timing signal; and

generating each of the current and previous three-dimensional distant images of the object on the basis of the extracted reflected light.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein said changing step comprises changing a period of the generated timing signal based on whether the motion of the object is detected.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein said changing step comprises changing an emission intensity of the light to be emitted based on whether the motion of the object is detected.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein said changing step comprises changing an emission interval of the light to be emitted based on whether the motion of the object is detected.

13. The method according to claim 9, wherein said changing step comprises changing a period of the timing signal until the generated current three-dimensional distant image is obtained with a predetermined size.

14. The method according to claim 9, wherein said changing step comprises changing an intensity of the light to be emitted until the generated current three-dimensional distant image is obtained with a predetermined size.

15. The method according to claim 9, wherein said changing step comprises changing an emission interval of the light to be emitted until the generated current three-dimensional distant image is obtained with a predetermined size.

24. The method of claim 8, wherein the image processing result includes at least one of a barycenter processing result, an edge extraction processing result and an area calculation processing result.

16. An article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein configured to cause an operation characteristic of capturing a distant image to be changed, the computer readable program code in said article of manufacture including:

computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to capture previous and current three-dimensional distant images having the three coordinates of an object;

computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to detect a motion of the object by comparing an image processing result of the current three-dimensional distant image with an image processing result of the previous three-dimensional distant image; and

computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to change an operation characteristic of said computer capturing a distant image of the object based on whether the computer detects the motion of the object, so as to reduce a power consumption.

17. The article of manufacture according to claim 16, wherein said computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to capture a distant image of an object includes:

computer readable program code configured to cause the computer to emit light, an intensity of which changes on the basis of a generated timing signal;

computer readable program code configured to cause the computer to extract reflected light of the emitted light by the object in synchronism with the timing signal; and

computer readable program code configured to cause the computer to generate each of the current and previous three-dimensional distant images of the object on the basis of the extracted reflected light.

18. The article of manufacture according to claim 17, wherein said computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to change an operation characteristic of said computer capturing a distant image includes:

computer readable program code configured to cause the computer to change a period of the generated timing signal based on whether a motion of the object is detected.

19. The article of manufacture according to claim 17, wherein said computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to change an operation characteristic of said computer capturing a distant image includes:

computer readable program code configured to cause the computer to change an emission intensity of the light to be emitted based on whether a motion of the object is detected.

20. The article of manufacture according to claim 17, wherein said computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to change an operation characteristic of said computer capturing a distant image includes:

computer readable program code configured to cause the computer to change an emission interval of the light to be emitted based on whether a motion of the object is detected.

21. The article of manufacture according to claim 17, wherein said computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to change an operation characteristic of said computer capturing a distant image includes:

computer readable program code configured to cause the computer to change a period of the timing signal until the generated current three-dimensional reflected light distant image is obtained with a predetermined size.

22. The article of manufacture according to claim 17, wherein said computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to change an operation characteristic of said computer capturing a distant image includes:

computer readable program code configured to cause the computer to change an intensity of the light to be emitted until the generated current three-dimensional reflected light distant image is obtained with a predetermined size.

25. The article of manufacture according to claim 16, wherein the image processing result includes at least one of a barycenter processing result, an edge extraction processing result and an area calculation processing result.