Size/scale orientation determination of a pointer in a camera-based touch system

• US 8,228,304 B2
• Filed: 06/11/2009
• Issued: 07/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Smart Technologies ULC (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Smart Technologies ULC (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Morrison, Gerald, Akitt, Trevor, Su, Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Dharia, Prabodh M
• Application Number:
  US12/482,841
• Publication Number:
  US 20100060613A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,139 Days
• Field of Search: 345/39, 345156-158, 345168-175, 345180-184, 178 1801- 1804, 250/221, 250/559.31, 600/407, 600/439, 348/39, 701/26, 382/100
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0428 by sensing at the edges of the touch surface the interruption of optical paths, e.g. an illumination plane, parallel to the touch surface which may be virtual sensing beam interruptions in a planar beam grid of an optical touch-screen G06F3/0421

Abstract

A touch system includes a touch surface and at least two cameras associated with the touch surface. The at least two cameras acquire images of the touch surface from different locations and having overlapping fields of view. A digital signal processor is associated with each camera. The digital signal processors process pixel data acquired by selected pixel subsets of the at least two digital cameras to generate pointer characteristic data when a pointer exists in the acquired images. The pointer characteristic data identifies edges of the pointer. A master digital signal processor triangulates the edge information in the pointer characteristic data to determine a bounding area that represents a pointer perimeter.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

acquiring at least first and second images of a pointer proximate an input surface from different vantages;

processing pixel data of each image to determine edges of said pointer;

calculating an input area of said pointer using triangulation based on the determined edges, the input area representing the size of said pointer; and

updating a computer generated image displayed on said input surface based at least in part on the pointer size.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining the center of the input area thereby to determine the center of said pointer.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising examining the shape of the input area to determine the orientation of said pointer relative to said input surface.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising examining the shape of the input area to determine the orientation of said pointer relative to said input surface.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said input surface is generally rectangular, wherein said acquiring comprises acquiring an image looking generally across said input surface from each corner of said input surface, and wherein said calculating comprises calculating an input area based on said determined edges for different pairs of images and using the smallest input area to represent the size of said pointer.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising averaging the centers of the calculated input areas to determine the center of said pointer.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said processing is performed at a rate greater than the rate at which said images are acquired.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising superimposing a model over said input area.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising determining the center of said model thereby to determine the center of said pointer.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising examining the size of said model to identify non-pointer input.

11. A method comprising:

acquiring at least first and second images looking generally across an input surface from different vantages;

processing pixel data of each image to determine if a pointer exists in said image and if so, processing pixel data to determine edges of said pointer;

calculating an input region of said pointer using triangulation based on the determined edges; and

in response to the calculated input region, updating a computer generated image displayed on said touch surface.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising determining the center of the input region thereby to determine the center of said pointer.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising examining the shape of the input region to determine the orientation of said pointer relative to said input surface.

14. The method of claim 12 further comprising examining the shape of the input region to determine the orientation of said pointer relative to said input surface.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein said input surface is generally rectangular, wherein said acquiring comprises acquiring an image looking generally across said input surface from each corner of said input surface, and wherein said calculating comprises calculating an input region based on said determined edges for different pairs of images and using the smallest input region to represent the size of said pointer.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising averaging the centers of the calculated input regions to determine the center of said pointer.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein said processing is performed at a rate greater than the rate at which said images are acquired.

18. The method of claim 11 further comprising superimposing a model over said input region.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising determining the center of said model thereby to determine the center of said pointer.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising examining the size of said model to identify non-pointer input.

21. A method comprising:

acquiring at least first and second images of a pointer proximate an input surface from different vantages;

processing pixel data of each image that is associated with different regions of said pointer along its length to determine edges of said pointer for each region;

for each region of said pointer, triangulating an area of said pointer based on the determined edges for, the region; and

stacking the triangulated areas thereby to generate a volumetric representation of said pointer.

22. The method of claim 21 further comprising determining the centroid of the volumetric representation of said pointer thereby to determine the centroid of said pointer.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising examining the volumetric representation of said pointer to determine the orientation of said pointer relative to said input surface.

24. The method of claim 21 further comprising using the volumetric representation of said pointer to update a computer generated image displayed on said input surface.