Displacement detection apparatus and method

• US 8,515,129 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2010
• Issued: 08/20/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PixArt Imaging Incorporated
• Original Assignee: PixArt Imaging Incorporated
• Inventors: Chen, Hsin Chia, Chen, Chun Wei
• Primary Examiner(s): Repko, Jason M
• Assistant Examiner(s): YENTRAPATI, AVINASH
• Application Number:
  US12/956,993
• Publication Number:
  US 20110150363A1
• Time in Patent Office: 994 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 382/103
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0317 in co-operation with a patterned surface, e.g. absolute position or relative movement detection for an optical mouse or pen positioned with respect to a coded surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03543 Mice or pucks G06F3/03541 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0383 Signal control means within the pointing device

Abstract

A displacement detection method includes the steps of: capturing a first frame and a second frame; selecting a first block with a predetermined size in the first frame and selecting a second block with the predetermined size in the second frame; determining a displacement according to the first block and the second block; comparing the displacement with at least one threshold; and adjusting the predetermined size according to a comparison result of comparing the displacement and the threshold. The present invention further provides a displacement detection apparatus.

Claims

1. A displacement detection method, comprising:

capturing a first frame and a second frame;

selecting a first block in the first frame and a second block in the second frame, wherein the first and second blocks have a same size, the size of the first and second blocks is either a first size or a second size, and the second size is smaller than the first size;

determining a displacement according to the first block and the second block;

comparing the displacement with an upper threshold or a lower threshold, wherein the lower threshold is smaller than the upper threshold;

for the size of the first and second blocks being the first size, adjusting the size of the first and second blocks to the second size when the displacement is larger than the upper threshold, and maintaining the size of the first and second blocks as the first size when the displacement is smaller than the upper threshold; and

for the size of the first and second blocks being the second size, adjusting the size of the first and second blocks to the first size when the displacement is smaller than the lower threshold, and maintaining the size of the first and second blocks as the second size when the displacement is larger than the lower threshold.

2. The displacement detection method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the displacement to an image display.

3. The displacement detection method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the displacement is

a sum of an absolute value of a displacement in a first direction and an absolute value of a displacement in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, or

a sum of squares of the displacement in the first direction and the displacement in the second direction.

4. The displacement detection method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the determining includes:

searching for the second block having the highest correlation with the first block in the second frame; and

calculating a position difference between a corresponding position of the first block in the second frame and a position of the second block as the displacement.

5. The displacement detection method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the displacement is a movement in a second.

6. The displacement detection method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first size, the second size, the upper threshold and the lower threshold are formed as a look-up table.

7. A displacement detection method, comprising:

capturing a first frame and a second frame;

comparing a first area of the first frame with a second area of the second frame, wherein the first and second areas have a same size, the size of the first and second areas is a first size, a second size or a third size, the second size is smaller than the first size and the third size is smaller than the second size;

determining a displacement according to a comparison result;

for the size of the first and second areas being the first size, adjusting the size of the first and second areas to the second size when the displacement is larger than a first upper threshold, and maintaining the size of the first and second areas as the first size when the displacement is smaller than the first upper threshold;

for the size of the first and second areas being the second size, adjusting the size of the first and second areas to the third size when the displacement is larger than a second upper threshold, adjusting the size of the first and second areas to the first size when the displacement is smaller than a first lower threshold, and maintaining the size of the first and second areas as the second size when the displacement is smaller than the second upper threshold and larger than a second lower threshold; and

for the size of the first and second areas being the third size, adjusting the size of the first and second areas to the second size when the displacement is smaller than the second lower threshold, and maintaining the size of the first and second areas as the third size when the displacement is larger than the second lower threshold, wherein

the first lower threshold is smaller than the first upper threshold, the first upper threshold is smaller than the second lower threshold, and the second lower threshold is smaller than the second upper threshold.

8. The displacement detection method as claimed in claim 7, further comprising:

transmitting the displacement to an image display.

9. The displacement detection method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the displacement is

a sum of an absolute value of a displacement in a first direction and an absolute value of a displacement in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, or

a sum of squares of the displacement in the first direction and the displacement in the second direction.

10. The displacement detection method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the displacement is a movement in a second.

11. The displacement detection method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the comparing includes comparing correlations of the first and second areas.

12. A displacement detection apparatus, comprising:

an image sensing unit configured to capture a first frame and a second frame;

a storage unit configured to store an upper threshold and a lower threshold, wherein the lower threshold is smaller than the upper threshold; and

a processor configured to

select a first block in the first frame and select a second block in the second frame, wherein the first and second blocks have a same size, the size of the first and second blocks is either a first size or a second size, and the second size is smaller than the first size,

determine a displacement according to the first block and the second block,

compare the displacement with the upper threshold or the lower threshold,

for the size of the first and second blocks being the first size, adjust the size of the first and second blocks to the second size when the displacement is larger than the upper threshold, and maintain the size of the first and second blocks as the first size when the displacement is smaller than the upper threshold, and

for the size of the first and second blocks being the second size, adjust size of the first and second blocks the to the first size when the displacement is smaller than the lower threshold, and maintain the size of the first and second blocks as the second size when the displacement is larger than the lower threshold.

13. The displacement detection apparatus as claimed in claim 12, further comprising a light source configured to provide light to a working surface when the image sensing unit is capturing image frames.

14. The displacement detection apparatus as claimed in claim 12, further comprising a transmission interface unit configured to transmit the displacement obtained by the processor to an image display.

15. The displacement detection apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the transmission interface unit is wirelessly or electrically coupled to the image display.

16. The displacement detection apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein the storage unit is configured to store the first frame and the second frame captured by the image sensing unit.

17. The displacement detection apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein the displacement detection apparatus is an optical mouse.