Interactive input system and pen tool therefor

• US 8,872,772 B2
• Filed: 04/01/2010
• Issued: 10/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Smart Technologies ULC (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Smart Technologies ULC (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Thompson, Sean, McGibney, Grant, Holmgren, David
• Primary Examiner(s): HERNANDEZ, JESUS J
• Application Number:
  US12/752,915
• Publication Number:
  US 20110242006A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,671 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03545 Pens or stylus
• 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 pen tool for use with a machine vision interactive input system comprises an elongate body and a tip arrangement at one end of the body, an end surface of the body at least partially about the tip arrangement carrying light reflective material that is visible to at least one imaging assembly of the interactive input system when the pen tool is angled.

Claims

1. A method of identifying a pointer having at least one retro-reflective band thereon in a machine vision interactive input system comprising a region of interest at least partially surrounded by a bezel and at least one imaging assembly having a field of view aimed into said region of interest, said method comprising:

capturing image frames that include said bezel;

processing the captured image frames to form background-corrected image frames and to determine upper and lower limits of said bezel;

performing threshold segmentation on the background-corrected image frames;

determining whether regions representative of a pointer exist in said background-corrected image frames; and

upon determining that regions representative of a pointer exist in said background-corrected image frames, performing a limit test to determine whether said regions are beyond the limits of the bezel and thereby identify a pointer having at least one retro-reflective band thereon.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said processing comprises subtracting a background image frame from each captured image frame to form said background-corrected image frames.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said processing further comprises masking regions of each background-corrected image frame beyond the upper and lower limits of said bezel.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein determining the upper and lower limits of said bezel is performed automatically.

5. An interactive input system comprising:

a region of interest at least partially surrounded by a bezel;

at least one imaging assembly having a field of view aimed into the region of interest and configured to capture image frames that include said bezel; and

processing structure configured to;

process said captured image frames to form background-corrected image frames and to determine upper and lower limits of said bezel;

perform threshold segmentation on the background-corrected image frames;

determine whether regions representative of a pointer exist in said background-corrected image frames; and

upon determining that regions representative of a pointer exist in said background-corrected image frames, perform a limit test to determine whether said regions are beyond the limits of the bezel and thereby identify a pointer having at least one retro-reflective band thereon.

6. The interactive input system of claim 5 wherein said processing structure, during processing, is configured to subtract a background image frame from each captured image frame to form said background-corrected image frames.

7. The interactive input system of claim 6 wherein said processing structure, after said subtracting, is configured to mask regions of each difference image frame beyond the upper and lower limits of said bezel.

8. A method of identifying a pointer having at least one retro-reflective band thereon adjacent a tip thereof in a machine vision interactive input system comprising a region of interest at least partially surrounded by a bezel and at least one imaging assembly having a field of view aimed into said region of interest, said method comprising:

capturing image frames that include said bezel;

subtracting a background image frame from each captured image frame to form background-corrected image frames;

identifying the upper and lower limits of said bezel in said image frames;

thresholding each background-corrected image frame;

determining whether regions representative of a pointer exist in said background-corrected image frames; and

upon determining that regions representative of a pointer exist in said background-corrected image frames, performing a limit test to determine whether said regions are beyond the limits of the bezel and thereby identify a pointer having at least one retro-reflective band thereon adjacent a tip thereof.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising, after said identifying, masking regions of each background-corrected image frame beyond the upper and lower limits of said bezel.

10. A method of identifying a pointer having at least one retro-reflective band thereon adjacent a tip thereof in a machine vision interactive input system comprising a region of interest at least partially surrounded by a bezel and at least one imaging assembly having a field of view aimed into said region of interest, said method comprising:

capturing image frames that include said bezel;

processing the image frames to form background-corrected image frames;

identifying upper and lower limits of the bezel in said image frames;

thresholding said background-corrected image frames;

examining the thresholded background-corrected image frames to determine whether regions representative of a pointer exist therein; and

when regions exist, performing a limit test to determine whether said regions are outside of the upper and lower limits of said bezel and thereby identify a pointer having at least one retro-reflective band thereon adjacent a tip thereof.