Coordinate input apparatus

• US 8,982,102 B2
• Filed: 02/25/2013
• Issued: 03/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Takano, Hirokuni, Yoshimura, Yuichiro, Kobayashi, Katsuyuki, Machii, Ritsuo, Kawahara, Takuto, Hashimoto, Takayuki, Umemura, Naoki, Sato, Hajime, Komine, Takayuki, Matsushita, Akihiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Liang, Regina
• Application Number:
  US13/775,626
• Publication Number:
  US 20130234955A1
• Time in Patent Office: 750 Days
• Field of Search: 345/173, 345/175, 178/18.01, 178/18.03, 178/18.09
• US Class Current: 345/175
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0418 for error correction or compensation, e.g. based on parallax, calibration or alignment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0421 by interrupting or reflecting a light beam, e.g. optical touch-screen
• 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 coordinate input apparatus includes a light projecting unit configured to project light parallelly to an effective coordinate input region, a reflection unit configured to retroreflect the light projected by the light projecting unit, and a light receiving unit configured to receive light from the light projecting unit or the reflection unit. The coordinate input apparatus includes a moving unit configured to move a set of the light projecting unit, light receiving unit, and reflection unit in a direction perpendicular to the effective coordinate input region in order to ensure a light amount with which a pointed position in the effective coordinate input region can be calculated based on variations of a light amount distribution obtained from the light receiving unit.

Claims

1. A coordinate input apparatus which detects a pointed position to an effective coordinate input region, comprising:

a light projecting unit constructed to project light to the effective coordinate input region;

a reflection unit constructed to retroreflect the light projected by said light projecting unit;

a light receiving unit constructed to receive light from one of said light projecting unit and said reflection unit;

a moving unit constructed to move a set of said light projecting unit, said light receiving unit, and said reflection unit in order to change a light amount received by said light receiving unit;

a determination unit constructed to determine whether the light amount received by said light receiving unit is appropriate for calculating the pointed position in the effective coordinate input region; and

a notification unit constructed to notify a determination result of said determination unit.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an angle changing unit constructed to be able to change an angle with the effective coordinate input region for the set of said light projecting unit, said light receiving unit, and said reflection unit.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a setting unit constructed to set said moving unit to a predetermined height.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a display unit constructed to display a moving amount of said moving unit.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a first housing constructed to incorporate at least two sensor units each including the light projecting unit and the light receiving unit; and

a second housing constructed to incorporate at least two sensor units each including the light projecting unit and the light receiving unit,

wherein said first housing and said second housing are arranged on two facing sides of a rectangular region forming the effective coordinate input region, and

each of said first housing and said second housing includes said reflection unit to retroreflect light projected by said light projecting unit of the sensor unit of the other housing.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein in each of said first housing and said second housing,

a light receiving optical system forming said light receiving unit is set to be symmetric to an optical axis serving as a normal direction of a pixel of a photoelectric converter forming the light receiving optical system, and is set to be perpendicular to a straight line containing a center of the optical axis of said light receiving unit incorporated in each of the at least two sensor units in a single housing, and

a field range of the light receiving optical system is set to be asymmetric to the optical axis.

7. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein each of said first housing and said second housing includes a stretching/contraction unit constructed to increase/decrease a distance between the at least two sensor units incorporated in each of said first housing and said second housing.

8. The apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a detection unit constructed to detect relative positional information between the sensor units incorporated in each of said first housing and said second housing.

9. The apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a calibration unit constructed to execute calibration to correlate a first coordinate system in the effective coordinate input region of the coordinate input apparatus and a second coordinate system in a display region serving as a projected image from a display apparatus that is set in the effective coordinate input region.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a base constructed to arrange, on one side of a rectangular region forming the effective coordinate input region, a housing incorporating at least two sensor units each including the light projecting unit and the light receiving unit, and said reflection unit and at least three moving units on remaining three sides.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

said moving unit includes a plurality of moving units, and

said plurality of moving units are formed from electronic components which can be electrically operated and set to the same height simultaneously.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said notification unit visibly notifies the determination result of said determination unit.

13. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said light projecting unit projects light in a direction parallel to the effective coordinate input region, and said moving unit moves the set of said light projecting unit, said light receiving unit, and said reflection unit.

14. An apparatus which detects a pointed position to an effective coordinate input region, comprising:

a first housing constructed to incorporate at least two first sensor units each comprising a first light receiving unit and a first light projecting unit constructed to project light to the effective coordinate input region;

a second housing constructed to incorporate at least two second sensor units each comprising a second light receiving unit and a second light projecting unit constructed to project light to the effective coordinate input region;

at least two first moving units constructed to move said at least two first sensor units in order to change a light amount received by said first light receiving unit of each of said at least two first sensor units;

at least two second moving units constructed to move said at least two second sensor units in order to change a light amount received by said second light receiving unit of each of said at least two second sensor units;

a determination unit constructed to determine whether the light amounts received by said first and second light receiving units are appropriate for calculating the pointed position in the effective coordinate input region; and

a notification unit constructed to notify a determination result of said determination unit,

wherein said first housing and said second housing are arranged on two facing sides of a rectangular region forming the effective coordinate input region,

said first housing comprises a first reflection unit constructed to retroreflect light projected by said second light projecting unit of the second sensor units,

said second housing comprises a second reflection unit constructed to retroreflect light projected by said first light projecting units of the first sensor unit,

said first light receiving unit receives light from one of said second light projecting unit and said second reflection unit, and said second light receiving unit receives light from one of said first light projecting unit and said first reflection unit.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14, further comprising:

at least two first angle changing units constructed to be able to change angles with the effective coordinate input region for at least two first sensor units, and

at least two second angle changing units constructed to be able to change angles with the effective coordinate input region for at least two second sensor units.

16. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said notification unit visibly notifies the determination result of said determination unit.

17. An assembly used with another assembly in an apparatus which detects a pointed position to an effective coordinate input region, wherein said assembly and said another assembly are arranged on two facing sides of a rectangular region forming the effective coordinate input region, the assembly comprising:

at least two sensor units each comprising a light receiving unit and a light projecting unit constructed to project light to the effective coordinate input region;

a reflection unit constructed to retroreflect light projected by at least two other sensor units of said another assembly;

at least two moving units constructed to move said at least two sensor units in order to change a light amount received by said light receiving unit of each of said at least two sensor units;

a determination unit constructed to determine whether the light amount received by said light receiving unit is appropriate for calculating the pointed position in the effective coordinate input region; and

a notification unit constructed to notify a determination result of said determination unit, and

wherein said light receiving unit receives light projected by said at least two other sensor units of said another assembly and light retroreflected by another reflection unit of said another assembly.

18. The assembly according to claim 17, further comprising:

at least two angle changing units constructed to be able to change angles with the effective coordinate input region for at least two sensor units.

19. The assembly according to claim 17, wherein said notification unit visibly notifies the determination result of said determination unit.