Remote device and power saving method of interactive system

• US 9,304,574 B2
• Filed: 07/09/2013
• Issued: 04/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PixArt Imaging Incorporated
• Original Assignee: PixArt Imaging Incorporated
• Inventors: Kao, Ming-Tsan, Liang, Chia-Cheun
• Primary Examiner(s): Mummalaneni, Nalini
• Assistant Examiner(s): MARTINEZ QUILES, IVELISSE
• Application Number:
  US13/937,920
• Publication Number:
  US 20140022168A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,001 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3206 Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3259 Power saving in cursor control device, e.g. mouse, joystick, trackball
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0325 using a plurality of light emitters or reflectors or a plurality of detectors forming a reference frame from which to derive the orientation of the object, e.g. by triangulation or on the basis of reference deformation in the picked up image
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03542 Light pens for emitting or receiving light
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0386 for light pen
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A remote device includes an image sensor, a readout circuit and a processing unit. The image sensor successively captures a first image and a second image containing at least one reference beacon image. The readout circuit is configured to read first image data of the first image and second image data of the second image from the image sensor. The processing unit is configured to calculate an image feature of the at least one reference beacon image according to the first image data and control the readout circuit to only read the second image data of a range of interest in the second image according to the image feature. There is further provided a power saving method of an interactive system.

Claims

1. A remote device, comprising:

an image sensor configured to successively capture a first image and a second image containing at least one reference beacon image, and capture a pretreatment image containing the at least one reference beacon image before capturing the first image;

a readout circuit configured to read first image data of the first image and second image data of the second image from the image sensor, and read image data of partial rows of the pretreatment image from the image sensor; and

a processing unit configured to calculate an image feature of the at least one reference beacon image according to the first image data and control the readout circuit to read only the second image data of a range of interest in the second image according to the image feature, wherein the range of interest is smaller than the second image.

2. The remote device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the image feature comprises at least one of an image position, an image size, an image intensity and a motion vector of the at least one reference beacon image.

3. The remote device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the range of interest is a pixel range with a predetermined shape or a plurality of pixel rows.

4. The remote device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processing unit is configured to determine a first range of interest in the first image according to an image position of the at least one reference beacon image and estimate a second range of interest, configured as the range of interest, in the second image corresponding to the first range of interest according to a motion vector of the at least one reference beacon image or an expansion parameter.

5. The remote device as claimed in claim 4, wherein the motion vector and the expansion parameter are predetermined values or calculated by the processing unit according to a plurality of images captured previous to the second image.

6. The remote device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processing unit is configured to determine a first range of interest according to the at least one reference beacon image in the image data of the partial rows of the pretreatment image and control the readout circuit to only read the first image data of the first range of interest in the first image for calculating the image feature.

7. The remote device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the image data of the partial rows of the pretreatment image is image data of odd rows or even rows of the pretreatment image.

8. The remote device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the range of interest is larger than or equal to an image size of the at least one reference beacon image.

9. The remote device as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one reference beacon is integrated with an image display.

10. A power saving method of an interactive system, comprising:

successively capturing, using an image sensor, a pretreatment image and a first image containing at least one reference beacon image;

reading, using a readout circuit, image data of partial rows of the pretreatment image;

determining, using a processing unit, a first range of interest according to the at least one reference beacon image in the image data of partial rows of the pretreatment image;

reading, using the readout circuit, only first image data of the first range of interest in the first image; and

calculating, using the processing unit, an image feature of the at least one reference beacon image according to the first image data.

11. The power saving method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the image data of partial rows of the pretreatment image is image data of odd rows or even rows of the pretreatment image.

12. The power saving method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the processing unit determines the first range of interest according to an image position of the at least one reference beacon image.

13. The power saving method as claimed in claim 10, further comprising:

capturing, using the image sensor, a second image containing the at least one reference beacon image; and

controlling, using the processing unit, the readout circuit to only read second image data of a second range of interest in the second image according to the image feature, wherein the second range of interest is smaller than the second image.

14. The power saving method as claimed in claim 13, further comprising:

updating the first range of interest by the second range of interest and updating the first image data by the second image data;

calculating, using the processing unit, an updated image feature of the at least one reference beacon image according to the updated first image data;

updating the second image by a new captured image; and

controlling, using the processing unit, the readout circuit to read only second image data of a second range of interest in the updated second image according to the updated image feature.

15. The power saving method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the pretreatment image is captured every predetermined time interval.

16. The power saving method as claimed in claim 14, further comprising:

controlling, using the processing unit, the readout circuit to further read the second image data of partial rows of the updated second image outside the second range of interest every predetermined time interval.

17. A power saving method of an interactive system, comprising:

sequentially capturing, using an image sensor, a first image and a second image containing at least one reference beacon image;

reading, using a readout circuit, all image data of the first image;

calculating, using a processing unit, an image feature of the at least one reference beacon image according to the all image data of the first image; and

controlling, using the processing unit, the readout circuit to read image data of a range of interest in the second image according to the image feature and read image data of partial rows of the second image outside the range of interest, wherein the range of interest is smaller than the second image.

18. The power saving method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the processing unit is configured to determine a first range of interest in the first image according to an image position of the at least one reference beacon image and estimate a second range of interest, configured as the range of interest, in the second image corresponding to the first range of interest according to a motion vector of the at least one reference beacon image or an expansion parameter.

19. The power saving method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the motion vector and the expansion parameter are predetermined values or calculated by the processing unit according to a plurality of images captured previous to the second image.

20. A remote device, comprising:

an image sensor configured to successively capture a first image and a second image containing at least one reference beacon image;

a readout circuit configured to read first image data of the first image and second image data of the second image from the image sensor; and

a processing unit configured to calculate an image feature of the at least one reference beacon image according to the first image data, and

control the readout circuit to read the second image data of a range of interest in the second image according to the image feature and read the second image data of partial rows of the second image outside the range of interest, wherein the range of interest is smaller than the second image.