Method and apparatus for displaying images on a display

• US 20030095155A1
• Filed: 04/18/2002
• Published: 05/22/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Johnson, Michael J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,714,880 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/864
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1632 External expansion units, e.g. docking stations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1686 the I/O peripheral being an integrated camera
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1637 Sensing arrangement for detection of housing movement or orientation, e.g. for controlling scrolling or cursor movement on the display of an handheld computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/013 Eye tracking input arrangements G06F3/015 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/121 using a cache memory
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/393 Arrangements for updating the contents of the bit-mapped memory

Abstract

Combining one or more spatio-temporal sensors with a personal digital assistant or similar small electronic device and with sliding window (roaming and stabilization) software and memory management and user interface functions, to enable a user to see documents and objects that appear to be fixed in space. This may allow the user to navigate using his or her eidetic memory. Navigation of images, documents or other objects substantially bigger than the display is made easier and faster. Using the invention, the user scrolls and views larger documents or objects as if they were affixed in space to a selected viewing platform. The viewing platform can correspond to, for example, the ground, a building, a wall, an arbitrary reference point, or any other suitable fixed or substantially fixed position or object. The invention uses and adjusts for the body-arm-hand-finger motion of the user so that the imagery appears affixed to the selected reference platform.

Claims

1. A viewing system comprising:

a position sensor moveable relative to a reference in a virtual image; and

a display, showing at least a portion of the virtual image, attached to said position sensor; and

wherein by moving said position sensor, one can move about and view various portions of the virtual image.

2. The viewing system of claim 2, wherein the reference in the virtual image is fixed relative to a physical reference in the environment of said position sensor.

3. A viewing system comprising:

a position sensor moveable relative to a reference; and

a display attached to said position sensor; and

wherein said position sensor detects movement relative to the reference.

4. The viewing system of claim 3, wherein said display has an image that appears fixed relative to the reference.

5. The viewing system of claim 4, wherein the reference is virtual in the image on said display.

6. The viewing system of claim 3 further comprising an image source connected to said display.

7. The viewing system of claim 6, wherein said display shows at least a portion of an image from said image source.

8. The viewing system of claim 7, wherein the image appears to be stationary on said display relative to the reference.

9. The viewing system of claim 3, wherein the image appears to be stationary relative to the reference, whether or not said position sensor is moved relative to the reference.

10. The viewing system of claim 9, wherein the image may be of a document significantly larger than said display, and various portions of the image may be viewed by moving the display relative to the reference.

11. The viewing system of claim 10, wherein the moving of the display is parallel to the document in the image.

12. The viewing system of claim 11, wherein the document may be a map.

13. The viewing system of claim 9, wherein the image may be of an object and various portions of the object may be viewed by moving the display relative to the reference.

14. The viewing system of claim 13, wherein the position sensor senses the position of the display so that the display shows the image in accordance with the position of the display relative to the image that appears stationary.

15. The viewing system of claim 13, wherein the image has a virtual reference fixed to the reference.

16. A viewing system comprising:

means for position sensing and processing;

means for image management and rendering connected to said means for position sensing and processing; and

means for user interfacing connected to said means for position sensing and processing and to said means for image management and rendering.

17. The viewing system of claim 16, wherein:

said means for position sensing and processing comprises;

a spatio-temporal sensor; and

means for motion compensation connected to said spatio-temporal sensor;

said means for image management and rendering comprises;

an image source;

a roaming memory connected to said image source and to means for motion compensation;

a rendering engine connected to said roaming memory and to said means for motion compensation;

an image memory connected to said rendering engine and to means for motion compensation;

a display connected to said image memory; and

an image on said display; and

wherein moving the display in space in a direction relative to a reference reveals on said display a similar movement of the display to another portion of a displayed image.

18. The viewing system of claim 17, further comprising means for portability.

19. The viewing system of claim 18, wherein said means for portability comprises:

small-size enabling capabilities; and

low-power enabling capabilities.

20. A method for viewing a virtual item on a display screen comprising:

putting at least a region of the virtual item into a memory;

viewing a portion of the region of the virtual item on a display; and

moving the display to view another portion of the region.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the moving the display is relative to the virtual item.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein:

the virtual item is stationary relative to a reference; and

moving the display in space in a direction relative to the reference reveals on the display similar moving to another portion of the region of the virtual item situated in the one direction.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the virtual item is a map.

24. A viewing system comprising:

a control having an attached display; and

wherein

said control comprises a position sensing and processing component;

said attached display comprises an image management and rendering component connected to said position sensing and processing component; and

said attached display can move about an object in an image on said attached display by moving said control.

25. A viewing system comprising:

a position sensor;

a display attached to said position sensor; and

a visual sensor connected to said position sensor; and

wherein;

said visual sensor can sense features on an operator;

the features are anchors which the visual sensor identifies;

said position sensor determines a position of the operator according to a position of the anchors as identified by said visual sensor; and

the position of the anchors indicates what portion of a subject matter is to be on the display.