Projection display system with touch sensing on screen, computer assisted alignment correction and network conferencing

• US 6,141,000 A
• Filed: 06/07/1995
• Issued: 10/31/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/1991
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Smart Technologies Incorporated (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Smart Technologies Incorporated (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Martin, David A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Brier, Jeffery
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bell, Paul A.
• Application Number:
  US08/477,498
• Time in Patent Office: 1,973 Days
• Field of Search: 345/155, 345/156, 345/157, 345/173, 345/178, 345/179, 345/87, 345/904, 395/155, 395/161, 178/18.03, 348/744, 348/745, 348/746, 348/747, 348/180, 348/184, 348/95, 318/701
• US Class Current: 345/178
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 21/132 Overhead projectors, i.e. capable of projecting hand-writing or drawing during action epidiascopic projectors G03B21/08
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/033 Pointing devices displaced or positioned by the user , e.g. mice, trackballs, pens or joysticks; Accessories therefor digitisers characterised by the transducing means G06F3/041
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0418 for error correction or compensation, e.g. based on parallax, calibration or alignment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1813 for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms instant messaging H04L51/04; protocols for multimedia communication H04L65/1101; arrangements for multi-party communication H04L65/403; telephonic conference arrangements H04M3/56; television conference systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1831 Tracking arrangements for later retrieval, e.g. recording contents, participants activities or behavior, network status

Abstract

An interactive display system comprising a touch sensitive display surface for sensing pressure applied thereto and in response generating control signals indicating locations of the applied pressure, a personal computer for receiving the control signals and in response generating graph images, and an LCD panel in combination with an overhead projector for receiving and projecting the graphic images onto the touch sensitive display surface at the indicated locations. The LCD panel and overhead projector may be provided an an integral unit.

Claims

1. An interactive display comprising:

projection means for projecting an image;

a touch sensitive display screen spaced from said projection means and presenting a display surface on which said projected image is displayed, said touch sensitive display screen being responsive to user input and generating control signals representing the locations on said touch sensitive display screen where user input is made;

at least one computer executing at least one applications program and providing image output to said projection means for display as said projected image on said touch sensitive display screen, said at least one computer being responsive to said control signals and updating said applications program and said image output in accordance therewith; and

an alignment procedure executed by said at least one computer during initialization of said interactive display, said alignment procedure mapping said touch sensitive display screen to said image output so that co-ordinates of said touch sensitive display screen correspond with coordinates of said image output to compensate for image/display screen misalignment without physically adjusting the projection means or the display screen.

2. An interactive display as defined in claim 1 wherein said sensing means is in the form of a touch-sensitive screen associated with said display screen and wherein user input is generated in response to physical contact with said display screen.

3. An interactive display as defined in claim 2 wherein said physical contact is achieved using a passive stylus.

4. An interactive display as defined in claim 3 wherein said passive stylus is constituted by a body portion of a user.

5. An interactive display as defined in claim 1 wherein said alignment procedure corrects for distortion of said projected image resulting from misalignment between said projection means and said touch sensitive display screen, rotation of said projected image relative to said touch sensitive display screen and other related image projection problems.

6. An interactive display as defined in claim 5 wherein said alignment procedure causes said at least one computer to provide image output to said projection means resulting in a marker being projected on said touch sensitive display screen together with a request for a user to contact the touch sensitive screen at the location of said marker, said alignment procedure comparing the assumed location of said marker on said touch sensitive display screen with the actual location of said marker on said touch sensitive display screen as determined by said control signals and using the results of the comparison to map said touch sensitive display screen to said image output.

7. An interactive display as defined in claim 6 wherein said alignment procedure causes said at least one computer to provide image output to said projection means resulting in a plurality of markers being projected on said touch sensitive display screen in succession together with requests for said user to contact the touch sensitive display screen at the locations of said markers as each of said markers is projected on said touch sensitive display screen.

8. An interactive display as defined in claim 7 wherein the results of the comparison are saved in memory and wherein a user can select previously stored results to compensate for image projection problems to satisfy said alignment procedure.

9. An interactive display as defined in claim 1 wherein said user input includes control commands and overlay commands, said control commands causing said at least one computer to change the operating aspects of said at least one applications program and to generate new image output associated therewith, said overlay commands causing said at least one computer to update said image output in accordance therewith while maintaining the current operating state of said applications program.

10. An interactive display as defined in claim 9 wherein said control and overlay commands include event data, and co-ordinate data representing the location of said event data on the display screen.

11. An interactive display as defined in claim 9 further comprising at least one pen associated with said touch sensitive display screen, said touch sensitive display screen detecting movement of said at least one pen over said touch sensitive display screen and in response, generating an overlay command to said at least one computer, said at least one computer updating said image output in accordance with said overlay command so that script is depicted in said projected image corresponding to the movement of said at least one pen over said touch sensitive display screen.

12. An interactive display as defined in claim 11 further comprising at least one eraser associated with said touch sensitive display screen, said touch sensitive display screen detecting movement of said at least one eraser over said touch sensitive display screen and in response, generating an overlay command to said at least one computer, said at least one computer updating said image output in accordance with said overlay command so that script is removed from said projected image corresponding to the movement of said eraser over said touch sensitive display screen.

13. An interactive display as defined in claim 1 wherein said projection means is in the form of an overhead projector and a display panel on said overhead projector, said display panel presenting the image to be projected by said overhead projector in response to image output from said computer.

14. An interactive display device as defined in claim 1 further comprising a plurality of different input tools associated with said touch sensitive display screen, each of said input tools being moveable to a tool up condition where said tool is moveable over said touch sensitive display screen, said interactive display further including means to determine the input tool in said tool up condition used to make said user input and to generate a corresponding event to cause said computer to update said image output accordingly.

15. An interactive display as defined in claim 14 wherein said different input tools include a plurality of coloured pens.

16. An interactive display as defined in claim 15 wherein said different input tools further include an eraser.

17. An interactive display as defined in claim 16 wherein said user input includes control commands and overlay commands, said control commands causing said at least one computer to change the operating aspects of said at least one applications program and to generate new image output associated therewith, said overlay commands causing said at least one computer to update said image output in accordance therewith while maintaining the current operating state of said applications program.

18. An interactive display as defined in claim 17 wherein said touch sensitive display screen generates an overlay command to said at least one computer when a coloured pen is in said tool up condition and is moved over said touch sensitive display screen, said at least one computer updating said image output in accordance with said overlay command and said corresponding event so that script is depicted in said projected image corresponding to the movement of said coloured pen over said touch sensitive display screen and in the colour of said coloured pen.

19. An interactive display as defined in claim 18 wherein said touch sensitive display screen generates an overlay command to said at least one computer when said eraser is in said tool up condition and is moved over said touch sensitive display screen, said at least one computer updating said image output in accordance with said overlay command and said corresponding event so that script is removed from said projected image corresponding to the movement of said eraser.

20. A display according to claim 1, wherein said computer alignment procedure corrects the coordinates of said touch sensitive display screen to correspond to the coordinates of the image output.

21. A display according to claim 1, wherein said computer alignment procedure corrects display screen parameters in accordance with the alignment procedure.

22. A display according to claim 1, wherein said computer alignment procedure sets display screen coordinates in accordance with the alignment procedure.

23. A display according to claim 1, wherein said computer alignment procedure compensates for image/display screen misalignment without adjusting the physical image relative to the display screen.

24. An interactive conferencing system comprising:

a plurality of interactive displays; and

a network interconnecting said interactive displays to allow information to be passed therebetween, each of said interactive displays including;

projection means for projecting an image;

a touch sensitive display screen spaced from said projection means and presenting a display surface on which said projected image is displayed, said touch sensitive display screen being responsive to user input and generating control signals representing the locations on said touch sensitive display screen where user input is made;

at least one computer executing at least one applications program and providing image output to said projection means for display as said projected image on said touch sensitive display screen, said at least one computer being responsive to commands received from said network and being responsive to said control signals and updating the applications program and the image output in accordance with received commands and/or control signals; and

an alignment procedure executed by said at least one computer during initialization of said interactive display, said alignment procedure mapping said touch sensitive display screen to said image output so that coordinates of said touch sensitive display screen correspond with coordinates of said image output to compensate for image/display screen misalignment without physically adjusting the projection means or the display screen.

25. An interactive conferencing system as defined in claim 24 wherein said control signals are generated in response to physical contact with said touch sensitive display screen.

26. An interactive conferencing system as defined in claim 25 wherein in each interactive display, said alignment procedure corrects for distortion of said projected image resulting from misalignment between said projection means and said touch sensitive display screen, rotation of said projected image relative to said touch sensitive display screen and other related image projection problems.

27. An interactive conferencing system as defined in claim 24 further comprising an initialization routine in the at least one computer of each of said interactive displays, said initialization routine being executed by the at least one computer during initialization of said interactive conferencing system to select the configuration of network to which said interactive displays are connected.

28. An interactive conferencing system as defined in claim 27 wherein the at least one computer at each of said interactive displays further includes a network test routine to test the status of the network after the network has been selected and prior to establishing the network.

29. A display according to claim 24, wherein said computer alignment procedure corrects the coordinates of said touch sensitive display screen to correspond to the coordinates of the image output.

30. A display according to claim 24, wherein said computer alignment procedure corrects display screen parameters in accordance with the alignment procedure.

31. A display according to claim 24, wherein said computer alignment procedure sets display screen coordinates in accordance with the alignment procedure.

32. A display according to claim 24, wherein said computer alignment procedure compensates for image/display screen misalignment without adjusting the physical image relative to the display screen.

33. A display according to claim 24, wherein said computer alignment procedure compensates for image/display screen misalignment without adjusting the physical image relative to the display screen.

34. An interactive display comprising:

projection means for projecting an image;

a touch sensitive display screen spaced from said projection means and presenting a display surface on which said projected image is displayed, said touch sensitive display screen being responsive to user input and generating control signals representing the locations on said touch sensitive display screen where user input is made;

a computer executing at least one applications program and providing image output to said projection means for display as said projected image on said touch sensitive display screen, said computer being responsive to said control signals and updating said applications program and said image output in accordance therewith, said control signals including control commands and overlay commands, said control commands causing said computer to change the operating aspects of said at least one applications program and to generate new image output associated therewith, said overlay commands causing said computer to update said image output in accordance therewith while maintaining the current operating state of said applications program; and

a plurality of separate coloured pens associated with said touch sensitive display screen, said touch sensitive screen detecting movement of said coloured pens thereover and generating overlay commands in response thereto, wherein said interactive display further includes means to determine when a coloured pen is in a pen up condition and to generate a corresponding event, said computer updating said image output in accordance with overlay commands and corresponding events generated when a coloured pen determined to be in said pen up condition is moved over said touch sensitive display screen to depict script in the colour of said coloured pen in said projected image.

35. An interactive display as defined in claim 34 further comprising at least one eraser associated with said touch sensitive display screen, said touch sensitive display screen detecting movement of said at least one eraser over the touch sensitive display screen and in response, generating an overlay command to said computer, said computer updating said image output in accordance with said overlay command and said corresponding event so that script is removed from said projected image corresponding to the movement of said eraser over said touch sensitive display screen.

36. An interactive display comprising:

projection means for projecting an image;

a touch sensitive display screen spaced from said projection means and presenting a display surface on which said projected image is displayed, said touch sensitive display screen being responsive to use input and generating control signals representing the locations on said touch sensitive display where user input is made;

a plurality of separate and different input tools associated with said touch sensitive display screen, each of said input tools being moveable to a tool up condition where said tool is moveable over said touch sensitive display screen to make user input; and

a computer executing at least one applications program and providing image output to said projection means for display as said projected image on said touch sensitive display screen, said computer being responsive to said control signals and updating said applications program and said image output in accordance therewith, said interactive display further including means to determine an input tool in said tool up condition used to make said user input and to generate a corresponding event to cause said computer to update said image output in accordance with the input tool determine to be in the tool up condition.

37. An interactive display as defined in claim 36 wherein said different input tools include a plurality of coloured pens.

38. An interactive display as defined in claim 37 wherein said different input tools further include an eraser.

39. An interactive display as defined in claim 38 wherein said control signals include control commands and overlay commands, said control commands causing said computer to change the operating aspects of said at least one applications program and to generate new image output associated therewith, said overlay commands causing said computer to update said image output in accordance therewith while maintaining the current operating state of said applications program.

40. An interactive display as defined in claim 39 wherein said touch sensitive display screen generates an overlay command to said computer when a coloured pen is in said tool up condition and is moved over said touch sensitive display screen, said computer updating said image output in accordance with said overlay command and said corresponding event so that script is depicted in said projected image corresponding to the movement of said coloured pen over said touch sensitive display screen and in the colour of said coloured pen.

41. An interactive display as defined in claim 40 wherein said touch sensitive display screen generates an overlay command to said computer when said eraser is in said tool up condition and is moved over said touch sensitive display screen, said computer updating said image output in accordance with said overlay command and said corresponding event so that script is removed from said projected image corresponding to the movement of said eraser.