Projection display and system with pressure sensing at screen, and computer assisted alignment implemented by applying pressure at displayed calibration marks

• US 6,747,636 B2
• Filed: 11/21/2001
• Issued: 06/08/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/1991
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• 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): Nguyen, Chanh
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bell, Paul A.
• Application Number:
  US09/989,154
• Publication Number:
  US 20020118180A1
• Time in Patent Office: 930 Days
• Field of Search: 345/1.1, 345/1.2, 345/2.1, 345/2.2, 345/156, 345/157, 345/158, 345/173, 345/178, 345/700, 345/733, 345/734, 345/753, 178/18.01, 178/18.02, 178/18.03, 178/18.09, 349/5, 349/6, 349/7, 348/14.03, 348/14.04, 348/14.08, 348/95, 348/177, 348/180, 348/184, 348/190, 348/744, 348/745, 348/746, 348/747, 348/189, 382/287, 382/293
• 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 system, comprising:

a) a touch-sensitive display screen for detecting pressure applied thereto and in response generating control signals indicating locations of the applied pressure,

b) a computer for executing one or more application programs in a multi-tasking environment and in response generating screen video displays, said computer being coupled to said touch-sensitive display screen,

c) a driver in said computer, for receiving said control signals from said touch sensitive display screen and in response generating a command to a selected one of said application programs updating said screen video displays in accordance with the pressure applied to said touch-sensitive display screen,

d) a projector coupled to said computer for receiving and projecting said screen video displays onto said touch-sensitive display screen, and

e) alignment structure, in said computer, to adjust location data in said command, wherein the command includes data for identifying coordinates of the location of the pressure applied to said touch-sensitive display screen, and wherein said alignment structure includes a software routine for (i) projecting via said projector a plurality of predetermined images within the borders of said screen video display onto said touch-sensitive display screen, (ii) detecting user applied pressure at the respective locations indicated by said predetermined images, (iii) in response calibrating said coordinates to compensate for keystoning caused by non-orthogonal misalignment between said projector and said touch-sensitive display screen, and (iv) causing the computer to thereby align said screen video displays with the location of said pressure applied to said touch-sensitive display screen.

2. The interactive display system according to claim 1, wherein said alignment structure compensates for keystoning that results in a trapezoidal screen video display being projected onto said touch-sensitive display screen.

3. The interactive display system according to claim 1, wherein said alignment structure causes said projector to project four predetermined images onto said touch-sensitive display screen.

4. An interactive display comprising:

a projector configured to project an image;

a display screen apparatus spaced from said projector and presenting a display surface on which the projected image is displayed, said display screen apparatus being sensitive to pressure applied thereto and generating control signals representing the locations on said display surface where the pressure is applied;

a computer, coupled to said display screen apparatus and to said projector, and executing at least one applications program in a multi-tasking environment and providing image output to said projector for display as the projected image on said display surface, said computer being responsive to said control signals and updating said at least one applications program and said image output in accordance therewith; and

said computer being configured to execute an alignment procedure during initialization of said interactive display, said alignment procedure mapping said display surface to said image output by projecting via said projector a plurality of predetermined images within the boundaries of said projected image on said display surface, and detecting user applied pressure at the respective locations indicated by said predetermined images, and in response calibrating coordinates of said display surface so that said coordinates of the display surface correspond with coordinates of said image output, such that said image output is aligned with the locations on said display surface where pressure is applied, in a manner which compensates for non-orthogonal misalignment between the projected image and the display screen, without physically adjusting the projector or the display screen.

5. The interactive display according to claim 4 wherein said computer is configured to re-execute said alignment procedure in response to user input.

6. An interactive display apparatus aligning a projected image with a pressure-sensitive display screen, comprising:

a display screen presenting a display surface on which the projected image is displayed, said display screen being responsive to pressure applied thereto and generating control signals representing the locations on said display screen where the pressure is applied; and

a driver configured to execute an alignment procedure during initialization of said interactive display apparatus, said alignment procedure mapping said display surface to the projected image by causing the computer, in response to user input, to display on the interactive display apparatus, and within the edges of the projected image, a plurality of calibration images including a calibration marker, and causing the computer to store coordinate information corresponding to received control signals indicative of pressure applied at the display surface at positions corresponding to the calibration marker, said coordinate information being used to calibrate control signals generated by said display screen so that coordinates of said display surface correspond with coordinates of the projected image to compensate for projected image/display surface non-orthogonal misalignment without physically adjusting the display screen, such that said projected image is aligned with the locations on said display screen where pressure is applied, and wherein the alignment procedure is configured to use a previous mapping of said display surface to the projected image in response to user input.

7. The interactive display apparatus of claim 6, further comprising a projector for projecting the projected image.

8. The interactive display apparatus of claim 7, further comprising a computer configured to (i) execute at least one applications program in a Windows™

operating system environment, and (ii) provide image output to said projector for display as the projected image on said display surface, said computer being responsive to said control signals to update said at least one applications program and said image output in accordance therewith.

9. The interactive display according to claim 6, wherein said driver is configured to execute the alignment procedure to compensate for projected image/display surface non-orthogonal misalignment that results in a trapezoidal image being displayed on said display screen.

10. An interactive display system, comprising:

a touch-sensitive display screen for sensing pressure applied thereto and in response generating control signals indicating locations of said applied pressure;

a controller for receiving said control signals and in response generating graphic images for projection onto said touch sensitive display screen at said locations;

a computer for executing one or more applications programs in a multi-tasking environment and in response generating screen video displays, said computer being connected to said touch-sensitive display screen;

a driver in said computer for receiving said control signals and in response generating a command to a selected one of said applications programs for updating said screen video displays in accordance with said applied pressure to said touch-sensitive display screen;

a projector connected to said computer for receiving and projecting said screen video displays onto said touch-sensitive display screen; and

structure configured to modify location data in said command, wherein said command includes data for identifying horizontal and vertical coordinates of the location of said pressure applied to said touch-sensitive display screen, and wherein said structure causes the computer to project via said projector a plurality of alignment instructions onto said touch-sensitive display screen at predetermined locations within the edges of said screen video displays, detects user applied pressure on said touch-sensitive display screen at locations indicated by said alignment instructions, and in response calibrates said horizontal and vertical coordinates to compensate for keystoning caused by non-orthogonal misalignment between said projector and said touch-sensitive display screen, causing said computer to thereby align said screen video displays with the location of said pressure applied to said touch-sensitive display screen, said software routine being re-executed by said computer in response to user input.

11. A large screen interactive display apparatus, comprising:

structure configured to be coupled to a large-screen display surface and generating a control signal in response to pressure applied at the large-screen display surface, the control signal corresponding to a location on the large-screen display surface where the pressure is applied;

a driver installable in a computer and having code for interacting with an application program that is configured to support simultaneous operation of multiple programs, said driver executing an application program operation in response to the control signal, the application program operation causing a computer-generated image displayed on the large-screen display surface to change in response to the control signal; and

code installable in the computer and configured to cause the computer, in response to user input, to display, on the large-screen display surface and within the edges of the computer-generated image, a plurality of alignment images including an alignment marker, and to cause the computer to store image display coordinate information corresponding to received control signals indicative of pressure applied at the large-screen display surface at positions corresponding to said alignment marker, said display coordinate information being used to calibrate control signals generated by said structure to correct for any deviation of the displayed image from a ninety degree angle with respect to the plane of the large-screen display surface and being used to align said displayed image with the locations on said large-screen display surface where the pressure is applied.

12. The interactive display apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said code is configured to select previously stored display coordinate information based on user input.

13. The interactive display apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said code is configured to cause the computer to sequentially display four calibration marks on said large-screen display surface.

14. An interactive display apparatus, comprising:

structure configured to be coupled to a large-screen display surface and generating a control signal in response to pressure applied at the large-screen display surface, the control signal corresponding to a location on the large-screen display surface where the pressure is applied;

a driver installable in a computer and having code for interacting with an application program running in conjunction with Windows™

software on the computer, said driver executing an application program operation in response to the control signal, the application program operation causing an image on the large-screen display surface to change in response to the control signal; and

code installable in the computer and configured to cause the computer, in response to user input, to display, within the boundaries of the displayed image on the large-screen display surface, a plurality of calibration marks, and to cause the computer to store image display coordinate information corresponding to received control signals indicative of pressure applied at the large-screen display surface at positions corresponding to the plurality of calibration marks, said display coordinate information being used to calibrate control signals generated by said structure and to align said image with the locations on said large-screen display surface where pressure is applied, thereby compensating for trapezoidal images formed due to imperfect vertical alignment between the image and the large-screen display surface.

15. The interactive display apparatus of claim 14, further comprising a projector for projecting the plurality of calibration marks on the large-screen display surface.

16. The interactive display apparatus of claim 14, wherein said code is configured to cause the computer to display four calibration marks on said large-screen display surface.

17. A method of displaying images on an interactive display, comprising the steps of:

(i) generating a control signal in response to pressure applied at the interactive display, the control signal corresponding to a location on the interactive display where the pressure is applied;

(ii) causing an application program running in a Windows™

operating system environment of a computer to execute an application program operation in response to the control signal, the application program operation causing a computer-generated image displayed on the interactive display to change in response to the control signal;

(iii) causing the computer to display, on the interactive display in response to user input, a calibration image having a calibration marker inside the edges of the computer-generated image;

(iv) causing the computer to store image display coordinate information corresponding to a received control signal indicative of pressure applied at the interactive display at a position corresponding to the calibration marker

(v) repeating steps (iii) and (iv) until image display coordinate information corresponding to a received control signal has been stored for each corner of said computer-generated image;

(vi) using the stored display coordinate information to calibrate the control signal to correct for keystoning distortions of the computer-generated image and to align said computer-generated image with the location on said interactive display where pressure is applied; and

(vii) causing the computer to perform steps (iii) through (vi) in response to user input.

18. The method of displaying images of claim 17, wherein the (v) using step corrects for keystoning distortions that are trapezoidal.

19. The method of displaying images of claim 17, wherein the (iii) causing step causes the computer to sequentially display four calibration marks on said interactive display.