Pointing device user interface method, medium, and system robust against external noise

• US 8,547,332 B2
• Filed: 01/12/2007
• Issued: 10/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Choi, Ki-wan, Hong, Sun-gi, Yoo, Ho-joon, Kim, Nam-woo, Lee, Su-jinn
• Primary Examiner(s): Boddie, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): ELNAFIA, SAIFELDIN E
• Application Number:
  US11/652,515
• Publication Number:
  US 20070188449A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,454 Days
• Field of Search: 345156-184, 178 1905- 1907, 382312-324
• US Class Current: 345/158
• 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

Abstract

A pointing method, medium, and system detecting a synchronization signal from a plurality of light sources sequentially blinking at predetermined periods, detecting position information of the light sources by driving a video camera in synchronization with the synchronization signal, removing noise from among observed light sources by using the position information, and calculating a pointed to position by using the position information of the non-noise light sources. Provided is also a pointing reception method, medium, and system using a plurality of light sources blinking sequentially at predetermined periods, receiving the position information corresponding to light sources presenting the signals received by a pointing device and the position information pointed by the pointing device, and changing output data with respect to the pointed position information.

Claims

1. A pointing system, comprising:

a synchronization signal detection unit to detect a synchronization signal from a selective emission of each light source of a plurality of light sources;

a light source position information detection unit to detect position information of each of the plurality of light sources, using a camera that is driven in synchronization according to the detected synchronization signal, such that a scanning sequence corresponds to the selective emission of one of the light sources relative to the other light sources;

a noise removal unit to determine a position of a noise light source, among the plurality of light sources, and remove the noise light source, using the position information of at least one non-noise light source; and

a pointed position calculation unit to calculate a position pointed to by a pointing element by using the position information of the light sources,

wherein the pointing element comprises the synchronization signal detection unit.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the synchronization signal is detected based on the plurality of light sources sequentially blinking at a predetermined period.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the plurality of light sources are turned off and on sequentially one by one, from a state where all the plurality of light sources are turned on, and the predetermined period matches with a frame rate of the camera for scanning a screen of a display.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the synchronization signal detection unit detects the synchronization signal by calculating a time interval between a rising edge and a falling edge of a respective signal corresponding to a detected emission by each of the plurality of light sources.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a signal reception unit to receive the observed emissions by the plurality of light sources and providing corresponding signals to the synchronization signal detection unit.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of light sources comprise a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) disposed along peripheral portions of a screen of a display.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the camera comprises a charge coupled device (CCD) sensor or a complementary metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (CMOS) sensor.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a noise removal unit to identify noise light sources from among observed light sources based on the position information and using the identifying of the noise light sources in identifying the at least one non-noise light sources for removal of the noise light sources from a set of the observed light sources, with the pointed position calculation unit calculating the position pointed to by the pointing element by using the position information of the at least one non-noise light source light sources.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the noise removal unit identifies the noise light sources by comparing the position information of the light source at a current time point with corresponding position information at a previous time point to determine whether a corresponding light source has been added and whether a corresponding light sources has disappeared and by indexing the noise light sources and the non-noise light sources.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein if the noise removal unit does not index all non-noise light sources, the pointed position calculation unit calculates the pointed position by temporarily indexing non-noise light sources that are not indexed, by referring to the position information of non-noise light sources that are indexed, and if the noise removal unit indexes all the non-noise light sources, the pointed position calculation unit calculates the pointed position of a non-noise light source that is turned off, by referring to the position information at a previous time point when the corresponding non-noise light source was turned on.

11. The pointing system of claim 1, wherein each light source of the plurality of light sources transmits a different signal according to a predetermined transmission process.

12. The pointing system of claim 1, wherein the synchronization signal detection unit detects the synchronization signal based on observed respective selective different emissions from the plurality of light sources.

13. A pointing reception system, comprising:

a light source output unit to emit light to a pointing device, such that a respective light source of a plurality of light sources is selectively emitted differently relative to the remaining light sources, the emitted light including a synchronization signal corresponding to the selective emission of each light source of the plurality of light sources;

a data reception unit to receive position information corresponding to a pointed to position of the pointing device, from the pointing device, the position information being used to determine a position of a noise light source among the plurality of light sources and to remove the noise light source using position information of at least one non-noise light source; and

a display control unit to change output data for a display based on the position information corresponding to the pointed to position of the pointing device.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the data reception unit further receives respective position information corresponding to the emitted light from the plurality of light sources.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the selective use of the plurality of light sources includes selective blinking of the plurality of light sources sequentially at a predetermined period.

16. The pointing reception system of claim 15, further comprising:

a blinking control unit to control the selective blinking of the light sources; and

a pointed position calculation unit to calculate the pointed to position based on position information of at least one non-noise light sources obtained by removing noise light sources from a set of observed light sources.

17. The pointing reception system of claim 15, wherein the plurality of light sources are turned off and on, sequentially one by one from a state where all the plurality of light sources are turned on, and the predetermined period matches with a frame rate of a camera, observing the plurality of light sources, with the frame rate being for scanning a screen of a display.

18. The point reception system of claim 13, wherein each light source of the plurality of light sources transmits a different signal according to a predetermined transmission process.

19. A pointing and pointing reception system, comprising:

a synchronization signal detection unit to detect a synchronization signal from a selective emission of each light source of a plurality of light sources;

a light source position information detection unit to detect position information for the plurality of light sources, using a camera that is driven in synchronization according to the detected synchronization signal, such that a scanning sequence corresponds to the selective emission of one of the light sources relative to the other light sources;

a noise removal unit to determine a position of a noise light source, among the plurality of light sources, and remove the noise light source, using position information of at least one non-noise light source;

a pointed position calculation unit to calculate a position pointed to by a pointing element by using the position information of the light sources;

a light source output unit to control the selective different emissions of light by the plurality of light sources; and

a display control unit to change output data for a display based on the pointed to position of the pointing element,

wherein the pointing element comprises the synchronization signal detection unit.

20. The pointing and point reception system of claim 19, wherein each light source of the plurality of light sources transmits a different signal according to a predetermined transmission process.

21. The pointing and point reception system of claim 19, wherein the synchronization signal detection unit detects the synchronization signal based on observed respective selective different emissions from the plurality of light sources.

22. A pointing method, comprising:

detecting a synchronization signal based on an observed different emission of a respective light source of a plurality of light sources relative to the remaining light sources;

detecting position information for the plurality of light sources, using a camera that is driven in synchronization according to the detected synchronization signal;

determining a position of a noise light source, among the plurality of light sources, and removing the noise light source, using the position information of at least one non-noise light source of the plurality of light sources; and

calculating a position pointed to by a pointing device by using the position information of the plurality of light sources.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the synchronization signal is detected based on the plurality of light sources sequentially blinking at a predetermined period.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the plurality of light sources are turned off and on sequentially one by one, from a state where all the plurality of light sources are turned on, and the predetermined period matches with a frame rate of the camera for scanning a screen of a display.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein, in the detecting of the synchronization signal, the synchronization signal is detected by calculating a time interval between a rising edge and a falling edge of a respective signal corresponding to a detected emission by each of the plurality of light sources.

26. The method of claim 22, further comprising detecting the synchronization signal by deriving respective signals from the received observed emissions by the plurality of light sources.

27. The method of claim 22, wherein the plurality of light sources comprise a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) disposed along peripheral portions of a screen of a display.

28. The method of claim 22, wherein the camera comprises a charge coupled device (CCD) sensor or a complementary metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (CMOS) sensor.

29. The method of claim 22, further comprising identifying noise light sources from among observed light sources based on the position information and using the identifying of the noise light sources in identifying the at least one non-noise light sources for removal of the noise light sources from a set of the observed light sources, with the calculating of the position pointed to by the pointing device being accomplished by using the position information of the at least one non-noise light source light sources.

30. The method of claim 22, wherein in the identifying of the noise light sources, the position information of the light source at a current time point is compared with corresponding position information at a previous time point to determine whether a corresponding light source has been added and/or whether a corresponding light source has disappeared, and by indexing the noise light sources and the non-noise light sources.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the calculating of the pointed position comprises:

calculating the pointed position, by temporarily indexing non-noise light sources that are not indexed, by referring to position information of non-noise light sources that are indexed, if all the non-noise light sources are not indexed in the identifying of the noise light sources; and

calculating the pointed position of a non-noise light source that is turned off, by referring to the position information at a previous time point when the non-noise light source was turned on, if all the non-noise light sources are indexed.

32. At least one non-transitory computer readable recording medium comprising computer readable code to control at least one processing element to implement the method of claim 22.

33. The point method of claim 22, wherein each light source of the plurality of light sources transmits a different signal according to a predetermined transmission process.

34. A method of implementing a user interface, comprising:

emitting light by selectively emitting a respective light source of a plurality of light sources differently relative to the remaining light sources, the emitted light including a synchronization signal corresponding to the selective emission of each light source of the plurality of light sources;

receiving position information corresponding to a pointed to position of a pointing device, from the pointing device, the position information being used to determine a position of a noise light source among the plurality of light sources and to remove the noise light source using position information of at least one non-noise light source; and

changing output data for a display based on the position information corresponding to the pointed to position of the pointing device.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein receiving of the position information further comprises receiving respective position information corresponding to the emitted light from the plurality of light sources.

36. The method of claim 34, wherein the selective use of the plurality of light sources includes selectively blinking the plurality of light sources sequentially at a predetermined period.

37. The method of claim 36, further comprising:

controlling the selective blinking of the light sources; and

calculating the pointed to position based on position information of at least one non-noise light sources obtained by removing noise light sources from a set of observed light sources.

38. The method of claim 36, wherein the plurality of light sources are turned off and on, sequentially one by one from a state where all the plurality of light sources are turned on, and the predetermined period matches with a frame rate of a camera, observing the plurality of light sources, with the frame rate being for scanning a screen of a display.

39. At least one non-transitory computer readable recording medium comprising computer readable code to control at least one processing element to implement the method of claim 34.

40. The method of claim 34, wherein each light source of the plurality of light sources transmits a different signal according to a predetermined transmission process.