Pointing system and display having improved operable range

• US 9,606,639 B2
• Filed: 12/04/2013
• Issued: 03/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/09/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PixArt Imaging Incorporated
• Original Assignee: PixArt Imaging Incorporated
• Inventors: Kao, Ming-Tsan, Liang, Chia-Cheun
• Primary Examiner(s): Mercedes, Dismery
• Application Number:
  US14/096,279
• Publication Number:
  US 20140191959A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,210 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0304 Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means constructional details of pointing devices not related to the detection arrangement using opto-electronic means G06F3/033; optical digitisers G06F3/042
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0308 comprising a plurality of distinctive and separately oriented light emitters or reflectors associated to the pointing device, e.g. remote cursor controller with distinct and separately oriented LEDs at the tip whose radiations are captured by a photo-detector associated to the screen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0317 in co-operation with a patterned surface, e.g. absolute position or relative movement detection for an optical mouse or pen positioned with respect to a coded surface
• 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 3/033 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 3/0346 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 3/0354 with detection of 2D relative movements between the device, or an operating part thereof, and a plane or surface, e.g. 2D mice, trackballs, pens or pucks

Abstract

There is provided a pointing system including an image sensor, a plurality of reference marks and a processing unit. The image sensor is configured to capture image frames containing at least one reference mark image of the reference marks. The processing unit is configured to recognize an image number of the reference mark image and calculate an aiming point coordinate according to a positioning algorithm associated with the image number.

Claims

1. A pointing system, comprising:

a plurality of reference marks illuminating with an identifiable spectrum;

a remote controller comprising;

a memory unit configured to previously store different positioning algorithms, each of the different positioning algorithms being associated with a predetermined total number of reference marks, and at least two of the predetermined total numbers associated with the different positioning algorithms being different from one another, and

an image sensor configured to capture an image frame containing at least one reference mark image of the reference marks,

the remote controller configured to

recognize a total number of the at least one reference mark image in the captured image frame,

select a first positioning algorithm among the different positioning algorithms when the total number of the at least one reference mark image in the captured image frame is a first number, and output a cursor coordinate calculated by the first positioning algorithm to control a cursor shown on a display screen, and

select a second positioning algorithm among the different positioning algorithms when the total number of the at least one reference mark image in the captured image frame is a second number different from the first number, and output a relative displacement of the cursor calculated by the second positioning algorithm to control the cursor on the display screen,

wherein the predetermined total number of reference marks associated with the first and second positioning algorithms is related to the total number of the at least one reference mark image in the captured image frame, and

wherein the first and second positioning algorithms are configured to respectively output the cursor coordinate and the relative displacement using the at least one reference mark image in the image frame captured by the same image sensor.

2. The pointing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the reference marks are integrated with a display device having the display screen.

3. The pointing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the remote controller further comprises an accelerometer.

4. The pointing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the remote controller further comprises a processing unit configured to execute the different positioning algorithms.

5. The pointing system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the predetermined total numbers comprise 1, 2, 3 and 4;

and when the total number of the at least one reference mark image in the captured image frame is larger than 4, the processing unit performs pointer positioning according to the positioning algorithm associated with the predetermined total number of 4 reference marks.

6. The pointing system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a modulation unit configured to modulate at least one of an illumination frequency and an illumination brightness value of the reference marks.

7. The pointing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the remote controller further distinguishes different reference marks and distinguishes the reference marks from ambient light according to features of the reference mark images.

8. A pointing system, comprising:

a plurality of reference marks illuminating with an identifiable spectrum; and

a remote controller comprising an image sensor and a memory unit, the memory unit configured to previously store a first positioning algorithm for calculating a pointing coordinate and a second positioning algorithm for calculating a relative displacement, and the remote controller configured to

capture, by the image sensor, an image frame containing at least one reference mark image of the reference marks,

distinguish the reference marks from ambient light according to features of the at least one reference mark image,

recognize a total number of the at least one reference mark image in the captured image frame,

select the first positioning algorithm and output the pointing coordinate according to the image frame when the total number of the at least one reference mark image in the captured image frame is equal to a total number of the reference marks, and

select the second positioning algorithm and output the relative displacement according to the image frame when the total number of the at least one reference mark image in the captured image frame is smaller than the total number of the reference marks,

wherein the first positioning algorithm and the second positioning algorithm are configured to respectively output the pointing coordinate and the relative displacement using the at least one reference mark image in the image frame captured by the same image sensor.

9. The pointing system as claimed in claim 8, wherein when the total number of the at least one reference mark image in the captured image frame is smaller than the total number of the reference marks and larger than 1, the remote controller is configured to calculate the relative displacement according to one of the reference mark images or an average position of the reference mark images in the image frame.

10. The pointing system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the total number of the reference marks is 4.

11. The pointing system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the remote controller further comprises an accelerometer.

12. The pointing system as claimed in claim 8, further comprising a modulation unit configured to modulate at least one of an illumination frequency and an illumination brightness value of the reference marks.

13. The pointing system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the remote controller is further configured to distinguish different reference marks according to features of different reference mark images.

14. A pointing system, comprising:

4 reference marks illuminating with an identifiable spectrum; and

a remote controller comprising an image sensor and a memory unit, the memory unit configured to previously store a first positioning algorithm associated with 4 reference mark images for calculating a pointing coordinate and a second positioning algorithm associated with one reference mark image for calculating a relative displacement, and the remote controller configured to

capture, by the image sensor, an image frame containing at least one reference mark image of the reference marks,

recognize a total number of the at least one reference mark image in the captured image frame,

select the first positioning algorithm and output the pointing coordinate according to the image frame when the total number of the at least one reference mark image in the captured image frame is 4, and

select the second positioning algorithm and calculate the relative displacement according to one of the reference mark images, selected according to predetermined features of the 4 reference marks, in the image frame when the total number of the at least one reference mark image in the captured image frame is not 4,

wherein the first positioning algorithm and the second positioning algorithm are configured to respectively output the pointing coordinate and the relative displacement using the at least one reference mark image in the image frame captured by the same image sensor.