JPH0273419A - Remote instruction input device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize the input of instructions to any type of a secondary plane with a simple method by combining a remote instruction rod which scans the light beans in plural directions, plural light receiving means set around an input area, and a coordinate calculation means. CONSTITUTION:A remote instruction rod 1 which outputs the laser beam 2 is scanned in two directions (e.g., horizontal and vertical) which are orthogonal to each other to the direction of an instruction point 7 of an input area 9. In this case, the photodetectors 4 shown by oblique lines receive the light. An input circuit 5 holds the information on the reception of the light 2 for each element 4. This information is checked by an arithmetic circuit 6 in a fixed cycle. The circuit 6 calculates the number and positions of elements 4 that received the light, the formula of a straight line, the intersecting point between two straight lines, etc., based on the information on each element 4 stored in the circuit 5. Thus the coordinates can be obtained for the point 7 of an instruction rod 1. In such a constitution, the free input of instructions is possible at any position as long as the rod 1 is used at a place some distance from the front of the area 9.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a remote instruction input device that can specify coordinates within a display area of a display device from a remote location.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, for example, a coordinate input device by remote control for a display device such as a CRT screen is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-163039.
Using an optical system lens as published in the publication,
An image of the display screen is focused on the indicating device, a source sensor for receiving light is placed at a point on the image, and the coordinate position on the display screen is determined from the phase difference between the synchronization signal of the video output and the raster signal of the optical sensor. There is something that can detect this.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) With the above-mentioned conventional technology, there are problems in that it is difficult to focus on the indicated position when the remote indicator stick moves back and forth, and there are also difficulties in the light receiving sensitivity of the sensor, which limits the display image. was there.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and provide a remote instruction input device that can be input manually to any secondary plane in a simple manner.

[Means to solve the problem]

The above purpose is to combine a light beam generating device with a mirror, etc. to scan the original beam radially in multiple directions around the pointing point Y, and a remote pointing rod with a means to scan the original beam in multiple directions radially, and multiple light receiving units placed around the input area. and a coordinate calculating means that determines the positions of the several light receiving means from the output signals of the several light receiving means that receive the light, and calculates the coordinates of the pointing point based on the determined positions. Achieve it by having it.

[Effect]

The remote pointing rod changes the optical path of the original beam generated by the light beam generator using a mirror or the like, and outputs the original beam that scans radially in a plurality of directions centering on the pointing point. A plurality of light receiving means arranged around the input area output a pointer output signal scanned by the five-element beam. Based on the signals output by the plurality of light receiving means, the coordinates of the designated point are calculated using the coordinate calculation means. This allows you to obtain the coordinates of the point indicated by the remote pointing stick.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6.

First, FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a video display device VC to which a remote instruction input device according to the present invention is attached. 1 is a remote instruction stick, 2 is a laser beam with a cross-shaped trajectory emitted from the remote instruction stick 1, 3 is a remote instruction receiving section, 4 is a light receiving element, 5 is an input circuit, 6 is an arithmetic circuit, and 7 is a The instruction point, 8 is the video display device, and -9 is the input area. The remote instruction receiving section 3 is composed of a light receiving element 4, an input circuit 5, and an arithmetic circuit 6. Further, the light receiving elements 4 are arranged and attached at equal intervals around the input area 9 of the video display device #8.

FIG. 1 shows a remote control rod 1 that can output a laser beam 2 that scans in two orthogonal directions (for example, horizontal and vertical directions).
The trajectory of the laser beam 2 in the input area 9 when directed toward the instruction point 7 in the input area 9 is shown. The light receiving elements 4 (four pieces) that received the light at that time are indicated by diagonal lines. but,
Since the laser beam 2 scans the input area 9, not all four light receiving elements receive the laser beam 2 at the same time.

Therefore, the input circuit 5 holds the information that the laser beam 2 has been received for each optical element 4, and the arithmetic circuit 6 examines the held information at a certain period. As you can see from Figure 1, there are four light receiving elements 4 that receive light, and the four light receiving elements 4 are connected by two @ lines so that they intersect, and the two straight lines are orthogonal. If so, the intersection will definitely overlap with the designated point 7. Therefore, the arithmetic circuit 6 calculates the number and position of the light receiving elements 4 that received the light, the formula of the @ line, the orthogonal condition, the intersection point of two straight lines, etc. based on the information from each light receiving element of the input circuit 5. By doing this, the coordinates of the pointing point 7 of the remote pointing stick 1 can be determined. By using such a 111 configuration, input can be freely made from any position as long as the remote control stick 1 is used at a certain distance in front of the input area 9.

Next, the laser beam 2 scans in two directions perpendicular to the VC in FIG.
A schematic diagram of the remote control rod 1 that outputs . 12.1
6 is a laser beam oscillator, 10.14 is a mirror, 11.15
15 is a horizontal laser beam, 17 is a vertical laser beam, and 18 is a power source.

First, the f1 laser beam emitted by the laser beam oscillator 12 is
It is swung horizontally by a mirror 1o rotated by a motor 11, and becomes a horizontal laser beam 13. Further, the laser beam emitted by the laser beam oscillator 16 is swung vertically by a mirror 14 rotated by a motor 14.
This becomes a vertical laser beam 17. These horizontal laser beams 13 and vertical laser beams 17? : By combining vertically, a cross-shaped laser beam 2 can be created. Further, the scanning period of the cross-shaped laser fi2 is determined by the rotational speed of the motors 11 and 15. Furthermore, by using a double-sided mirror, it is possible to obtain the laser beam 2 with the same scanning period even if the rotational speed of the motor 11.15 is halved.

FIG. 3 shows a video display device t! A composition diagram of the remote instruction input unit 3 attached to the t6 is shown. The light receiving element 6 converts the intensity of the laser beam into an electrical signal by combining a phototransistor and a logic element having a Schmitt trigger effect. Reference numeral 19 is a 70-tube D-7 flip-flop, and the input circuit 5 has D-flip-flops 19 arranged in parallel and wired one-to-one with each light-receiving element 4.

In this remote instruction receiving section 6, first, a reset signal is sent from the arithmetic circuit 6 to the input circuit 5, and all the D-7 lip flops 19 are reset.

Thereafter, each time any of the light receiving elements 4 receives a signal, the electrical signal is transmitted to the input circuit 6 and held in the D-7 lip flop 19 connected to each receiver 112. After waiting for a certain period of time, the arithmetic circuit 6 scans the outputs of each 1)-7 lip flop 19 of the input circuit 5, and by that time can obtain the original number and number of the light receiving elements 4. can.

Inside the Sarasuko calculation circuit 6, based on the information, the calculation is performed and the indication point 7 of the remote indication stick 1 is calculated.
Obtain the X-Y coordinates of. In this case, the light receiving element
As a method for distinguishing between f and other f, there is a method of attaching a filter to the light-receiving element to allow only the laser beam 2 to pass, or a method of setting a threshold value to distinguish the laser beam 2.

Next, describe the method of calculation in the calculation circuit 6. As shown in FIG. 4, the entire video display device 8 will be explained as seen from the front. When facing the video display device 8, the X-axis corresponds to a so-called horizontal direction, and the y-axis corresponds to a so-called vertical direction.

-j: From the top left, number the light receiving elements 4 counterclockwise and arrange them at equal intervals around the input area 9. At this time, the remote instruction device 1 indicates a point P on the input area 9, and the trajectory of the laser beam 2 on the input area 9 having a cross-shaped trajectory is
Assuming that the light receiving element 4 that received the source at that time, that is, the light reception detection point, is α..α1−.αH”+1, from this figure 4, the indicated point P is inside the display screen 4. As long as there is a cross-shaped laser beam trajectory 1.., I., no matter what direction it is, there are always four light reception detection points, and as shown in No. A1gJ, the two straight lines at the light reception detection points are It can be seen that if these two straight kasuri are tied in such a way that they intersect, the laser beam trajectory will always be ,L.
4. ] are arranged in ascending order of numbers, α, α11, α3, and so on. and α
. If the two lines are orthogonal, the cross-shaped laser i trajectory 1. ．． ．． L, page, that's it.

If the intersection point of L is found, the coordinates of the intersection point become the X-Y coordinates of the designated point P.

FIG. 5 again shows a flowchart until the arithmetic circuit 6 calculates the X-Y coordinates of the indicated point P. At this time, α0, a, al, +
Each x-y coordinate of 'll is (X+,)'+)
, (X1%Y1), (X@, yg)% (x4, yka), and the rectum formed by connecting two points a, 'I11'#j, and "4m" is A, AI. do.

First, in order to scan the input circuit 5 and find the light reception detection point, the arithmetic circuit 6 sends reset number 1 to the input circuit 5 and initializes the input circuit 5. Next, after waiting for a certain period of time, the output of the input circuit 5 is scanned to find a plurality of light reception detection points. By repeating this scanning not only once but several times, it is possible to find out the exact number and number of light receiving detection points. Next, check the number of light reception detection points obtained in this scan, and if it is other than 4, it is determined that it is outside the input area 9,
After completing this flowchart, if the results are correct, find the positions of the four light reception detection points by their numbers.

In Figure 5, α, -(xl, yI), ale-(Xs
, Y*), al, -(Xs, yg), α+5-(X4
*Y, ).

Next, the light reception detection points are arranged in ascending order of number, and two points are taken every other time, in this case α1. and 'IIIα1. Connect and α, and find 2@ lines A and A.

A, :Y='・-yIX Kankyō Munikyō L x, -X, -X.

A, Hy, Y*-74) (+X5Yt X4YIX
, -χ4
, -x, ) and (yg-Y4 ) or (x, -x4)
If it satisfies (yI-ys), then it is clear that the straight line A and A.

are orthogonal. Also, if this first condition is not satisfied, check Chive 1xEko Ya-1-1 for the second condition, x,
-x, x, -x.

When this second condition is satisfied, it is determined that the 200 lines A and A are orthogonal, and when this second condition is not satisfied, it is determined that they are outside the input area 9.

Furthermore, the above two conditions are theoretical; in reality, there is a certain amount of space between the light receiving elements, and the pointing edge of the remote pointing rod is relative to the perpendicular to the input surface of the input area 9. If it is tilted, the cross-shaped loci of the laser light 2 will no longer be exactly perpendicular to each other, so a certain range must be added to the above conditional expression to account for this error.

Next, if the 2@ lines A, , A, are orthogonal, the arithmetic circuit 6
If it is determined, the arithmetic circuit 6 calculates the intersection of the straight lines A and A. First, when the first orthogonality condition is satisfied, immediately (X, Y) = (X, 1 ys) or (
XBsyl), and when the second orthogonality condition is satisfied, the following equation is obtained.

X=(Xa7 2KaY* -XsY* XsY+)
/(YI YI -n nym)X, -X,X, -X,X,
-X, X, -X4y- (XsYs X meeting YIX*Y*-
XaY5 / (X+ Xs X+ Xa)yl-Ya
Y snow-y4yI- and fIyl-yl However, arithmetic circuit 6
When it is determined that the orthogonal M A+ As is not orthogonal, it is assumed that the designated point P is outside the input area 9, and this flowchart ends. Finally, when the intersection point of the obtained straight lines A and A is obtained, the intersection point is output as the X-Y[i mark of the indicated point P, and this flowchart ends.

By performing the above calculations in the calculation circuit 6, the coordinates of the indicated point P can be calculated.

Next, other examples will be shown.

In the method of finding the light receiving detection point, in the previous example, the arithmetic circuit 6VC is scanned several times. The circuit 6 can determine which light receiving element 4 receives the light and how many times in one scan.

Regarding the arrangement of the light receiving elements 4, in the previous example they are arranged at equal intervals around the image display device, but even if the arrangement spacing in the vertical and horizontal directions is different, the arithmetic circuit 6 can correct it. It is possible by performing calculations.

Next, there are several ways to scan the display screen with a laser beam, such as scanning in three directions at an angle of 120 degrees from the indicated point, scanning in five directions at an angle of 72 degrees, etc. There is a method of scanning at a certain fixed angle. In either case, the instruction point can be calculated by calculating from the light reception detection point.

Next, several embodiments of a remote control rod for producing the cross-shaped laser beam 2 are shown in FIG.

In FIG. 6 1al, 21 is a mirror, 2o is a motor, 22 is a laser beam oscillator, and 23 is a power source. In this figure, a cross-shaped laser beam 2 is obtained by swinging a mirror 21 vertically and horizontally by a motor 2o.

In FIG. 6 1al, 25 is a hologram scanner, 26 is a laser beam oscillator, 24 is a motor, and 27 is a power source. In this figure, a hologram scanner 25 carved with various diffraction grating patterns is rotated by a motor 24, and a cross-shaped laser beam 2 is obtained by using the diffraction effect through the laser beam 24. ing.

In Fig. 6 1al, 30 is a lens, 28.29 is a motor,
31 is a trigger button, 32 is a transmission line to the host computer, 33 is a source fiber, and 34 is a power line. In this figure, a cross-shaped laser beam 2 is obtained by bringing one laser beam from the outside through a source fiber 33 and swinging it along with the lens 30 by motors 28 and 29 up and down and left and right 1c. If the IC laser beam is powered externally, the size of the remote control device can be reduced. Furthermore, by adding the trigger button 31, the following effects unique to this embodiment can be considered. The obtained coordinate values are provided to the host computer at any time as an output of the remote instruction input device. In response to this value, the host computer displays a cursor on the video display device to indicate whether the user of the remote instruction input device is pointing at the desired point. When the user confirms that the cursor has been moved to the desired position, the user presses the trigger button to inform the host converter of the seat ring position at that time, thereby informing the user of the coordinate values intended by the user. You can tighten it. Also, this trigger button is the 6th
It can also be used by attaching it to (α1(b)) in the figure.

Up until now, the coordinates have been manually specified by scanning the original beam, but it is not necessarily necessary to scan the light beam; instead, a special lens is used to create light that spreads radially in multiple directions around the specified point. It is also possible to input coordinate instructions using this 'ffi.

〔Effect of the invention〕

4. According to the present invention, it is possible to realize a remote instruction input device that can input coordinates from any position with a simple configuration.

Further, it can be used as a coordinate input device for large-sized video display devices such as large-screen CRTs and video projectors, or for video display devices using any type of system.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a remote instruction receiving unit attached to a video display device in an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of a remote instruction receiving unit according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a front view of the video display device instructed by the remote instruction device in the embodiment, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing another embodiment of the remote instruction device of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Remote indicator stick, 2...Laser source, 5...Remote instruction amount ('i! section, 4...Injured element, 5...Input circuit, 6...Arithmetic circuit, 7 ...Indication point, 8...
・Video display device, 9 input areas, 10.14, 21...(Two 24.28.29...Motor, 12, 16, Light emitter, 18.23.27...Power supply. 11. 22. 15, 20. 26...Lee-No. ＼ 5 Human-powered concave broom sheep No. 34-Lay on room λ”/

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A remote pointing rod capable of outputting a light beam to point to an arbitrary point on the input area; and a coordinate input unit detecting the light beam output from the remote pointing rod and obtaining the coordinates of the pointed point. In the remote instruction input device, the remote instruction stick is provided with a light emitting means that outputs a light beam that radially spreads in a plurality of directions centering on the instruction point, and the coordinate input section includes a plurality of light beams arranged around the input area. A light receiving means;
A remote instruction input device comprising: a coordinate calculation means for receiving an output signal from the light receiving means and calculating the coordinates of an instruction point from the positions of the plurality of light receiving means that received the light.