JPH0317696A - Cursor controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To move a cursor to a view position in response to the operation of an operation key and to improve the easiness of use by providing a view position calculating means which calculates the view position in a plane including a screen from an image of the eyes in a photographic image obtained by an image pickup device. CONSTITUTION:An MPU 20 extracts the image of the eyes of an operator 22 from images written on image memories 18A and 18B and processes the image to find the view position of the operator 22 in the plane including the screen 10. The view position in XY orthogonal coordinates having the origin at the left upper corner of the screen 10 is shown by (X,Y). The MPU 20 writes the value X in a horizontal cursor register 24 and the value Y in a vertical cursor register 26. The contents of the horizontal cursor register 24 and a column counter 28 are supplied to a coincidence circuit 32 to decide the coincidence between the both and the contents of the vertical cursor register 26 and a row counter 30 are supplied to a coincidence circuit 34 to decide the coincidence between the both. The cursor 36 is displayed at the scanning position when the coincidence circuits 32 and 34 output coincidence signals.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] Regarding a cursor control device that controls the position of a cursor displayed on a screen, the object is to easily and quickly move the cursor on the screen to a target position, and to image the front of the screen. an imaging device, a viewing position calculating means for calculating a viewing position in a plane including the screen from an eye image in an image taken by the imaging device, an operation key, and a viewing position calculating means that calculates a viewing position in a plane including the screen from an image of the eye in an image taken by the imaging device; and cursor moving means for moving the cursor to a viewing position.

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a Kahnle control device that controls the position of a cursor displayed on a screen.

[Conventional technology] With computers, word processors, etc. (well, input speed largely determines usability.

Movement of the cursor on the screen is generally controlled by imitating four cursor control keys that direct left, right, up, and down directions. In this key operation, if the cursor movement speed is increased, stop control is not easy, and if the cursor movement speed is slowed, the manual speed becomes slow. On the other hand, with a mouse, the moving speed of the cursor can be freely controlled, so the cursor can be moved to a target position more quickly than with a keyboard. However, when the keyboard is the main operation, both the mouse and the keyboard must be operated alternately, making the operation complicated and slowing down the input speed.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a cursor control device that can easily and quickly move a cursor on a screen to a target position.

[Means to solve the problem J FIG. 1 shows the basic structure of the present invention.

In the figure, 1 is an imaging device, which images the front of the screen 2.

Reference numeral 3 denotes a visual position calculation means, which calculates a visual position (X, Y) in a plane including the screen 2 from an eye image in an image captured by the imaging device 1.

4 is an operation key for inputting control commands.

A cursor moving means 5 moves the cursor 6 to the viewing position (X, Y) in response to the operation of the operation key 4.

[Function] In the present invention, in response to the operation of the operation key 4, the visual position c
x. Since the cursor 6 is moved to y>y, the cursor can be easily and quickly moved to the target position.

"Example〕 Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

(1) First Embodiment FIG. 2 shows the main structure of a cursor control device applied to a word processor or the like.

The screen 10 is disposed on the front surface of the housing l2, and imaging devices 14A and 14B for capturing an image in front of the screen 10 are disposed at the left and right corners of the upper end of the front surface. The reason why two imaging devices are used is to create three-dimensional images. Imaging device 1
The video signals output from 4A and 14B are A/
After being digitally converted by the D converters 16A, 16B, the image memory 18A. Written to 18B.

MPtl20 is an image memo! The image of the operator's 22 eyes is extracted from the images written in I 8A and 1 8B, and is processed to calculate the visual position of the operator 22 within a plane including the screen 10. Hereinafter, the visual position in the XY orthogonal coordinates with the upper left corner of the screen 10 as the origin will be expressed as (X.
Y). The MPU 20 writes the value of X to the horizontal cursor register 24 and the value of Y to the vertical cursor register 26.

On the other hand, pulses associated with screen scanning are counted by a column counter 28 and a row counter 30, as is well known, and the current scanning position on the screen 10 is held in the column counter 28 and row counter 30.

The contents of the horizontal cursor register 24 and column counter 28 are supplied to a match circuit 32 to determine if they match, and the contents of the vertical cursor register 26 and row counter 30 are supplied to a match circuit 34 to determine if they match. . Then, a cursor 36 is displayed at the scanning position at the time when both coincidence signals are output from the coincidence circuits 32 and 34.

Such cursor movement control is performed only while the operator 22 is pressing the cursor floating key 38.

Next, movement control of the cursor 36 will be explained based on the flowchart shown in FIG.

This process can be performed by pressing the cursor floating key 38.
Ptl20 is interrupted and started.

(50) As shown in FIG. 3, the distance L between the pupil 42A at the center of the iris 40A and the screen 10 is
Distance between A and 14B, pupil 42 seen from imaging device 14A
It can be measured by triangulation using the orientation of A and the orientation of the pupil 42A viewed from the imaging device 14B. Distance # between the pupil 42B at the center of the iris 40B and the screen 10! The same applies to L2. Therefore, MPU20 uses image memo! J18A and image memo! Find the positions of pupils 42A and 42B in the image written in J18B,
The respective azimuths seen from the imaging devices 14A and 14B are calculated, distances LI L, are calculated by triangulation, and the average value L of these is calculated.

(52) Next, in FIG. 3, find the normal M at the center of the pupil 42A and the normal M2 at the center of the pupil 42B.

This normal is found as follows. That is, the pupil 42
A and 42B are circular, but they take on different ellipses depending on the viewing direction. The MPU 20 determines the long and short axes of this ellipse in three-dimensional space from the images of the pupils 42A and 142B written in the image memorandums 1318A and 18B, and determines the straight line perpendicular to both axes as the normal line.

(54) Next, find the intersection of the normals M, , M, and the screen 10, and set the coordinates of the midpoint of both intersections to (X, Y).

(56) This value X is supplied to the horizontal cursor register 24, the value Y is supplied to the vertical cursor register 26, and the screen IO
Display the cursor 36 at the upper position (X, Y).

(58) If the cursor floating key 38 is still pressed,
Returning to step 52, the above processing is repeated.

If the cursor floating key 38 is not pressed, the above interrupt processing is ended. This fixes the position of the cursor 36.

In this way, the cursor 36 can be instantaneously moved to the target position.

(2) Second embodiment In this second embodiment, one imaging device is sufficient, and the eye image is processed to determine the viewing position (X, Y) without using the distance L and normal M. Calculate.

That is, the following initial settings are performed for each operator.

As shown in FIG.
．． is displayed so that the operator 22 can visually check it. The eye image at this time is extracted, the area surrounded by the upper and lower eyelids is divided into two by the vertical left and right dividing line 44 passing through the center of the pupil 42A, the area A+B+ of both divided areas is calculated, and ratio R
Find += A, /B 1.

? Then, display a cursor 362 at the center of the right end of the screen 10, have the operator 22 visually check it, calculate the areas A2 and B2 divided into two by the left and right dividing line 44 in the same manner as above, and further calculate the ratio R x "A 2 /B Find 2.

Next, a cursor 36 is displayed at the center of the upper end of the screen 10, and the operator 22 is allowed to visually check it. The eye image at this time is extracted, and the area surrounded by the upper and lower eyelids is divided into two by a horizontal upper and lower dividing line 46 passing through the center of the pupil 428, and the area of both divided areas C, D1 is calculated. Find the ratio S,=C,/
Find D.

Next, a cursor 36 is displayed at the center of the lower end of the screen 10, and the operator 22 is made to visually check it.
The areas C2 and D2 of the area divided into two by a46 are determined, and the ratio S a =C z/D 2 is determined.

Once the above initial settings are made, any visual position X in the horizontal direction can be expressed as: Ru.

Here, α and β are constants, and are determined by the position [X and area ratio R of the cursor 36, and the position X and area ratio R2 of the cursor 36.

Further, any visual position Y in the vertical direction is determined by the upper and lower dividing line 46.
Using the ratio S of the areas divided by, Y=rS+δ
...It is expressed as (2). Here, T1δ is a constant, and the position Y of the cursor 36, the area ratio SI, and the cursor 36. It is determined by the position Y and the area ratio S.

Next, the procedure for controlling cursor movement will be explained based on the flowchart shown in FIG. This process can be performed by pressing the cursor floating key 38 in the same way as in the first embodiment.
20 is interrupted and started.

(60) Am that the eyelids are stationary from the eye image,
The ratio R and S of the area divided by the left and right dividing lines 44 and the upper and lower dividing lines 46 of the eye is calculated.

(62) Substitute these ratios into the above equations (1) and (2) to calculate the visual position (L Y).

(64) Similarly to the first embodiment, this value X is supplied to the horizontal cursor register 24, and the value Y is supplied to the vertical cursor register 24.
6 to display the curve 36 at the position (X.Y) on the screen IO.

(66) If the cursor floating key 38 is still pressed,
Returning to step 60, the above processing is repeated.

If the cursor floating key 38 is not pressed, the above interrupt processing is ended. This fixes the position of the cursor 36.

In this way, the cursor 36 can be instantaneously moved to the target position.

Note that if the viewing position is outside the screen 10, scrolling may be performed instantaneously.

Another idea is to place a directional infrared radiator on the operator's forehead, emit infrared rays only when the cursor floating key 38 is pressed, and receive this infrared rays on the screen side to determine the viewing position. However, the present invention does not require anything to be placed on the human body, and therefore is free from the effects of displacement of the infrared radiator during operation, and is also superior in this respect.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, in the cursor control device according to the present invention, since the cursor is moved to the viewing position in response to the operation of the operation key, the cursor can be easily and quickly moved to the target position. It has the excellent effect of improving the usability of word processors, calculators, etc.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure I is a diagram of the principle configuration of the present invention, Figures 2 to 4 relate to the first embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is a composition diagram of the cursor control device, and Figure 3 is the eye and visual position. Fig. 4 is a flowchart showing the procedure of cursor movement control. 5 and 6 relate to the second embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 5 is an initial setting explanatory diagram showing the correspondence between eyes and viewing positions, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the procedure of cursor movement control. be. In the figure, 10 is a screen 14A, 14B is an imaging device 16Δ, 1. 6 B is the A/D converter 18A, 18B is the image memory 20 is MP [I 36, 361 to 36, is the cursor 42A, 42B is the pupil.

Claims (1)

[Claims] An imaging device (1) that captures an image in front of the screen (2), and a visual position (X, Y ), a visual position calculation means (3) for calculating the visual position (X,
A cursor control device comprising: (5) a cursor moving means for moving a cursor (6) to Y).