The invention relates to a device for presenting visual information. The invention further relates to a method and an arrangement for presenting visual information.
Examples of devices that present visual information are a desktop communication device that is provided with a display element and an advertising kiosk the purpose of which is to draw attention of passers-by. Known advertising kiosks show static pictures and texts, changing pictures and texts, and/or moving pictures and text. The ability of an advertising kiosk of the kind described above to draw attention of people is, however, quite limited. Making an advertising kiosk to be responsive to control actions given by a person who is looking at the advertising kiosk does not help much, because the advertising kiosk has to draw the attention of the person before being able to get any control actions from the said person. As another example, a known desktop communication device may have a display element the operation of which is responsive to intentional control actions given by a user of the communication device and/or control actions received from an electrical communication channel to which the communication device is connected. A need for the intentional control actions limits the freedom of action of the user and may even disturb the ability of the user to focus on the communication itself that is, however, the ultimate purpose of the action.
Typical devices according to the prior art for presenting visual information are arranged to operate according to a pre-determined schedule and/or according to intentional control actions given by a person in the vicinity of the device or received from an electrical communication channel. The above-presented examples indicate, however, that a typical technical solution according to the prior art for presenting visual information does not provide a satisfactory result in all applications.
In accordance with a first aspect of the invention a novel device for presenting visual information is provided. The device comprises:
The device according to an embodiment of the invention can be, for example, an advertising kiosk or a desktop communication device.
In accordance with a second aspect of the invention a novel arrangement for presenting visual information is provided. The arrangement comprises:
The arrangement according to an embodiment of the invention can be, for example, a part of an advertising kiosk or a part of a desktop communication device.
In accordance with a third aspect of the invention a novel method for presenting visual information is provided. The method comprises:
In accordance with a fourth aspect of the invention a novel computer program product embodied in a computer readable medium for presenting visual information is provided. The computer program product comprises:
A number of embodiments of the invention are described in accompanied dependent claims.
The embodiments of the invention provide for example the following benefits:
Various embodiments of the invention both as to constructions and to methods of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.
The embodiments of the invention presented in this document are not to be interpreted to pose limitations to the applicability of the appended claims. The verb “to comprise” is used in this document as an open limitation that does not exclude the existence of also unrecited features. The features recited in depending claims are mutually freely combinable unless otherwise explicitly stated.
The embodiments of the invention that are presented in the sense of examples and their advantages are explained in greater detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which
a and 1b show block diagrams of arrangements according to embodiments of the invention for presenting visual information,
a and 2b illustrate operation of an advertising kiosk that comprises an arrangement according to an embodiment of the invention for presenting visual information,
a and 5b illustrate operation of a communication device that comprises an arrangement according to an embodiment of the invention for presenting visual information, and
a shows a block diagram of an arrangement according to an embodiment of the invention for presenting visual information. The arrangement comprises a direction detector 101 arranged to find a direction in which a potential observer is situated in the surroundings of the direction detector and a display unit 104 one or more surfaces of which are arranged to present the visual information in a graphical form and/or in a written form (text). The direction detector 101 is arranged to generate a direction detection result 110 that is an indicator of the direction in which the potential observer is situated. The display unit 104 is responsive to the direction detection result 110. In the example situation shown in
The display unit 104 is capable of showing the visual information towards different directions, because surfaces of the display elements 108 and 109 have a curved shape. It should be, however, noted that the display unit 104 can as well be made capable of showing the visual information towards different directions by using a plurality of flat display screens facing towards different directions. The display unit 104 is arranged to show the visual information towards a direction that corresponds with the direction detection result 110 and to change the direction towards which the visual information is shown as a response to a situation in which the direction detection result 110 is changing.
In an arrangement according to an embodiment of the invention the direction detector 101 is arranged to search the direction, in which the potential observer is situated, from a range between zero and 360 degrees.
In an arrangement according to an embodiment of the invention the direction detection result 110 is arranged to indicate the direction, in which the potential observer is situated, with a pre-determined resolution. The resolution can be e.g. 90 degrees, 45 degrees, 30 degrees, or 15 degrees. In this document a resolution of angle α means that the direction detection result 110 is able to indicate the direction, in which the potential observer is situated, with an accuracy of ±α/2.
In an arrangement according to an embodiment of the invention the direction detector 101 comprises a rotatable directional microphone and a control processor that is arranged to rotate the directional microphone and to determine the direction detection result 110 as a direction that corresponds with a maximum output signal of the rotatable directional microphone. In other words, the direction detector 101 finds a direction from which a strongest voice/signal can be received. The rotatable directional microphone can be arranged to be rotatable both in horizontal and vertical directions.
In an arrangement according to an embodiment of the invention the direction detector 101 comprises at least two microphones and a control processor that is arranged to determine the direction detection result 110 on the basis of a phase shift and/or amplitude difference between output signals of the at least two microphones. The direction detection result 110 can be e.g. a direction in which the phase shift and/or the amplitude difference is minimized.
In an arrangement according to an embodiment of the invention the direction detector 101 comprises one or more microphones, a laser based distance detector, and a control processor that is arranged to determine a pre-determined number of candidate values for the direction detection result 110 on the basis of acoustical signals received in the direction detector. As described above, it is possible to use, for example, a rotatable directional microphone and/or at least two microphones. The control processor is further arranged to measure, with the laser based distance detector, physical distances between the direction detector and physical objects located in directions corresponding with the candidate values, and to select that candidate value that corresponds with the shortest physical distance to be the final direction detection result 110.
In practical situations it is possible that there are two or more potential observers in such a way that a potential observer that is farther from the direction detector 101 may emit a stronger voice than another potential observer that is nearer to the direction detector 101. In the situations of the kind described above, the one or more microphones are used for determining the directions in which the two or more potential observers are located in the surroundings of the direction detector and the physical distances measured with the laser based distance detector have a decisive role in determining the final direction detection result 110.
In an arrangement according to an embodiment of the invention the direction detector comprises 101 a rotatable directional photo sensor and a control processor that is arranged to rotate the directional photo sensor and to determine the direction detection result 110 as a direction that corresponds with a maximum variation of an output signal of the rotatable directional photo sensor. In other words, the direction detector 101 can act as a directional motion detector that is arranged to find a direction from which a strongest variation of light can be received. In this case the direction detection result 110 indicates a direction in which there is most activity in the surroundings of the direction detector. This kind of direction detector can be used, for example, in an advertising kiosk that is arranged to show the most significant part of the visual information towards a direction in which a significant portion of people in the surroundings of the advertising kiosk is located.
In an arrangement according to an embodiment of the invention the direction detector comprises 101 at least two directional photo sensors and a control processor that is arranged to determine the direction detection result 110 on the basis of variations of output signals of the at least two directional photo sensors. The direction detection result 110 can be, for example, a direction that corresponds with a weighted average of vectors representing the main reception directions of the at least two directional photo sensors, wherein strengths of variation of the output signals of the at least two directional photo sensors are used as respective weighting factors in the above-mentioned weighted average. In other words, the direction detector 101 can act as a directional motion detector that is arranged to find a direction from which a strongest variation of light can be received.
In an arrangement according to an embodiment of the invention the direction detector 101 comprises a radar device and a control processor that is arranged to determine the direction detection result 110 as a direction that corresponds with a reflected radar signal indicating strongest motion of physical objects.
In an arrangement according to an embodiment of the invention the direction detector 101 comprises a sonar device and a control processor that is arranged to determine the direction detection result 110 as a direction that corresponds with a reflected sonar signal indicating strongest motion of physical objects.
In an arrangement according to an embodiment of the invention the direction detector 101 comprises an infrared transmitter and receiver and a control processor that is arranged to determine the direction detection result 110 as a direction that corresponds with a reflected infrared signal indicating strongest motion of physical objects.
b shows a block diagram of an arrangement according to an embodiment of the invention for presenting visual information. The arrangement comprises a direction detector 101 arranged to find a direction in which a potential observer is situated in the surroundings of the direction detector and a display unit 107 arranged to present the visual information in a graphical form and/or in a written form (text). The direction detector 101 is arranged to generate a direction detection result 110 that is an indicator of the direction in which the potential observer is situated. The display unit 107 is responsive to the direction detection result 110. The display unit 107 comprises a mechanically movable part 106 and a motion generation element 105 that is arranged to move the mechanically movable part responsive to the direction detection result 110. A surface of the mechanically movable part 106 is arranged to present the visual information. In the example situation shown in
a and 2b illustrate operation of an advertising kiosk 201 that comprises an arrangement according to an embodiment of the invention for presenting visual information.
The display unit 303 is capable of showing the visual information towards different directions, because surface of the display element 304 has a curved shape. It should be, however, noted that the display unit 303 can as well be made capable of showing the visual information towards different directions by using a plurality of flat display screens facing towards different directions. The display unit 303 is arranged to show the visual information towards a direction that corresponds with the direction detection result 310 and to change the direction towards which the visual information is shown as a response to a situation in which the direction detection result 310 is changing.
A device according to an embodiment of the invention comprises a communication element 305 that is arranged to transmit information to an electrical communication channel 306 and to receive information from the electrical communication channel 306. The communication element 305 can comprise for example one or more of the following: a radio transceiver, a corded link transceiver, and an infrared transceiver. The communication element 305 can be arranged to connect the device to at least one of the following: a public wire line telephone network, a cellular mobile telephone network, a wire line local area network, a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN), a wireless regional area network (WRAN), and Wimax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access). In
In a device according to an embodiment of the invention the communication element is arranged to support at least one cellular radio communication mechanism. Each of the at least one cellular radio communication mechanism can be any of the following: GSM (Global System Mobile), 3G (3rd generation mobile communication system), GPRS (General Packet Radio System), EGPRS (Enhanced General Packet Radio System), LTE (Long Term Evolution), and HSPA (High Speed Packet Access).
In a device according to an embodiment of the invention the communication element is arranged to support a wireless communication mechanism that can be e.g. the Bluetooth®, the ZigBee, the Wibree, DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Communication), and/or UWB (Ultra-Wideband).
A device according to an embodiment of the invention is a desktop communication device.
In a device according to an embodiment of the invention the flexible electrical display element 304 is wrapped on a body of the device. The flexible electrical display element 304 can be arranged to extend around the body of the device in order to provide a viewing angle of 360 degrees.
In the communication device shown in
In a communication device according to an embodiment of the invention the direction detector is arranged to search the direction, in which the potential observer is situated, from a range between zero and 360 degrees and the direction detection result is arranged to indicate the direction, in which the potential observer is situated, with a pre-determined resolution. The resolution can be e.g. 90 degrees, 45 degrees, 30 degrees, or 15 degrees.
In a communication device according to an embodiment of the invention the display control unit is arranged to make the electrical display element to show, on a side of the middle part 406 that faces towards a direction opposite to the direction detection result, an image that is a mirrored version of a main image shown on a side of the middle part that faces towards the direction of said direction detection result. Therefore, people other than the main user of the communication device can follow what happens. Texts that are shown on the side of the middle part 406 that faces towards the direction opposite to the direction detection result are preferably not mirrored.
A communication device according to an embodiment of the invention comprises a projector device arranged project the main image to one or more vertical surfaces so that the other people can watch it.
In a communication device according to an embodiment of the invention the camera module 402 is rotatable with respect to the top part 401 around a second spatial axis 431 a direction of which deviates from a direction of the first spatial axis 430. In other words, a vertical rotational position (an inclination angle) of the camera module can be altered. The camera module 402 can be supported to the top part 401 for example with a needle suspension system. The communication device preferably comprises a camera control unit that is arranged to turn the camera module towards a direction that corresponds with the direction detection result. An output signal of the microphone 401 that is mounted on the camera module can be used for controlling the vertical rotational position of the camera module.
In a communication device according to an embodiment of the invention the top part 401 is rotatable with respect to the middle part 406 around the second spatial axis 431. In this case, the vertical rotational position of the camera module 402 can be altered even if the camera module were rigidly mounted on the top part 401.
A communication device according to an embodiment of the invention is arranged to transmit an image captured by the camera module 402 to at least one of the following: a public wire line telephone network, a cellular mobile telephone network, a wire line local area network, and a wireless local area network.
In a communication device according to an embodiment of the invention the middle part 406 comprises a magnetic coil system that is arranged to support the top part 401 with the aid of magnetic fields. The top part 401 may contain one or more permanent magnets that produce a repulsive force with respect to the above-mentioned magnetic coil system. Orientation of the top part can be controlled by adjusting the electrical currents flowing in the magnetic coil system. It is also possible that the one or more permanent magnets are located in the middle part 406 and the coil system is located in the top part 401.
A communication device according to an embodiment of the invention comprises a motion generating unit that is arranged to rotate the top part 401 and the bottom part 408 with respect to the middle part 406 according to the direction detection result. The horizontal and vertical rotational positions of the camera module 402 are oriented according to the direction detection result. The horizontal rotational position of the retractable keyboard 411 and/or the retractable electronic drawing pad is preferably made to be substantially equal to the horizontal rotational position of the camera module.
In a communication device according to an embodiment of the invention the direction detector comprises a speech recognition module capable of being trained to recognize a voice of the user of the communication device. The direction detector is arranged to determine the direction detection result as an arrival direction of the voice of the user.
In a communication device according to an embodiment of the invention the direction detector comprises an image recognition module capable of being trained to recognize an outlook of the user of the communication device and the direction detector is arranged to determine said direction detection result as a direction from which an image that matches best with the outlook of the user can be captured.
The communication device shown in
The electrical display element 407 can be arranged to show a decorative image as a response to a situation in which the communication device in a passive mode, i.e. nobody is using the communication device. The decorative image can be, for example, a picture illustrating a turbulent flow, a picture presenting a fractal, or a picture presenting a beautiful landscape. Therefore, the communication element can also act as a decorative element.
The communication device can be provided with such hardware and/or software that the communication device can be waked up from its passive mode using touch screen or voice commands. The communication device can be provided with such hardware and/or software that the communication device can identify a user by name and/or voice analysis and define the identified user to be a key user. The communication device can be provided with hardware and/or software that is/are able to combine the wake-up touch command with finger print recognition. The orientation of the camera module can be controlled by voice and/or image recognition mechanisms. The camera module 402 orients to the key user and orientation of the retractable keyboard and/or the retractable electronic drawing pad follows. After wake-up the communication device is ready to be used as a family connectivity centre.
The communication device can be provided with such hardware and/or software that it can be controlled with voice commands and/or with the retractable keyboard 411 and/or with the retractable electronic drawing pad and a character recognition algorithm. The communication device can be provided with such hardware and/or software that the key user determines the front of the system, i.e. the direction detection result, in order to prevent the communication device from switching endlessly between various users or other people that take part in a conversation. The communication device can be provided with such hardware and/or software that the orientation of the camera module follows the key user only when the key user stays at a new position for a certain time. This makes the movements of the camera module smoother in a situation in which the key user changes rapidly his/her position around the communication device. The communication device can be provided with such hardware and/or software that the position and adjustments of the camera module can controlled using verbal commands such as “follow me”, “focus on John” etc.
The communication device can be provided with such hardware and/or software that the electrical display element 407 gives a full or limited access to the content of family members. For example, one can check the calendar of one or several family members in order to make appointments, place shopping requests, etc. The communication device can be provided with such hardware and/or software that the electrical display element 411 can also operate in a video conference mode.
The communication device can be provided with such hardware and/or software that visual information shown with the electrical display element 402 can be fully personalized. One instance could be a calendar area, task area, and icons for phone/video calls and for multimedia services (MMS). For example, a drag-and-drop action can initiate an operation related to those icons.
a and 5b illustrate operation of a communication device that comprises an arrangement according to an embodiment of the invention for presenting visual information.
The communication device 501 can be equipped with a bottom part 505 that is rotatable with respect to a surface 550 on which the communication device is located. A horizontal rotational position of the bottom part 505 can be controlled according to angle Ψ.
The communication device 501 can be equipped with a camera module that is preferably located in a top part 503 of the communication device. In addition to the above-mentioned angle Ψ, the direction detection result can be expressed also with angle Φ that is shown in
In a method according to an embodiment of the invention the direction, in which the potential observer is situated, is searched from a range between zero and 360 degrees.
In a method according to an embodiment of the invention the visual information is presented by controlling operation of at least one electrical display element on the basis of said direction detection result.
In a method according to an embodiment of the invention the visual information is presented by controlling a position of a mechanically movable part a surface of which is arranged to present the visual information.
In a method according to an embodiment of the invention the direction detection result is a direction that corresponds with a maximum output signal of a rotatable directional microphone.
In a method according to an embodiment of the invention the direction detection result is determined on the basis of a phase shift between output signals of at least two microphones.
In a method according to an embodiment of the invention the direction detection result is a direction that corresponds with a maximum variation of an output signal of a rotatable directional photo sensor.
In a method according to an embodiment of the invention the direction detection result is determined on the basis of variations of output signals of at least two directional photo sensors. The direction detection result can be, for example, a direction that corresponds with a weighted average of vectors representing the main reception directions of the at least two directional photo sensors, wherein strengths of variation of the output signals of the at least two directional photo sensors are used as respective weighting factors in the above-mentioned weighted average.
In a method according to an embodiment of the invention the direction detection result is obtained by using a speech recognition module that has been trained to recognize a voice of a person and by determining the direction detection result as an arrival direction of the voice of the person.
In a method according to an embodiment of the invention the direction detection result is obtained by using an image recognition module that has been trained to recognize an outlook of a person and by determining the direction detection result as a direction from which an image that matches best with the outlook of the person can be captured.
In a method according to an embodiment of the invention a position of a camera module is controlled according to the direction detection result and an image captured by the camera module is transmitted to at least one of the following: a public wire line telephone network, a cellular mobile telephone network, a wire line local area network, a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN), a wireless regional area network (WRAN), and Wimax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access).
In a method according to an embodiment of the invention a position of an input unit is controlled according to said direction detection result. The input unit can comprise at least one of the following: a retractable keyboard and a retractable electronic drawing pad.
A device comprising a direction detector and a display unit capable of showing visual information towards different directions in a graphical form and/or in a written form can also comprise a programmable processor that is arranged to control the direction detector and the display unit with the aid of a computer program product according to an embodiment of the invention. The computer program product according to an embodiment of the invention comprises:
The computer program means can be, for example, sub-routines and/or functions.
A computer program product according to an embodiment of the invention can be embodied in a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium can be, for example, an optical compact disk or an electronic memory device like a RAM (random access memory) or a ROM (read only memory).
While there have been shown and described and pointed out fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to embodiments thereof, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the devices and methods described may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, it is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements and/or method steps which perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve the same results are within the scope of the invention. Moreover, it should be recognized that structures and/or elements and/or method steps shown and/or described in connection with any disclosed form or embodiment of the invention may be incorporated in any other disclosed or described or suggested form or embodiment as a general matter of design choice. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the independent claims appended hereto. The specific examples provided in the description given above should not be construed as limiting. Therefore, the invention is not limited merely to the embodiments described above, many variants being possible without departing from the scope of the inventive idea defined in the independent claims.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/FI07/00121 | 5/7/2007 | WO | 00 | 4/27/2010 |