1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to interactive display systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to a lens system as might be used by an illuminator in an interactive display system.
2. Description of the Related Art
If a computer vision system uses a two-dimensional camera input and background subtraction, a random or semi-random dot pattern allows the system to more reliably detect objects that are at a different distance from a background. If the pattern is too regular, however, the object may disappear relative to the background when at a particular distance. This is a result of too many parts of a texture looking alike. Determinations as to the position of objects (or a more accurate indication thereof) therefore suffer. As a result, users may attempt to interact with an object (e.g., grab an object) that is not where the interactive display system otherwise indicates the object to presently be located. There is, therefore, a need for a system that may create lighting patterns useful to computer vision systems and to allow for more accurate tracking and determination of object positions in space.
In a first claimed embodiment, a system for projecting a pattern of light is disclosed. The system includes a light source (an illuminator) including multiple emitters of light. The emitters are arranged in a pattern. The system further includes a cluster of lenses located in front of the light source. The cluster of lenses focuses and projects light from the emitters in numerous directions. The focused and projected light forms a pattern of light. A camera detects the pattern of light on an object illuminated by the emitters. A computing device executes instructions stored in memory to determine a location of the object in space utilizing at least the detected pattern of light on the object.
In a variation of the aforementioned embodiment, the system may include a cluster of infrared light emitting diodes (LEDs). The light emitting diodes generate infrared light that is detectable by the camera but not by the eye of a human observer interacting with the object. The system may alternatively (or additionally) include a condenser lens located between the light source and the cluster of lenses. The condenser lens concentrates light from the light source to the cluster of lens.
A second claimed embodiment of the present invention is for a method for projecting a pattern of infrared light. Through this claimed method, light is emitted from a light source (an illuminator) including multiple emitters arranged in a pattern. A cluster of lenses focuses and projects the emitted light, the cluster of lenses located in front of the light source. The focused and projected light forms a pattern of light. That pattern is detected on an object illuminated by the emitters. As a result, the location of an object in space may be determined utilizing at least the detected pattern of light on the object. The location of the object may be determined by a computing device executing instructions stored in memory (e.g., a program).
The presently disclosed lens system may create an invisible light pattern that is useful to computer vision systems. If a computer vision system utilizes a pattern matching algorithm to identify position and distance of objects from a camera, the random or semi-random dot pattern generated by the present system allows the computer to uniquely identify each patch of the pattern projected by the illuminator. As a result, the computer may determine the position and distance of an object by identifying the illumination pattern on the object. The computer may make this determination by executing instructions corresponding to a computer program stored in memory. Results of these determinations may then be rendered on a display device, which may include user manipulation of an object on the display.
In a system where a computer vision system utilizes a stereo camera and a stereopsis algorithm to match features between two or more camera images, the vision system will attempt to find matches between texture patches in the different images. The disparity between these patches gives an indication of depth. The compared texture patches often lie along the same horizontal line in the two images. The presently disclosed lens system allows for patterned illumination that better ensures that all objects have texture thereby ensuring good performance by the stereo algorithm. This is especially true with respect to the axis along which the vision algorithm matches texture patches, is very important. The detected pattern may be aperiodic along one or more dimensions in this regard.
In this context, an embodiment of the presently disclosed invention provides for a lens system that may be used in conjunction with an illuminator to create an invisible random, semi-random, partially random, or repeating pattern useful to a computer vision system like those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,259,747 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/100,737 (subsequently referred to as the '747 patent and '737 application, respectively). The system includes a lighting source composed of a pattern of light emitters, an optional condenser lens or similar hardware to focus emitted light onto a common area (namely a lens cluster), and a lens cluster containing multiple lenses. Each lens of the lens cluster may be of a similar focal length and/or designed to displace an image of the emitter pattern by a particular distance.
Lighting source 110 may be akin to the lamp of the '747 patent. A lamp (like lamp 2 of FIG. 1 of the '747 patent) may illuminate a person(s) or other object(s). The lighting source 110 of the present application may also may be comparable to the light source of component 10 in FIG. 2 of the '747 patent. Lighting source 110 may also be configured in a manner similar to those illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4 of the '747 patent.
Light source 110 includes any number of emitters as are further discussed in the context of
Optional condenser lens 120 redirects light from each of the emitters in light source 110. Condenser lens 120 may be substituted with hardware or some other component similarly capable of concentrating and/or redirecting light. Condenser lens 120 reduces wasted light by redirecting the emitters' light toward the center of the lens cluster 130 thereby seeking to ensure that as much emitted light as possible passes through lens cluster 130. Implementations of condenser lens 130 may include a convex lens, a plano-convex lens, a Fresnel lens, a set of micro-lenses, one or more prisms, or a prismatic film.
The focal length of the lenses in lens cluster 130 may be similar to the distance between lens cluster 130 and lighting source 110. A focal length of this nature helps ensure that light emitters at lighting source 110 are in focus or substantially in focus when an illuminator including lighting source 110 is pointed at a distant object. The position of the lighting source 110, optional condenser lens 120, and lens cluster 130 in system 100 may be adjusted to allow for an emitted light pattern to be focused at a variety of distances.
Lens cluster 130 takes the light from each emitter and focuses that light onto a number of points. Each lens in the lens cluster 130 may be used to focus the light of each emitter from illuminator light source 110 onto a different point. The theoretical number of points that may be created by shining the lighting source 110 through the lens cluster 130 is equal to the number of emitters in the lighting source multiplied by the number of lenses in the lens cluster 130. For example, a lighting source 110 with 200 LEDs and a lens cluster 130 with 36 lenses can create up to 7200 distinct points of light. An illuminator, lamp, or projector utilizing the present lens system 100 may create a high resolution texture that is useful to a computer vision system.
All the lenses in the lens cluster 130 may have a similar focal length. This similarity in length may better ensure that the pattern is focused together onto an object illuminated by the light source 110 (e.g., a pattern illuminator). Lenses may have somewhat different focal lengths so at least some of the pattern is in focus at different distances. In some instances, a semi-random or random pattern may be desirable to the functioning of the computer vision system. In such an instance, the lenses within the lens cluster 130 may displace the focused image by different distances to the side.
In that regard, potential light sources for emission of light are inclusive of light emitting diodes, laser diodes, incandescent bulbs, metal halide lamps, sodium vapor lamps, organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), and pixels of a liquid crystal display (LCD) screen. The emitter(s) at light source 110 may be a backlit slide or backlit pattern of holes. In an embodiment like that of
The pattern of illuminators may be randomized to varying degrees. For example, pattern 210 illustrates a rectangular grid of emitters with some removed at random. Pattern 220 illustrates a rotated grid of emitters with the columns shifted random amounts and random emitters removed. Pattern 230 consists of a randomly positioned, tight packing of emitters with a random set of emitters removed. The density of emitters on the light source varies across a variety of spatial scales. This variation in emitter density helps ensure that the emitters at light source 110 will create a pattern that varies in brightness even at distances where the emitted pattern is not entirely in focus.
The light source 110 of
The light source 110 may also be positioned on a motorized mount. Through such a mounting, the light source 110 may move or rotate thus creating further variation and control as to emitted light patterns and focus of the same at varying distances. Emitters in the patterns (210-230) may be turned on or off via an electronic control system thereby allowing the pattern emitted from the light source 110 to vary. The emitter pattern, too, may be regular (e.g., with no variance in layout or pattern) but the pattern of emitters that are in an ‘on state’ at any given time may be random.
As initially noted above, different frequencies of light may be emitted from light source 110 with respect to emitting light in a particular pattern such as those illustrated in
The pattern, frequency, strobing, and other manipulations of emitted light may be particularly useful with respect to operating a vision system like that disclosed in the '737 application. In a system like that disclosed in the '737 application, an interactive video display system allows a physical object to interact with a virtual object. A light source delivers a pattern of invisible light to a three-dimensional space occupied by the physical object and a camera detects invisible light scattered by the physical object. A computer system analyzes information generated by the camera, maps the position of the physical object in the three-dimensional space, and generates a responsive image that includes the virtual object, which is then rendered on a display. Utilizing the present lens system to project a pattern of invisible light may improve the accuracy and utility of such a vision system.
As is also evident in
The lens cluster need not be constructed in this method. The lens cluster may be constructed of regular lenses, Fresnel lenses, or a mix of lenses. The lenses may or may not have a square cross-sectional shape. The lenses may or may not be different sizes. Although
If the lenses in the lens cluster focus light onto different points, the emitter may not need to be completely random. For example, if there are a small number of bright emitters in a grid pattern and a large number of lenses in the lens cluster, the light produced by the illuminator can still be semi-random. Repetition would show up over very large length scales.
In
The use of infrared light (or other types of non-visible or substantially invisible light) may prove useful in that it may be invisible (or nearly invisible) to the human eye of an observer interacting with an illuminated object. In this way, the illuminated object is not obscured by an illumination pattern nor or does the overall appearance of the object appear to have been altered. Notwithstanding, a computing device coupled to a camera may detect the pattern in order to track the object and interactions with the same with an increased degree of accuracy.
While the present invention has been described in connection with a series of exemplary embodiments, these descriptions are not intended to limit the scope of the invention to the particular forms set forth herein. To the contrary, the present descriptions are intended to cover such alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims and otherwise appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art.
The present application claims the priority benefit of U.S. provisional patent application No. 60/987,315 filed Nov. 12, 2007 and entitled “Fragmented Lens System,” the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2917980 | Grube et al. | Dec 1959 | A |
3068754 | Warren | Dec 1962 | A |
3763468 | Ovshinsky et al. | Oct 1973 | A |
4053208 | Kato et al. | Oct 1977 | A |
4275395 | Dewey et al. | Jun 1981 | A |
4573191 | Kidode et al. | Feb 1986 | A |
4725863 | Dumbreck et al. | Feb 1988 | A |
4843568 | Krueger et al. | Jun 1989 | A |
4887898 | Halliburton et al. | Dec 1989 | A |
4948371 | Hall | Aug 1990 | A |
5001558 | Burley et al. | Mar 1991 | A |
5138304 | Bronson | Aug 1992 | A |
5151718 | Nelson | Sep 1992 | A |
5239373 | Tang et al. | Aug 1993 | A |
5276609 | Durlach | Jan 1994 | A |
5319496 | Jewell et al. | Jun 1994 | A |
5325472 | Horiuchi et al. | Jun 1994 | A |
5325473 | Monroe et al. | Jun 1994 | A |
5426474 | Rubstov et al. | Jun 1995 | A |
5436639 | Arai et al. | Jul 1995 | A |
5442252 | Golz | Aug 1995 | A |
5454043 | Freeman | Sep 1995 | A |
5497269 | Gal | Mar 1996 | A |
5510828 | Lutterbach et al. | Apr 1996 | A |
5526182 | Jewell et al. | Jun 1996 | A |
5528263 | Platzker et al. | Jun 1996 | A |
5528297 | Seegert et al. | Jun 1996 | A |
5534917 | MacDougall | Jul 1996 | A |
5548694 | Gibson | Aug 1996 | A |
5591972 | Noble et al. | Jan 1997 | A |
5594469 | Freeman et al. | Jan 1997 | A |
5633691 | Vogeley et al. | May 1997 | A |
5703637 | Miyazaki et al. | Dec 1997 | A |
5808784 | Ando et al. | Sep 1998 | A |
5861881 | Freeman et al. | Jan 1999 | A |
5882204 | Iannazo et al. | Mar 1999 | A |
5923380 | Yang et al. | Jul 1999 | A |
5923475 | Kurtz et al. | Jul 1999 | A |
5953152 | Hewlett | Sep 1999 | A |
5969754 | Zeman | Oct 1999 | A |
5978136 | Ogawa et al. | Nov 1999 | A |
5982352 | Pryor | Nov 1999 | A |
6008800 | Pryor | Dec 1999 | A |
6058397 | Barrus et al. | May 2000 | A |
6075895 | Qiao et al. | Jun 2000 | A |
6084979 | Kanada et al. | Jul 2000 | A |
6088612 | Blair | Jul 2000 | A |
6097369 | Wambach | Aug 2000 | A |
6106119 | Edwards | Aug 2000 | A |
6118888 | Chino et al. | Sep 2000 | A |
6125198 | Onda | Sep 2000 | A |
6166744 | Jaszlics et al. | Dec 2000 | A |
6176782 | Lyons et al. | Jan 2001 | B1 |
6191773 | Maruno et al. | Feb 2001 | B1 |
6198487 | Fortenbery et al. | Mar 2001 | B1 |
6198844 | Nomura | Mar 2001 | B1 |
6263339 | Hirsch | Jul 2001 | B1 |
6292171 | Fu et al. | Sep 2001 | B1 |
6308565 | French et al. | Oct 2001 | B1 |
6323895 | Sata | Nov 2001 | B1 |
6333735 | Anvekar | Dec 2001 | B1 |
6335977 | Kage | Jan 2002 | B1 |
6339748 | Hiramatsu | Jan 2002 | B1 |
6349301 | Mitchell et al. | Feb 2002 | B1 |
6353428 | Maggioni et al. | Mar 2002 | B1 |
6359612 | Peter et al. | Mar 2002 | B1 |
6388657 | Natoli | May 2002 | B1 |
6400374 | Lanier | Jun 2002 | B2 |
6407870 | Hurevich et al. | Jun 2002 | B1 |
6414672 | Rekimoto et al. | Jul 2002 | B2 |
6445815 | Sato | Sep 2002 | B1 |
6454419 | Kitazawa | Sep 2002 | B2 |
6480267 | Yanagi et al. | Nov 2002 | B2 |
6491396 | Karasawa et al. | Dec 2002 | B2 |
6501515 | Iwamura | Dec 2002 | B1 |
6522312 | Ohshima et al. | Feb 2003 | B2 |
6545706 | Edwards et al. | Apr 2003 | B1 |
6552760 | Gotoh et al. | Apr 2003 | B1 |
6598978 | Hasegawa | Jul 2003 | B2 |
6607275 | Cimini et al. | Aug 2003 | B1 |
6611241 | Firester et al. | Aug 2003 | B1 |
6654734 | Mani et al. | Nov 2003 | B1 |
6658150 | Tsuji et al. | Dec 2003 | B2 |
6661918 | Gordon et al. | Dec 2003 | B1 |
6677969 | Hongo | Jan 2004 | B1 |
6707054 | Ray | Mar 2004 | B2 |
6707444 | Hendriks et al. | Mar 2004 | B1 |
6712476 | Ito et al. | Mar 2004 | B1 |
6720949 | Pryor et al. | Apr 2004 | B1 |
6732929 | Good et al. | May 2004 | B2 |
6747666 | Utterback | Jun 2004 | B2 |
6752720 | Clapper et al. | Jun 2004 | B1 |
6754370 | Hall-Holt et al. | Jun 2004 | B1 |
6791700 | Omura et al. | Sep 2004 | B2 |
6826727 | Mohr et al. | Nov 2004 | B1 |
6831664 | Marmaropoulos et al. | Dec 2004 | B2 |
6871982 | Holman et al. | Mar 2005 | B2 |
6877882 | Haven et al. | Apr 2005 | B1 |
6912313 | Li | Jun 2005 | B2 |
6965693 | Kondo et al. | Nov 2005 | B1 |
6975360 | Slatter | Dec 2005 | B2 |
6999600 | Venetianer | Feb 2006 | B2 |
7015894 | Morohoshi | Mar 2006 | B2 |
7042440 | Pryor | May 2006 | B2 |
7054068 | Yoshida et al. | May 2006 | B2 |
7058204 | Hildreth et al. | Jun 2006 | B2 |
7068274 | Welch et al. | Jun 2006 | B2 |
7069516 | Rekimoto | Jun 2006 | B2 |
7084859 | Pryor et al. | Aug 2006 | B1 |
7088508 | Ebina et al. | Aug 2006 | B2 |
7149262 | Nayar et al. | Dec 2006 | B1 |
7158676 | Rainsford | Jan 2007 | B1 |
7170492 | Bell | Jan 2007 | B2 |
7190832 | Frost et al. | Mar 2007 | B2 |
7193608 | Stuerzlinger | Mar 2007 | B2 |
7227526 | Hildreth et al. | Jun 2007 | B2 |
7259747 | Bell | Aug 2007 | B2 |
7262874 | Suzuki | Aug 2007 | B2 |
7289130 | Satoh et al. | Oct 2007 | B1 |
7330584 | Weiguo et al. | Feb 2008 | B2 |
7339521 | Scheidemann et al. | Mar 2008 | B2 |
7348963 | Bell | Mar 2008 | B2 |
7379563 | Shamaie | May 2008 | B2 |
7382897 | Brown et al. | Jun 2008 | B2 |
7394459 | Bathiche et al. | Jul 2008 | B2 |
7428542 | Fink et al. | Sep 2008 | B1 |
7432917 | Wilson et al. | Oct 2008 | B2 |
7536032 | Bell | May 2009 | B2 |
7559841 | Hashimoto | Jul 2009 | B2 |
7576727 | Bell | Aug 2009 | B2 |
7598942 | Underkoffler et al. | Oct 2009 | B2 |
7619824 | Poulsen | Nov 2009 | B2 |
7665041 | Wilson et al. | Feb 2010 | B2 |
7710391 | Bell et al. | May 2010 | B2 |
7737636 | Li et al. | Jun 2010 | B2 |
RE41685 | Feldman et al. | Sep 2010 | E |
7809167 | Bell | Oct 2010 | B2 |
7834846 | Bell | Nov 2010 | B1 |
20010012001 | Rekimoto et al. | Aug 2001 | A1 |
20010033675 | Maurer et al. | Oct 2001 | A1 |
20020006583 | Michiels et al. | Jan 2002 | A1 |
20020032697 | French et al. | Mar 2002 | A1 |
20020041327 | Hildreth et al. | Apr 2002 | A1 |
20020064382 | Hildreth et al. | May 2002 | A1 |
20020081032 | Chen et al. | Jun 2002 | A1 |
20020103617 | Uchiyama et al. | Aug 2002 | A1 |
20020105623 | Pinhanez | Aug 2002 | A1 |
20020130839 | Wallace et al. | Sep 2002 | A1 |
20020140633 | Rafii et al. | Oct 2002 | A1 |
20020140682 | Brown et al. | Oct 2002 | A1 |
20020178440 | Agnihorti et al. | Nov 2002 | A1 |
20020186221 | Bell | Dec 2002 | A1 |
20030032484 | Ohshima et al. | Feb 2003 | A1 |
20030076293 | Mattsson | Apr 2003 | A1 |
20030091724 | Mizoguchi | May 2003 | A1 |
20030093784 | Dimitrova et al. | May 2003 | A1 |
20030098819 | Sukthankar et al. | May 2003 | A1 |
20030103030 | Wu | Jun 2003 | A1 |
20030113018 | Nefian et al. | Jun 2003 | A1 |
20030122839 | Matraszek et al. | Jul 2003 | A1 |
20030137494 | Tulbert | Jul 2003 | A1 |
20030161502 | Morihara et al. | Aug 2003 | A1 |
20030178549 | Ray | Sep 2003 | A1 |
20040005924 | Watabe et al. | Jan 2004 | A1 |
20040015783 | Lennon et al. | Jan 2004 | A1 |
20040046736 | Pryor et al. | Mar 2004 | A1 |
20040046744 | Rafii et al. | Mar 2004 | A1 |
20040073541 | Lindblad et al. | Apr 2004 | A1 |
20040091110 | Barkans | May 2004 | A1 |
20040095768 | Watanabe et al. | May 2004 | A1 |
20040183775 | Bell | Sep 2004 | A1 |
20050088407 | Bell | Apr 2005 | A1 |
20050089194 | Bell | Apr 2005 | A1 |
20050104506 | Youh et al. | May 2005 | A1 |
20050110964 | Bell et al. | May 2005 | A1 |
20050122308 | Bell et al. | Jun 2005 | A1 |
20050132266 | Ambrosino et al. | Jun 2005 | A1 |
20050147282 | Fujii | Jul 2005 | A1 |
20050162381 | Bell et al. | Jul 2005 | A1 |
20050185828 | Semba et al. | Aug 2005 | A1 |
20050195598 | Dancs et al. | Sep 2005 | A1 |
20050265587 | Schneider | Dec 2005 | A1 |
20060010400 | Dehlin et al. | Jan 2006 | A1 |
20060031786 | Hillis et al. | Feb 2006 | A1 |
20060132432 | Bell | Jun 2006 | A1 |
20060139314 | Bell | Jun 2006 | A1 |
20060168515 | Dorsett, Jr. et al. | Jul 2006 | A1 |
20060184993 | Goldthwaite et al. | Aug 2006 | A1 |
20060187545 | Doi | Aug 2006 | A1 |
20060227099 | Han et al. | Oct 2006 | A1 |
20060242145 | Krishnamurthy et al. | Oct 2006 | A1 |
20060256382 | Matraszek et al. | Nov 2006 | A1 |
20060258397 | Kaplan et al. | Nov 2006 | A1 |
20060294247 | Hinckley et al. | Dec 2006 | A1 |
20070285419 | Givon | Dec 2007 | A1 |
20080040692 | Sunday et al. | Feb 2008 | A1 |
20080062123 | Bell | Mar 2008 | A1 |
20080090484 | Lee et al. | Apr 2008 | A1 |
20080150890 | Bell et al. | Jun 2008 | A1 |
20080150913 | Bell et al. | Jun 2008 | A1 |
20080170776 | Albertson et al. | Jul 2008 | A1 |
20080245952 | Troxell et al. | Oct 2008 | A1 |
20080252596 | Bell et al. | Oct 2008 | A1 |
20090027337 | Hildreth | Jan 2009 | A1 |
20090077504 | Bell et al. | Mar 2009 | A1 |
20090102788 | Nishida et al. | Apr 2009 | A1 |
20090225196 | Bell | Sep 2009 | A1 |
20090235295 | Bell et al. | Sep 2009 | A1 |
20100026624 | Bell et al. | Feb 2010 | A1 |
20100039500 | Bell et al. | Feb 2010 | A1 |
20100060722 | Bell et al. | Mar 2010 | A1 |
20100121866 | Bell et al. | May 2010 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
0055366 | Jul 1982 | EP |
0626636 | Nov 1994 | EP |
0913790 | May 1999 | EP |
1689172 | Jun 2002 | EP |
57094672 | Jun 1982 | JP |
2000-105583 | Apr 2000 | JP |
2002-014997 | Jan 2002 | JP |
2002-092033 | Mar 2002 | JP |
2002-171507 | Jun 2002 | JP |
2003-517642 | May 2003 | JP |
2003-271084 | Sep 2003 | JP |
2003-0058894 | Jul 2003 | KR |
WO 9838533 | Sep 1998 | WO |
WO 0016562 | Mar 2000 | WO |
WO 0163916 | Aug 2001 | WO |
WO 0201537 | Jan 2002 | WO |
WO 02100094 | Dec 2002 | WO |
WO 2004055776 | Jul 2004 | WO |
WO 2004097741 | Nov 2004 | WO |
WO 2005041578 | May 2005 | WO |
WO 2005041579 | May 2005 | WO |
WO 2005057398 | Jun 2005 | WO |
WO 2005057399 | Jun 2005 | WO |
WO 2005057921 | Jun 2005 | WO |
WO 2005091651 | Sep 2005 | WO |
WO 2007019443 | Feb 2007 | WO |
WO 2008124820 | Oct 2008 | WO |
WO 2009035705 | Mar 2009 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20090251685 A1 | Oct 2009 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
60987315 | Nov 2007 | US |