Patent Application
20060233462
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for optically identifying coordinate information and a system adopting the method, more particularly, the method and the system are able to identify coordinate data on a surface of an object based on preformed marks, and further output accessory data related to the derived coordinate data.
2. Description of Related Art
The application of optical identification technology has become widely known and seen in daily life. For example, the use of bar codes on goods to rapidly yet simply determine the price of goods at a check-out may be the most common application. Moreover, as disclosed in a Taiwan Patent 581970 entitled “An electronic device using the index pattern”, the reference is also related to the present application of optical identification. In the patent, a main pattern as well as an index pattern coexist on a surface of an object. The index pattern is difficult to be noticed by people and will not cause any interference while the main pattern is being recognized, but is recognizable by the optical apparatus. Generally, the index pattern stands for the connoted information of the object.
The index pattern may consist of multiple basic pattern units arranged in an array form. For example, while people suddenly seethe mesh points in
Although the proposed secret codes can be applied in many fields such as the identification of product kinds and anti-counterfeiting, precise and complex printing procedures are required while forming the secret codes. Otherwise, the tiny secret codes will be too blurred to be recognizable for the optical apparatus.
The main objective of the present invention is to provide a method for optically identifying coordinate information and a system using the method, wherein by using simple reference indications, coordinate data of a selected position either on a 3-D object or a 2-D object is easily to be calculated. Further, based on the derived coordinate information, accessory data in a form of voice, image etc., are then correspondingly output.
Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
The present invention provides a method and an optical device to implement coordinate information identification on a surface of either a two-dimensional or a three-dimensional (respectively 2-D and 3-D hereinafter) object.
The coordinate identification for the 2-D object is firstly described hereinafter. Using a book as the example, the invention is able to recognize the page number of a chosen leaf among multiple pages and then locates coordinate information of a selected position on the sheet. After the coordinate information is recognized by the optical device, accessory data corresponding to the coordinate information is output, wherein the output accessory data may be in the form of voice, image, text etc.
In an example that the present invention is applied to a children's book as the interactive teaching materials, the optical device firstly identifies which page is being read. The reader can hold and move the optical device to a position on the paper where a pictures of animals or plants etc are illustrated. After the optical device locates the coordinate information of that position, a data output unit embedded in the optical device may generate corresponding sound based on the derived coordinate to tell a story or introduce the related information of the picture.
With reference to
With reference to
I. First Stage: Identification of Page Number
Still referring to
A space (40) is formed adjacent to and inside the first index color (30). Preferably, the color forming the space (40) is different from the first index color (30), for example the white. A second index color (50) is then printed inside the space (40). The second index color (50) can be any kind of colors. Therefore, the original color printed on the papers can be directly adopted as the second index color (50).
With reference to
The identification of page number in accordance with the present invention is based on the comparison result of a combination of different colors and a pre-created database, as described above. However, with the increase in the amount of pages, the first index color (30) can be chosen from more apparent colors. In another alternative, plural bars each of a different color can be printed around the margins of the paper sheet, not limited to only one index color (30) In the foregoing description, only one bar is printed around the periphery, i.e. the first index color (30). However, plural bars, each having a color different from others, can be printed around the periphery. Furthermore, the first index color (30) can be printed only along at least one edge of the sheet, not around the entire periphery.
Besides the use of the different color combinations, the reference indications can be implemented by symbols printed on the edges to obtain the desired information. According to the shapes, position or arrangements of the printed symbols, the page number information also can be identified.
II. Second Stage: Identification of Coordinate
With reference to
When the index point (13) of the optical device (10) indicates to the position “⊕” of the sheet, at least one corner (A) of the sheet and the mark (31) are covered within the effective region of the image capture element (12). A substantial triangular relationship is formed by the corner (A), the mark (31) and the position “⊕”. Because the distance between the mark (31) and the corner (A) is given, and the length of the optical device (10) and the relative position relationship between the point (13) and image capture element (12) image are known, the coordinate calculation circuit inside the optical device (10) can accordingly figure out the actual coordinate information of the position “⊕”. Once the coordinate information is obtained, the optical device (10) then outputs a voice data corresponding to the position.
In the case that the present invention is used as a teaching material, the user is allowed to record the desired voice files in the optical device, wherein the record voice files correspond to the interested positions of the teaching materials.
With reference to
In short, the page number can be recognized by detecting the combination of colors printed near the margins of a 2-D object, or by detecting the positions of marks distributed along the edges of a page. After these reference data have been derived, the desired coordinate information of a select position can be calculated according to the known trigonometrical algorithm. Such an optical coordinate identification process is able to be applied in the interactive teaching materials, game devices and so on. The application of the present invention can be further extended to the 3-D object, where the coordinate information of a selected point on the surface of the 3-D object is recognizable.
It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.
