Patent Application
20200007832
This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority under 35 USC 119 of Japanese Patent Application No. 2018-125707 filed on Jul. 2, 2018, the entire disclosure of which, including the description, claims, drawings, and abstract, is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present invention relates to a projector, a computer readable memory medium, and a display system.
Projectors are widely used on many occasions in these days for projecting a screen of a personal computer, a video screen, and further, an image based on image data recorded on a memory card or the like onto a screen. In these projectors, light emitted from a light source is collected onto a micromirror display device called a digital micromirror device (DMD) or a liquid crystal panel to thereafter display a color image onto the screen.
In these projectors, a technique is proposed in which a projection range is changed according to a change in projection environment. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2017-167500 discloses a projector in which with a posture staying within a predetermined range, input images are projected as they are, whereas with the posture staying out of the predetermined range, input images are projected with one of the input images being disposed on an upper side of a projection range. As a result of this, the projector can continue to operate with an optimal projecting performance while responding quickly to a change in projection environment without involving complex and troublesome operations.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2017-167500, however, since the image that the projector projects is an overall image displayed on a personal computer, an unnecessary image in the overall image is sometimes projected on a projection target object, and this makes it difficult from time to time for the operator to make an additional handwritten description on a projected image in parallel with projection of images that the operator desires to project.
An object of the present invention is to provide a projector that facilitates a parallel use of a display subject image with a display by another projection device, a computer readable memory medium, and a display system.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a projector including a projection unit and a processor configured to execute functions as below, wherein the processor functions to acquire image information, select part of an image included in the image information as a display subject image, and cause the projection unit to project the display subject image so selected and an image synthesizing area image indicating an image synthesizing area.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer readable memory medium configured to control a projector including a control unit, the computer readable memory medium causing the control unit to execute processing of acquiring image information, selecting part of an image included in the image information as a display subject image, and causing a projection unit to project the display subject image so selected and an image synthesizing area image indicating an image synthesizing area.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a display system for a plurality of terminals each including a display unit, the display system including: a communication unit configured to transmit positional information on a display position of a display frame of a predetermined application in applications to be displayed on the display unit of the terminal or a display frame of an application selected by an operation of a user and image information corresponding to the positional information; a memory unit configured to store the image information and the positional information that are transmitted from another terminal and received via the communication unit; and a control unit configured to select part of an image included in the image information stored in the memory unit as a display subject image, and display the display subject image so selected and an image synthesizing area image indicating an image synthesizing area.
Hereinafter, a mode for carrying out the present invention will be described.
The operation of the projection system 1 will briefly be described. The projector 10 of this embodiment receives image information transmitted thereto from the terminal 20. The projector 10 cuts apart a certain display subject image from the received image information and superposes the display subject image so cut apart on a descriptive image that is set in advance for projection on a projection enabling area 32 of the projection target object 30. The user manually writes characters and/or figures on the area on the projection target object 30 where the descriptive image is displayed to provide viewers with information in parallel with the display subject image.
The control unit 12 reads out the control program 113 stored in the memory unit 11 and controls the projector 10 in a supervisory fashion. The control unit 12 acquires the image information 112 from the memory unit 11, selects a certain area of the image as a display subject image 231a, which will be described later, and superposes the selected image and the descriptive image 111 stored in the memory unit 11 on each other, transmitting the superposed image to the projection unit 13.
The projection unit 13 projects the image (the display subject image 231a and the descriptive image 111) sent from the control unit 12 at a frame rate conforming to a preset image format. A light source 131 of the projection unit 13 includes an LED or LD (laser diode) which is a semiconductor light emitting device and shines light source light made up of light in the red, green, and blue wavelength ranges on to a projection device 132. A digital micromirror device (DMD) is used for the projection device 132, and this projection device 132 can display light in the red wavelength range, light in the green wavelength range, and light in the blue wavelength range in a time-sharing fashion according to image data to be projected to thereby project a color image on to the projection target object 30 via a projection lens 133. A different system such as alight liquid projector may be used for the projection device 132. An image projected from the projection unit 13 is projected on to the projection enabling area 32 of the projection plane 31 shown in
The operation unit 14 receives operation signals from operation keys provided on a casing of the projector 10 and transmits the operation signals to the control unit 12 via the bus. The control unit 12 executes various functions such as a function to execute the processing of projection in response to an operation signal from the operation unit 14.
The communication unit 15 (an acquisition device) can exchange data with a communicate unit 24 of the terminal 20. The communication unit 15 receives an operation signal such as an infrared modulation signal from a remote controller, not shown, and transmits the operation signal to the control unit 12. The communication unit 15 can include an external input terminal, so that viewable image data can be input into the communication unit 15 from an external device. In this embodiment, although the communication unit 15 communicates with the communication unit 24 wirelessly, a communication via a cable may be executed therebetween.
The voice processing unit 16 includes a sound source circuit such as a PCM sound source and drives a speaker 17 to emit and spread sound. In the case where image data to be projected contains a voice signal, the voice processing unit 16 transforms the voice signal into an analog signal so as to output sound via the speaker 17 when the image data is projected.
The terminal 20 includes an input/output control unit 21, a control unit 22, a memory unit 23, and the communication unit 24, and these constituent units are connected together by an internal bus.
The input/output control unit 21 transmits an instruction that the user inputs from an input unit 211 to the control unit 22. The input unit 211 can be, for example, a keyboard or a mouse. A display unit 212 is a liquid crystal screen on which an image output from the input/output control unit 21. The terminal 20 may include a touch panel display having a function to act as the input unit 211 and the display unit 212.
The memory unit 23 stores image information 231, positional information 232, and a control program 233. The image information 231 includes a display subject image 231a and non-display subject images 231b, 231c (refer to
The control unit 22 reads out the control program 233 stored in the memory unit 23 and controls the terminal 20 in a supervisory fashion. The control unit 22 transmits the image information 231 and the positional information 232 to the projector 10 via the communication unit 24.
Next, referring to
In step S12, the control unit 22 transmits the image information 231 (the display subject information 231a and the non-display subject images 231b, 231c) and the positional information 232 that are caused to be displayed on the display unit 212 to the projector 10 via the communication unit 24. A timing at which the control unit 22 transmits the image information 231 and the positional information 232 may be instructed manually by the user using the input unit 211 or may be a timing at which the terminal 20 establishes a communication with the projector 10. The positional information 232 of the display subject image 231a can be a display position of a display frame of a predetermined specific application that is displayed on the display unit 212. The positional information 232 may be a display position of an active display frame in the images displayed on the display unit 212 of the terminal 20. The display position can be a coordinate within an image displayed on the display unit 212. The positional information 232 of the display subject image 231a may be nullified when the display subject image 231a is non-active or non-displayed.
In step S22 (a selection step), the control unit 12 selects an image of an area that is specified from the image information 112 that is transmitted from the terminal 20 and stored in the memory unit 11 by the positional information 114 and cuts apart the image so selected from the image information 112 as a display subject image 231a. The control unit 12 can specify the display subject image 231a included in the image information 112 from a coordinate indicated by the positional information 114.
In step S23, the control unit 12 acquires a descriptive image 111 from the memory unit 11 and superposes the descriptive image 111 so acquired on the display subject image 231a that is cut apart from the image information 112 in step S22. The descriptive image 111 acquired in this embodiment is a black image 111a resulting from the projection light being switched off.
In step S24 (a projection step), the control unit 12 causes the projection unit 13 to project the image resulting from the superposition in step S23 as a projection image.
The projector 10 may project a grey image or a white image, which is illumination light, in addition to the black image 111a as the descriptive image 111. The grey image and the white image can be set at such a degree of brightness as to ensure a contrast between characters and a background color that facilitates the visual discrimination of the characters described on the projection target object 30 from the background thereof. The brightness of the grey image and the white image can be set arbitrarily according to an illumination environment surrounding the periphery of the projector 10.
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, an example will be described in which an image different from that of the first embodiment is projected as a descriptive image 111. In the description of the second embodiment, like reference signs will be given to like configurations to those of the first embodiment, and the description thereof will be omitted or simplified.
A projector 10 can project an image supporting handwritten information by a user on to a descriptive image 111. For example, the projector 10 can store a horizontal writing ruled line image 111b in which a plurality of horizontal lines are arranged as a descriptive image 111 of a projection image projected on a projection target object 30 in a storage unit 11.
In addition, the descriptive image 111 supporting the writing is not limited to the horizontal writing ruled line image 111b, and hence, various modes can be applied. For example, an arbitrary image such as a vertical writing ruled line image, a cell image in which a plurality of cells are arranged in a horizontal direction or a vertical direction for horizontal writing or vertical writing, a grid image in which a plurality of dots or dot-like images are arranged at equal intervals vertically and horizontally, or an axis image such as a number line or a Cartesian coordinate system can be applied to the descriptive image 111. In the horizontal writing ruled line image 111b or a vertical writing ruled line image, a plurality of different types of lines may be disposed within a row. One type of or a plurality of types of lines may be displayed in the descriptive image 111 as described above.
The descriptive image 111 can be set according to a subject of a class at school, or images that differ from country to country or from region to region where classes are held can be set.
As has been described heretofore, in this embodiment, the appearance of characters can be improved by displaying lines or dots in the descriptive image 111. By displaying ruled lines or grids digitally as the descriptive image 111, characters can be handwritten quickly on the descriptive image 111 to thereby prevent time from being lost or spent wastefully, or the visibility of the handwritten characters can be improved.
In addition, according to the embodiments of the present invention, in a scene where in a class at school, a teacher explains by handwriting characters or the like on a projection target object 30 such as a whiteboard while displaying a digital tool from the projector the projector 10, a drawback can be eliminated in that the visibility of handwritten characters is deteriorated as a result of the image that is desired to be displayed and the image that is not desired to be displayed (for example, a background or a tool bar of a desk top computer) being projected simultaneously.
As a result of the configuration where the terminal 20 transmits image information to the projector 10 wirelessly, even when the terminal 20 is used in such a way that a teacher brings in the terminal 20 such as a notebook-sized personal computer every time he or she explains in his or her class, the number of labor hours or trouble in connecting the terminal 20 with the projector 10 with a cable can be reduced, thereby making it possible to enhance the usefulness or convenience of the display system 1.
The terminal 20 can be configured so as not to transmit the positional information 232. In this case, in step S12 in
The positional information 232 that the terminal 20 transmits in step S12 in
As an example, in the case where windows 231d of a plurality of applications are displayed on the display unit 212 of the terminal 20, an image that the user desires to display as the display subject image 231a may be selected through a click operation of the mouse or a keyboard operation. In
In the case where the terminal 20 includes a touch panel display through which the user can input information as the display unit 212, a window 231d may be selected as the display subject image 231a by an input made through a touch operation by the user. In this way, the display subject image 231a is selected through the designating operation by the user, and the positional information 232 that specifies the position (area) of the display subject image 231a is transmitted via the communication unit 24.
In addition, an image or an area that the user desires to display as the display subject image 231a may be selected through a drag operation of the mouse by the user.
A position where the display subject image 231a is projected can be arranged in a reduced area based on a top left-hand side corner, a bottom left-hand side corner, a top right-hand side corner, or a bottom right-hand side corner of the projection enabling area 32. Then, the projector 10 can project the descriptive image 111 on the other area of the projection enabling area 32 where the display subject image 231a is not displayed.
A configuration may also be adopted in which the projector 10 stores a plurality of different descriptive images 111 in advance in the memory unit 11, so that the user selects a descriptive image 111 that the user desires to display together with the display subject image 231a.
In addition, in the embodiments, although the descriptive image 111 is described as being the image that the user desires to display together with the display subject image 231a, an image synthesizing area image showing an image synthesizing area where the display subject image 231a is synthesized with an image other than the descriptive image 111 may be displayed. The image synthesizing area image can be a black image, a grey image or a white image, or one or a plurality of frame image. The image synthesizing area image can be stored in advance in the memory unit 11 as with the descriptive image 111. The display or image other than the descriptive image 111 can be an image that is output to be displayed through projection from another device.
The projector 10 may be an electronic device configured to acquire the image information 231 from the terminal 20 and display the display subject image 231a and the image synthesizing area image on a display unit (a display device). For example, a display system 1 of the embodiments can also be applied to the display system 1 in which part of a screen of a personal computer 40 or a tablet terminal for a teacher is shared with one or a plurality of tablets 50a, 50b, 50c for pupils.
Thus, the projector 10 according to the embodiments of the present invention is configured to include an acquisition device configured to acquire the image information 231, a selection device configured to select part of the image included in the image information 231 as the display subject image 231a, and a display control device configured to display the display subject image 231a selected by the selection device and the image synthesizing area image showing the image synthesizing area on a display device. Due to this, according to the embodiments, an electronic device (the projector 10) can be provided which facilitates the use of the display subject image in parallel with the display by the other device or devices. Consequently, according to the embodiments, a display device (for example, a personal computer or a tablet terminal) can also be provided which includes a display screen configured to display the image included in the image information 231.
The acquisition device acquires the positional information 232 of the display subject image 231a together with the image information 231 from the terminal 20, selects the image of the area specified by the positional information 232 from the image information 231 and cuts apart the image in question from the image information 231 as the display subject image 231a. Due to this, the electronic device can easily cut apart the display subject image 231a from the image information 231.
The positional information 232 is the display position of the display frame of the predetermined application or the active display frame in the images displayed on the display unit 212 of the terminal 20. This enables the unnecessary image area to be excluded easily from the display subject image for projection.
The electronic device includes further the memory unit 11 configured to store in advance the image synthesizing area image, and the display control device superposes the display subject image 231a and the image synthesizing area image acquired from the memory unit 11 on each other for display. This facilitates the acquisition of the image synthesizing area image and the superposition of the image synthesizing area image so acquired on the display subject image 231a.
In the case where the image synthesizing area image is the descriptive image showing the handwriting area, the display of the handwriting made to be added to the display subject image 231a by the user can be visualized while displaying the display subject image 231a. Due to this, even in an environment like a classroom where a white board cannot be used as a screen, in the case where a teaching is executed where a digital image is used in parallel with a handwriting, the background of the projector 10 or a window or a tool bar of an application that the user does not desire to display can be prevented from being displayed, thereby making it possible to improve the visibility of the handwritten characters or the like.
The display control device projects part or some of the black image, the grey image, the white image, the ruled line image, the cell image, the grid image and the axis image. Due to this, the descriptive image 111, which is suitable for the environment where the user uses the display system or the display subject image 231a that is to be displayed, can be displayed in parallel with the display subject image 231a.
In the electronic device where the acquisition device is the communication unit 15 configured to acquire the image information 231 wirelessly, the image information 231 and the positional information 232 can easily be acquired. Consequently, the display subject image 231a can easily be cut apart from the image that the image information 231 includes.
The projector 10 includes an acquisition device configured to acquire image information, a selection device configured to select part of an image included in the image information 231 as the display subject image 231a, and a projection control device configured to project the display subject image 231a selected by the selection device and an image synthesizing area image indicating an image synthesizing area by a projection device. This can facilitate the use of the display subject image in parallel with the display by another device.
A projection method for the projector 10 includes an acquisition step of acquiring the image information 231, a selection step of selecting part of an image included in the image information 231 as the display subject image 231a, and a projection step of projecting the display subject image 231a selected in the selection step and an image synthesizing area image indicating an image synthesizing area using a projection device. This can facilitate the use of the display subject image in parallel with the display by another device.
A program that is executed by the computer (the projector 10) causes the computer to function as an acquisition device configured to acquire image information, a selection device configured to select part of an image included in the image information as the display subject image 231a, and a projection control device configured to project the display subject image 231a selected by the selection device and an image synthesizing area image indicating an image synthesizing area using a projection device. This can facilitate the use of the display subject image in parallel with the display by another device.
While the embodiments of the present invention have been described heretofore, the embodiments are presented as examples, and hence, there is no intention to limit the scope of the present invention by the embodiments. These novel embodiments can be carried out in other various forms, and various omissions, replacements and modifications can be made to the embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Those resulting embodiments and their modifications are included in the spirit and scope of the present invention and are also included in the scope of inventions claimed for patent under claims below and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-125707 | Jul 2018 | JP | national |
