Patent Application
20130194511
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to remote control devices for video systems, and more particularly, to remote control devices that enable and facilitate user control of video systems that are operative to provide, among other things, one or more three-dimensional (3D) viewing effects.
2. Background Information
Current video systems that provide a three-dimensional (3-D) viewing effect are known to only support a stereo three-dimensional (3-D) display mode and a conventional two-dimensional (2D) display mode. The switch control between these two display modes is relatively simple. For example, such systems may utilize an on-screen menu to enable user selection between the two display modes. Another way to enable switching between these two display modes is to provide a dedicated button (e.g., 2D/3D button) on a remote control device, which when pressed, will switch between the two display modes.
Other than simply switching between three-dimensional (3-D) and two-dimensional (2D) display modes, however, current video systems are not known to provide users with the ability to adjust any three-dimensional (3-D) view settings, or three-dimensional (3-D) related image quality. This limitation of current video systems may be based, at least in part, on the fact that in the current three-dimensional (3-D) display mode, each video frame provides only two views (i.e., right view and a left view). In the future, however, it is anticipated that video systems having a three-dimensional (3-D) viewing effect will support more than two views for each video frame, as well as other possible new features.
Accordingly, in view of such future video systems having a three-dimensional (3-D) viewing effect, there is a need in the art to enable and facilitate user control of such video systems so as to provide users with the ability to adjust one or more three-dimensional (3-D) view settings. The present invention described herein addresses these and/or other issues, and provides a plurality of different embodiments for devices that advantageously enable users to, among other things, adjust one or more three-dimensional (3-D) view settings of a video system.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a remote control device is disclosed. According to an exemplary embodiment, the remote control device comprises a user input terminal having an input element operative to receive a first user input to adjust at least one of a volume setting and a channel setting of a video system, and further operative to receive a second user input to adjust a three-dimensional (3-D) viewing effect of the video system. A transmitter is operative to transmit control signals to the video system in response to the first and second user inputs.
In accordance with another aspect of present invention, another device is disclosed. According to an exemplary embodiment, the device comprises means for receiving a user input requesting a video system to adjust a three-dimensional (3-D) viewing effect by changing a current three-dimensional (3-D) view setting to another three-dimensional (3-D) view setting, and means for transmitting a control signal to the video system in response to the user input.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, a method for operating a remote control device is disclosed. According to an exemplary embodiment, the method comprises receiving, via an input element of the remote control device, a first user input to adjust at least one of a volume setting and a channel setting of a video system; receiving, via the input element, a second user input to adjust a three-dimensional (3-D) viewing effect of the video system; and transmitting control signals to the video system in response to the first and second user inputs.
The above-mentioned and other features and advantages of this invention, and the manner of attaining them, will become more apparent and the invention will be better understood by reference to the following description of embodiments of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The exemplifications set out herein illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention, and such exemplifications are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any manner.
Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to
User input terminal 10 is operative to receive user inputs to remote control device 10. According to an exemplary embodiment, user input terminal 10 comprises one or more user input elements, such as a numerical keypad, dedicated function adjustment keys and/or other input elements such as a rotating device (e.g., wheel), slider, touch-pad, etc. The user input elements of user input terminal 10 may also be configured so that two or more control functions (e.g., channel change, volume change, 3-D view changes, etc.) may be shared by a single input element.
Controller/memory 20 is operative to perform various control, signal processing and data storage functions associated with remote control device 10. According to an exemplary embodiment, controller/memory 20 receives and processes the input signals provided by user input terminal 10, and generates corresponding control signals which are provided to transmitter 30.
Transmitter 30 is operative to perform a signal transmitting function of remote control device 10. According to an exemplary embodiment, transmitter 30 wirelessly transmits control signals to a video system in response to the control signals received from controller/memory 20. The control signals may be wirelessly transmitted by transmitter 30, for example, as infrared (IR) and/or radio frequency (RF) signals.
It should be noted that the principles of the invention can be applied to control device, such as a front panel array, attached to a video system. In this embodiment, the controller 20 can be the system controller itself or a separate controller other than the system controller. The transmitter 30 in this embodiment is just the component that transmits the control signals via a wire connection to the controller 20. As such, the term “remote control device” as used herein may include control device attached to a video system.
The general block diagram of remote control device 100 in
According to principles of the present invention, the various embodiments of remote control device 100, as represented for example in
Future three-dimensional (3-D) video systems should be able to support multi-view or free viewpoint features. In the H.264/MPEG-AVC MVC extension, for example, up to 1024 views for each video frame can be supported. According to principles of the present invention, the user is able to select any view he/she wants to watch. According to an exemplary embodiment, when a view change effect occurs, both a left view and a right view are changed at the same time. Also according to an exemplary embodiment, given that each video frame of a received video signal has at least three different views, the user may designate one of these views as the right view and another one of the views as the left view when adjusting the view change effect.
Also according to an exemplary embodiment, a dedicated key of the remote control device with (“+”) and (“−”) indicators may be used to increase (“+”) or decrease (“−”) the view indices, and thereby adjust the view change effect.
According to another exemplary embodiment, a remote control 300, as shown in
Wheel key 340 could also be substituted by a slider key, such as a touchpad slider (similar to the mouse of a laptop computer). This could be done from a smart phone or other device instead of a physical remote control device. For efficiency, wheel key 340 could also be used for fast and slow trick modes as well. Wheel key 340 may include start and end points, and may also default to the last selected setting after an adjustment is made. Of course, wheel key 340 does not have to be a physical wheel that rotates. For example, wheel key 340 may embodied as a touchable surface.
According to another exemplary embodiment, a numerical digit key (e.g., of numerical keypad 310 in
According to another exemplary embodiment, controller/memory 20 of
People may have various depth perceptions for three-dimensional (3-D) displays. For example, the visual depth perception of adults and children may be quite different. According to principles of the present invention, the user is able to adjust a three-dimensional depth setting when watching a video presentation (e.g., television). In multi-view cases (where no virtual views can be rendered due to the lack of depth information for example), the perceived depth can be adjusted by fixing one of the views (e.g., the left view) while changing the selection of the other view (e.g., the right view). Once the right and left views are the same, a two-dimensional (2-D) version (with no 3-D effect) is displayed.
According to an exemplary embodiment, a key of the remote control device with (“+”) and (“−”) indicators may be used to increase (“+”) or decrease (“−”) the depth, for example by changing one of the views as described above in the multi-view cases.
The principles of the present invention may also be used to achieve a correct caption depth so that, for example, a text caption is always out in front of the video portion of a display and the depth-of-field of captioning does not change. In this manner, a user may adjust the depth-of-field of captioning for the three-dimensional (3-D) content, as desired. For example, some users may prefer the captions a little further outside of the front video plane than others.
The pop-out effect is a desirable feature for three-dimensional (3-D) video systems, and may be particularly appealing to children. According to an exemplary embodiment, a user is able to adjust the pop-out effect of a displayed video image by adjusting/shifting the global disparity between the left view and right view. In multi-view cases, the pop-out effect is adjusted by shifting the global disparity between the left and right views. According to an exemplary embodiment, pop-out key 460 on remote control device 400 of
The aforementioned three-dimensional (3-D) viewing effects may also be supported in an efficient manner using a selector mechanism. Remote control device 500 of
Also according to an exemplary embodiment, another key (not shown in
For each of the device functions and three-dimensional (3-D) viewing effects described above, a single selector key (e.g., toggle key 630 of
In the exemplary embodiment of
Alternately, generic key codes could be sent from the remote control device for only three (3) things, namely: a unique key code for option/mode selection, increase, and decrease. The video system receiving such inputs would use those keys and keep the state for itself. This embodiment offers great flexibility and a simplified remote control device, but provides less feedback to the user as to what mode they are in. However, this embodiment does allow for a number of other desirable effects. For example, it allows for future expansion (e.g., if a video system offers a new option/feature that can take advantage of an increase/decrease mechanism, the system could add it to the list of selectable options and the user could access it simply by pressing the selector key until the correct option/feature is selected), and also allows the video system to manipulate the list of selectable options, so, for example, if the user decides he will never change the pop-out or the depth, but does want the ability to change the channel, volume, and view, he could remove the undesired options from the list, so the selector key would only toggle through those options that are of interest to the user. Of course, since channel and volume are both used a lot, they may still retain their own dedicated key.
Referring to
At step 710, the video system waits for a user input signal. At step 720, the video system receives a user input signal, such as an IR or RF signal, from a remote control device such as remote control device 100. At step 730, the video system decodes the received signal into a key code, such as one of the key codes described above herein. At step 740, the video system determines if the key code produced at step 730 is valid. That is, the video system determines if the key code corresponds to a recognized operation/function.
If the determination at step 740 is negative, process flow loops back to step 710 and continues as shown in
Referring to
In
If the determination at step 840 is negative, process flow advances to step 860 where the video system determines if the key code produced at step 830 is valid. That is, the video system determines if the key code corresponds to a recognized operation/function. If the determination at step 860 is negative, process flow loops back to step 810 and continues as shown in
Referring to
In
If the determination at step 940 is negative, process flow advances to step 960 where the video system determines if the key code produced at step 930 is valid. That is, the video system determines if the key code corresponds to a recognized operation/function. If the determination at step 960 is negative, process flow loops back to step 910 and continues as shown in
As described above, the present invention provides various different embodiments of a remote control device operative to enable and facilitate user control of video systems operative to provide, among other things, one or more three-dimensional (3D) viewing effects.
While this invention has been described as having a preferred design, the present invention can be further modified within the spirit and scope of this disclosure. This application is therefore intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the invention using its general principles. Further, this application is intended to cover such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art to which this invention pertains and which fall within the limits of the appended claims.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/US10/02746 | 10/14/2010 | WO | 00 | 4/12/2013 |
