Smart Technologies Ulc

Smart Technologies Inc.

Pixart Imaging Incorporated

Trevor Akitt

Gerald D Morrison

Scott Su

Charles Ung

Grant Howard McGibney

Erik Murray Benner

Clinton Lam

Jamie Duncalf

Lawrence Bruce Hewitt

Steve Worthington

Randy McCharles

Ed Tse

Neil Gordon Bullock

Randy Mccharles

An interactive input system comprises at least two imaging assemblies capturing image frames of a region of interest from different vantages, each imaging assembly comprising an image sensor and signal processing circuitry implemented on an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), image data acquired by the image sensor being pre-processed by the signal processing circuitry; and processing structure processing pre-processed image data output by the imaging assemblies to determine the location of at least one pointer within the region of interest.

Interactive input system and method

An input panel for an interactive input system comprises an optical waveguide; a first radiation source directing radiation into said optical waveguide, said radiation undergoing total internal reflection within said optical waveguide; a diffusion layer adjacent to and on one side of the optical waveguide, totally internally reflected light being frustrated and escaping the optical waveguide in response to pointer contacts on the diffusion layer; a second radiation source directing radiation towards another side of the optical waveguide that is opposite the one side; and at least one imaging device having a field of view looking at the optical waveguide and capturing image frames, wherein said first and second radiation sources are turned on and off in succession and wherein said first radiation source is turned off when said second radiation source is on and wherein said first radiation source is turned on when said second radiation source is off.

Interactive input system with improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and image capture method

An interactive input system includes at least one illumination source emitting radiation into a region of interest; at least one imaging assembly capturing image frames of the region of interest, the at least one illumination source being in the field of view of the at least one imaging assembly; and a controller communicating with the at least one illumination source, the controller controlling the intensity of radiation emitted by the at least one illumination source during image frame capture.

Interactive input system and illumination system therefor

A touch system includes a touch surface and at least two cameras associated with the touch surface. The at least two cameras acquire images of the touch surface from different locations and having overlapping fields of view. A digital signal processor is associated with each camera. The digital signal processors process pixel data acquired by selected pixel subsets of the at least two digital cameras to generate pointer characteristic data when a pointer exists in the acquired images. The pointer characteristic data identifies edges of the pointer. A master digital signal processor triangulates the edge information in the pointer characteristic data to determine a bounding area that represents a pointer perimeter.

Size/scale and orientation determination of a pointer in a camera-based touch system

Size/scale orientation determination of a pointer in a camera-based touch system

A camera-based touch system includes at least one pair of cameras having overlapping fields of view and a touch surface encompassed within the overlapping fields of view across which a pointer is moved. The cameras of the at least one pair acquire images at intervals asynchronously. In order to estimate the position of the pointer relative to the touch surface from image data acquired by the at least one pair of cameras, the images are synthetically synchronized. During this process, for each camera in the pair, each acquired image is processed to determine the position of the pointer therein and the position of the pointer is recorded together with a timestamp representing the time elapsed between a reference point common to the cameras and the time the image was acquired. Successive pairs of recorded positions are interpolated to generate interpolated positions and the interpolated positions are recorded together with synchronization times representing times the images would have been acquired had the cameras been synchronized. Interpolated positions generated by the cameras having equivalent associated synchronization times are determined and these interpolated positions are triangulated to estimate the position of the pointer relative to the touch surface.

Synchronization of cameras in camera-based touch system to enhance position determination of fast moving objects

A passive touch system includes a touch surface and at least one source of backlight illumination projecting backlighting across the touch surface. At least two image sensors are associated with the touch surface and acquire images of the touch surface from different locations. A digital signal processor is associated with each image sensor. The digital signal processors select pixel subsets of images acquired by the image sensors and process pixel data acquired by the selected pixel subsets to generate pointer characteristic data when a pointer exists in the acquired images. A master digital signal processor in communication with the digital signal processors triangulates the pointer characteristic data to determine the location of the pointer relative to the touch surface.

Illuminated bezel and touch system incorporating the same

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Calgary, Canada

Trevor Akitt