Field of the invention
The invention relates to a method, a server and a pointing
device for enhancing presentations .
Background
Laser pointers are used during presentations to audience that
is in the same room as the presenter. Laser pointers show, for
example, a red point to indicate an area that the presenter
wants to highlight in a presentation slide currently shown.
In multilocation presentations the laser pointer can only be
seen at location where the presenter is presenting the
presentation. All other locations referred to as remote
locations, will not be able to see the highlighted area that
the presenter is pointing the laser pointer at.
Furthermore camera based pointing interfaces have been
developed to provide a pointing system based on a camera
detecting the hand of a user. However, such systems are highly
sensitive to luminance conditions and do not allow to interact
dynamically with the displayed content of the slide.
Wireless computer mice may be used to move the mouse pointer
in a presentation. However, operating a computer mouse during a
presentation is cumbersome to use and slow.
Summary
The obj ect of the invention is thus to provide an improved
multilocation presentation system.
The main idea of the invention is, for making a presentation,
to send an image of the presentation to be displayed on a
screen, in particular to a display device and via a network
device, while the image is displayed to receive from a pointing
device information about the alignment of the pointing device
relative to the screen, to determine a pre -determined action to
be performed depending on the information received, and to send
the result of the pre-determined action, in particular to the
display device and via the network device. This way the pre
determined action is determined without constrain to the
presenter and the result of the pre-determined action is
provided to local audience watching the presentation on a
screen as well as to remote clients watching the presentation
via the network.
Advantageously a position on the image the pointing device is
pointing at is determined from the alignment of the pointing
device. This provides the possibility to easily determine the
position on the currently presented image that shall be used.
Advantageously the alignment is determined from a horizontal
orientation angle and a vertical orientation angle of the
pointing device relative to a pre-determined horizontal
orientation and a predetermined vertical orientation. This
provides a simple method of determining the alignment.
Advantageously the pre-determined horizontal orientation and
the predetermined vertical orientation is a maximum horizontal
angle and maximum vertical angle that correspond to the angle
between the horizontal and vertical extremities of the screen
from the position of the pointing device respectively. This
further simplifies the calculation of the alignment of the
pointing device regarding the screen.
Advantageously, the maximum horizontal angle and the maximum
vertical angle are determined from information received from
the pointing device while a calibration image is displayed on
the screen . This simplifies the use and improves the
performance of the presentation system.
Advantageously the pre -determined action is to determine a
new image . The new image comprises a symbol representing the
pointer displayed at the position the pointing device is
pointing at on the displayed image, a highlighted area
determined depending on the posi tion the pointing device is
pointing a t on the displayed image or is a new image which is
determined as at least as a part of the original image resized.
This way, actions of the area that the pointing device is
pointing at are easily integrated into the presentation .
Further developments of the invention can be gathered from
dependent claims and the following description.
Brief description of the figures
In the following the invention will be explained further,
making reference to the attached drawings .
Figure 1 schematically shows a system for making a
presentation .
Figure 2 schematically shows a flowchart for a method for
making a presentation.
Description of the embodiments
Figure 1 depicts a pointing system which is adaptable to
digitalizing the pointer and making it available at the same
time for remote audience, local audience and for recorded
viewing .
The system, for example, analyses content of an image, e.g.
of a presentation slide, and combines the image with the
digitali zed pointer to perform pre- determined actions such as
highlighting or enhancing a area the pointer is currently
pointing at on the presentation slide, displaying a video or
resizing part of an image currently displayed.
The system comprises a display device 100 with a screen 101 ,
a server 102 and a pointing device 110 .
The server 102 comprises a data output 103 connectable to a
data input 105 of the display 100 . As depicted in figure 1 the
data output 103 and the data input 105 are connectable via a
data link 104. The data exchange via the data link 104 is, for
example , according to the video graphics of array system, well
known as VGA or the high definition multimedia interface, well
known as HDMI . For example, individual images are exchanged via
the data link 104 .
Alternatively to using the display device 100 with the screen
101 , a projector may be used to screen the images . In any case,
the size of the screen 101 is determined by a height v and a
length h .
The display device 100 comprises a processor 106 operable to
control the screen 101 to display an image received at the data
input 105 .
The server 102 comprises a processor 107 operable to
determine the image to be sent to the d isplay device 100 .
Accordingly the processor 106 , the processor 107 , the data
output 103 and the data input 105 act together to transmit data
in particular images via the data link 104 .
The server 102 comprises a network device 108 operable to
transmit the same image that is transmitted via the outputdevice
103 to any connected clients . The image may be
transmitted via the network device 108 according to any
suitable format for transmitting data, for example, using the
well known MPEG4 format . Any other format for transmitting
images may be used instead. In particular the images may be
transformed into any suitable format before the output.
Furthermore, the server 102 comprises an input device 109
connectable to the pointing device 110 via an output device 111
of the pointing device 110. The input device 109 and the output
device 111 act together to transmit data between the pointing
device 110 and the server 102 via a wireless data link. For
example, the data transfer is performed using the IEEE 802 .lln
standard. Any other type of data link, for example, a wired
data link may be used . Infrared data links or Bluetooth data
links may be used as well .
The pointing device 110 comprises a sensor 112 operable to
sense information about the orientation of the sensor in the
space. For example, the sensor 112 is an absolute position
transducer or an orientation sensor .
The server 102 furthermore comprises a processor 113 operable
to determine the position and orientation of the pointing
device 110 and send it to the server 102 . To that end, the
processor 113 is adapted to determine from the data sensed by
the sensor 112 the position and orientation of the pointing
device 110 .
Furthermore, the pointing device 110 comprises a user
interface, for example a button 114 that can be pressed by a
user holding the pointing device 110. The button 114, for
example, has two states , pressed and not pressed . Furthermore,
the processor 113 is adapted to determine the state of the
button 114 , in particular whether it is pressed or not pressed
and to send the information to the server 102 via the output
device 111 .
The server 102 , the pointing device 110 and the display
device 100 act together to display an image determined by the
server 102 from input received from the pointing device 110 and
display the image together with information about the pointing
device on the screen 101 .
A method for enhancing presentations by making a digitized
pointer available to a local audience as well as to a remote
audience or a recorder is described below making reference to
the flowchart of figure 2 .
The method for example starts whenever the server 102 is
turned on .
After the start a step 201 is executed .
In step 201 the system is calibrated . To that end the server
101 determines and outputs a calibration image previously
stored on the server 101 in memory .
The calibration image indicates instructions for a user of
the pointing device 110 . These instructions ask the presenter
to move the pointing device from the lower left corner of the
screen 101 to the lower right corner of the screen 101 and
afterwards from the lower left corner to the upper left corner
of the screen 101 . The order of the movement may vary ; the axis
connecting the two horizontal extremities of the screen 101 and
two vertical extremities of the screen 101 are used to
determine the maximum size to be covered by the pointing
device . Pressing and holding the button 114 while moving
between the extremities may be requested and monitored to
determine the relevant data for calibration . For example, the
angle between the two connecting lines from the pointing device
110 to the two extreme ends of the screen in question related
to the position o f the presenter are used to describe the size
o f the screen 101 . As depicted in figure 1 the maximum angles
are labeled MaxGH and MaxQV for the horizontal and the vertical
extremities respectively.
This information is determined for example by the processor
107 from the position and orientation data received from the
pointing device 110. The maximum angles are stored for further
processing on the server 102. Step 201, i.e. the calibration,
may be optional or replaced by the step or reading the
calibration data from memory . After the calibration a step 202
is executed .
In step 202 an image is determined by the server 102 and sent
to the display device 100 via the data output 103 . The image is
for example a first slide of a presentation. At the same time
the image is sent to any connected clients via the network
device 108 . Optionally format conversion is performed before
the image output . This means th a t an image of the presentation
to be displayed on the screen 101 is sent to the display device
100 and via the network devi ce 108. Afterwards a step 203 is
executed .
In step 203 while the image that was sent in step 202 is
displayed, information is received from the pointing device 110
about the alignment of the pointing device 110 relative to the
screen 101 and about the state of the button 1.1 4 . Furthermore
according to the example a test is performed to determine
whether the button 114 is pressed or not . For example from the
information indicating the state of the button 114 it is
determined if the button 114 is pressed or not. In case the
button is pressed a step 204 is executed. Otherwise a step 209
is executed.
In step 204 a position and orientation of the pointing device
110 is determined . To that end, for example , the angular
position and orientation of the pointing device 110 is
determined as the hori zontal angle QH and the vertical angle qn
as depicted in figure 1 . Movement of the pointing device is ,
for example, determined by calculating the ratio between QH and
MaxOH and the ratio qn and MaxOV . This means that the position
on the image the pointing device 110 is pointing at is
determined from the alignment of the pointing device 110,
Furthermore this means that the alignment is determined from a
horizontal orientation angle QH and a vertical orientation
angle of the pointing device 110 relative to the
predetermined horizontal orientation Max9H and vertical
orientation Max qV . Afterwards a step 205 is executed .
In the step 205 it is determined if a pre-determined action
is evoked by the presenter . To that end, the position and
orientation of the pointing device 110 as well as the movement
is analysed to detect predetermined pattern indicating a pre
determined action . For example, based on pre-determined
presenter preferences saved on the server 102 , it is determined
that an action has to be perform in case the pointer is
pointing to pre-determined content displayed on the screen 101 .
Additionally or alternatively a time period of pointing at the
same area or a change in the angles over time, e.g. forming a
circle or a rectangular shape, may be used to determine whether
to perform the action or not . A step 212 is executed when it is
determined in that a pre-determined action has to be evoked.
Otherwise a step 206 is executed.
In step 212 , the predetermined action is performed. This
means that the predetermined action to be performed depending
on the information received is determined . In the fol lowing
this is explained by exemplary cases .
In a first case for example, if the content underlying the
area that is pointed to is a video , after a predetermined
amount of time of pointing at a predetermined position on the
image, the video can start playing . in this case the entire
video may be displayed and as the result of the predetermined
action the last image of the video is determined as result of
the action . Alternatively, if the area underlying the
predetermined position of the image displayed on the screen 101
contains another image, the action can be growing the size of
the image according to the movement detected from monitoring
the angles. In that case the result of the action is the
res ized image
In a second case the action is to make a drawing on a slide
shown in the image smoother or to fit it with the slide content
by analyzing gradient information . In this case the result is
the smoothened or fitted image .
In the third case, part of the screen 101 is highlighted
depending on result of an analysis of the pointed area and the
rest of the image on a screen 101. For example, as depicted in
figure 1 , a presentation slide is displayed in the image . Here
the word highlighted is pointed at by the pointing device 110 .
In this case the result is the box around the word highlighted
that is automatically identified as the area to highlight on
the screen 101 by determining that the word highlighted is the
only word displayed in this area of the screen 101 .
Afterwards a step 207 is executed.
In step 206 a pointer image, for example a symbol
representing the pointer like a red dot is determined for being
displayed in the position that the pointer is pointing to . This
means that the predetermined action to be performed depending
on the information received is digitizing the pointer as
pointer image. The result of the action is the pointer image .
Optionally step 206 is determined in any case as soon as
information that the button 114 is pressed is available . For
example step 206 is executed before step 205 to help the
presenter navigate on the image . Afterwards a step 207 is
executed .
In step 207 the new image to be displayed is determined from
the originally displayed image . The result of the action is
integrated in the original image , used instead of it. For
example the pointer is digitized , i.e. displayed using the
pointer image determined in step 206 or the resized image is
used instead of the original image . Afterwards, a step 208 is
executed.
In step 208 the new image, i.e. the result of the action is
sent to the display device 100 and via the network device 108
to be displayed. Afterwards a step 209 is executed.
In step 209 a test is performed whether the button 114 is
pressed . This test includes determining whether the button is
still pressed or not as described in step 203 . In case the
button 114 is pressed the step 204 is executed, otherwise a
step 210 is executed.
In step 210 the original image without the result of the
action or the pointing image is displayed. Afterwards a step
211 is executed.
In step 211 a test is performed if a next image shall be
displayed or not . In case the next image shall be displayed
step 202 is executed, otherwise step 211 is executed . To
determine whether the next image shall be displayed or not the
server 102 may follow a pre -determined set of images on a
storyboard or a presentation depending on the time .
Alternatively or additionally the server 102 may monitor a
user input indicating that a next image or a next slide of the
presentation shall be displayed.
The method may be ended for example by monitoring the user
input or when the last image of the images on a storyboard has
been played .
Displaying of images in the steps described above means that
the images are send from the server 102 to be displayed on the
screen 101 and may mean that they are at the same time made
available to remote audience, e.g. by sending the images via
the network device 108 to client computers with displays by in
the appropriate format .
Additionally or alternatively the data recorder may be
connected to the server 102 or may be installed as part of the
server 102 in order to store all new images together with the
original images . For example, the recorded images can be saved
with the presentation, e.g. as a sequence of images over time.
This way, playback of the presentation can be provided with the
same information about the pointing of the presenter than the
original presentation .
The various parts of the methods described above may be
performed on the server 102 or partially on the server 102 and
partially on the pointing device 110. In particular the
position and orientation, determination of the angles, qH, qn ,
MaxqH , Maxev may be performed on the pointing device 110 . In
this case the processor 113 is adapted to evaluate the signals
from the sensor 112 to determine the respective angles and to
send the information about the angles to the server 102 via the
output 111 .
The description and drawings merely illustrate the principles
of the invention. It will thus be appreciated that those
skilled in the art will be able to devise various arrangements
that, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody
the principles of the invention and are included within its
spirit and scope . Furthermore, all examples recited herein are
principally intended expressly to be only for pedagogical
purposes to aid the reader in understanding the principles of
the invention and the concepts contributed by the inventor (s)
to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without
limitation to such specifically recited examples and
conditions. Moreover, all statements herein reciting
principles , aspects , and embodiments of the invention, as well
as specific examples thereof , are intended to encompass
equivalents thereof .
The functions of the various elements shown in the figures,
including any functional blocks labeled as 'processors', may be
provided through the use of dedicated hardware as well as
hardware capable o f executing software in association with
appropriate software . When provided by a processor, the
functions may be provided by a single dedicated processor , by a
single shared processor, or by a plurality of individual
processors , some of which may be shared. Moreover, explicit use
of the term 'processor ' should not be construed to refer
exclusively to hardware capable of executing software, and may
implicitly include, without limitation, digital signal
processor (DSP) hardware, network processor, application
specific integrated circuit (ASIC) , field programmable gate
array (FPGA) , read only memory (ROM ) for storing software,
random access memory (RAM) , and non volatile storage. Other
hardware , conventional and/or custom, may also be included .
Similarly, any switches shown in the figures are conceptual
only . Their function may be carried out through the operation
of program logic , through dedicated logic , through the
interaction of program control and dedicated logic , or even
manually, the particular technique being selectable by the
implementer as more specifically understood from the context .
It should b e appreciated by those skilled in the art that any
block diagrams herein represent conceptual views of
illustrative circuitry embodying the principles of the
invention . Similarly, it will be appreciated that the flow
chart represents various processes which may be substantially
represented in computer readable medium and so executed by a
computer or processor, whether or not such computer or
processor is explicitly shown.
A person of skill in the art would readily recognize that
steps of various above-described methods can be performed by
programmed computers. Herein, some embodiments are also
intended to cover program storage devices, e.g., digital data
storage media, which are machine or computer readable and
encode machine- executable or computer-executable programs of
instructions, wherein said instructions perform some or all of
the steps of said above-described methods. The program storage
devices may be, e.g., digital memories, magnetic storage media
such as a magnetic disks and magnetic tapes, hard drives, or
optically readable digital data storage media. The embodiments
are also intended to cover computers programmed to perform sai
steps of the above-described methods.

WE CLAIMS:-
1 . A method for making a presentation, comprising
- sending (202) an image of the presentation to be
displayed on a screen {101) , in particular to a displaydevice
(100) and via a network device (108),
- while the image is displayed, receiving (203, 204) from
a pointing device (110) information about the alignment of
the pointing device (110) relative to the screen (101),
- determining (205, 206, 212) a predetermined action to be
performed depending on the information received, and
- sending (208) the result of the predetermined action, in
particular to the display device (100) and via the network
device (108) .
2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein a position on the
image the pointing device (110) is pointing at is
determined (204) from the alignment of the pointing device
(110) .
3 . The method according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the
alignment is determined (204) from a horizontal
orientation angle (QH ) and a vertical orientation angle
(qn ) of the pointing device (110) relative to a
predetermined horizontal orientation (MaxqH ) and vertical
orientation (MaxGV) .
4 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein the predetermined
horizontal and vertical orientation is a maximum
horizontal angle (MaxqH ) and a maximum vertical angle
(MaxqV ) that correspond to the angle between the
horizontal and vertical extremities of the screen (101)
from the position of the pointing device (110)
respectively.
5 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein the maximum
horizontal and vertical angles (MaxGH, MaxOV) are
determined from information received from the pointing
device (110) while a calibration image is displayed on the
screen (101 ).
6 . The method according to any of the aforementioned claims ,
wherein the predetermined action is to determine {207 ) a
new image .
7 . The method according to claim 6 wherein the new image
comprises of the image and a symbol representing the
pointer displayed at the position the pointing device
(110) is pointing at on the displayed image .
8 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein the new image
comprises of the image and a highlighted area determined
depending on the position the pointing device (110) is
pointing at on the displayed image.
9 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein the new image is
determined as at least a part of the image resized.
10 . The method according to claim 1 to 5 , wherein the action
is to display a video .
11 . A server (102) for making a presentation, operable to
- send (202 ) an image of the presentation to be displayed
on a screen (101 ), in particular via an output device to a
display device (100 ), and via a network device (108) to a
client or a recorder,
- while the image is displayed, receive (203 ,204) , in
particular via a input device, from a pointing device
(110) information about the alignment of the pointing
device (110) relative to the screen (101 ),
- determine {205, 206, 212), in particular by a processor,
a predetermined action to be performed depending on the
information received,
- send (208) the result of the predetermined action, in
particular via the output device to the display device
(100) and via the network device (108) to the client or
the recorder .
12. The server (102) according to claim 11, wherein the
processor is adapted to determine (204) a position on the
image the pointing device (110) is pointing at from the
alignment of the pointing device (110)
13. The server (102) according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the
alignment is determined (204) from a horizontal
orientation angle (QH ) and a vertical orientation angle
of the pointing device (110) relative to a
predetermined horizontal and vertical orientation.
14. The server (102) according to claims 11 to 13, wherein
the predetermined action is to determine (207) a new
image .
15. The server (102) according to claim 14 wherein the new
image comprises of the image and a symbol representing the
pointer displayed at the position the pointing device
(110) is pointing at on the displayed image.
16. The server (102) according to claim 14, wherein the new
image comprises of the image and a highlighted area
determined depending on the position the pointing device
(110) is pointing at on the displayed image.
17. The server (102) according to claim 14, wherein the new
image is determined as at least a part of the image
resized.
18. The server (102) according to claim 10 to 14, wherein the
action is to display a video.