Human interactive type display system

Abstract

A human interactive type dynamic display system including an electronic whiteboard, a pen-like member for marking a point on the whiteboard, and a computer for controlling an image displayed on the whiteboard. On the whiteboard, there is defined an operation region such as a scroll operation region extending along a periphery of the whiteboard. When a user points any point within the scroll operation region with the aid of the pen-like member as a start point, an enable signal for initiating the scroll operation is produced. Then, the displayed image is scrolled in a direction by a distance which are derived by processing a direction and an amount of a dragging operation of the pen-like member on the whiteboard from the start point. Not only the scroll operation, page up and down operation, window shift operation and count value changing operation can be performed in a similar manner.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A human interactive type image display system comprising: 
 a display means having a display panel on which an image is displayed, said display panel having a predetermined operation region;    a marking means for pointing a point on said display panel; and    a controlling means for detecting a marking operation of a user by said marking means for a point within said operation region in the display panel to produce an enable signal and coordinates of points on the display panel pointed by said marking means successively from said point within the operation region to produce a position signal during a marking operation of the user, processing said enable signal and position signal to detect a direction and a distance of a movement of said marking operation of the user and controlling the image displayed on the display panel in accordance with said detected direction and distance of the movement of the marking operation to perform a desired functionality in a human interactive manner.    
     
     
         2 . A display system according to  claim 1 , wherein said display means comprises an electronic whiteboard, said marking means comprises a pen-like member which is brought into contact with a display panel of the electronic whiteboard for marking a point on said display panel, and said enable signal is generated by processing a contact signal representing a contact condition of the pen-like member to the point within said operation region in the display panel.  
     
     
         3 . A display system according to  claim 2  for performing a scroll functionality, wherein the image displayed on the display panel is scrolled in a direction over a distance which are defined by a direction and an amount of a movement of the pen-like member on the display panel during the marking operation of the user.  
     
     
         4 . A display system according to  claim 3 , wherein said operation region is set along a periphery of the display panel of the electronic whiteboard.  
     
     
         5 . A display system according to  claim 3 , wherein said controlling means derives the direction and distance of the movement of the image displayed on the display panel during the marking operation by effecting a calculation of [(x now −x prev )×k, (y now −y prev )×k], where x prev  and y prev  are x and y coordinates of a start contact point, x now  and y now  are x and y coordinates of a current contact point and k is a coefficient.  
     
     
         6 . A display system according to  claim 5 , wherein said controlling means detects a velocity of the movement of the pen-like member and said coefficient k is changed in accordance with said velocity such that the distance over which the displayed image is scrolled in proportion the detected velocity.  
     
     
         7 . A display system according to  claim 2  for performing a page up and down functionality for turning pages of a book or notebook displayed on the display panel, wherein a page or pages of the book or notebook displayed on the display panel are turned in a direction over the number of pages which are defined by the direction and amount of the movement of the pen-like member on the display panel during the marking operation of the user.  
     
     
         8 . A display system according to  claim 7 , wherein said operation region is set to a display area which is substantially identical with the display panel on which a whole image of the book or notebook is displayed.  
     
     
         9 . A display system according to  claim 7 , wherein said controlling means derives the direction and amount of a page turning operation during the marking operation by effecting a calculation of (x now −x prev )×k or (y now −y prev )×k, where x prev  and y prev  are x and y coordinates of a start contact point, x now  and y now  are x and y coordinates of a current contact point and k is a coefficient.  
     
     
         10 . A display system according to  claim 9 , wherein said controlling means detects a velocity of the movement of the pen-like member and said coefficient k is changed in proportion to the detected velocity.  
     
     
         11 . A display system according to  claim 7 , wherein when the pen-like member is separated from the whiteboard at the end of the marking operation, if it is judged that the page turning operation has been effected more than halfway, the page turning operation for a relevant page is forcedly completed, but if it is judged that the page turning operation has not been effected more than halfway, the relevant page is returned into an original position.  
     
     
         12 . A display system according to  claim 2  for performing a window shift functionality for shifting a window displayed on the display panel, wherein the window displayed on the display panel is shifted in a direction over a distance which are defined by the direction and amount of the movement of the pen-like member on the display panel during the marking operation of the user.  
     
     
         13 . A display system according to  claim 12 , wherein said operation region is set to a tool bar of the window.  
     
     
         14 . A display system according to  claim 12 , wherein said controlling means derives the direction and the distance of a window shift operation during the marking operation by effecting a calculation of [(x now −x prev )×k, (y now −y prev )×k], where x prev  and y prev  are x and y coordinates of a start contact point, x now  and y now  are x and y coordinates of a current contact point and k is a coefficient.  
     
     
         15 . A display system according to  claim 14 , wherein said controlling means detects a velocity of the movement of the pen-like member and said coefficient k is changed in proportion to the detected velocity.  
     
     
         16 . A display system according to  claim 12 , wherein during the window shift operation, a segment is displayed on the display panel of the whiteboard, said segment connecting a tip of the pen-like member to a predetermined point of the window.  
     
     
         17 . A display system according to  claim 2  for performing a count value changing functionality for changing a count value indicated by a counter displayed on the display panel, wherein the count value in the counter displayed on the display panel is incremented or decremented in accordance with the direction of the movement of the pen-like member on the display panel by an amount which is defined by the amount of the movement of the pen-like member on the display panel during the marking operation of the user.  
     
     
         18 . A display system according to  claim 17 , wherein said operation region is set adjacent to the counter.  
     
     
         19 . A display system according to  claim 17 , wherein sa-id controlling means derives the direction and amount of a count value changing operation by effecting a calculation of (y now −y prev )×k, where y prev  is y coordinates of a start contact point, y now  is y coordinates of a current contact point and k is a coefficient.  
     
     
         20 . A display system according to  claim 19 , wherein said controlling means detects a velocity of the movement of the pen-like member and said coefficient k is changed in proportion to the detected velocity.