Television – Camera – system and detail – With electronic viewfinder or display monitor
Reexamination Certificate
1996-04-25
2003-03-25
Vu, Ngoc-Yen (Department: 2612)
Television
Camera, system and detail
With electronic viewfinder or display monitor
C348S333050, C348S333090, C396S051000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06538697
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a man-machine interface apparatus and a man-machine interface method and, more particularly, to a man-machine interface apparatus and a man-machine interface method using an eye switch menu search method suitable for searching a menu item to be found by an eye switch.
For example, in the electronic viewfinder (EVF) of a camera built-in type VTR, a switch selection method based on the detection of line of sight (to be referred to as an “eye switch” hereinafter) has been proposed. In this selection method, the line of sight position (gazing position) of an operator in the viewfinder is detected, and when it is detected that the detected line of sight position matches a menu item displayed on an image display unit, a switch selection operation corresponding to the matched menu item is executed.
FIG. 1
shows the transition states of finder page screens upon switch selection on a conventional viewfinder. In
FIG. 1
, page screens
8
-
a
to
8
-
d
represent the respective states of a display unit that realizes the above-mentioned eye switches. A conventional eye switch of this type will be described in detail below with reference to FIG.
1
.
Referring to
FIG. 1
, the page screen
8
-
a
shows a state wherein a normal image is displayed, and three menu items (to be referred to as “ITEM1” to “ITEM3” hereinafter for the sake of simplicity) which can be selected by the eye switches are displayed on fields
101
to
103
. When a large number of menu items are available, these menu items are displayed across several pages, and for this purpose, an item for selecting the next page (to be referred to as a “NEXT PAGE” item hereinafter) is prepared on a field
104
. Since the display fields of the menu items and the display field of the “NEXT PAGE” item are located on the four corner portions of the display unit, in other words, since a blank field is assured at the central portion of the display unit, a sufficient field of view is assured for the operator.
Assume that the page screen
8
-
a
does not display any menu items that the operator desired. In this case, in order to search for a desired menu item, i.e., to explore other pages, the operator gazes at the “NEXT PAGE” field
104
. When it is detected that the line of sight position matches the “NEXT PAGE” field
104
, the “NEXT PAGE” field
104
in
FIG. 1
changes to a highlighted field
105
(see the page screen
8
-
b
). With this change, the operator can recognize that an eye switch associated with the next page selection operation has been executed.
When. the next page selection operation has been executed, the displayed menu items change from “ITEM1” to “ITEM3” on the fields
101
to
103
to “ITEM4” to “ITEM6” on fields
106
to
108
, as indicated by the page screen
8
-
c.
Furthermore, when the operator keeps gazing at the field
104
(i.e., the field
105
), the page screens
8
-
b
to
8
-
d
are repetitively displayed on the display unit. In this case, the eye switch associated with the next page selection operation is executed only when the operator gazes at the field
104
for a predetermined period of time or more, so as to prevent an operation error of the switch.
FIG. 2
shows the transition states of viewfinder page screens when “ITEM4” (field
107
) is executed by the eye switch as the page screen
8
-
c
is displayed. Note that a series of operations for switching a page screen
9
-
a
to a page screen
9
-
c
until menu item
4
is displayed on the display unit are the same as those for the page screens
8
-
a
to
8
-
c
shown in FIG.
1
.
When “ITEM4” as a target menu is displayed on the field
107
on the page screen
9
-
c
, the operator gazes at the field
107
. When the line of sight position matches the field
107
, the field
107
is highlighted (see a field
115
on a page screen
9
-
d
), and the operator can recognize that an eye switch associated with “ITEM4” is being executed.
Upon completion of execution of the eye switch associated with “ITEM4”, when the operator moves his or her line of sight position from the field
115
, the display state of the display unit is restored to a normal image display state, as indicated by a page screen
9
-
e.
Note that an eye switch associated with each menu item is executed only when the operator gazes at the corresponding field (
107
in this case) for a predetermined period of time or more, so as to prevent an operation error of the switch, as described above.
FIGS. 3 and 4
show other examples of the transition states of page screens based on the conventional eye switch.
Referring to
FIG. 3
, a page screen
3
-
a
corresponds to a normal image display state, and fields
301
to
303
in the displayed page screen
3
-
a
display operation items that can be selected and executed by the line of sight. In the example shown in
FIG. 3
, the operation items include “WIDE”, TELESCOPIC”, and “DATE”. Also, images of a circular cylinder, rectangular parallelopiped, sphere, and triangular cone are displayed on the screen. As in the examples shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2
, since a large number of items to be operated by eye switches are available in
FIGS. 3 and 4
, these items must be displayed across several pages. For this purpose, a display field
304
for a “NEXT PAGE” item is prepared. Since these operation items and the “NEXT PAGE” display field
304
are located on the four corner portions of the display screen, a sufficient field of view of an EVF image can be assured.
Assume that the displayed page screen
3
-
a
does not display any operation items that the operator desired. In this case, in order to search for a target operation item, the operator gazes at the field
304
for displaying the “NEXT PAGE” item. Then, the field
304
is emphasis-displayed, as indicated by a field
305
(page screen
3
-
b
), and the operator can recognize that an eye switch associated with the next page selection operation is being executed. At the same time, the next page selection function is executed by the eye switch, and the operation items to be displayed change from “WIDE”, “TELESCOPE”, and “DATE” on the fields
301
to
303
to “FADE”, “DIGITAL”, and “BLC” on fields
307
to
309
, as indicated by a third page screen
3
-
c.
When the operator keeps his or her eye on the “NEXT PAGE” display field
305
, the next page selection operation is repetitively executed, and the display unit displays the second page screen
3
-
b
to a fourth page screen
3
-
d
in turn. Note that the eye switch associated with the next page selection operation is executed when the line of sight position stays on the “NEXT PAGE” display field
304
for 1.5 sec or more, so as to avoid an operation error of the switch.
A procedure when an operator executes a digital effect operation by an eye switch will be explained below with reference to FIG.
3
. In this case, since the first page screen
3
-
a
as an initial page screen does not display any items for executing this operation, the operator gazes at the “NEXT PAGE” item field
304
(page screen
3
-
b
) to switch the page screen to the third page screen
3
-
c
on which the “DIGITAL” item is displayed. When the operator then gazes at the “DIGITAL” item display field
308
, the digital effect operation is executed. In the example shown in
FIG. 3
, the type of digital effect is set to be “MOSAIC” in advance, and upon execution of the above-mentioned operation procedure, a mosaic image is displayed on the display screen, as indicated by a fifth page screen
3
-
e.
Another display control of an eye switch in the viewfinder shown in
FIG. 3
will be described below with reference to FIG.
4
.
Referring to
FIG. 4
, a first page screen
4
-
a
corresponds to a normal display state of an electronic viewfinder EVF. In this state, when the operator depresses an eye-controlled menu key
401
, the display state of the viewfinder EVF is switched, as indicated by a second page screen
4
-
b
, and the mode of the VTR is switched to an eye-controlled menu mode.
After the eye-controlled menu mode is se
Honda Hirofumi
Watanabe Yoshiyuki
Morgan & Finnegan , LLP
Vu Ngoc-Yen
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