Method and apparatus for tracking a pointing device in a video field
US5270820A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 25, 1992 |
| Grant date | Dec 14, 1993 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 25, 2012 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04N5/272
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A system which allows the weather television personalities to move and place computer generated symbols onto a weather map background image using only his hand or finger as a pointing device. The weather forecaster is generally in front of a blue screen and must make it appear that he can actually see the weather map behind himself. In the video frame, which is raster scanned, the hand pointing to the object to be moved or placed translates to the first object in the raster (on the left) or the last object in the raster (on the right). The present invention is a method and apparatus which identifies the rightmost or leftmost point in the raster and communicates this information to a graphics computer as x-y coordinate data. The data is utilized by the computer to place a movable graphic symbol at the weather forecaster's fingertip allowing him to move and place the symbol.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.