JP3483469B2 - Display device, image display method, and storage medium - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a display device, an image display method and a storage medium, and more particularly, it is suitable for providing a smooth and comfortable operating environment in a conference or a presentation using a plurality of image sources. Display device, image display method, and storage medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, image data created by a notebook personal computer (notebook PC) or the like is displayed on a large-sized display device such as a liquid crystal projector or a plasma display for presentation (a persuasive explanation technique at meetings). Is increasing. On the other hand, at the meeting, attendees have been saving the data in a computer and viewing it, or exchanging files on the spot. From such a background, the image display system is required to have a function of simultaneously displaying a plurality of image sources at the same time and being able to centrally control those pieces of information and each piece of displayed image information.

However, in the conventional large-sized display device for presentation, when displaying a plurality of image sources at the same time, in order to determine the position of the display layout on the screen of the large-sized display device, the display position is set in advance. You can either decide it or ask the presenter about the display format (the number of display lines, the number of dots, and the number of colors) of the image source of the conference participants, and set the display layout one by one through the complicated manual setting of the display driver software before the conference. I had to decide.

For a conference participant who is looking at a large-screen display device, characters and images are often invisible in a display layout predetermined by the presenter depending on the seating position. Have to move each time, interrupt the conference and check with the presenter what is being displayed, or in the worst case, the presenter has to redo the redisplay layout using the display driver software described above. It was

[0005]

However, as in the prior art described above, it is not possible to determine the layout of a plurality of image sources via the driver software for display before or during the conference or to redo the conference. In addition to becoming a factor that hinders the smooth progress of the conference, the multi-display conference system, whose original purpose is to improve the efficiency of the conference as a whole, creates an uncomfortable user interface that only takes a lot of time. There are many problems such as becoming.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and a display device and an image display method capable of providing a user with a smooth and comfortable operating environment in a conference or a presentation using a plurality of image sources. And a storage medium.

[0007]

[0008]

[0009]

[0010]

[0011]

[0012]

[0013]

[0014]

[0015]

[0016]

[0017]

To achieve the above object, according to an aspect of, the invention of claim 1, simultaneously or independently an input image from a plurality of image sources, a displayable display on the display screen, selection means for selecting a desired image data from a plurality of image data displayed on said display screen,
Characterized in that it has a distance measuring means for measuring the absolute distance between said selection means and the display screen, and a display control means for displaying the selected image on the basis of the measurement scales to a predetermined size.

[0018] To achieve the above object, the invention of claim 2, before Symbol display control means displays the selected image data on the basis of the number of horizontal resolution and vertical lines of the moving distance Hanare及 beauty selected image data of said selection means It is characterized in that a scaling scaling factor for data is calculated, and the selected image is scaled to a size according to the scaling scaling factor and displayed.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the display control means calculates the scaling magnification based on a reference table showing a relationship between a moving distance and a scaling magnification. .

[0020]

[0021]

[0022]

[0023]

[0024]

[0025]

[0026]

[0027]

[0028]

[0029]

[0030]

[0031]

To achieve the above object, the invention of claim 4 is an image display method applied to a display device capable of displaying images input from a plurality of image sources simultaneously or independently on a display screen. a selection step of selecting with the selection means to desired image data from a plurality of image data displayed on said display screen, said display image and said selecting means
And having a distance measuring step of measuring the absolute distance between the surface, and a display control step of displaying the selected image on the basis of the measurement scales to a predetermined size.

[0033] To achieve the above object, the invention of claim 5, in front Symbol display control step, the movement distance of said selection means
Calculating a Hanare及 beauty scaling magnification to the display data of the selected image data on the basis of the number of horizontal resolution and vertical lines of the selected image data, that is displayed by scaling the size corresponding to the selected image to the scaling magnification Characterize.

To achieve the above object, the invention of claim 6 is characterized in that, in the display control step, the scaling scaling factor is calculated based on a reference table showing a relationship between a moving distance and a scaling scaling factor. .

[0035]

[0036]

[0037]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention of claim 7 executes an image display method applied to a display device capable of displaying images input from a plurality of image sources simultaneously or independently on a display screen. a readable storage medium by a computer storing a program, the image display method, a selection step of selecting with the selection means to desired image data from a plurality of image data displayed on said display screen, and having a distance measuring step of measuring the absolute distance between the selection means and the display screen, and a display control step of displaying the selected image on the basis of the measurement scales to a predetermined size.

[0039]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0040] [1] Reference Example Reference Example Figure 1 the present invention, and a functional block diagram to correspond to claims with showing a main portion of the multi-display system according to the implementation mode you later is there. Reference to the present invention
The multi-display system according to the example includes a display unit 101, a selection unit 102, a distance measuring unit 103, a communication unit 104, a detection unit 105, a display control unit 106, and a storage unit 107. 111-1, 111-2 in the figure,
... 111-n represents an image source.

The function of each of the above parts will be described. The display means 1
01 displays an image under the control of the display control means 106. The selection means 102 includes image sources 111-1, 11
It is selected which area on the screen of the display unit 101 the image input from 1-2, ... 111-n is to be displayed. The distance measuring means 103 includes a selection means 102 and a display means 10.
It is for measuring the absolute distance between the 1, has been installed on the multi-display system according to the embodiment of the implementation you later. Communication means 104 displays the selection information by the selection means 102 system
It is transmitted to the control means 106 . The detection means 105 detects the absolute position of the selected area on the screen of the display means 101.

The display control means 106 calculates the scaling ratio of the input image data to the display data based on the horizontal resolution / vertical line number of the input image data and the detected display position information, and sets the input image to the scaling ratio. Scale it to the appropriate size and display it ( reference example ). Further, the display control means 106 moves the scaling magnification of the selected image data to the display data based on the difference in the moving distance of the selecting means 102 measured by the distance measuring means 103 and the horizontal resolution / vertical line number of the selected image data. using a reference table showing a relationship between the distance and the scaling magnification calculated, and displays and scaled to a size corresponding to the selected image to the scaling magnification (in the form of implementation). The storage unit 107 stores the layout frame indicating the display selection range, and is provided separately from the storage unit that stores the display data.

The display means 101 is the display device 31 shown in FIG.
3, the selection means 102 corresponds to the display pointer controller 321 in FIG. 2, the distance measuring means 103 corresponds to the distance measuring sensor 539 in FIG. 5, and the communication means 104 corresponds to the infrared light emitting unit 330 and infrared data in FIG. 2 corresponds to the light receiving unit 320 and the infrared data control unit 319, the detection unit 105 corresponds to the position sensors 322 and 323 of FIG. 2, the display control unit 106 corresponds to the control unit 260, the overlay data controller 280,
The output display format conversion unit 311 corresponds to the display drive controller 312, and the storage unit 107 corresponds to the overlay data store memory 310 of FIG. It should be noted that the illustration of the confirmation selecting means in the claims is omitted.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the basic structure of a multi-display system according to a reference example of the present invention. Reference to the present invention
In the multi-display system according to the example, for example, four independent image sources are displayed on one monitor, and input / output devices of each image source, such as a mouse, a keyboard, a remote controller, and a speaker, are displayed as image data on the monitor. The four image sources can be controlled in conjunction with each other, and the optimum mapping display can be realized in a desired area of the monitor. These image source, even more than four number further larger, also may be a small number.

The multi-display system 331 according to the reference example of the present invention includes input units 221, 222, 223 and 224 and display format conversion units 231, 232, 233 and 23.
4, bus interfaces 241, 242, 243, 24
4, bus controller 250, controller 260, frame memory controller 270, overlay data controller 280, frame memory 290, overlay data store memory 310, output display format converter 31
1, display drive controller 312, display device 31
3, selection unit 314, packet distribution control unit 315, FIF
Packet control unit 316 with O memory, FIFO memory 3
17, infrared data converter 318, infrared data controller 319, infrared data receiver 320, display pointer controller 321, packet controller with FIFO 326,
It is configured to include a D / A converter 327, an amplifier 328, and a speaker 329. 211, 212, 21 in the figure
3 and 214 are sources of image signals (hereinafter, image source group)
Indicates.

Explaining the configuration of each of the above parts, the image source groups 211, 212, 213, and 214 are configured as, for example, personal computers, workstations, digital televisions, videos, and the like. There are four in this reference example . Each input unit 221, 222, 223, 224
Are image source groups 211, 212, 213, 2 respectively.
The image data output from 14 is received.
If the image data to be received is an analog signal of a computer, the input section receives an A / D converter and a PLL (Phase Loc) for sampling the image data.
Ked Loop) and equipped with LVDS
(Low Voltage Differential
If it is a digital signal such as Signaling), its decoder and a differential buffer are equipped, and if it is a composite signal of TV or video, it is converted to R,
It is equipped with an encoder that encodes G and B signals.

Each input section 221, 222, 223, 224
Is a control signal for receiving image data and image data from each image source group 211, 212, 213, 214,
For example, a horizontal synchronizing signal for synchronizing one line, a vertical synchronizing signal for synchronizing one frame or one field, a clock signal for sampling one pixel, a display enable signal indicating a transfer period of effective image data, and the like are simultaneously received. The input units 221, 222, 223, and 224 have image source groups 211, 212, and
Image data is received from 213 and 214. Further, each of the input units 221, 222, 223 and 224 has a serial communication means with image source groups 211, 212, 213 and 214 described later.

The display format converters 231, 232,
233 and 234 are input units 221, 222, 223,
The display format (the number of display lines, the number of dots, the number of colors) of the image data received in 224 is converted under the control of the control unit 260. Bus interfaces 241, 242,
Reference numerals 243 and 245 are for inputting four independent image data to one common bus. The bus controller 250 includes bus interfaces 241, 242,
Image data output from 243 and 245, image data output from the frame memory controller 270 and the overlay controller 280, and transfer requests from these are received, and image data transfer is arbitrated based on the priority order.

The control unit 260 controls the multi-display system 3
CP that controls the whole 31 and has computing power
It has a U , a RAM for temporarily storing data, a ROM for storing a control program, a counter for measuring time, a peripheral input / output interface, and the like. In addition, the control unit 260
It may be configured with only logic logic. The control program may be built in the ROM or may be transferred from the outside through the peripheral input / output interface. The frame memory controller 270 processes and controls image data input by the arbitration of the bus controller 250 into data suitable for the frame memory 290 by calculation. This may be a CPU or a media processor capable of parallel operation.

The overlay data controller 280 is
The image data different from the input units 221 to 224 is displayed on the display device 313 in an overlapping manner. The frame memory 290 is a memory that stores at least one frame of image data to be drawn on the display device 313. The overlay data store memory 310 is a memory for storing data to be overlayed. The output display format conversion unit 311 inputs the image data on the bus under the control of the bus controller 250 and converts the image data into a display format suitable for the display drive controller 312. The display drive controller 312 drives the display device 313.

The display device 313 displays an image. The display device 313 may be a flat panel (liquid crystal, plasma, etc.) having a matrix electrode structure or a CRT as long as it can display an image. Further, on the display device 313, the position sensor 322 in the X-axis (horizontal axis) direction and the position sensor 3 in the Y-axis (vertical axis) direction are displayed.
Equipped with 23. The selection unit 314 switches high-speed serial data lines capable of packet-multiplexing and transmitting and receiving data such as a mouse (infrared), a keyboard, and a speaker, which are input / output devices of the image source groups 211 to 214. As an example in which such data can be packet-multiplexed and transferred, IEEE 1394 (Institut of
Electrical and Electronics
Engineers: A standard for serial interfaces by the American Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) and USB (Universal)
rsal Serial Bus: an interface between a relatively slow peripheral device and a computer).

The packet distribution controller 315 has a selector 31.
The serial data selected in 4 is distributed for each packet. The packet control unit 316 with a FIFO memory is a FIFO for adjusting the timing when receiving the packet data sent to the multi-display system 331.
(First In First Out) Memory is built in. The display pointer controller (pointing device) 321 mainly has a display position layout function, and is equipped with an infrared light emitting section 330, a display pointer confirmation control button 324, and a display pointer cancellation control button 325. Infrared data receiver 320
Receives the infrared data transmitted from the display pointer controller 321. The infrared data control unit 319
The data format received by the infrared data receiving section 320 is output to the control section 260 and the infrared data converting section 318.

The infrared data converter 318 converts the data sent from the infrared data controller 319 into a serial data packet. The FIFO memory 317 is a memory for adjusting the timing of transferring the packet data created by the infrared data converter 318 to the packet distribution controller 315. Packet control unit 326 with FIFO
Is a timing adjustment FI for receiving a sound packet sent from each image source group 211 to 214.
Built-in FO memory. The D / A converter 327 converts the input digital sound data into analog sound data. The amplifier 328 amplifies sound data. The speaker 329 is provided in the multi-display system 331 and outputs a sound.

Next, a reference of the present invention constructed as described above
The operation of the multi-display system according to the example will be described.

<Initialization of display position layout> The image source groups 211 to 214 and the multi display system 331 are respectively input to the input unit 2 of the multi display system 331 after the power is turned on.
Communication is performed via the bidirectional serial communication lines provided in 21, 222, 223, and 224. Input unit 221-2
From 24, display dot number, display line number, display color number,
Data such as video output timing is sent to the image source groups 211 to 214, respectively. This format is performed by a communication protocol predetermined by both parties.

As an example, VES of the American standardization organization
A (Video Electronics Standard)
DDC determined by rds Association)
(Display Data Channel) may be used, and the data format is EDID (Extended Display Id) also established by VESA.
Entry Data). At this time, the display dots, lines, and display colors of the display device 313 are transferred as the display dots, display lines, and display colors. Alternatively, a display format predetermined by the controller 260 may be used. Image source groups 211, 212,
The reference numerals 213 and 214 output the image data and its control signal to the input units 221, 222, 223 and 224 of the multi display system 331 based on the received information.

However, when the image source groups 211 to 214 and the multi-display system 331 cannot communicate via the bidirectional serial communication line as described above (analog video output, etc.), the number of display dots and the number of display lines. Information is a horizontal synchronization signal for each input unit 221, 222, 223, 224 to synchronize one line, one frame or one
It is also possible to know by directly counting the number of clocks and the number of horizontal synchronization signals using a vertical synchronization signal for synchronizing fields and a clock signal for sampling one pixel. In either case, upon initialization, the multi-display system 331 will use the image source groups 211, 212, 2
The display format (the number of display lines, the number of dots, the number of colors) of the image data output from 13, 214 is recognized (or can be known).

At this time, the multi-display system 331
In order to identify how many image sources are connected to the input units 221-224, the input units 221 to 224 constantly monitor the connection identification signals from the image sources. This connection identification signal is logically “1” or “0” from the image source groups 211 to 214.
It is received as a binary signal of. If the connection cable is unplugged or the image source is turned off, the input unit 211
Since it is resistance-terminated at ˜214, this logic becomes “0”, and the multi-display system 331 can recognize that the image data is not input. This monitoring information is sent to the control unit 260 every certain period.

The control unit 260 first detects the connection recognition signal of the input unit 221, and when the connection recognition signal is "1", the input unit 221 outputs the received image data to the display format conversion unit 231. The conversion unit 231 performs display format conversion. On the other hand, when the connection recognition signal is “0”, the connection recognition signal of the input unit 222 is detected,
The input units 221 to 224 are scanned until detected.
If all the connection recognition signals are “0”, the multi display system 331 enters the power save mode, and the control unit 260, the selection unit 314, the packet distribution control unit 315, F.
Power is turned off except for the packet control unit 316 with IFO memory, the FIFO memory 317, the infrared data conversion unit 318, the infrared data control unit 319, and the infrared data light receiving unit 320.

<When One Image Source is Connected> An example in which only the connection recognition signal of the input unit 221 is "1" will be described below. Multi display system 33
The user using 1 first starts by deciding at which position and size of the display device 313 the image data of the image source 211 is to be displayed. This will be described with reference to FIG. The display state of the display device 313 when nothing is connected to the multi-display system 331, or when the display position is not determined but connected to the multi-display system 331 is arbitrarily set by the system side as in the initial display state of FIG. The determined image pattern is displayed. This can be easily realized by the frame memory controller 270 writing an arbitrary image pattern in the image display area of the frame memory 290 after the power is turned on under the instruction of the control unit 260.

Next, a display position layout method by the position sensor 322 in the X-axis (horizontal axis) direction and the position sensor 323 in the Y-axis (vertical axis) mounted on the display device 313 will be described. This description is the basic point of the present invention. The user uses the display pointer controller 321 to start the start point (X
0, Y0), and the start point is determined with the confirmation control button 324. The X0 information is recognized by the position sensor 322 in the X-axis (horizontal axis) direction, and the Y0 information is recognized by the position sensor 323 in the Y-axis (vertical axis) direction. Next, the user similarly uses the display pointer controller 321 to touch the end point (X1, Y1) of the display device 313, and determines the end point with the confirmation control button 324. The X1 information is recognized by the position sensor 322 in the X-axis (horizontal axis) direction, and the Y1 information is recognized by the position sensor 323 in the Y-axis (vertical axis) direction.

As shown in the layout frame display preparation state of FIG. 3B, the series of operations described above is performed directly on the display device 313.
Can be done by the absolute position on the screen. Furthermore,
In order to make this work a user interface that is easier for the user to use, the display pointer movement position from the start point to the end point is constantly monitored, and its locus is displayed as a layout frame 332 in FIG. In this implementation method, the movement locus information of the display pointer is used as X and Y information, and packets are converted into infrared rays at a certain fixed time to emit light. The infrared data is received by the infrared data receiver 320 and converted into an electric signal. Infrared data control unit 31
Reference numeral 9 sends the packetized electric signal from the infrared data light receiver 320 to the controller 260. The control unit 260 extracts necessary X and Y information from the packet data, superimposes the information, and sends it to the data controller 280.

The superposition data controller 280 creates data in which the X and Y positions of the movement locus information of the display pointer are plotted according to an instruction from the control unit 260, and writes the data in the superposition data store memory 310. In addition to the input image data (in this example, an image pattern arbitrarily determined on the system side), read data from the overlay data store memory 310 that stores data to be displayed on the display device 313 is controlled by the control unit 260. It is output on the bus through the operating overlay data controller 280. This overlay data and the input image data output on the bus via the frame memory controller 270 (an image pattern arbitrarily determined by the system in this example) are selected by the output display format conversion unit 311 and input. It This selection timing is the control unit 2
It is set from 60.

The output display format conversion unit 311 converts the data (data bus width, etc.) suitable for input to the display drive controller 312. The image data output by the output display format conversion unit 311 is output to the display drive controller 312. The display drive controller 312 generates a drive signal for driving the display device 313. For example, the display device 313 is a TFT (Thi
In the case of n Film Transistor) liquid crystal, it is a line-by-line synchronization signal that drives a driver IC in the display device, a frame-by-frame synchronization signal, an image data shift clock, image data, and an AC signal. If the display device 313 is a CRT, the image data is divided into R, G, and B, D / A conversion is performed for each color, and analog R, G, and B signals are generated, together with horizontal and vertical synchronization signals. Output to the display device 313. The display drive controller 312 transfers desired image data to the display device 313 and draws on the display device 313. When canceling each work of starting point position input and end point position input, the work is reset by pressing the cancel control button 325 of the display pointer controller 321.

When the above work is completed, the display state is as shown in FIG. 3 (c) layout frame display state. The user confirms the position and size of the layout frame, and if he / she wants to fit the input image, the decision is made by the confirmation control button 324 of the display pointer controller 321.

Next, how to fit the input image in the layout frame will be described. The start point (X0, Y0) and end point (X1, Y) determined by the layout frame creation work.
Based on 1), the control unit 260 calculates the difference between the display dot number Hdot (L) and the display line number Vline (L) of the layout frame as follows.

Hdot (L) = X1-X0 Vline (L) = Y1-Y0 Further, the control unit 260 controls the display dot number Hdot (I) and the display line number Vlin of the input image from the image source 211.
Knowing e (I), the scaling factor for the layout frame of the input image can be calculated as follows.

Horizontal scaling rate = Hdot (L) / Hdot (I) (1) Vertical scaling rate = Vline (L) / Vline (I) (2) When the scaling rate is larger than 1, the scaling scaling is smaller than 1. When it is equal to 1 and the scaling ratio is 1, it is equal to 1. The scaling factors (1) and (2) are passed from the control unit 260 to the display format conversion unit 231. The input unit 221 outputs the image signal in a desired format to the display format conversion unit 231. Display format conversion unit 231
Allows image data to pass when the scaling factors are (1) = 1 and (2) = 1. (1) = 1 and (2)
If = 1 is not satisfied, the image data is arbitrarily converted according to the calculated scaling factor, and the number of dots and lines of the input image is adjusted to the number of dots and lines of the layout frame. When the number of input display colors is larger than the number of display colors that can be displayed by the display device 313, an intermediate process such as dither (a method of expressing an intermediate gradation by combining white and black) is used. Reduce the number of bits of image data.

The image data output from the display format conversion unit 231 includes the bus interface 241, the bus controller 251, and the frame memory controller 270.
Are stored in the frame memory 290 via. Also,
When storing the scaled data in the frame memory 290, the control unit 260 passes start point information (X0, Y0) to the frame memory controller 270, and when a physical address is generated in the frame memory in the frame memory controller 270. Proper start point (X0, Y
It is specified by adding an offset of 0). The frame memory 290 has a plurality of layers, and the control unit 2
The control of 60 controls the hierarchy for storing the image data input via the bus controller 250.

The image data stored in the frame memory 290 is output onto the bus at a certain timing controlled by the control unit 260 and is output to the output display format conversion unit 311. At this time, which layer of data to output is
The bus controller 250 controls under the control of the control unit 260. By such internal processing, the display device 31
The display state of 3 becomes like the input display state of FIG.
Input display in the target frame is realized.

<Case where Two or More Image Sources are Connected> Next, an example of a case where two or more image sources are connected to the multi-display system 331 will be described. In this example, the case where the image source 212 is connected while the image data of the image source 211 of FIG. 2 is being drawn will be described as an example. When the image data of the image source 211 is input, the connection recognition signal is detected by the input unit 221 and the information is transmitted to the control unit 260. When the control unit 260 recognizes the existence of the new second image source, the user can use the display pointer controller 321 to determine the layout display frame for the next input. This will be described below with reference to FIG.

As shown in the layout frame display state of FIG.
When the user determines the start point (X2, Y2) and the end point (X3, Y3) (points indicated by reference numerals 432 and 433 in the figure) by the above-described method so as not to overlap the input 1-1, and determines the layout frame display. , As shown in the input display state of FIG.
-2 image source is on the screen of the display device 313 by JUST FIT by optimal scaling for input.
Is displayed. However, as in the layout frame display state of FIG. 4 (f), the user uses the above-described method so that the input 1-1 overlaps with the start point (X4, Y4) and the end point (X5,
When Y5) (points indicated by reference numerals 434 and 435 in the drawing) are determined and the layout frame display is determined, display states such as the input display state in FIG. 4 (h) and the input display state in FIG. 4 (i) are possible.

The input display state of FIG. 4 (h) is input by the user 2.
It is an example of a display state when it is desired to display the layout frame of -1 in a superimposed manner as determined above. In this case, the scaling method is the same as the method described above, but in this case, the priority of overlay display must be taken into consideration. In this implementation method, the storage layers of the image data 1-1 and 1-2 stored in the frame memory 290 are set. The layers of these frame memories 290 have priorities. When outputting data of a plurality of layers at the same position on the display device 313, image data of a layer with a higher priority is transferred to a layer with a lower priority. Data is output to the output display format conversion unit 311 with priority. A user can arbitrarily determine how to determine the priority by instructing the display pointer controller 321 when determining the layout frame.

In the input display state of FIG. 4 (i), the user inputs 2
This is an example of a display state in the case where it is desired to specify only the frame size of the -1 layout frame but not to display it in an overlapping manner. In this case, the scaling method is equivalent to the method described above,
In this case, the virtual space display must be added. In this implementation method, the control unit 260 receives the information on the capacity of the mounted memory detected by the frame memory controller 270, and the virtual display that can correspond from the used memory space of the input 1-1 and the used memory space of the input 1-2. The control unit 260 causes the frame memory controller 270 to transfer to the frame memory by determining the space and where in the space the used memory spaces 1-1 and 1-2 are to be mapped by a calculation process that is determined by software or hardware. This can be realized by correcting the offset for the appropriate start point movement when the physical address of is generated.

In the reference example of the present invention, when layouting is performed as in the layout frame display state of FIG. 4 (f), that is, the control unit 260 causes the start point (X0, Y0) of the input 1-1.
And the end point (X1, Y1) and the start point (X4, Y1) of the input 1-2.
4) and the end point (X5, Y5) overlap is detected as X0 <X4 <X1 <X5, Y4 <Y0 <Y1 <Y5.
The multi-display system 331 displays a message indicated by reference numeral 436 as to which input display state of (h) input display state and FIG. 4 (i) input display state, as in the message output state of FIG. 4 (j). Display notification is made on 313.

In order to realize this, the control unit 260 gives an instruction to the overlay data controller 280, writes an output character in the overlay data store memory 310, and causes it to function as an OSD (On Screen Display). The user sees this notification and can arbitrarily select one of them by an instruction from the display pointer controller 321. In the above description, the notification means is the overlay data store memory 31.
Although the means for displaying characters by 0 is used, the control unit 2
A unit may be used in which 60 generates voice data and the voice is notified from the speaker 290.

As described above, according to the multi-display system according to the reference example of the present invention, the selection means 102 for selecting in which area on the screen of the display means 101 the image input from the image source is displayed. The communication means 104 for transmitting the selection information selected by the selection means 102 to the display control means 106 , the detection means 105 for detecting the absolute position of the selection area on the screen of the display means 101, and the horizontal resolution of the input image data Since the display control means 106 calculates the scaling ratio of the input image data to the display data based on the number of vertical lines and the display position information and scales the input image to a size corresponding to the scaling ratio and displays the display image. The following actions and effects are achieved.

A pointing device (selection means 102) capable of designating a start point and an end point of a display layout of a plurality of image sources on a large screen display device, and the position of the pointing device is mounted on the large screen display device along an X-axis. The position is detected by the position sensor for detecting the direction and the position sensor (detecting means 105) for detecting the Y-axis direction, and the information is notified to the present multi-display system, whereby the internal control circuit (display control means 106). ), It is possible to automatically perform optimum mapping display in the layout area determined above.

Therefore, in the multi-display system according to the reference example of the present invention, the layout work for confirming the absolute position of the multi-input screen on the display at the time of initial use of the system, which was not possible conventionally, is performed by the display driver. It can be realized without complicated settings. As a result, there is an effect that a smooth and comfortable operation environment can be provided to the user in a conference or a presentation using a plurality of image sources.

[0080] [2] in the implementation of Embodiment Next, as the implementation of the present invention, given below a description of the case of variably after determining the layout frame of the input image source laid displayed in the reference example. Variable,
There are two types: variable expansion and variable contraction.

[0081] multi-display system 331 according to the implementation of the embodiment of the present invention includes an input unit 221,222,223,22
4, display format conversion units 231, 232, 233,
234, bus interfaces 241, 242, 243,
244, bus controller 250, control unit 260, frame memory controller 270, overlay data controller 280, frame memory 290, overlay data store memory 310, output display format conversion unit 311, display drive controller 312, display device 3
13, selection unit 314, packet distribution control unit 315, FI
Packet controller with FO memory 316, FIFO memory 317, infrared data converter 318, infrared data controller 319, infrared data receiver 320, display pointer controller 321, packet controller with FIFO 32
6, D / A converter 327, amplifier 328, speaker 32
9 is provided (see FIG. 2 above). 2 in the figure
Reference numerals 11, 212, 213 and 214 denote sources of image signals.

[0082] multi-display system according to the implementation of the embodiment of the present invention, differs from the multi-display system according to the reference example, display pointer controller 321 is confirmation control button 324, cancel control button 325, an infrared light emitting portion 330 In addition to the distance measurement sensor 539 (see FIG.
2), and the control unit 260 has a moving distance / magnification scale reference table (see FIG. 6). Since other configurations are similar to those of the above-described reference example , description thereof will be omitted.

<Case of Selectively Enlarging One of Image Sources> An example of enlarging the input image display after the layout display will be described with reference to FIG. In the layout state displayed as in the initial display state of FIG. 5 (k), when enlarging the display image 1-2, the user must first select the display image 1-2 (active state). Several methods can be considered for this selection method, but they are not limited here because they are out of the point of the present invention.

When enlarging the selected display image 1-2, the user measures the distance d0 between the display pointer controller 321 and the display device 313 by pressing the confirm control button 324. This measuring method is accurately and easily performed by vector calculation of the position sensor 322 in the X-axis (horizontal axis) direction of the display device 313, the position sensor 323 in the Y-axis (vertical axis) direction, and the distance measuring sensor 539 of the display pointer controller 321. Since it can be obtained, there is no need for the user to specify the focus such as distance measurement of the camera. The layout position of the input image source in this state is the start point (X0, Y0), as described in the above reference example .
It has already been determined at the end point (X1, Y1).

Next, the enlarging method will be described. To realize the enlargement of the selected image 1-2, the user holds down the confirmation control button 324 of the display pointer controller 321 in the above-described initial distance measuring step and holds the display pointer like the enlargement stroke indicated by reference numeral 537 in FIG. Pull the controller 321 toward you. During this movement, the distance d1 between the display pointer controller 321 and the display device 313 is measured by the method described above, and the final distance d1 is confirmed by the user opening the confirmation control button 324. Even during this enlargement stroke, in order to make this work a user interface that is easier for the user to use, the display pointer movement position from the start point to the end point is constantly monitored, and its locus is a layout frame as indicated by reference numeral 332 in FIG. As
It is displayed like the layout frame display state of FIG.

How to make the size of the final enlarged layout frame from the layout frame from the measured distance d1 will be described below with reference to FIG. Measuring distance d
0 and d1 are the display pointer controller 32 shown in FIG.
The infrared transmitting means from 1 (infrared ray emitting section 330) transfers it to the control section 260. The control unit 260 calculates the moving distances d1 to d0 based on this information. In this enlarged example, the positive change is d1-d0> 0. The enlarging magnification is determined based on this result, but in order to realize this, the control unit 260 is previously provided with a reference table as shown in FIG. This corresponds to the moving distance D on the horizontal axis and the scaling factor M on the vertical axis. When the moving distance is 0, the scaling factor is equal to 1 and
If the movement distance is positive, the scaling factor will also change to 1 or more in response.

The moving distance converges to the maximum scaling factor M (max) at a certain limit value D (max) and cannot be expanded any further. How to determine the maximum scaling ratio M (max) is determined by the relationship with the layout position of the peripheral input image 1-2 (1-1 in this example) in the case of JUST FIT as shown in FIG. 4 (h), the relationship with the display area is shown in FIG.
When displaying in a virtual space like
It can be set appropriately depending on the relationship with the address map of If the moving distance is negative, the variable magnification region also changes to less than 1 times correspondingly. The moving distance is a certain limit value D (mi
In n), it converges to the minimum scaling factor M (min), and further reduction cannot be achieved. This minimum scaling factor M (mi
n) is determined by the display format conversion unit 2 in FIG.
It is determined by the minimum scaling factor of 31 to 234.

Based on the above-mentioned reference table, the moving distance d
The layout frame 1-2 in the case of 1-d0 is enlarged m times, and in the example in which the enlargement center is (X1, Y0) as shown in FIG. 5, the start point is the same as (X1, Y0) before enlargement. , The end point is ((1-m) X1 + mX0, mY1 + (1-m) Y0)
Then, the layout frame trajectory of FIG. 5 (l) is drawn, and finally the enlarged display state of FIG. 5 (m) is displayed.

<When Selectively Reduce One of Image Sources>
An example of reducing the input image display after the layout display will be described with reference to FIG. The reducing means is the same as the enlarging means. In the layout state displayed as in the initial display state (enlarged display state) of FIG. 5 (m), when the display image 1-2 is reduced, the user first selects the display image 1-2 (active state). There must be. Several means can be considered for this selection method, but it is not limited here because it is out of the point of the present invention. When reducing the selected display image 1-2, the user measures the distance d1 between the display pointer controller 321 and the display device 313 by pressing the confirmation control button 324.

Next, the reduction method will be described. In order to realize the reduction of the selected image 1-2, the user holds down the confirmation control button 324 of the display pointer controller 321 in the above-described initial distance measuring step and, like the reduction stroke indicated by reference numeral 538 in FIG. The controller 321 is pushed out toward the display device 313. During this movement, the distance d0 between the display pointer controller 321 and the display device 313 is measured, and the final distance d0 is confirmed by opening the confirmation control button 324 by the user. Even during this reduction stroke, the display pointer movement position from the start point to the end point is constantly monitored in order to make this work easier for the user interface.
The locus is displayed as a layout frame indicated by reference numeral 332 in FIG. 5 as in the layout frame display state of FIG.

How to make the size of the final reduced layout frame from the layout frame from the measured distance d0 will be described below with reference to FIG. Measuring distance d
0 and d1 are the display pointer controller 32 shown in FIG.
The infrared transmitting means from 1 (infrared ray emitting section 330) transfers it to the control section 260. The control unit 260 calculates the moving distance d0-d1 based on this information. In this enlarged example, the negative change s is d0-d1 <0. The reduction ratio is determined based on this result, and in order to realize this, the reference table as shown in FIG. 6 is used as in the case of the enlargement.

According to the above-mentioned reference table, the moving distance d
The layout frame 1-2 at 0-d1 is reduced to m times, and in the example in which the reduction center is (X1 ′, Y0 ′) as shown in FIG. 5, the start point is (X1 ′, Y0 ′) before enlargement. ), The end point is ((1-1 / m) X1 '+ 1 / mX0', 1
/ MY1 '+ (1-1 / m) Y0') is calculated and finally displayed as the reduced display state of FIG. 5 (k) while drawing the layout frame locus of FIG. 5 (l).

[0093] As described above, according to the multi-display system according to the implementation of the embodiment of the present invention, the selection means 102 for selecting one of the image data displayed on the display unit 101, selecting unit 102 Distance measuring means 103 for measuring the absolute distance between the distance measuring means 103 and the display means 101 , communication means 104 for transmitting distance measuring information measured by the distance measuring means 103 to the display control means 106 , and selecting means 102 measured by the distance measuring means 103. move distance Hanare及 beauty scaling magnification to the display data of the selected image data on the basis of the number of horizontal resolution and vertical lines of the selected image data, calculated by using a reference table showing the relationship between the moving distance and the scaling magnification ratio The display control means 106 for displaying the selected image by scaling the selected image to a size according to the scaling ratio has the following operation and effect. That.

A distance measuring sensor (distance measuring means 10) is attached to the pointing device (selecting means 102) of the presenter.
3) is equipped, and the presenter creates a change in the distance between the target image source and the pointing device of the presenter in response to scaling demands of the image source when the system is used, and the presenter creates a stroke action to control the internal control circuit ( The display control means 106) can refer to the distance change information to enlarge or reduce the image source to an appropriate size.

[0095] Thus, in the multi-display system according to the implementation of the embodiment of the present invention, which has been conventionally impossible, when the presentation use, even when there is scaling unexpectedly presenter display for presentation Only the stroke action of the pointer can meet this requirement. As a result, there is an effect that a smooth and comfortable operation environment can be provided to the user in a conference or a presentation using a plurality of image sources.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single device. A storage medium storing a program code of software that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus, and the computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus stores the program code stored in the storage medium. Needless to say, this can be achieved by reading and executing.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the function of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

A storage medium for supplying the program code is, for example, a floppy disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD.
-R, magnetic tape, non-volatile memory card, ROM, etc. can be used.

Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS or the like running on the computer actually operates based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that a case where a part or all of the processing of (1) is performed and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing is also included.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written in the memory provided in the function expansion board inserted into the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instruction of the program code, It goes without saying that a case where the CPU or the like included in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs some or all of the actual processing and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is also included.

[0101]

[0102]

[0103]

[0104]

[0105]

[0106]

[0107]

[0108]

[0109]

[0110]

[0111]

As described above, according to the display device of the present invention as set forth in claim 1 , the image input from a plurality of image sources can be simultaneously or independently displayed on the display screen. Te, selection means for selecting a desired image data from a plurality of image data displayed on the display screen, a distance measuring means for measuring the absolute distance between said selection means and the display screen, selecting on the basis of the measurement Since the display control means for displaying the image after scaling the image to a predetermined size is provided, the following effects are achieved. It was impossible before,
Even when there is an unexpected enlargement / reduction in using the presentation, the presenter can respond to this request only by the stroke action of the selection means (display pointer) for the presentation, which allows the use of multiple image sources. There is an effect that a smooth and comfortable operation environment can be brought to the user in a meeting or a presentation.

[0112] According to the display device of the present invention of claim 2, wherein, prior Symbol display control means displays the selected image data on the basis of the number of horizontal resolution and vertical lines of the moving distance Hanare及 beauty selected image data of said selection means Since the scaling scaling factor for the data is calculated and the selected image is scaled to a size corresponding to the scaling scaling factor and displayed, the following effects are achieved. Similar to the above, the presenter can respond to this request only by the stroke action of the presentation selection means (display pointer) even when there is an unexpected enlargement / reduction when using the presentation, which was impossible in the past. As a result, there is an effect that a smooth and comfortable operating environment can be provided to the user in a conference or a presentation using a plurality of image sources.

According to the display device of the present invention as set forth in claim 3 , the display control means calculates the scaling magnification based on a reference table showing the relationship between the moving distance and the scaling magnification. Has a great effect. Similar to the above, there is an effect that a smooth and comfortable operation environment can be provided to the user in a conference or a presentation using a plurality of image sources.

[0114]

[0115]

[0116]

[0117]

[0118]

[0119]

[0120]

[0121]

[0122]

[0123]

[0124]

[0125]

According to the image display method of the present invention as defined in claim 4, the image display method is applied to a display device capable of displaying images inputted from a plurality of image sources simultaneously or independently on a display screen. Te, a selection step of selecting with the selection means to desired image data from a plurality of image data displayed on said display screen, said display and said selecting means
Because it has a distance measuring step of measuring the absolute distance to the screen, and a display control step of displaying the selected image on the basis of the measurement scales to a predetermined size, the following effects. The presenter can respond to this request only by the stroke action of the presentation selection means (display pointer) even when there is an unexpected enlargement / reduction when using the presentation, which was impossible in the past. There is an effect that a user can be provided with a smooth and comfortable operating environment in a meeting or a presentation using a plurality of image sources.

[0127] According to the image display method of the present invention of claim 5 wherein, prior Symbol display control step, based on the number of horizontal resolution and vertical lines of the mobile <br/> distance Hanare及 beauty selected image data of said selection means Since the scaling magnification of the selected image data to the display data is calculated and the selected image is scaled to a size according to the scaling magnification and displayed, the following effects are achieved. Similar to the above, the presenter can respond to this request only by the stroke action of the presentation selection means (display pointer) even when there is an unexpected enlargement / reduction when using the presentation, which was impossible in the past. As a result, there is an effect that a smooth and comfortable operating environment can be provided to the user in a conference or a presentation using a plurality of image sources.

According to the image display method of the sixth aspect of the present invention, in the display control step, the scaling scaling factor is calculated based on the reference table showing the relationship between the moving distance and the scaling scaling factor. It produces such an effect. Similar to the above, there is an effect that a smooth and comfortable operation environment can be provided to the user in a conference or a presentation using a plurality of image sources.

[0129]

[0130]

[0131]

According to the storage medium of the present invention as set forth in claim 7, an image display method applied to a display device capable of displaying images input from a plurality of image sources simultaneously or independently on a display screen is executed. a readable storage medium by a computer storing a program, the image display method, a selection step of selecting with the selection means to desired image data from a plurality of image data displayed on said display screen, a distance measuring step of measuring the absolute distance between the selection means and the display screen, since it has a display control step of displaying the selected image on the basis of the measurement scales to a predetermined size, the following effects Play.
It was impossible in the past, when using presentations,
Even when there is an unexpected enlargement / reduction, the presenter can respond to this request only by the stroke action of the selection means (display pointer) for presentation, which makes it possible to perform the meeting or presentation using multiple image sources. There is an effect that a smooth and comfortable operating environment can be brought to the user.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration of a main part of a multi-display system according to first and second embodiments of the present invention and corresponding to the claims.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of a multi-display system according to first and second embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an image of creating a layout display frame using the position sensor in the X-axis direction and the position sensor in the Y-axis direction according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a display layout when inputting a plurality of image sources according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an image of changing a layout display frame using a distance measuring sensor according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a graph of a moving distance / magnification scale reference table according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 display means 102 selection means 103 Distance measuring means 104 communication means 105 detection means 106 display control means 107 storage means 111-1 to 111-n, 211 to 214 image sources 260 control unit 280 overlay data controller 310 Overlay data store memory 311 Output display format converter 312 Display drive controller 313 display device 319 Infrared data controller 320 Infrared data receiver 321 Display pointer controller 322, 323 Position sensor 330 Infrared emitting section

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Shuntaro Araya 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (56) Reference JP-A-8-320878 (JP, A) JP-A-8- -106542 (JP, A) JP-A-2-3089 (JP, A) JP-A-5-27938 (JP, A) JP-A-6-348412 (JP, A) JP-A-11-305917 (JP, A) ) JP-A-11-308592 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G09G 5/00 G06F 3/00

Claims (7)

(57) [Claims] 1. A display device capable of simultaneously or independently displaying images input from a plurality of image sources on a display screen , wherein desired image data is selected from a plurality of image data displayed on the display screen. selection means for selecting, a distance measuring means for measuring the absolute distance between said selection means and the display screen, to have a display control means for displaying the selected image on the basis of the measurement scales to a predetermined size Characteristic display device. 2. A pre-Symbol display control means calculates a moved distance Hanare及 beauty scaling magnification to the display data of the selected image data on the basis of the number of horizontal resolution and vertical lines of the selected image data of the selection means, the selected image display device according to claim 1, wherein the displaying by scaling the size corresponding to the scaling magnification. 3. The display control means calculates the scaling ratio based on a reference table showing the relationship between the moving distance and the scaling ratio.
2. The display device according to item 2 . The 4. images input from a plurality of image sources simultaneously or individually, an image display method applied to a display capable of display on the display screen, a plurality of images displayed on the display screen a selection step of selecting with the selection means to desired image data from the data, a distance measuring step of measuring the absolute distance between the selection means and the display screen, scaling the selected image on the basis of the measurement to a predetermined size And a display control step for displaying the image. The 5. Before Symbol display control step, calculates the moving distance Hanare及 beauty scaling magnification to the display data of the selected image data on the basis of the number of horizontal resolution and vertical lines of the selected image data of the selection means, the selected image 5. The image display method according to claim 4 , wherein is displayed after being scaled to a size according to the scaling ratio. 6. The image display method according to claim 5, wherein, in the display control step, the scaling scaling factor is calculated based on a reference table indicating a relationship between the moving distance and the scaling scaling factor. 7. A computer-readable storage medium that stores a program for executing an image display method applied to a display device capable of displaying images input from a plurality of image sources simultaneously or independently on a display screen. there, the image display method, a selection step of selecting with the selection means to desired image data from a plurality of image data displayed on the display screen, the absolute distance between the selection means and the display screen a distance measuring step of measuring, storage medium characterized by comprising a display control step of displaying the selected image on the basis of the measurement scales to a predetermined size.