Handheld vision based absolute pointing system

A method, comprising:ndetecting an image of one or more images of respective one or more spatially fixed markers adapted for placing in fixed locations within view of a pixelated sensor, said markers emitting radiation having a predetermined frequency band, said images appearing on the pixelated sensor within a handheld device;filtering at said handheld device radiation so as to pass the radiation in the predetermined frequency band and to substantially exclude other radiation;generating separate image data for each of the one or more markers within the image;processing the image data in the handheld device to provide separate processed image data for each of the markers within the image appearing on the pixelated sensor; wherein the processed image data comprises the coordinates of each image, wherein processing the image data further comprises:determining an intensity value for each of a plurality of pixels of the pixelated sensor, the intensity value attaining one of three or more quantized intensity values;identifying a set of pixels which have an intensity value above a specified threshold;and generating the coordinate data based on the intensity value and the location of each of the pixels in the set of pixels; andsending from said handheld device to electronic equipment the processed image data from which the location of an on-screen icon is actively controlled.

A system comprising:n(i) a handheld device comprising a pixelated sensor, and a transmitter;(ii) electronic equipment adapted for coupling to a display and configured to generate video images of a graphical user interface on a display;(iii) one or more spatially fixed markers adapted for placing in fixed locations within view of the pixelated sensor, said markers providing radiation having a predetermined frequency band, and the pixelated sensor adapted to form separate images of the one or more markers, and(iv) the handheld device further including:a processor coupled to receive and process image data of the separate images of the one or more markers, the processor adapted to compute coordinate data of the images on the sensor from the image data, wherein computing coordinate data of the images comprises:determining an intensity value for each of a plurality of pixels of the pixelated sensor, the intensity value attaining one of three or more quantized intensity values;identifying a set of pixels which have an intensity value above a specified threshold;and generating the coordinate data based on the intensity value and the location of each of the pixels in the set of pixels;the processor being coupled to the transmitter to transmit the coordinate data to the electronic equipment, the electronic equipment adapted for receiving the coordinate data and responsively performing a plurality of actions, wherein at least one of the actions includes actively controlling a position of an on-screen icon displayed on the display, the icon comprising a graphical element usable for selecting one or more other graphical elements from within the graphical user interface generated by the electronic equipment on the display.

A handheld device comprising a machine and executable program code, said executable program code stored on a non volatile memory, said executable program code to be executed by said machine, said executable program code to perform a method, said method comprising:ndetecting an image of one or more images of respective one or more spatially fixed markers adapted for placing in fixed locations within view of a pixelated sensor, said markers emitting radiation having a predetermined frequency band, said images appearing on the pixelated sensor within said handheld device;filtering at said handheld device radiation so as to pass the radiation in the predetermined frequency band and to substantially exclude other radiation;generating separate image data for each of the one or more markers within the image;processing the image data in the handheld device to provide separate processed image data for each of the markers within the image appearing on the pixelated sensor;wherein the processed image data comprises the coordinates of each image; wherein processing the image data further comprises:determining an intensity value for each of a plurality of pixels of the pixelated sensor, the intensity value attaining one of three or more quantized intensity values;identifying a set of pixels which have an intensity value above a specified threshold;and generating the coordinate data based on the intensity value and the location of each of the pixels in the set of pixels; andtransmitting from said handheld device to electronic equipment the processed image data from which the location of an on-screen icon is actively controlled.