Abstract: There is provided an information input system enabling the realization of an input method easily understandable and operable by intuition. This information input system is provided with a camera 11 for picking up an image of a specified area including a fingertip OF of an operator and an input surface 17 as a photographed image, a contact discriminator 154 for discriminating whether or not the fingertip OF and the input surface 17 are in contact with each other by specifying the fingertip OF and the input surface 17 included in the photographed image, and a fingertip position detector 152 for detecting a relative position of the fingertip OF with respect to the input surface 17 when the contact discriminator 154 judges that the fingertip OF and the input surface 17 are in contact with each other.

Abstract: The close region image extraction device according to the present invention ensures robustness during outdoor usage and acquires close region images at the field rate. This device comprises a color camera for taking color moving images; an infrared light source for irradiating a nearby object OB with infrared light; an infrared camera for alternately acquiring a lit infrared image and an unlit infrared image; an absolute value differential image acquiring section for acquiring an absolute value differential image for the lit infrared image and unlit infrared image; a close region image extraction section for extracting a close region image from the absolute value differential image; and an object image extraction section for extracting an object image that represents the nearby object from the close region image.

Abstract: There is provided an information input system enabling the realization of an input method easily understandable and operable by intuition. This information input system is provided with a camera 11 for picking up an image of a specified area including a fingertip OF of an operator and an input surface 17 as a photographed image, a contact discriminator 154 for discriminating whether or not the fingertip OF and the input surface 17 are in contact with each other by specifying the fingertip OF and the input surface 17 included in the photographed image, and a fingertip position detector 152 for detecting a relative position of the fingertip OF with respect to the input surface 17 when the contact discriminator 154 judges that the fingertip OF and the input surface 17 are in contact with each other.

Abstract: An image display system is disclosed which includes an image filing device to pre-store data on the entire area of a large sized image; a CRT unit to partially display this large sized image on its display screen at the same scale; and an image memory to temporarily store a partial image of the large sized image, that will be displayed on this CRT as well as its surrounding image. When display area scrolling is directed by a scroll direction input device, image information which is newly required due to the given scrolling operation is read out under the control of the CPU, and the unnecessary image information is replaced or written over by the new image information, with semi-realtime, in the memory area in which the image information which became useless due to the scrolling operation had been stored in the image memory. Thus, the display image area concerning the scroll and its surrounding image area always prepared in the image memory, thereby allowing for a smooth scrolling operation.

Abstract: Two-dimensional images of a three-dimensional body photographed by two video cameras are parallactically compensated prior performing the detection of the corresponding point necessary to recognize the body. Namely, the parallax between both cameras for the object distance measured by a range finder is calculated by a parallax calculator, and one image is electrically shifted by an image shifting circuit by only the number of pixels in accordance with the parallax value, thereby performing the parallax compensation of the images. In a calculation processing unit, the correlation values for the corresponding points between both images are calculated, and the distance images of the body are produced on the basis of these correlation values.

Abstract: An image processing system is disclosed which includes: a control computer which has a CPU and a main memory therein; and an image memory section which is connected to the CPU through an interface and which has an image memory for digitally storing image data, a memory controller and an image processor. A memory area as part of the main memory is independently allocated to store as a register area data transferred through a privately leased data bus which bypasses the interface between the control computer and the image memory section. When random access operation of the image data with respect to the image memory is performed, the data transfer between the CPU and the image memory section can be performed through the memory area (register area) and the special data bus without going through the interface.

Abstract: The invention provides an improved image memory device including an image processing memory unit incorporated into a universal image processing device and an address switching control circuit connected thereto, wherein an address data for raster display and an address data fed from an external input-output device are periodically selected by an address switching control circuit for supply to the image processing memory unit so that the memory unit may be accessed by an external input-output device without intercepting the raster display with remarkably reduced data transfer time.

Abstract: An apparatus for measuring the elevation of a three-dimensional foreground subject which comprises the steps of determining the interrelationship of the first and second images of the three-dimensional foreground subject photographed at two different points to find minute mutually corresponding areas in two images; correcting the first photographed image according to the displacement of the corresponding areas from each other; again determining the interrelationship of the corrected first pseudo-image and the noncorrected second image; correcting the second image by said interrelationship to provide a corrected second pseudo-image; determining the interrelationship of said corrected second pseudo-image and the original second image; repeating the above-mentioned operation; when the determined displacements of the first and second images fall to below a certain value, calculating an algebraic sum of all the determined displacements of said first and second images; and finally measuring the elevation of a three