Patents by Inventor Trevor Akitt

Trevor Akitt has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 9274615
    Abstract: An interactive input system comprises at least two imaging assemblies capturing image frames of a region of interest from different vantages, each imaging assembly comprising an image sensor and signal processing circuitry implemented on an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), image data acquired by the image sensor being pre-processed by the signal processing circuitry; and processing structure processing pre-processed image data output by the imaging assemblies to determine the location of at least one pointer within the region of interest.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2016
    Assignee: PixArt Imaging Inc.
    Inventors: Clinton Lam, Lawrence Bruce Hewitt, Trevor Akitt, Charles Ung
  • Patent number: 8902195
    Abstract: An input panel for an interactive input system comprises an optical waveguide; a first radiation source directing radiation into said optical waveguide, said radiation undergoing total internal reflection within said optical waveguide; a diffusion layer adjacent to and on one side of the optical waveguide, totally internally reflected light being frustrated and escaping the optical waveguide in response to pointer contacts on the diffusion layer; a second radiation source directing radiation towards another side of the optical waveguide that is opposite the one side; and at least one imaging device having a field of view looking at the optical waveguide and capturing image frames, wherein said first and second radiation sources are turned on and off in succession and wherein said first radiation source is turned off when said second radiation source is on and wherein said first radiation source is turned on when said second radiation source is off.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 2, 2014
    Assignee: SMART Technologies ULC
    Inventors: Grant McGibney, Gerald Morrison, Charles Ung, Trevor Akitt, Ed Tse, Erik Benner, Jamie Duncalf
  • Patent number: 8537134
    Abstract: A touch system includes a touch surface and at least two cameras associated with the touch surface. The at least two cameras acquire images of the touch surface from different locations and having overlapping fields of view. A digital signal processor is associated with each camera. The digital signal processors process pixel data acquired by selected pixel subsets of the at least two digital cameras to generate pointer characteristic data when a pointer exists in the acquired images. The pointer characteristic data identifies edges of the pointer. A master digital signal processor triangulates the edge information in the pointer characteristic data to determine a bounding area that represents a pointer perimeter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2013
    Assignee: SMART Technologies ULC
    Inventors: Gerald Morrison, Trevor Akitt, Scott Su
  • Publication number: 20120280943
    Abstract: A touch system includes a touch surface and at least two cameras associated with the touch surface. The at least two cameras acquire images of the touch surface from different locations and having overlapping fields of view. A digital signal processor is associated with each camera. The digital signal processors process pixel data acquired by selected pixel subsets of the at least two digital cameras to generate pointer characteristic data when a pointer exists in the acquired images. The pointer characteristic data identifies edges of the pointer. A master digital signal processor triangulates the edge information in the pointer characteristic data to determine a bounding area that represents a pointer perimeter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 20, 2012
    Publication date: November 8, 2012
    Applicant: SMART TECHNOLOGIES ULC
    Inventors: GERALD MORRISON, TREVOR AKITT, SCOTT SU
  • Patent number: 8228304
    Abstract: A touch system includes a touch surface and at least two cameras associated with the touch surface. The at least two cameras acquire images of the touch surface from different locations and having overlapping fields of view. A digital signal processor is associated with each camera. The digital signal processors process pixel data acquired by selected pixel subsets of the at least two digital cameras to generate pointer characteristic data when a pointer exists in the acquired images. The pointer characteristic data identifies edges of the pointer. A master digital signal processor triangulates the edge information in the pointer characteristic data to determine a bounding area that represents a pointer perimeter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2012
    Assignee: SMART Technologies ULC
    Inventors: Gerald Morrison, Trevor Akitt, Scott Su
  • Publication number: 20110050650
    Abstract: An input panel for an interactive input system comprises an optical waveguide; a first radiation source directing radiation into said optical waveguide, said radiation undergoing total internal reflection within said optical waveguide; a diffusion layer adjacent to and on one side of the optical waveguide, totally internally reflected light being frustrated and escaping the optical waveguide in response to pointer contacts on the diffusion layer; a second radiation source directing radiation towards another side of the optical waveguide that is opposite the one side; and at least one imaging device having a field of view looking at the optical waveguide and capturing image frames, wherein said first and second radiation sources are turned on and off in succession and wherein said first radiation source is turned off when said second radiation source is on and wherein said first radiation source is turned on when said second radiation source is off.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 1, 2010
    Publication date: March 3, 2011
    Applicant: SMART Technologies ULC
    Inventors: Grant McGibney, Gerald Morrison, Charles Ung, Trevor Akitt, Ed Tse, Erik Benner, Jamie Duncalf
  • Publication number: 20100060613
    Abstract: A touch system includes a touch surface and at least two cameras associated with the touch surface. The at least two cameras acquire images of the touch surface from different locations and having overlapping fields of view. A digital signal processor is associated with each camera. The digital signal processors process pixel data acquired by selected pixel subsets of the at least two digital cameras to generate pointer characteristic data when a pointer exists in the acquired images. The pointer characteristic data identifies edges of the pointer. A master digital signal processor triangulates the edge information in the pointer characteristic data to determine a bounding area that represents a pointer perimeter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 11, 2009
    Publication date: March 11, 2010
    Applicant: SMART Technologies ULC
    Inventors: Gerald Morrison, Trevor Akitt, Scott Su
  • Patent number: 7619617
    Abstract: A touch system includes a touch surface and at least two cameras associated with the touch surface. The at least two cameras acquire images of the touch surface from different locations and having overlapping fields of view. A digital signal processor is associated with each camera. The digital signal processors process pixel data acquired by selected pixel subsets of the at least two digital cameras to generate pointer characteristic data when a pointer exists in the acquired images. The pointer characteristic data identifies edges of the pointer. A master digital signal processor triangulates the edge information in the pointer characteristic data to determine a bounding area that represents a pointer perimeter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2005
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2009
    Assignee: Smart Technologies ULC
    Inventors: Gerald Morrison, Trevor Akitt, Scott Su
  • Publication number: 20070165007
    Abstract: An interactive input system comprises at least two imaging devices associated with a region of interest. The at least two imaging devices acquire images of the region of interest from different locations and have overlapping fields of view. At least one receiver is operable to receive data output by an active pointer when the pointer is both within and outside the fields of view of the imaging devices. Processor structure processes data acquired by the at least two imaging devices and the at least one receiver to detect the existence of an active pointer and to determine the location of the pointer within the region of interest.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 13, 2006
    Publication date: July 19, 2007
    Inventors: Gerald Morrison, Trevor Akitt, Vaughn Keenan
  • Patent number: 7184030
    Abstract: A camera-based touch system includes at least one pair of cameras having overlapping fields of view and a touch surface encompassed within the overlapping fields of view across which a pointer is moved. The cameras of the at least one pair acquire images at intervals asynchronously. In order to estimate the position of the pointer relative to the touch surface from image data acquired by the at least one pair of cameras, the images are synthetically synchronized. During this process, for each camera in the pair, each acquired image is processed to determine the position of the pointer therein and the position of the pointer is recorded together with a timestamp representing the time elapsed between a reference point common to the cameras and the time the image was acquired.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2007
    Assignee: Smart Technologies Inc.
    Inventors: Randy McCharles, Gerald Morrison, Steve Worthington, Trevor Akitt
  • Publication number: 20060022962
    Abstract: A touch system includes a touch surface and at least two cameras associated with the touch surface. The at least two cameras acquire images of the touch surface from different locations and having overlapping fields of view. A digital signal processor is associated with each camera. The digital signal processors process pixel data acquired by selected pixel subsets of the at least two digital cameras to generate pointer characteristic data when a pointer exists in the acquired images. The pointer characteristic data identifies edges of the pointer. A master digital signal processor triangulates the edge information in the pointer characteristic data to determine a bounding area that represents a pointer perimeter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 28, 2005
    Publication date: February 2, 2006
    Inventors: Gerald Morrison, Trevor Akitt, Scott Su
  • Patent number: 6954197
    Abstract: A touch system includes a touch surface and at least two cameras associated with the touch surface. The at least two cameras acquire images of the touch surface from different locations and having overlapping fields of view. A digital signal processor is associated with each camera. The digital signal processors process pixel data acquired by selected pixel subsets of the at least two digital cameras to generate pointer characteristic data when a pointer exists in the acquired images. The pointer characteristic data identifies edges of the pointer. A master digital signal processor triangulates the edge information in the pointer characteristic data to determine a bounding area that represents a pointer perimeter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2005
    Assignee: Smart Technologies Inc.
    Inventors: Gerald Morrison, Trevor Akitt, Scott Su
  • Publication number: 20040108996
    Abstract: A camera-based touch system includes at least one pair of cameras having overlapping fields of view and a touch surface encompassed within the overlapping fields of view across which a pointer is moved. The cameras of the at least one pair acquire images at intervals asynchronously. In order to estimate the position of the pointer relative to the touch surface from image data acquired by the at least one pair of cameras, the images are synthetically synchronized. During this process, for each camera in the pair, each acquired image is processed to determine the position of the pointer therein and the position of the pointer is recorded together with a timestamp representing the time elapsed between a reference point common to the cameras and the time the image was acquired.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 2, 2003
    Publication date: June 10, 2004
    Inventors: Randy McCharles, Gerald Morrison, Steve Worthington, Trevor Akitt
  • Publication number: 20040095318
    Abstract: A touch system includes a touch surface and at least two cameras associated with the touch surface. The at least two cameras acquire images of the touch surface from different locations and having overlapping fields of view. A digital signal processor is associated with each camera. The digital signal processors process pixel data acquired by selected pixel subsets of the at least two digital cameras to generate pointer characteristic data when a pointer exists in the acquired images. The pointer characteristic data identifies edges of the pointer. A master digital signal processor triangulates the edge information in the pointer characteristic data to determine a bounding area that represents a pointer perimeter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 15, 2002
    Publication date: May 20, 2004
    Inventors: Gerald Morrison, Trevor Akitt, Scott Su
  • Publication number: 20040001144
    Abstract: A camera-based touch system includes at least one pair of cameras having overlapping fields of view and a touch surface encompassed within the overlapping fields of view across which a pointer is moved. The cameras of the at least one pair acquire images at intervals asynchronously. In order to estimate the position of the pointer relative to the touch surface from image data acquired by the at least one pair of cameras, the images are synthetically synchronized. During this process, for each camera in the pair, each acquired image is processed to determine the position of the pointer therein and the position of the pointer is recorded together with a timestamp representing the time elapsed between a reference point common to the cameras and the time the image was acquired.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 27, 2002
    Publication date: January 1, 2004
    Inventors: Randy McCharles, Gerald Morrison, Radek Kristof, Steve Worthington, Trevor Akitt