Laser pointer

Abstract

A laser pointer for continuously drawing arbitrary shapes on a surface comprises a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) mirror configured to deflect an emitted laser beam, wherein the deflection angle of the MEMS mirror can be altered by means of applying a set of drive values to the MEMS mirror; an orientation measurement unit configured to continuously determine a current orientation and to output said current orientation at an output; a memory being configured to store current orientations received from the orientation measurement unit as a set of orientation samples; and a drive circuit configured to generate said set of drive values by subtracting the current orientation from the set of orientation samples and to apply said set of drive values to the MEMS mirror.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of priority to European Patent Application Serial No. 18154213.5, filed on Jan. 30, 2018, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.FIELD OF INVENTION[0002]The present subject matter relates to a laser pointer for drawing arbitrary shapes on a surface, e.g., a wall, board, or the like.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]During the last three decades, laser pointers became a necessity for presentations in business meetings, school events, and even public speeches. Laser pointers make it easy to highlight areas on presentation material that is usually hard to reach for the presenter by projecting a light spot in various colors—ranging from blue to green and red. These little light generators help to temporarily mark an area on a slide or poster, for which the presenter only has to move the projected light spot to an area of interest.[0004]However, many presenters often find themselves in a pi...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

This patent describes a laser pointer that can be used to modify slides and write-ups in real-time. It allows presenters to develop the content of slides on the fly, and even to delete the drawn shapes. The laser pointer uses MEMS mirrors to remember and play back the previously drawn shapes, without the need for the presenter to move their hand. The intensity of the laser beam can be adjusted based on the amount of movement, and a low-pass filter can be used to remove hand-tremor jitters from the drawn shape. Overall, this laser pointer provides an exhilarating experience for presenters and allows for more intuitive and efficient use of presentation materials.

Problems solved by technology

However, many presenters often find themselves in a pickle when they want to highlight an entire word because underlining a many characters is only possible by frantically waving your laser pointer, causing distraction to the audience and frustration for the presenter.

Furthermore, adding words or drawings to slides or posters is not possible at all, and presenters have to resort to ancient technologies such as markers, highlighters or even adding paper scraps with adhesive tape to the presentation material on the wall.

Unfortunately, these predetermined shapes do not allow the presenter to express his or her thoughts or artistic freedom as he or she is restricted to lines and circles.

While it would be straightforward to pre-program this laser pointer for additional shapes such as rectangles or even star shapes, the presenter would still be severely restricted to the options of the laser pointer.

A challenge in practically realizing the laser pointer of the aforementioned type may be the usage of power.

Thereby, also the amount of MEMS mirror cycles per time unit is reduced, resulting in a dim output of the laser pointer.

By this means, the drawing “vanishes” after some time, making it temporary and freeing up memory space.

If the presenter also moves to and from his / her presentation material, this can cause a scaling problem for the projected shape.

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