Touch-sensitive display devices

1. A touch sensitive image display device, the device comprising:

an image projector to project a displayed image onto a surface in front of the device;

a touch sensor light source to project a plane of light above said displayed image;

a camera directed to capture a touch sense image from a region including at least a portion of said plane of light, said touch sense image comprising light scattered from said plane of light by an object approaching said displayed image; and

a signal processor coupled to said camera, to process a said touch sense image from said camera to identify a location of said object relative to said displayed image; wherein:

said touch sensor light source is on-off modulated;

said signal processor is configured to determine two difference images, a first difference image between said touch sense image captured when said touch sensor light source is on and a preceding said image captured when said touch sensor light source is off, and a second difference image between said touch sense image captured when said touch sensor light source is on and a following said image captured when said touch sensor light source is off, and to compensate, for a level of ambient light in said captured touch sense image captured when said touch sensor light source is on, by selecting data, for processing to identify said location of said object, dependent on said two difference images, and

said selecting comprises using one of said two difference images as a mask for the other of said two difference images.

2. A touch sensitive image display device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said signal processor is configured to determine a difference between said captured touch sense image captured when said touch sensor light source is on and a weighted sum of each of said images captured when said touch sensor light source is off.

3. A touch sensitive image display device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said signal processor is configured to determine an estimated image of said ambient light by comparing corresponding pixels or regions of said images captured when said touch sensor light source is off to determine, for each pixel or region, a maximum detected light level in said images.

4. A touch sensitive image display device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said signal processor is configured to determine an estimated image of said ambient light by digitally filtering said images captured when said touch sensor light source is off.

5. A touch sensitive image display device as claimed in claim 4 , wherein said digital filtering comprises combining a previous said estimated image of said ambient light with a subsequent said image captured when said touch sensor light source is off.

6. A touch sensitive image display device, said device comprising:

an image projector to project a displayed image onto a surface in front of the device;

a touch sensor light source to project a plane of light above said displayed image;

a camera directed to capture a touch sense image from a region including at least a portion of said plane of light, said touch sense image comprising light scattered from said plane of light by an object approaching said displayed image; and

a signal processor coupled to said camera, to process a said touch sense image from said camera to identify a location of said object relative to said displayed image; wherein:

said touch sensor light source is on-off modulated;

said signal processor is configured to determine two difference images, a first difference image between said touch sense image captured when said touch sensor light source is on and a preceding said image captured when said touch sensor light source is off, and a second difference image between said touch sense image captured when said touch sensor light source is on and a following said image captured when said touch sensor light source is off, and to compensate, for a level of ambient light in said captured touch sense image captured when said touch sensor light source is on, by selecting data, for processing to identify said location of said object, dependent on said two difference images, and,

said selecting is performed on a row-by-row basis.

7. A touch sensitive image display device as claimed in claim 6 , wherein said signal processor is configured to determine a difference between said captured touch sense image captured when said touch sensor light source is on and a weighted sum of each of said images captured when said touch sensor light source is off.

8. A touch sensitive image display device as claimed in claim 6 , wherein said signal processor is configured to determine an estimated image of said ambient light by comparing corresponding pixels or regions of said images captured when said touch sensor light source is off to determine, for each pixel or region, a maximum detected light level in said images.

9. A touch sensitive image display device as claimed in claim 6 , wherein said signal processor is configured to determine an estimated image of said ambient light by digitally filtering said images captured when said touch sensor light source is off.

10. A touch sensitive image display device as claimed in claim 9 , wherein said digital filtering comprises combining a previous said estimated image of said ambient light with a subsequent said image captured when said touch sensor light source is off.

11. A method of ambient light interference suppression in a touch sensitive image display device, the device comprising:

an image projector to project a displayed image onto a surface in front of the device;

a touch sensor light source to project a plane of light above said displayed image;

a camera directed to capture a touch sense image from a region including at least

a portion of said plane of light, said touch sense image comprising light scattered from said plane of light by an object approaching said displayed image; and

a signal processor coupled to said camera, to process a said touch sense image from said camera to identify a location of said object relative to said displayed image;

the method comprising:

amplitude modulating said touch sensor light source;

determining a first difference image between said touch sense image captured when said touch sensor light source is on and a preceding image when said touch sensor light source is off;

determining a second difference image between said touch sense image captured when said touch sensor light source is on and a following said image captured when said touch sensor light source is off;

compensating for a level of ambient light in said captured touch sense image captured when said touch sensor light source is on, by selecting data, for processing to identify said location of said object, dependent on said two different images;

wherein

selecting data comprises using one of said two difference images as a mask for the other of said two difference images; and

selecting is performed on a row-by-row basis.

12. A method of ambient light interference suppression as claimed in claim 11 , the method further comprising determining, from corresponding pixels or regions of said images captured when said touch sensor light source is off, for each pixel or region a function of a detected light level in said images when said touch sensor light source is off, to determine an image of said ambient light; and compensating for said ambient light in said captured touch sense image captured when said touch sensor light source is on using said image of said ambient light.

13. A method of ambient light interference suppression as claimed in claim 11 , the method further comprising comparing corresponding pixels or regions of said images captured when said touch sensor light source is off to determine, for each pixel or region, a maximum detected light level in said images when said touch sensor light source is off; using said maximum detected light levels to determine an image of said ambient light; and

compensating for said ambient light in said captured touch sense image captured when said touch sensor light source is on using said image of said ambient light.

14. A method of ambient light interference suppression as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the device further comprises:

a non-transitory data carrier carrying processor control code to implement the method.