Patent ID: 8432391

Claim:
A remote control device which outputs operation information corresponding to a menu image displayed on a display screen and specified by a user at a distance from the display screen, the remote control device comprising: a three-dimensional modeling unit configured to generate a first three-dimensional model and a second three-dimensional model, the first three-dimensional model showing an appearance of a form of the user at a first point in time, and the second three-dimensional model showing an appearance of a form of the user at a second point in time that is later than the first point in time; a three-dimensional rendering unit configured to (i) perform a projective transformation on the first three-dimensional model generated by the three-dimensional modeling unit, to obtain depth information indicative of a relationship between a position on a projection plane and a depth value, (ii) store the depth information into a depth buffer, and (iii) generate a first user image using the depth information, and the three-dimensional rendering unit also being configured to (i) perform a projective transformation on the second three-dimensional model generated by the three-dimensional modeling unit, to obtain depth information indicative of relationship between a position on a projection plane and a depth value, (ii) store the depth information into the depth buffer, and (iii) generate a second user image using the depth information; a first operation determination unit configured to determine, when the second user image generated by the three-dimensional rendering unit is displayed on the display screen, whether or not the menu image overlaps with the second user image; a second operation determination unit configured to (i) calculate, when the second user image generated by the three-dimensional rendering unit is displayed on the display screen, an amount of movement of the second user image in a direction perpendicular to the display screen, and (ii) determine coordinates of a position specified by the user, on the display screen based on the calculated amount of the movement; and an operation information output unit configured to output operation information corresponding to the menu image, when the first operation determination unit determines that the menu image overlaps with the second user image and when the coordinates determined by the second operation determination unit are included within a display area of the menu image, wherein the second operation determination unit is configured to calculate as the amount of the movement a difference value between the depth value of the first user image and the depth value of the second user image with reference to the depth information stored in the depth buffer.