Patent Document

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to a portable presentation computer station which can capture a presentation lecture being given by an individual while incorporating material written on a writing tablet. The presentation can then be stored on the computer or displayed on a screen or on individual computers connected through the internet. 
         [0002]    In the past, it has been common to make presentations to an audience with the aid of an overhead projector. These projectors typically have a plate which is illuminated so that light passing through or to one side of an object is projected upward and then laterally onto a viewing screen. In one type of presentation, the presenter lays a series of clear or translucent plastic sheets on a projection plate one at a time while giving a talk. The sheets can contain written information, drawings, graphs, photographs, or any other type of visual information. Sometimes a presenter may write on the sheets as part of the presentation. In another type of presentation, an active matrix liquid screen is placed on the projection plate. The screen is connected to a personal computer which then sends signals to the screen to activate pixels of the liquid crystal screen to display computer generated images. 
         [0003]    The Bogomolnyi U.S. Pat. No. 6,550,922 is for a system for making an audio-video recording of an overhead projector based presentation. It captures the audio-video recording of an overhead projector based presentation. 
         [0004]    It has also been common in the past to provide writing tablets which are hand-writing data entry panels for capturing hand writing or drawing thereon directly into a computer. These writing tablets typically have pressure sensitive tablets and a touch pen connected to capture into a computer anything that is written on the tablet. Such systems can be seen in the Akiyama et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,336 and in the Oka U.S. Pat. No. 5,835,081. 
         [0005]    Samsung Techwin Co., Ltd. has a presentation station which includes a document camera and a PC in one device. The Samsung video presenter is a camera system which is designed for grabbing images of different kinds of objects which are placed under the camera. The camera can also be tilted and moved for grabbing different types of images from different angles. This presentation system is especially adapted for replacing overhead projectors, slide projectors and video document cameras for creating slides or overhead foils. 
         [0006]    The present invention on the other hand is directed towards capturing a presenter&#39;s entire presentation, such as a lecturer giving a presentation in front of a blackboard, which presentation can include video still camera images and audio and which can also take video or still images of objects placed on the laptop computer as well as flip charts and other materials used in a presentation. The presentation station includes a keyboard for inputting from the keyboard as well as a built-in writing tablet that allows writings or drawings to be placed on top of presentation images. The presentation can then be presented on a large monitor or screen or can be saved and transmitted to individual computer users over the internet. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    A portable presentation computer station is provided in which a laptop computer has a computer screen, a keyboard, a mouse, and a mouse pen combined with a writing tablet operatively attached to the computer. A telescoping arm is movably attached to the computer with a video and still camera movably attached thereto. The telescoping arm has two ends with a hinged joint between the ends. The arm telescopes on both sides of the hinge allowing the telescoping arm to be folded into position adjacent the computer for storage and transportability. The video camera is movably attached to the end of the telescoping arm and operatively connected to the computer to thereby allow the video camera to be universally positioned over the writing tablet or directed for capturing a presentation. The portable presentation station can be set up to capture a presentation for display storage and transmission as desired. The writing tablet is positioned on the computer over the keyboard. The keyboard can be extended from underneath the writing tablet. In addition, the video and still camera has an audio mike therein as well as camera lights for capturing the image or writing on the writing tablet as well as an entire presentation. The laptop computer has a built-in camera which can be used for capturing images for incorporating into the presentation. The telescoping arm has a rotating joint connecting the arm to the laptop computer for rotating the camera mounted thereto. The portable presentation computer station also has a case attached to the computer and positioned for the telescoping arm to fold into for storage and transportability while remaining operatively connected to the laptop computer. The case can have a generally U-shaped cross-section for the telescoping arm to fold into for storage and transportability. The computer has a remote control for actuating the computer and video camera. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0008]    Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the written description and the drawings in which: 
           [0009]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a portable presentation computer station in accordance with the present invention; 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the camera head of the presentation station of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  is an elevation view of the camera head; 
           [0012]      FIG. 4  is a top elevation of the presentation station positioned for capturing objects placed on the computer writing tablet; 
           [0013]      FIG. 5  is a top elevation of the computer presentation station with the telescoping arm folded for transporting the unit; and 
           [0014]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the presentation station of  FIG. 1  capturing a presentation. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0015]    Referring to the drawings and to  FIG. 1 , a portable presentation computer station  10  includes a laptop computer  11 , having a computer screen  12  and having a writing tablet  13  on the top over a slide-out keyboard  14 . The computer  11  has a built-in camera  15  which can take still or video images which are captured in the computer and held in the memory of the computer. The presentation station  10  includes a telescoping arm  16  attached to the laptop computer  11  with a rotary joint  17 . The telescoping arm  16  is hinged with a hinge  18  and has a telescoping portion  20  and a telescoping portion  21 . The hinge  18  also has a pinned rotating section  19  which allows the arm portion  21  to rotate on the arm portion  20 . This allows the arm portion  21  and camera  22  to swing over the writing tablet as seen in  FIG. 4 . The telescoping portion  20  is movably attached with a joint  17  to the laptop computer  11 . The telescoping arm  21  has a camera  22  mounted on the end thereof for capturing still or video images and also has a microphone mounted therein as well as camera lights. The telescoping arm  20  rotates on the hinged joint  17 . The telescoping arm  21  is mounted with the hinge  18  to the telescoping portion  20  to allow the entire arm  16  to be folded and positioned in a carrying case  23 . The arm can be folded into the case  23  and the computer screen  12  folded for portability of the presentation unit  10 . 
         [0016]    As more clearly seen in  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the camera head  22  has a camera lens  24  along with a camera light  25  placed on one side and also has a microphone  26  mounted therein. The camera head  22  can be seen as mounted on a rotary joint  27  at the end of telescoping arm portion  21 . The camera system  22  has a rotary casing  28  mounted in a yoke  30  for rotation on a shaft  31  which allows the camera  22  to be repositioned to change the face of the camera lens  24  from a horizontal position in  FIG. 2  to a vertical position of  FIG. 3 . This also allows the camera lens to be rotated  180  degrees to invert the image. The camera can also be rotated on the rotary joint  27  as well as on the joint  29  to thereby allow a universal positioning of the camera lens  24 . The joint  29  allows the camera lens to remain horizontal while aligning the lens over the writing table  13 . Electrical connectors lead from the computer to the camera and lights through the arm  21  for transmitting power to the camera and lights and for transmitting images captured by the camera head  22  to the laptop computer. 
         [0017]    As more clearly seen in  FIGS. 4 and 5 , the presentation station  10  has a writing tablet  13  mounted on a base thereof and has a keyboard  14  mounted beneath the writing tablet which can be pulled out from underneath the writing tablet in order to use the keyboard. The writing tablet  13  is also used for a surface for placing objects that are being photographed with the camera head  22  by telescoping and rotating the telescoping arm  16  to position the camera over the writing tablet as shown in  FIG. 4 . The presentation station of the present invention also comes with a wireless mouse  31  and a mouse pen  32 . 
         [0018]    Turning to  FIG. 6 , a person  33  making a presentation before a blackboard  36  is shown placed with the camera  22  facing the presentation being made and with the presentation unit being placed on a table nearby. The presenter has a remote control  34  which allows for the starting and stopping of the camera recording and also has a blue-tooth earpiece and mike  35  which can be used to directly capture the voice from the presenter into the computer. Once the images are captured in the laptop computer  11  memory, they can be outputted from the computer to a video projector for projecting the presentation onto a screen output or can be transmitted over the internet to an output display. The presentation, for example, can be transmitted to a personal computer for display on the personal computer screen. The captured presentation can also be manipulated within the computer by editing the captured video and with the addition of additional images or materials as desired including still images for the camera  22  or hand writing or drawings made on the writing tablet  13 . 
         [0019]    It should be clear at this point that a computer presentation station has been provided which it adapted to capture a presentation for display, storage and transmission. However, the present invention is not to be construed as limited to the forms shown which are to be considered illustrative rather than restrictive.

Technology Category: g