Visual pairing in an interactive display system

A method of pairing a remote pointing device with a display system for interactively controlling the operation of the display system, comprising the steps of:

• displaying pairing code information at a graphics display;
• transmitting, from the display system, a wireless beacon signal including the pairing code information;
• capturing, at the pointing device, image data representative of at least a portion of the graphics display, the captured image data including the pairing code information;
• responsive to the pairing code information in the wireless beacon signal received at the pointing device matching the pairing code information included in the captured image data, transmitting a wireless pairing signal from the pointing device;
• receiving the wireless pairing signal at the display system;
• authorizing wireless control signals transmitted by the pointing device to control the operation of the display system;
• and
• then, responsive to wireless control signals from the pointing device, operating the display system to display visual information at the graphics display.

An interactive display system, comprising:

• a computerized display system, comprising:
• a display;
• a computer for generating image data to be displayed on the display, the image data including visual payload data and a pairing code;
• and
• a receiver, for receiving wireless signals;
• and
• a pointing device, comprising:
• a housing;
• a camera disposed in the housing;
• image capture circuitry for capturing image data obtained by the camera;
• pairing circuitry, coupled to the image capture circuitry for detecting pairing code information detected in the captured image data;
• and
• a transmitter, coupled to the pairing circuitry, for transmitting wireless signals including pairing code information detected in the captured image data;
• wherein the computer is programmed to respond to control signals transmitted by the pointing device responsive to receiving wireless signals from the pointing device including pairing code information matching the pairing code in the displayed image data.

An interactive display system, comprising:

• a computerized display system, comprising:
• a display;
• a computer for generating image data to be displayed on the display, the image data including visual payload data and pairing code information;
• and
• wireless circuitry for transmitting and receiving wireless signals, at least some of the transmitted wireless signals including pairing code information;
• and
• a pointing device, comprising:
• a housing;
• a camera disposed in the housing;
• image capture circuitry for capturing image data obtained by the camera;
• wireless circuitry for receiving and transmitting wireless signals;
• pairing circuitry for comparing pairing code information detected in the captured image data with pairing code information detected in wireless signals received by the wireless circuitry of the pointing device;
• and
• wherein the computer is programmed to respond to control signals transmitted by the pointing device, responsive to receiving a wireless signal from the pointing device indicating that the pairing circuitry has detected a match between the pairing code information in the displayed image data and pairing code information transmitted by the wireless circuitry of the display system.