APPARATUS AND A METHOD FOR GESTURE RECOGNITION

• US 20120235903A1
• Filed: 03/14/2011
• Published: 09/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: IM, Soungmin
• Granted Patent: US 9,189,068 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/158
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/005 Input arrangements through a video camera
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0304 Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means constructional details of pointing devices not related to the detection arrangement using opto-electronic means G06F3/033; optical digitisers G06F3/042
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/28 Recognition of hand or arm movements, e.g. recognition of deaf sign language static hand signs G06V40/113

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for gesture recognition and an apparatus for gesture recognition carrying out the method. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method for gesture recognition recognizing a finger gesture by using depth information and an apparatus for gesture recognition carrying out the method.

Claims

1-26. -26. (canceled)

27. An apparatus for gesture recognition, comprising:

a controller configured to;

obtain, via a 3D camera, a first image having first depth information and a second image having second depth information, wherein each of the first and second images includes at least a part of a hand respectively,

identify a finger gesture for remotely controlling an operation of the apparatus by the hand based on a difference between the first depth information and the second depth information, and

perform the operation according to the identified finger gesture.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the 3D camera is integrated into the apparatus or is an external device.

29. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the finger gesture is identified by a movement of one or two fingers of the hand.

30. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the finger gesture is identified by a movement of three or more fingers of the hand.

31. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the finger gesture includes a drag-and-click gesture, a click gesture, or a double click gesture according to a gesture of at least one finger of the hand.

32. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the controller indentifies the finger gesture based on an attribute of an area where the first depth information and the second depth information are substantially different from each other.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein when the first depth information reflects a shorter distance for the area than the second depth information, the controller determines the finger gesture as a first gesture of folding a finger.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein when the first gesture is received, the controller performs an operation assigned to a press motion of a click motion.

35. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein when the first depth information reflects a longer distance for the area than the second depth information, the controller determines the finger gesture as a second gesture of unfolding a finger.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein when the second gesture is received, the controller performs an operation assigned to a release motion of a click motion.

37. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the controller identifies the finger gesture based on a width of the area.

38. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein when the width of the area is included in a first predetermined range, the controller determines the finger gesture as a third gesture by a single finger.

39. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein when the third gesture is received, the controller performs an operation assigned to a click motion.

40. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein when the width of the area included in a second predetermined range, the controller determines the finger gesture as a fourth gesture by two fingers.

41. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein when the fourth gesture is received, the controller performs an operation assigned to a double click motion.

42. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the attribute of the area includes at least one of a size, a width, and a deviation of the area.

43. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein when identifying the finger gesture, the controller obtains depth difference information between the first and second depth information for the hand while the hand is not moved or is moved within a certain range, and identifies the finger gesture based on a movement of at least one finger detected from the obtained depth difference information.

44. The apparatus of claim 27, further comprising an output module,

wherein the controller obtains a position of the hand and controls the output module to output a cursor at a point corresponding to the position of the hand, on a screen of the output module.

45. The apparatus of claim 44, wherein when the finger gesture is received, the controller selects an item or executes an operation related to the item, wherein the item is located at the point where the cursor is displayed.

46. The apparatus of claim 27, further comprising a 2D camera for obtaining color information,

wherein the controller detects a position of the hand by analyzing color images obtained through the 2D camera.

47. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the 3D camera includes a TOF (Time Of Flight) camera or a structured light source camera.

48. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the depth information includes information reflecting a depth of each pixel.

49. The apparatus of claim 48, wherein the controller identifies the finger gesture based on at least one of the number of pixels where a difference between the first depth information and the second depth information is larger than a predetermined value, and a deviation of the pixels.

50. The apparatus of claim 27, further comprising an output module,

wherein when the finger gesture is identified, the controller controls the output module to output information regarding at least one of whether or not the finger gesture has been identified and a type of the identified finger gesture.

51. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the controller outputs any error associated with identifying the finger gesture according to the difference between the first depth information and the second depth information.

52. A method for controlling an apparatus for gesture recognition, the apparatus including a controller, the method comprising:

obtaining, via a 3D camera communicating with the controller, a first image having first depth information and a second image having second depth information, wherein each of the first and second images includes at least a part of a hand respectively;

identifying, by the controller, a finger gesture for remotely controlling an operation of the apparatus by the hand based on a difference between the first depth information and the second depth information; and

performing, by the controller, the operation according to the identified finger gesture.

53. The method of claim 52, wherein the controller indentifies the finger gesture based on an attribute of an area where the first depth information and the second depth information are substantially different from each other.

54. The method of claim 53, wherein when the first depth information reflects a shorter distance for the area than the second depth information, the identifying step determines the finger gesture as a first gesture of folding a finger, and

when the first depth information reflects a longer distance for the area than the second depth information, the identifying step determines the finger gesture as a second gesture of unfolding a finger.

55. The method of claim 54, wherein when the first gesture is received, the performing step performs an operation assigned to a press motion of a click motion;

or

when the second gesture is received, the performing step performs an operation assigned to a release motion of a click motion.

56. The method of claim 53, wherein the identifying step identifies the finger gesture based on a width of the area.

57. The method of claim 56, wherein when the width of the area is included in a first predetermined range, the identifying step determines the finger gesture as a third gesture by a single finger, and

when the third gesture is received, the performing step performs an operation assigned to a click motion.

58. The method of claim 56, wherein when the width of the area included in a second predetermined range, the identifying step determines the finger gesture as a fourth gesture by two fingers, and

when the fourth gesture is received, the performing step performs an operation assigned to a double click motion.

59. The method of claim 53, wherein the attribute of the area includes at least one of a size, a width, and a deviation of the area.