Z-axis determination in a 2D gesture system

• US 9,412,012 B2
• Filed: 07/02/2014
• Issued: 08/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: MacDougall, Francis Bernard, Van Dyken, Shaun William, Hildreth, Evan Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Couso, Yon
• Application Number:
  US14/322,828
• Publication Number:
  US 20150104075A1
• Time in Patent Office: 769 Days
• Field of Search: 382/106
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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: G06V 10/507 Summing image-intensity values; Histogram projection analysis
• 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

Systems, apparatus and methods for determining a gesture are presented. According to some aspects, disclosed are systems, apparatus and methods for determining a gesture that compares different images and deduces a direction and/or distance based on a relative size change of a palm in the different images. After a reference palm size is registered, subsequent palm sizes are compared to the reference to determine if and/or how much the hand is moving. The hand gesture is determined based on these relative changes in hand movement.

Claims

1. A method in a mobile device for determining a gesture, the method comprising:

capturing a first image containing a hand having a first size;

filling the hand in the first image with a first circle;

computing a first indication of the first size of the hand in the first image based on the first circle;

capturing a second image containing the hand having a second size;

filling the hand in the second image with a second circle;

computing a second indication of the second size of the hand in the second image based on the second circle;

computing a relative change between the first image and the second image; and

determining the gesture based on the relative change.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first image and the second image are received from an optical camera.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first image and the second image are received from an infrared camera.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first image and the second image are received from an ultrasonic camera.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the hand in the first image and the second image comprises an open palm.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting the hand in the first image; and

registering the first indication of the size as a reference hand size.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the relative change indicates a direction and distance.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein computing the relative change results in a relative distance.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising repeating acts of:

re-capturing a next image containing the hand;

re-computing an indication of the next size of the hand in the next image; and

re-computing the relative change.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising determining the relative change is less than a threshold.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising determining a time, between capturing the first image and capturing the second image, is less than a threshold time.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining difference between the first indication of size and the second indication of size is greater than a threshold.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising interpreting the gesture.

14. A mobile device for determining a gesture, the mobile device comprising:

a camera configured to;

capture a first image containing a hand having a first size; and

capture a second image containing the hand having a second size; and

a processor coupled to the camera and comprising code to;

fill the hand in the first image with a first circle;

compute a first indication of the first size of the hand in the first image based on the first circle;

fill the hand in the second image with a second circle;

compute a second indication of the second size of the hand in the second image based on the second circle;

compute a relative change between the first image and the second image; and

determine the gesture based on the relative change.

15. The mobile device of claim 14, wherein the camera comprises an optical camera.

16. The mobile device of claim 14, wherein the camera comprises an infrared camera.

17. The mobile device of claim 14, wherein the camera comprises an ultrasonic camera.

18. The mobile device of claim 14, wherein the code to compute the relative change results in a relative distance.

19. A mobile device for determining a gesture, the mobile device comprising:

means for capturing a first image containing a hand having a first size;

means for filling the hand in the first image with a first circle;

means for computing a first indication of the first size of the hand in the first image based on the first circle;

means for capturing a second image containing the hand having a second size;

means for filling the hand in the second image with a second circle;

means for computing a second indication of the second size of the hand in the second image based on the second circle;

means for computing a relative change between the first image and the second image; and

means for determining the gesture based on computing the relative change.

20. The mobile device of claim 19, wherein the relative change indicates a direction and distance.

21. The mobile device of claim 20, wherein computing the relative change results in a relative distance.

22. The mobile device of claim 19, further comprising means for interpreting the gesture.

23. A non-transient computer-readable storage medium including program code stored thereon, comprising program code to:

capture a first image containing a hand having a first size;

fill the hand in the first image with a first circle;

compute the first indication of the first size of the hand in the first image based on the first circle;

capture a second image containing the hand having a second size;

fill the hand in the second image with a second circle;

compute the second indication of the second size of the hand in the second image based on the second circle;

compute a relative change between the first image and the second image; and

determine the gesture based on computing the relative change.