Localized gesture aggregation

• US 8,145,594 B2
• Filed: 05/29/2009
• Issued: 03/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Geisner, Kevin, Latta, Stephen, Snook, Gregory N., Markovic, Relja
• Primary Examiner(s): LEROUX, ETIENNE PIERRE
• Application Number:
  US12/474,581
• Publication Number:
  US 20100306261A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,033 Days
• Field of Search: 707/2, 707/3, 707/104.1, 707/607, 348/14.16
• US Class Current: 707/607
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• 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

Abstract

Systems, methods and computer readable media are disclosed for a localized gesture aggregation. In a system where user movement is captured by a capture device to provide gesture input to the system, demographic information regarding users as well as data corresponding to how those users respectively make various gestures is gathered. When a new user begins to use the system, his demographic information is analyzed to determine a most likely way that he will attempt to make or find it easy to make a given gesture. That most likely way is then used to process the new user'"'"'s gesture input.

Claims

1. In a computing environment that captures information about movement of a user, and analyzes whether the user has performed a gesture, a method comprising:

receiving demographic information describing at least one demographic characteristic of a user;

selecting a parameter for a gesture filter or the gesture filter based at least in part on the received demographic information of the user, the gesture filter representing a gesture, the parameter affecting how the gesture filter interprets depth image data to produce an output; and

sending an indication of the parameter for the gesture filter, or an indication of the gesture filter, to a component that uses the gesture filter to interpret the depth image data, the gesture filter being configured to receive depth image data indicative of motion or pose by the user and produce an output from the depth image data.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving demographic information of a second user and information about a way that the second user performed the gesture corresponding to the gesture filter; and

storing the demographic information of the second user and the information about the way that the second user performed the gesture.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

storing the demographic information of the second user in response to determining that the second user has opted in to having demographic information stored.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the information about the way that the second user performed the gesture comprises:

one or more depth images of the second user performing the gesture, a representation of how the user performed the gesture, and an output analyzing how the user performed the gesture.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting a parameter for a gesture filter or the gesture filter based at least in part on the received demographic information of the user comprises:

selecting a parameter corresponding to the user performing the gesture well in response to determining, based on the demographic information, that the user is likely to perform the gesture well.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the output comprises a confidence level, and selecting a parameter for a gesture filter or the gesture filter based at least in part on the received demographic information of the user comprises:

selecting the parameter for a gesture filter or the gesture filter such that analyzing the depth image data with the gesture filter produces an output with a high confidence level.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting a parameter for a gesture filter or the gesture filter comprises:

selecting the parameter or the gesture filter such that processing the depth image data with the gesture filter produces an output indicative of it being more likely that the gesture occurred than an output produced by a processing the depth image data with a second gesture filter.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the output comprises:

a likelihood that the user has performed the gesture.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting a parameter for a gesture filter or the gesture filter based at least in part on the received demographic information of the user is performed in response to:

determining that the user has opted in to having the user'"'"'s demographic information used.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting a parameter for a gesture filter or the gesture filter based at least in part on the received demographic information of the user comprises:

selecting the parameter for the gesture filter or the gesture filter based on a weighted-decision function taking at least some received demographic information as an argument.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting a parameter for a gesture filter or the gesture filter based at least in part on the received demographic information of the user comprises:

selecting a parameter corresponding to the user performing the gesture poorly in response to determining, based on the demographic information, that the user is likely to perform the gesture poorly.

12. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory communicatively coupled to the processor when the system is operational, the memory bearing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to at least;

receive information representing a gesture performed by a user, the information having been generated from a depth image captured by a depth camera;

compare the information to information representing a known gesture that may be performed by users;

determine, based on the comparison, that it is likely that the user has performed the known gesture;

receive demographic information describing at least one demographic characteristic of the user; and

store information correlating the received demographic information with the information representing the known gesture.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the demographic information comprises:

user-stated information, or gathered user information.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the user-stated information comprises:

age, sex, location, nationality, language, or a user-assigned rating for an application.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the gathered user information comprises:

an internet protocol (IP) address, expertise, friends on an online multi-player system, a currently-executing application, a computing system used by the user, or a previously-executed application.

16. A computer-readable storage medium for customizing a system-recognized gesture based on demographic information of a user, comprising computer-readable instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

receiving demographic information describing a demographic characteristic of a user;

in response to sending the demographic information to a server, receiving a parameter for a gesture filter or the gesture filter, the gesture filter representing the system-recognized gesture, the parameter affecting how the gesture filter interprets data to produce an output;

receiving depth image data captured by a depth image capture device, the depth image data being indicative of a position or movement of the user; and

analyzing the depth image data with the gesture filter to produce an output.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, further comprising computer-readable instructions that, when executed on the computer, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

determining a pre-rendered animation based on the demographic information, the pre-rendered animation corresponding to the system-recognized gesture;

determining from the output that it is likely that the user performed the system-recognized gesture; and

displaying the pre-rendered animation.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, further comprising computer-readable instructions that, when executed on the computer, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

providing feedback to the user.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein providing feedback to the user comprises:

providing coaching feedback to the user on how to perform the system-recognized gesture.