Method and apparatus for providing hand detection

• US 8,965,051 B2
• Filed: 10/18/2010
• Issued: 02/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/18/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Fang, Yikai, Xu, Lei, Wang, Kongqiao
• Primary Examiner(s): Cunningham, Gregory F
• Application Number:
  US13/877,775
• Publication Number:
  US 20130188836A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,590 Days
• Field of Search: 382/103, 715/863
• US Class Current: 382/103
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/25 Determination of region of interest [ROI] or a volume of interest [VOI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/467 Encoded features or binary features, e.g. local binary patterns [LBP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/107 Static hand or arm
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/20 Movements or behaviour, e.g. gesture recognition recognition of facial expressions G06V40/16
• 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

A method for providing hand detection may include receiving feature transformed image data for a series of image frames, determining asymmetric difference data indicative of differences between feature transformed image data of a plurality of frames of the series of image frames and a reference frame, and determining a target area based on an intersection of the asymmetric difference data. An apparatus and computer program product corresponding to the method are also provided.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving feature transformed image data for a series of image frames;

determining asymmetric difference data indicative of differences between feature transformed image data of a plurality of frames of the series of image frames and a reference frame; and

determining a target area based on an intersection of the asymmetric difference data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving feature transformed image data comprises receiving data transformed using a local binary pattern (LBP) operator.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining asymmetric difference data comprises determining differences between feature transformed image data of sequential ones of the plurality of frames and a current frame.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising rebinarizing the asymmetric difference data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the target area comprises determining the target area based on an intersection of rebinarized asymmetric difference data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein rebinarizing the asymmetric difference data comprises conducting rebinarizing using local adaptive thresholding.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving feature transformed image data comprises receiving data indicating a location of a hand in the plurality of frames.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the target area comprises determining an area in which movement of an object occurs in the plurality of frames.

9. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:

receive feature transformed image data for a series of image frames;

determine asymmetric difference data indicative of differences between feature transformed image data of a plurality of frames of the series of image frames and a reference frame; and

determine a target area based on an intersection of the asymmetric difference data.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to receive feature transformed image data by receiving data transformed using a local binary pattern (LBP) operator.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to determine asymmetric difference data by determining differences between feature transformed image data of sequential ones of the plurality of frames and a current frame.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to rebinarize the asymmetric difference data.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to determine the target area by determining the target area based on an intersection of rebinarized asymmetric difference data.

14. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to rebinarize the asymmetric difference data by conducting rebinarizing using local adaptive thresholding.

15. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to receive feature transformed image data by receiving data indicating a location of a hand in the plurality of frames.

16. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to determine the target area by determining an area in which movement of an object occurs in the plurality of frames.

17. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the apparatus is a mobile terminal and further comprises user interface circuitry configured to facilitate user control of at least some functions of the mobile terminal.

18. A computer program product comprising at least one computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program code instructions stored therein, the computer-executable program code instructions including program code instructions that when executed at least cause an apparatus to:

receive feature transformed image data for a series of image frames;

determine asymmetric difference data indicative of differences between feature transformed image data of a plurality of frames of the series of image frames and a reference frame; and

determine a target area based on an intersection of the asymmetric difference data.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, further comprising program code instructions for rebinarizing the asymmetric difference data.

20. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein program code instructions for determining the target area include instructions for determining the target area based on an intersection of rebinarized asymmetric difference data.