Long-range hand gesture interaction based on spatio-temporal encoding

Abstract

We present a novel hand gesture interaction method which has a long-range working space (1m~5m) overcoming conventional approaches' limitations in cost-performance dependency. Our camera-free interaction system is composed of a pair of lighting device and an instrumented glove with photosensor markers. The lighting devices spatiotemporally encode user's interaction space via binary infrared light signals and markers' 3D position at fingertips is tracked at high speed (250 Hz) and fair accuracy (5mm at 3m working distance). Each marker consisting of a photosensor array allows a wide sensing range and minimizes fingers' self-occlusion. Experiment results demonstrate various applications where hand gestures are recognized as input commands to interact with digital information mimicking natural human hand gestures toward real objects. Our system has strengths in accuracy, speed, low price, and robustness comparing with conventional long-range interaction techniques. Ambiguity-free nature in marker recognition and little cost-performance dependency are additional advantages of our method. ？ 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.