U.S. patent application number 12/494303 was filed with the patent office on 2009-10-29 for architecture for controlling a computer using hand gestures.
This patent application is currently assigned to Microsoft Corporation. Invention is credited to Nuria M. Oliver, Andrew D. Wilson.
Application Number | 20090268945 12/494303 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 32988815 |
Filed Date | 2009-10-29 |
United States Patent
Application |
20090268945 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Wilson; Andrew D. ; et
al. |
October 29, 2009 |
ARCHITECTURE FOR CONTROLLING A COMPUTER USING HAND GESTURES
Abstract
Architecture for implementing a perceptual user interface. The
architecture comprises alternative modalities for controlling
computer application programs and manipulating on-screen objects
through hand gestures or a combination of hand gestures and verbal
commands. The perceptual user interface system includes a tracking
component that detects object characteristics of at least one of a
plurality of objects within a scene, and tracks the respective
object. Detection of object characteristics is based at least in
part upon image comparison of a plurality of images relative to a
course mapping of the images. A seeding component iteratively seeds
the tracking component with object hypotheses based upon the
presence of the object characteristics and the image comparison. A
filtering component selectively removes the tracked object from the
object hypotheses and/or at least one object hypothesis from the
set of object hypotheses based upon predetermined removal
criteria.
Inventors: |
Wilson; Andrew D.; (Seattle,
WA) ; Oliver; Nuria M.; (Seattle, WA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
MICROSOFT CORPORATION
ONE MICROSOFT WAY
REDMOND
WA
98052-6399
US
|
Assignee: |
Microsoft Corporation
Redmond
WA
|
Family ID: |
32988815 |
Appl. No.: |
12/494303 |
Filed: |
June 30, 2009 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
10396653 |
Mar 25, 2003 |
|
|
|
12494303 |
|
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
382/103 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 3/023 20130101;
G06F 13/105 20130101; G06F 3/017 20130101; G06K 9/00355 20130101;
G06F 3/038 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
382/103 |
International
Class: |
G06K 9/00 20060101
G06K009/00 |
Claims
1. A method of determining a command, comprising: capturing an
image of an object with a camera; determining a gesture based at
least partly upon the image; detecting an audio input; and
determining, at one or more processors, the command based at least
partly upon the gesture and the audio input.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining a depth
of the object; and determining the command based at least partly
upon the depth of the object.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the depth of the
object includes capturing a second image of the object with a
second camera.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the camera is a video camera.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the camera detects visible
light.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the gesture includes
capturing a second image of the object with the camera and
comparing the image with the second image.
7. A computer-readable medium having instruction that cause a
processor to execute steps, the steps comprising: capturing an
image of an object with a camera; determining a gesture based at
least partly upon the image; detecting an audio input; and
determining, at one or more processors, a command based at least
partly upon the gesture and the audio input.
8. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, the steps further
comprising: determining a depth of the object; and determining the
command based at least partly upon the depth of the object.
9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein determining the
depth of the object includes capturing a second image of the object
with a second camera.
10. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the camera is
a video camera.
11. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the camera
detects visible light.
12. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein determining
the gesture includes capturing a second image of the object with
the camera and comparing the image with the second image.
13. A command determining system, comprising: a camera configured
to capture an image of an object; a first determiner configured to
determine a gesture based at least partly upon the image; an audio
detection unit configured to detect an audio input; and a second
determiner configured to determine the command based at least
partly upon the gesture and the audio input.
14. The command determining system of claim 13, further comprising:
a third determiner configured to determine a depth of the object,
wherein the second determiner is further configured to determine
the command based at least partly upon the depth of the object.
15. The command determining system of claim 14, wherein determining
the depth of the object includes capturing a second image of the
object with a second camera.
16. The command determining system of claim 13, wherein the camera
is a video camera.
17. The command determining system of claim 13, wherein the camera
detects visible light.
18. The command determining system of claim 13, wherein determining
the gesture includes capturing a second image of the object with
the camera and comparing the image with the second image.
Description
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.
10/396,653, filed on Mar. 25, 2003 and entitled, "ARCHITECTURE FOR
CONTROLLING A COMPUTER USING HAND GESTURES," the entire contents of
which is hereby incorporated by reference.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] The present invention relates generally to controlling a
computer system, and more particularly to a system and method to
implement alternative modalities for controlling computer
application programs and manipulating on-screen objects through
hand gestures or a combination of hand gestures and verbal
commands.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] A user interface facilitates the interaction between a
computer and computer user by enhancing the user's ability to
utilize application programs. The traditional interface between a
human user and a typical personal computer is implemented with
graphical displays and is generally referred to as a graphical user
interface (GUI). Input to the computer or particular application
program is accomplished through the presentation of graphical
information on the computer screen and through the use of a
keyboard and/or mouse, trackball or other similar implements. Many
systems employed for use in public areas utilize touch screen
implementations whereby the user touches a designated area of a
screen to effect the desired input. Airport electronic ticket
check-in kiosks and rental car direction systems are examples of
such systems. There are, however, many applications where the
traditional user interface is less practical or efficient.
[0004] The traditional computer interface is not ideal for a number
of applications. Providing stand-up presentations or other type of
visual presentations to large audiences, is but one example. In
this example, a presenter generally stands in front of the audience
and provides a verbal dialog in conjunction with the visual
presentation that is projected on a large display or screen.
Manipulation of the presentation by the presenter is generally
controlled through use of awkward remote controls, which frequently
suffer from inconsistent and less precise operation, or require the
cooperation of another individual. Traditional user interfaces
require the user either to provide input via the keyboard or to
exhibit a degree of skill and precision more difficult to implement
with a remote control than a traditional mouse and keyboard. Other
examples include control of video, audio, and display components of
a media room. Switching between sources, advancing fast
fast-forward, rewinding, changing chapters, changing volume, etc.,
can be very cumbersome in a professional studio as well as in the
home. Similarly, traditional interfaces are not well suited for
smaller, specialized electronic gadgets.
[0005] Additionally, people with motion impairment conditions find
it very challenging to cope with traditional user interfaces and
computer access systems. Such conditions include Cerebral Palsy,
Muscular Dystrophy, Friedrich's Ataxia, and spinal injuries or
disorders. These conditions and disorders are often accompanied by
tremors, spasms, loss of coordination, restricted range of
movement, reduced muscle strength, and other motion impairing
symptoms.
[0006] Similar symptoms exist in the growing elderly segment of the
population. As people age, their motor skills decline and impact
the ability to perform many tasks. It is known that as people age,
their cognitive, perceptual and motor skills decline, with negative
effects in their ability to perform many tasks. The requirement to
position a cursor, particularly with smaller graphical
presentations, can often be a significant barrier for elderly or
afflicted computer users. Computers can play an increasingly
important role in helping older adults function well in
society.
[0007] Graphical interfaces contribute to the ease of use of
computers. WIMP (Window, Icon, Menu, Pointing device (or Pull-down
menu)) interfaces allow fairly non-trivial operations to be
performed with a few mouse motions and clicks. However, at the same
time, this shift in the user interaction from a primarily
text-oriented experience to a point-and-click experience has
erected new barriers between people with disabilities and the
computer. For example, for older adults, there is evidence that
using the mouse can be quite challenging. There is extensive
literature demonstrating that the ability to make small movements
decreases with age. This decreased ability can have a major effect
on the ability of older adults to use a pointing device on a
computer. It has been shown that even experienced older computer
users move a cursor much more slowly and less accurately than their
younger counterparts. In addition, older adults seem to have
increased difficulty (as compared to younger users) when targets
become smaller. For older computer users, positioning a cursor can
be a severe limitation.
[0008] One solution to the problem of decreased ability to position
the cursor with a mouse is to simply increase the size of the
targets in computer displays, which can often be counter-productive
since less information is being displayed, requiring more
navigation. Another approach is to constrain the movement of the
mouse to follow on-screen objects, as with sticky icons or solid
borders that do not allow cursors to overshoot the target. There is
evidence that performance with area cursors (possibly translucent)
is better than performance with regular cursors for some target
acquisition tasks.
[0009] One method to facilitate computer access for users with
motion impairment conditions and for applications, in which the
traditional user interfaces are cumbersome, is through use of
perceptual user interfaces. Perceptual user interfaces utilize
alternate sensing modalities, such as the capability of sensing
physical gestures of the user, to replace or complement traditional
input devices such as the mouse and keyboard. Perceptual user
interfaces promise modes of fluid computer-human interaction that
complement and/or replace the mouse and keyboard, particularly in
non-desktop applications such as control for a media room.
[0010] One study indicates that adding a simple gesture-based
navigation facility to web browsers can significantly reduce the
time taken to carry out one of the most common actions in computer
use, i.e., using the "back" button (or function) to return to
previously visited pages. Subjective ratings by users in
experiments showed a strong preference for a "flick" system, where
the users would flick the mouse left or right to go back or forward
in the web browser.
[0011] In the simplest view, gestures play a symbolic communication
role similar to speech, suggesting that for simple tasks gesture
may enhance or replace speech recognition. Small gestures near the
keyboard or mouse do not induce fatigue as quickly as sustained
whole arm postures. Previous studies indicate that users find
gesture-based systems highly desirable, but that users are also
dissatisfied with the recognition accuracy of gesture recognizers.
Furthermore, experimental results indicate that a user's difficulty
with gestures is in part due to a lack of understanding of how
gesture recognition works. The studies highlight the ability of
users to learn and remember gestures as an important design
consideration.
[0012] Even when a mouse and keyboard are available, users may find
it attractive to manipulate often-used applications while away from
the keyboard, in what can be called a "casual interface" or
"lean-back" posture. Browsing e-mail over morning coffee might be
accomplished by mapping simple gestures to "next message" and
"delete message".
[0013] Gestures may compensate for the limitations of the mouse
when the display is several times larger than a typical display. In
such a scenario, gestures can provide mechanisms to restore the
ability to quickly reach any part of the display, where once a
mouse was adequate with a small display. Similarly, in a multiple
display scenario it is desirable to have a fast comfortable way to
indicate a particular display. For example, the foreground object
may be "bumped" to another display by gesturing in the direction of
the target display.
[0014] However, examples of perceptual user interfaces to date are
dependent on significant limiting assumptions. One type of
perceptual user interface utilizes color models that make certain
assumptions about the color of an object. Proper operation of the
system is dependent on proper lighting conditions and can be
negatively impacted when the system is moved from one location to
another as a result of changes in lighting conditions, or simply
when the lighting conditions change in the room. Factors that
impact performance include sun light versus artificial light,
florescent light versus incandescent light, direct illumination
versus indirect illumination, and the like. Additionally, most
attempts to develop perceptual user interfaces require the user to
wear specialized devices such as gloves, headsets, or close-talk
microphones. The use of such devices is generally found to be
distracting and intrusive for the user.
[0015] Thus perceptual user interfaces have been slow to emerge.
The reasons include heavy computational burdens, unreasonable
calibration demands, required use of intrusive and distracting
devices, and a general lack of robustness outside of specific
laboratory conditions. For these and similar reasons, there has
been little advancement in systems and methods for exploiting
perceptual user interfaces. However, as the trend towards smaller,
specialized electronic gadgets continues to grow, so does the need
for alternate methods for interaction between the user and the
electronic device. Many of these specialized devices are too small
and the applications unsophisticated to utilize the traditional
input keyboard and mouse devices. Examples of such devices include
TabletPCs, Media center PCs, kiosks, hand held computers, home
appliances, video games, and wall sized displays, along with many
others. In these, and other applications, the perceptual user
interface provides a significant advancement in computer control
over traditional computer interaction modalities.
[0016] In light of these findings, what is needed is to standardize
a small set of easily learned gestures, the semantics of which are
determined by application context. A small set of very simple
gestures may offer significant bits of functionality where they are
needed most. For example, dismissing a notification window may be
accomplished by a quick gesture to the one side or the other, as in
shooing a fly. Another example is gestures for "next" and "back"
functionality found in web browsers, presentation programs (e.g.,
PowerPoint.TM.) and other applications. Note that in many cases the
surface forms of these various gestures may remain the same
throughout these examples, while the semantics of the gestures
depends on the application at hand. Providing a small set of
standard gestures eases problems users have in recalling how
gestures are performed, and also allows for simpler and more robust
signal processing and recognition processes.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0017] The following presents a simplified summary of the invention
in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the
invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the
invention. It is intended to neither identify key or critical
elements of the invention nor delineate the scope of the invention.
Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of the invention in a
simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that
is presented later.
[0018] The present invention relates to a system and methodology to
implement a perceptual user interface comprising alternative
modalities for controlling computer application programs and
manipulating on-screen objects through hand gestures or a
combination of hand gestures and verbal commands. A perceptual user
interface system is provided that detects and tracks hand and/or
object movements, and provides for the control of application
programs and manipulation of on-screen objects in response to hand
or object movements performed by the user. The system operates in
real time, is robust, responsive, and introduces a reduced
computational load due to "lightweight" sparse stereo image
processing by not imaging every pixel, but only a reduced
representation of image pixels. That is, the depth at every pixel
in the image is not computed, which is the typical approach in
conventional correlation-based stereo systems. The present
invention utilizes the depth information at specific locations in
the image that correspond to object hypotheses.
[0019] The system provides a relatively inexpensive capability for
the recognition of hand gestures.
[0020] Mice are particularly suited to fine cursor control, and
most users have much experience with them. The disclosed invention
can provide a secondary, coarse control that may complement mice in
some applications. For example, in a map application, the user
might cause the viewpoint to change with a gesture, while using the
mouse to select and manipulate particular objects in the view. The
present invention may also provide a natural "push-to-talk" or
"stop-listening" signal to speech recognition processes. Users were
shown to prefer using a perceptual user interface for push-to-talk.
The invention combines area cursors with gesture-based manipulation
of on-screen objects, and may be configured to be driven by gross
or fine movements, and may be helpful to people with limited manual
dexterity.
[0021] A multiple hypothesis tracking framework allows for the
detection and tracking of multiple objects. Thus tracking of both
hands may be considered for a two-handed interface. Studies show
that people naturally assign different tasks to each hand, and that
the non-dominant hand can support the task of the dominant hand.
Two-handed interfaces are often used to specify spatial
relationships that are otherwise more difficult to describe in
speech. For example, it is natural to describe the relative sizes
of objects by holding up two hands, or to specify how an object
(dominant hand) is to be moved with respect to its environment
(non-dominant hand). Thus there is provided a system that
facilitates the processing of computer-human interaction in
response to multiple input modalities. The system processes
commands in response to hand gestures or a combination of hand
gestures and verbal commands, or in addition to traditional
computer-human interaction modalities such as a keyboard and mouse.
The user interacts with the computer and controls the application
through a series of hand gestures, or a combination of hand
gestures and verbal commands, but is also free to operate the
system with traditional interaction devices when more appropriate.
The system and method provide for certain actions to be performed
in response to particular verbal commands. For example, a verbal
command "Close" may be used to close a selected window and a verbal
command "Raise" may be used to bring the window to the forefront of
the display.
[0022] In accordance with another aspect thereof, the present
invention facilitates adapting the system to the particular
preferences of an individual user. The system and method allow the
user to tailor the system to recognize specific hand gestures and
verbal commands and to associate these hand gestures and verbal
commands with particular actions to be taken. This capability
allows different users, which may prefer to make different motions
for a given command, the ability to tailor the system in a way most
efficient for their personal use. Similarly, different users can
choose to use different verbal commands to perform the same
function. For example, one user may choose to say "Release" to stop
moving a window while another may wish to say "Quit".
[0023] In accordance with another aspect of the present invention,
dwell time is used as an alternative modality to complement
gestures or verbal commands. Dwell time is the length of time an
input device pointer remains in a particular position (or location
of the GUI), and is controlled by the user holding one hand
stationary while the system is tracking that hand. In response to
the hand gesture, or combination of hand gestures, the pointer may
be caused to be moved by the system to a location of the GUI. The
disclosed invention provides for a modality such that if the
pointer dwell time equals or exceeds predetermined dwell criteria,
the system reacts accordingly. For example, where the dwell time
exceeds a first criteria, the GUI window is selected. Dwelling of
the pointer for a longer period of time in a portion of a window
invokes a corresponding command to bring the window to the
foreground of the GUI display, while dwelling still longer invokes
a command to cause the window to be grabbed and moved.
[0024] In accordance with yet another aspect of the present
invention, video cameras are used to view a volume of area. This
volume of area is generally in front of the video display (on which
the video cameras may be located) and is designated as an
engagement volume wherein gesture commands may be performed by the
user and recognized by the system. Objects in motion are detected
by comparing corresponding patches (subsets of video of the entire
video image) of video from successive video images. By analyzing
and comparing the corresponding video patches from successive
images, objects in motion are detected and tracked.
[0025] In accordance with still another aspect of the invention,
two video cameras are mounted substantially parallel to each other
to generate video images that are used to determine the depth
(distance from the camera, display, or other point of reference) of
a moving object using a lightweight sparse stereo technique. The
lightweight sparse stereo technique reduces the computational
requirements of the system and the depth component is used as an
element in determining whether that particular object is the
nearest object within the engagement volume.
[0026] The following description and the annexed drawings set forth
in detail certain illustrative aspects of the invention. These
aspects are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways
in which the principles of the invention may be employed and the
present invention is intended to include all such aspects and their
equivalents. Other advantages and novel features of the invention
will become apparent from the following detailed description of the
invention when considered in conjunction with the drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0027] FIG. 1 illustrates a system block diagram of components of
the present invention for controlling a computer and/or other
hardware/software peripherals interfaced thereto.
[0028] FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic block diagram of a perceptual
user interface system, in accordance with an aspect of the present
invention.
[0029] FIG. 3 illustrates a flow diagram of a methodology for
implementing a perceptual user interface system, in accordance with
an aspect of the present invention.
[0030] FIG. 4 illustrates a flow diagram of a methodology for
determining the presence of moving objects within images, in
accordance with an aspect of the present invention.
[0031] FIG. 5 illustrates a flow diagram of a methodology for
tracking a moving object within an image, in accordance with an
aspect of the present invention.
[0032] FIG. 6 illustrates a disparity between two video images
captured by two video cameras mounted substantially parallel to
each other for the purpose of determining the depth of objects, in
accordance with an aspect of the present invention.
[0033] FIG. 7 illustrates an example of the hand gestures that the
system may recognize and the visual feedback provided through the
display, in accordance with an aspect of the present invention.
[0034] FIG. 8 illustrates an alternative embodiment wherein a
unique icon is displayed in association with a name of a specific
recognized command, in accordance with an aspect of the present
invention.
[0035] FIG. 9 illustrates an engagement plane and engagement volume
of both single and multiple monitor implementations, in accordance
with an aspect of the present invention.
[0036] FIG. 10 illustrates a briefing room environment where
gestures are utilized to control a screen projector via a computer
system configured in accordance with an aspect of the present
invention.
[0037] FIG. 11 illustrates a block diagram of a computer system
operable to execute the present invention.
[0038] FIG. 12 illustrates a network implementation of the present
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0039] As used in this application, the terms "component" and
"system" are intended to refer to a computer-related entity, either
hardware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or
software in execution. For example, a component may be, but is not
limited to being, a process running on a processor, a processor, an
object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or a
computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on a
server and the server can be a component. One or more components
may reside within a process and/or thread of execution and a
component may be localized on one computer and/or distributed
between two or more computers.
[0040] The present invention relates to a system and methodology
for implementing a perceptual user interface comprising alternative
modalities for controlling computer programs and manipulating
on-screen objects through hand gestures or a combination of hand
gestures and/or verbal commands. A perceptual user interface system
is provided that tracks hand movements and provides for the control
of computer programs and manipulation of on-screen objects in
response to hand gestures performed by the user. Similarly the
system provides for the control of computer programs and
manipulation of on-screen objects in response to verbal commands
spoken by the user. Further, the gestures and/or verbal commands
may be tailored by a particular user to suit that user's personal
preferences. The system operates in real time and is robust, light
in weight and responsive. The system provides a relatively
inexpensive capability for the recognition of hand gestures and
verbal commands.
[0041] Referring now to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a system block
diagram of components of the present invention for controlling a
computer and/or other hardware/software peripherals interfaced
thereto. The system 100 includes a tracking component 102 for
detecting and tracking one or more objects 104 through image
capture utilizing cameras (not shown) or other suitable
conventional image-capture devices. The cameras operate to capture
images of the object(s) 104 in a scene within the image capture
capabilities of the cameras so that the images may be further
processed to not only detect the presence of the object(s) 104, but
also to detect and track object(s) movements. It is appreciated
that in more robust implementations, object characteristics such as
object features and object orientation may also be detected,
tracked, and processed. The object(s) 104 of the present invention
include basic hand movements created by one or more hands of a
system user and/or other person selected for use with the disclosed
system. However, in more robust system implementations, such
objects may include many different types of objects with object
characteristics, including hand gestures each of which have gesture
characteristics including but not limited to, hand movement, finger
count, finger orientation, hand rotation, hand orientation, and
hand pose (e.g., opened, closed, and partially closed).
[0042] The tracking component 102 interfaces to a control component
106 of the system 100 that controls all onboard component
processes. The control component 106 interfaces to a seeding
component 108 that seeds object hypotheses to the tracking
component based upon the object characteristics.
[0043] The object(s) 104 are detected and tracked in the scene such
that object characteristic data is processed according to
predetermined criteria to associate the object characteristic data
with commands for interacting with a user interface component 110.
The user interface component 110 interfaces to the control
component 106 to receive control instructions that affect
presentation of text, graphics, and other output (e.g., audio)
provided to the user via the interface component 110. The control
instructions are communicated to the user interface component 110
in response to the object characteristic data processed from
detection and tracking of the object(s) within a predefined
engagement volume space 112 of the scene.
[0044] A filtering component 114 interfaces to the control
component 106 to receive filtering criteria in accordance with user
filter configuration data, and to process the filtering criteria
such that tracked object(s) of respective object hypotheses are
selectively removed from the object hypotheses and/or at least one
hypothesis from a set of hypotheses within the volume space 112 and
the scene. Objects are detected and tracked either within the
volume space 112 or outside the volume space 112. Those objects
outside of the volume space 112 are detected, tracked, and ignored,
until entering the volume space 112.
[0045] The system 100 also receives user input via input port(s)
116 such as input from pointing devices, keyboards, interactive
input mechanisms such as touch screens, and audio input
devices.
[0046] The subject invention (e.g., in connection with object
detection, tracking, and filtering) can employ various artificial
intelligence based schemes for carrying out various aspects of the
subject invention. For example, a process for determining which
object is to be selected for tracking can be facilitated via an
automatic classification system and process. Such classification
can employ a probabilistic and/or statistical-based analysis (e.g.,
factoring into the analysis utilities and costs) to prognose or
infer an action that a user desires to be automatically performed.
For example, a support vector machine (SVM) classifier can be
employed. Other classification approaches include Bayesian
networks, decision trees, and probabilistic classification models
providing different patterns of independence can be employed.
Classification as used herein also is inclusive of statistical
regression that is utilized to develop models of priority.
[0047] As will be readily appreciated from the subject
specification, the subject invention can employ classifiers that
are explicitly trained (e.g., via a generic training data) as well
as implicitly trained (e.g., via observing user behavior, receiving
extrinsic information) so that the classifier(s) is used to
automatically determine according to a predetermined criteria which
object(s) should be selected for tracking and which objects that
were being tracked are now removed from tracking. The criteria can
include, but is not limited to, object characteristics such as
object size, object speed, direction of movement, distance from one
or both cameras, object orientation, object features, and object
rotation. For example, with respect to SVM's which are well
understood--it is to be appreciated that other classifier models
may also be utilized such as Naive Bayes, Bayes Net, decision tree
and other learning models--SVM's are configured via a learning or
training phase within a classifier constructor and feature
selection module. A classifier is a function that maps an input
attribute vector, x=(x1, x2, x3, x4, . . . , xn), to a confidence
that the input belongs to a class--that is, f(x)=confidence(class).
In the case of text-based data collection synchronization
classification, for example, attributes are words or phrases or
other data-specific attributes derived from the words (e.g., parts
of speech, presence of key terms), and the classes are categories
or areas of interest (e.g., levels of priorities).
[0048] Referring now to FIG. 2, there is illustrated a schematic
block diagram of a perceptual user interface system, in accordance
with an aspect of the present invention. The system comprises a
computer 200 with a traditional keyboard 202, input pointing device
(e.g., a mouse) 204, microphone 206, and display 208. The system
further comprises at least one video camera 210, at least one user
212, and software 214. The exemplary system of FIG. 2 is comprised
of two video cameras 210 mounted substantially parallel to each
other (that is, the rasters are parallel) and the user 212. The
first camera is used to detect and track the object, and the second
camera is used for determining the depth (or distance) of the
object from the camera(s). The computer 200 is operably connected
to the keyboard 202, mouse 204 and display 208. Video cameras 210
and microphone 206 are also operably connected to computer 200. The
video cameras 210 "look" towards the user 212 and may point
downward to capture objects within the volume defined above the
keyboard and in front of the user. User 212 is typically an
individual that is capable of providing hand gestures, holding
objects in a hand, verbal commands, and mouse and/or keyboard
input. The hand gestures and/or object(s) appear in video images
created by the video cameras 210 and are interpreted by the
software 214 as commands to be executed by computer 200. Similarly,
microphone 206 receives verbal commands provided by user 212, which
are in turn, interpreted by software 214 and executed by computer
200. User 212 can control and operate various application programs
on the computer 200 by providing a series of hand gestures or a
combination of hand gestures, verbal commands, and mouse/keyboard
input.
[0049] In view of the foregoing structural and functional features
described above, methodologies in accordance with various aspects
of the present invention will be better appreciated with reference
to FIGS. 3-5. While, for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the
methodologies of FIGS. 3-5 are shown and described as executing
serially, it is to be understood and appreciated that the present
invention is not limited by the illustrated order, as some aspects
could, in accordance with the present invention, occur in different
orders and/or concurrently with other aspects from that shown and
described herein. Moreover, not all illustrated features may be
required to implement a methodology in accordance with an aspect
the present invention.
[0050] Accordingly, FIG. 3 is a flow diagram that illustrates a
high level methodology for detecting the user's hand, tracking
movement of the hand and interpreting commands in accordance with
an aspect of the invention. While, for purposes of simplicity of
explanation, the methodologies shown here and below are described
as a series of acts, it is to be understood and appreciated that
the present invention is not limited by the order of acts, as some
acts may, in accordance with the present invention, occur in
different orders and/or concurrently with other acts from that
shown and described herein. For example, those skilled in the art
will understand and appreciate that a methodology could
alternatively be represented as a series of interrelated states or
events, such as in a state diagram. Moreover, not all illustrated
acts may be required to implement a methodology in accordance with
the present invention.
[0051] The methodology begins at 300 where video images are scanned
to determine whether any moving objects exist within the field of
view (or scene) of the cameras. The system is capable of running
one or more object hypothesis models to detect and track objects,
whether moving or not moving. In one embodiment, the system runs up
to and including six object hypotheses. If more than one object is
detected as a result of the multiple hypotheses, the system drops
one of the objects if the distance from any other object falls
below a threshold distance, for example, five inches. It is assumed
that the two hypotheses are redundantly tracking the same object,
and one of the hypotheses is removed from consideration. At 302, if
NO, no moving object(s) have been detected, and flow returns to 300
where the system continues to scan the current image for moving
objects. Alternatively, if YES, object movement has been detected,
and flow continues from 302 to 304 where it is determined whether
or not one or more moving objects are within the engagement volume.
It is appreciated that the depth of the object may be determined
before determination of whether the object is within the engagement
volume.
[0052] The engagement volume is defined as a volume of space in
front of the video cameras and above the keyboard wherein the user
is required to introduce the hand gestures (or object(s)) in order
to utilize the system. A purpose of the engagement volume is to
provide a means for ignoring all objects and/or gestures in motion
except for those intended by the user to effect control of the
computer. If a moving object is detected at 302, but is determined
not to be within the engagement volume, then the system dismisses
the moving object as not being a desired object to track for
providing commands. Flow then loops back to the input of 300 to
scan for more objects. However, if the moving object is determined
to be within the engagement volume, then the methodology proceeds
to 306. However, new objects are seeded only when it is determined
that the new object is a sufficient distance away from an existing
object that is being tracked (in 3-D). At 306, the system
determines the distance of each moving object from the video
cameras. At 308, if more than one moving object is detected within
the engagement volume, then the object closest to the video
camera(s) is selected as the desired command object. If by the
given application context the user is predisposed to use hand
gestures towards the display, the nearest object hypotheses will
apply to the hands. In other scenarios, more elaborate criteria for
object selection may be used. For example, an application may
select a particular object based upon its quality of movement over
time. Additionally, a two-handed interaction application may select
an object to the left of the dominant hand (for right handed users)
as the non-dominant hand. The command object is the object that has
been selected for tracking, the movements of which will be analyzed
and interpreted for gesture commands. The command object is
generally the user's dominant hand. Once the command object is
selected, its movement is tracked, as indicated at 310.
[0053] At 312, the system determines whether the command object is
still within the engagement volume. If NO, the object has moved
outside the engagement volume, and the system dismisses the object
hypothesis and returns to 300 where the current image is processed
for moving objects. If NO, the object is still within the
engagement volume, and flow proceeds to 314. At 314, the system
determines whether the object is still moving. If no movement is
detected, flow is along the NO path returning to 300 to process the
current camera images for moving objects. If however, movement is
detected, then flow proceeds from 314 to 316. At 316, the system
analyzes the movements of the command object to interpret the
gestures for specific commands. At 318, it is determined whether
the interpreted gesture is a recognized command. If NO, the
movement is not interpreted as a recognized command, and flow
returns to 310 to continue tracking the object. However, if the
object movement is interpreted as a recognized command, flow is to
320 where the system executes the corresponding command. After
execution thereof, flow returns to 310 to continue tracking the
object. This process may continually execute to detect and
interpret gestures.
[0054] In accordance with an aspect of the invention, algorithms
used to interpret gestures are kept to simple algorithms and are
performed on sparse ("lightweight") images to limit the
computational overhead required to properly interpret and execute
desired commands in real time. In accordance with another aspect of
the invention, the system is able to exploit the presence of motion
and depth to minimize computational requirements involved in
determining objects that provide gesture commands.
[0055] Referring now to FIG. 4, there is illustrated a flow diagram
of a methodology for determining the presence of moving objects
within video images created by one or more video sources, in
accordance with an aspect of the present invention. The methodology
exploits the notion that attention is often drawn to objects that
move. At 400, video data is acquired from one or more video
sources. Successive video images are selected from the same video
source, and motion is detected by comparing a patch of a current
video image, centered on a given location, to a patch from the
previous video image centered on the same location. At 402, a video
patch centered about a point located at (u.sub.1,v.sub.1), and
(u.sub.2,v.sub.2) is selected from successive video images I.sub.1
and I.sub.2, respectively. A simple comparison function is utilized
wherein the sum of the absolute differences (SAD) over square
patches in two images is obtained. For a patch from image I.sub.1
centered on pixel location (u.sub.1,v.sub.1) and a patch in image
I.sub.2 centered on (u.sub.2,v.sub.2), the image comparison
function is defined as
SAD(I.sub.1,u.sub.1,v.sub.1,I.sub.2,u.sub.2,v.sub.2) as:
- D 2 .ltoreq. i , j .ltoreq. D 2 I 1 ( u 1 + i , v 1 + j ) - I 2 (
u 2 + i , v 2 + j ) ##EQU00001##
where I(u,v) refers to the pixel at (u,v), D is the patch width,
and the absolute difference between two pixels is the sum of the
absolute differences taken over all available color channels.
Regions in the image that have movement can be found by determining
points (u,v) such that function
SAD(I.sub.t-1,u.sub.t-1,v.sub.t-1,I.sub.t,u.sub.t,v.sub.t)>.t-
au., where the subscript refers to the image at time t, and .tau.
is a threshold level for motion. At 404, a comparison is made
between patches from image I.sub.1 and I.sub.2 using the sum of the
absolute difference algorithm. At 406, the result of the sum of the
absolute difference algorithm is compared to a threshold value to
determine whether a threshold level of motion exists within the
image patch. If SAD.ltoreq..tau., no sufficient motion exists, and
flow proceeds to 410. If at 406, SAD>.tau., then sufficient
motion exists within the patch, and flow is to 408 where the object
is designated for continued tracking. At 410, the system determines
whether the current image patch is the last patch to be examined
within the current image. If NO, the methodology returns to 402
where a new patch is selected. If YES, then the system returns to
400 to acquire a new video image from the video source.
[0056] To reduce the computational load, the SAD algorithm is
computed on a sparse regular grid within the image. In one
embodiment, the sparse regular grid is based on sixteen pixel
centers. When the motion detection methodology determines that an
object has sufficient motion, then the system tracks the motion of
the object. Again, in order to limit (or reduce) the computational
load, a position prediction algorithm is used to predict the next
position of the moving object. In one embodiment, the prediction
algorithm is a Kalman filter. However, it is to be appreciated that
any position prediction algorithm can be used.
[0057] Note that the image operations may use the same SAD function
on image patches, which allows for easy SIMD (Single-Instruction
Stream Multiple-Data Stream, which architectures are essential in
the parallel world of computers) optimization of the algorithm's
implementation, which in turn allows it to run with sufficiently
many trackers while still leaving CPU time to the user.
[0058] The process of seeding process hypotheses based upon motion
may place more than one hypothesis on a given moving object. One
advantage of this multiple hypothesis approach is that a simple,
fast, and imperfect tracking algorithm may be used. Thus if one
tracker fails, another may be following the object of interest.
Once a given tracker has been seeded, the algorithm updates the
position of the object being followed using the same function over
successive frames.
[0059] Referring now to FIG. 5, there is illustrated a flow diagram
of a methodology for tracking a moving object within an image, in
accordance with an aspect of the present invention. The methodology
begins at 500 where, after the motion detection methodology has
identified the location of a moving object to be tracked, the next
position of the object is predicted. Once identified, the
methodology utilizes a prediction algorithm to predict the position
of the object in successive frames. The prediction algorithm limits
the computational burden on the system. In the successive frames,
the moving object should be at the predicted location, or within a
narrow range centered on the predicted location. At 502, the
methodology selects a small pixel window (e.g., ten pixels)
centered on the predicted location. Within this small window, an
algorithm executes to determine the actual location of the moving
object. At 504, the new position is determined by examining the sum
of the absolute difference algorithm over successive video frames
acquired at time t and time t-1. The actual location is determined
by finding the location (u.sub.t, v.sub.t) that minimizes:
SAD(I.sub.t-1,u.sub.t-1,v.sub.t-1,I.sub.t,u.sub.t,v.sub.t),
where I.sub.t refers to the image at time t, I.sub.t-1 refers to
the image at time t-1, and where (u.sub.t, v.sub.t) refers to the
location at time t. Once determined, the actual position is
updated, at 506. At 508, motion characteristics are evaluated to
determine whether the motion is still greater that the threshold
level required. What is evaluated is not only the SAD image-based
computation, but also movement of the object over time. The
movement parameter is the average movement over a window of time.
Thus if the user pauses the object or hand for a short duration of
time, it may not be dropped from consideration. However, if the
duration of time for the pause is still longer such that it exceeds
a predetermined average time parameter, the object will be dropped.
If YES, the motion is sufficient, and flow returns to 500 where a
new prediction for the next position is determined. If NO, the
object motion is insufficient, and the given object is dropped from
being tracked, as indicated by flow to 510. At 512, flow is to 430
of FIG. 4 to select a new patch in the image from which to analyze
motion.
[0060] When determining the depth information of an object (i.e.,
the distance from the object to the display or any other chosen
reference point), a lightweight sparse stereo approach is utilized
in accordance with an aspect of the invention. The sparse stereo
approach is a region-based approach utilized to find the disparity
at only locations in the image corresponding to the object
hypothesis. Note that in the stereo matching process, it is assumed
that both cameras are parallel (in rasters). Object hypotheses are
supported by frame-to-frame tracking through time in one view and
stereo matching across both views. A second calibration issue is
the distance between the two cameras (i.e., the baseline), which
must be considered to recover depth in real world coordinates. In
practice, both calibration issues maybe dealt with automatically by
fixing the cameras on a prefabricated mounting bracket or
semi-automatically by the user presenting objects at a known depth
in a calibration routine that requires a short period of time to
complete. The accuracy of the transform to world coordinates is
improved by accounting for lens distortion effects with a static,
pre-computed calibration procedure for a given camera.
[0061] Binocular disparity is the primary means for recovering
depth information from two or more images taken from different
viewpoints. Given the two-dimensional position of an object in two
views, it is possible to compute the depth of the object. Given
that the two cameras are mounted parallel to each other in the same
horizontal plane, and given that the two cameras have a focal
length f, the three-dimensional position (x,y,z) of an object is
computed from the positions of the object in both images
(u.sub.1,v.sub.1) and (u.sub.r,v.sub.r) by the following
perspective projection equations:
u = u r = f x z ; ##EQU00002## v - v r = f y z ; ##EQU00002.2## d =
u r - u l = f b z ; ##EQU00002.3##
where the disparity, d, is the shift in location of the object in
one view with respect to the other, and is related to the baseline
b, the distance between the two cameras.
[0062] The vision algorithm performs 3-dimensional (3-D) tracking
and 3-D depth computations. In this process, each object hypothesis
is supported only by consistency of the object movement in 3-D.
Unlike many conventional computer vision algorithms, the present
invention does not rely on fragile appearance models such as skin
color models or hand image templates, which are likely invalidated
when environmental conditions change or the system is confronted
with a different user.
[0063] Referring now to FIG. 6, there is illustrated a disparity
between two video images captured by two video cameras mounted
substantially parallel to each other for the purpose of determining
the depth of objects, in accordance with an aspect of the present
invention. In FIG. 6, a first camera 600 and a second camera 602
(similar to cameras 210) are mounted substantially parallel to each
other in the same horizontal plane and laterally aligned. The two
cameras (600 and 602) are separated by a distance 604 defined
between the longitudinal focal axis of each camera lens, also known
as the baseline, b. A first video image 606 is the video image from
the first camera 600 and a second video image 608 is the video
image from the second camera 602. The disparity d (also item number
610), or shift in the two video images (606 and 608), can be seen
by looking to an object 612 in the center of the first image 606,
and comparing the location of that object 612 in the first image
606 to the location of that same object 612 in the second image
608. The disparity 610 is illustrated as the difference between a
first vertical centerline 614 of the first image 606 that
intersects the center of the object 612, and a second vertical
centerline 616 of the second image 608. In the first image 606, the
object 612 is centered about the vertical centerline 614 with the
top of the object 612 located at point (u,v). In the second image
608, the same point (u,v) of the object 612 is located at point
(u-d,v) in the second image 608, where d is the disparity 610, or
shift in the object from the first image 606 with respect to the
second image 610. Given disparity d, a depth z can be determined.
As will be discussed, in accordance with one aspect of the
invention, the depth component z is used in part to determine if an
object is within the engagement volume, where the engagement volume
is the volume within which objects will be selected by the
system.
[0064] In accordance with another aspect of the present invention,
a sparse stereo approach is utilized in order to limit
computational requirements. The sparse stereo approach is that
which determines disparity d only at the locations in the image
that corresponds to a moving object. For a given point (u,v) in the
image, the value of disparity d is found such that the sum of the
absolute differences over a patch in the first image 606 (i.e., a
left image I.sub.L) centered on (u,v) and a corresponding patch in
the second image 608 (i.e., a right image I.sub.R) centered on
(u-d,v) is minimized, i.e., the dispatch value d that minimizes
SAD(I.sub.1,u-d,v,I.sub.r,u,v). If an estimate of depth z is
available from a previous time, then in order to limit
computational requirements, the search for the minimal disparity d
is limited to a range of depth z around the last known depth.
[0065] In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the
search range may be further narrowed by use of an algorithm to
predict the objects new location. In one embodiment, the prediction
is accomplished by utilization of a Kalman filter.
[0066] The depth z can also be computed using traditional
triangulation techniques. The sparse stereo technique is used when
the system operation involves detecting moving objects within a
narrow range in front of the display, e.g., within twenty inches.
In such cases, the two video cameras are mounted in parallel and
separated by a distance equal to the approximate width of the
display. However, when the system is implemented in a larger
configuration, the distance between the two video cameras may be
much greater. In such cases, traditional triangulation algorithms
are used to determine the depth.
[0067] The foregoing discussion has focused on some details of the
methodologies associated with locating and tracking an object to
effect execution of corresponding and specified commands. An
overview follows as to how these capabilities are implemented in
one exemplary system.
[0068] Referring now to FIG. 7, there is illustrated an example of
gestures that the system recognizes, and further illustrates visual
feedback provided to the system through the display. A user 700
gives commands by virtue of different hand gestures 702 and/or
verbal commands 704. The gestures 702 are transmitted to a system
computer (not shown) as part of the video images created by a pair
of video cameras (706 and 708). Verbal and/or generally, audio
commands, are input to the system computer through a microphone
710. Typical GUI windows 712, 714, and 716 are displayed in a
layered presentation in an upper portion of display 718 while a
lower portion of display 718 provides visual graphic feedback of in
the form of icons 720, 722, 724, and 726 of some of the gestures
702 recognized by the system.
[0069] In one example, the hand icon 720 is displayed when a
corresponding gesture 728 is recognized. The name of the recognized
command (Move) is also then displayed below the icon 720 to provide
additional textual feedback to the user 700. Move and Raise
commands may be recognized by dwelling on the window for a period
of time. There is also a "flick" or "bump" command to send a window
from one monitor to another monitor, in a multiple monitor
configuration. This is controlled by moving the hand (or object) to
the left or right, and is described in greater detail hereinbelow
with respect to FIG. 9B. There are at least two ways to effect a
Move; by speech recognition when voicing the word "Move", or phrase
"Move Window", or any other associated voice command(s); and, by
using the dwelling technique. It is appreciated that where more
robust image capture and imaging processing systems are
implemented, the pose of the hand may be mapped to any
functionality, as described in greater detail below. Moreover, the
shape of the hand icon may be changed in association with the
captured hand pose to provide visual feedback to the user that the
correct hand pose is being processed. However, as a basic
implementation, the hand icon is positioned for selecting the
window for interaction, or to move the window, or effect
scrolling.
[0070] A Scroll command may be initiated first by voicing a
corresponding command that is processed by speech recognition, and
then using the hand (or object) to commence scrolling of the window
by moving the hand (or object) up and down for the desired scroll
direction.
[0071] In another example, the single displayed hand icon 720 is
presented for all recognized hand gestures 702, however, the
corresponding specific command name is displayed below the icon
720. Here, the same hand icon 720 is displayed in accordance with
four different hand gestures utilized to indicate four different
commands: Move, Close, Raise, and Scroll.
[0072] In still another aspect of the present invention, a
different hand shaped icon is used for each specific command and
the name of the command is optionally displayed below the command.
In yet another embodiment, audio confirmation is provided by the
computer, in addition to the displayed icon and optional command
name displayed below the icon.
[0073] As previously mentioned, FIG. 7 illustrates the embodiment
where a single hand shaped icon 720 is used, and the corresponding
command recognized by the system is displayed below the icon 720.
For example, when the system recognizes, either by virtue of
gestures (with hand and/or object) and or verbal commands, the
command to move a window, the icon 720 and corresponding command
word "MOVE" are displayed by the display 718. Similarly, when the
system recognizes a command to close a window, the icon 720 and
corresponding command word "CLOSE" may be displayed by the display
718. Additional examples include, but are not limited to,
displaying the icon 720 and corresponding command word "RAISE" when
the system recognizes a hand gesture to bring a GUI window forward.
When the system recognizes a hand gesture corresponding to a scroll
command for scrolling a GUI window, the icon 720 and command word
"SCROLL" are displayed by the display 718.
[0074] It is to be appreciated that the disclosed system may be
configured to display any number and type of graphical icons in
response to one or more hand gestures presented by the system user.
Additionally, audio feedback may be used such that a beep to tone
may be presented in addition to or in lieu of the graphical
feedback. Furthermore the graphical icon may be used to provide
feedback in the form of a color, combination of colors, and/or
flashing color or colors. Feedback may also be provided by flashing
a border of the selected window, the border in the direction of
movement. For example, if the window is to be moved to the right,
the right window border could be flashed to indicate the selected
direction of window movement. In addition to or separate from, a
corresponding tone frequency may be emitted to indicate direction
of movement, e.g., an upward movement would have and associated
high pitch and a downward movement would have a low pitch. Still
further, rotational aspects may be provided such that movement to
the left effects a counterclockwise rotation of a move icon, or
perhaps a leftward tilt in the GUI window in the direction of
movement.
[0075] Referring now to FIG. 8, there is illustrated an alternative
embodiment wherein a unique icon is displayed in association with a
name of a specific recognized command, in accordance with an aspect
of the present invention. Here, each icon-word pair is unique for
each recognized command. Icon-word pairs 800, 802, 804, and 806 for
the respective commands "MOVE", "CLOSE", "RAISE", and "SCROLL", are
examples of visual feedback capabilities that can be provided.
[0076] The system is capable of interpreting commands based on
interpreting hand gestures, verbal commands, or both in
combination. A hand is identified as a moving object by the motion
detection algorithms and the hand movement is tracked and
interpreted. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, hand
gestures and verbal commands are used cooperatively. Speech
recognition is performed using suitable voice recognition
applications, for example, Microsoft SAPI 5.1, with a simple
command and control grammar. However, it is understood that any
similar speech recognition system can be used. An inexpensive
microphone is placed near the display to receive audio input.
However, the microphone can be placed at any location insofar as
audio signals can be received thereinto and processed by the
system.
[0077] Following is an example of functionality that is achieved by
combining hand gesture and verbal modalities. Interaction with the
system can be initiated by a user moving a hand across an
engagement plane and into an engagement volume.
[0078] Referring now to FIG. 9A, there is illustrated the
engagement plane and engagement volume for a single monitor system
of the present invention. A user 900 is located generally in front
of a display 902, which is also within the imaging capabilities of
a pair of cameras (906 and 908). A microphone 904 (similar to
microphones 206 and 710) is suitably located such that user voice
signals are input for processing, e.g., in front of the display
902. The cameras (906 and 908, similar to cameras 200 and, 706 and
708) are mounted substantially parallel to each other and on a
horizontal plane above the display 902. The two video cameras (906
and 908) are separated by a distance that provides optimum
detection and tracking for the given cameras and the engagement
volume. However, it is to be appreciated that cameras suitable for
wider fields of view, higher resolution, may be placed further
apart on a plane different from the top of the display 902, for
example, lower and along the sides of the display facing upwards,
to capture gesture images for processing in accordance with novel
aspects of the present invention. In accordance therewith, more
robust image processing capabilities and hypothesis engines can be
employed in the system to process greater amounts of data.
[0079] Between the display 902 and the user 900 is a volume 910
defined as the engagement volume. The system detects and tracks
objects inside and outside of the volume 910 to determine the depth
of one or more objects with respect to the engagement volume 910.
However, those objects determined to be of a depth that is outside
of the volume 910 will be ignored. As mentioned hereinabove, the
engagement volume 910 is typically defined to be located where the
hands and/or objects in the hands of the user 900 are most
typically situated, i.e., above a keyboard of the computer system
and in front of the cameras (906 and 908) between the user 900 and
the display 902 (provided the user 900 is seated in front of the
display on which the cameras (906 and 908) are located). However,
is it appreciated that the user 900 may be standing while
controlling the computer, which requires that the volume 910 be
located accordingly to facilitate interface interaction.
Furthermore, the objects may include not only the hand(s) of the
user, or objects in the hand(s), but other parts of the body, such
as head, torso movement, arms, or any other detectable objects.
This is described in greater detail hereinbelow.
[0080] A plane 912 defines a face of the volume 910 that is closest
to the user 900, and is called the engagement plane. The user 900
may effect control of the system by moving a hand (or object)
through the engagement plane 912 and into the engagement volume
910. However, as noted above, the hand of the user 900 is detected
and tracked even when outside the engagement volume 910. However,
it would be ignored when outside of the engagement volume 910
insofar as control of the computer is concerned. When the object is
moved across the engagement plane 912, feedback is provided to the
user in the form of displaying an alpha-blended icon on the display
(e.g., an operating system desktop). The icon is designed to be
perceived as distinct from other desktop icons and may be viewed as
an area cursor. The engagement plane 912 is positioned such that
the user's hands do not enter it during normal use of the keyboard
and mouse. When the system engages the hand or object, the
corresponding hand icon displayed on the desktop is moved to
reflect the position of the tracked object (or hand).
[0081] The engagement and acquisition of the moving hand (or
object) is implemented in the lightweight sparse stereo system by
looking for the object with a depth that is less than a
predetermined distance value. Any such object will be considered
the command object until it is moved out of the engagement volume
910, for example, behind the engagement plane 912, or until the
hand (or object) is otherwise removed from being a tracked object.
In one example, the specified distance is twenty inches.
[0082] In operation, the user 900 moves a hand through the
engagement plane 912 and into the engagement volume 910 established
for the system. The system detects the hand, tracks the hand as the
hand moves from outside of the volume 910 to the inside, and
provides feedback by displaying a corresponding hand shaped icon on
the display 902. The open microphone 904 placed near the display
902 provides means for the user 900 to invoke one or more verbal
commands in order to act upon the selected window under the icon.
The window directly underneath the hand shaped icon is the selected
window. When a spoken and/or audio command is input to and
understood by the system, the interpreted command is displayed
along with the hand shaped icon. For example, in one embodiment, by
speaking the word "Move", the user may initiate the continuous (or
stepped) movement of the window under the hand shaped icon to
follow the movement of the user's hand. The user 900 causes the
selected window to move up or down within the display 902 by moving
the hand up or down. Lateral motion is also similarly achieved.
Movement of the window is terminated when the user hand is moved
across the engagement plane 912 and out of the engagement volume
910. Other methods of termination include stopping movement of the
hand (or object) for an extended period of time, which is processed
by the system as a command to drop the associated hypothesis.
Furthermore, as described hereinabove, the Move command may be
invoked by dwelling the hand on the window for a period of time,
followed by hand motion to initiate the direction of window
movement.
[0083] Alternatively, the user may speak the word "Release" and the
system will stop moving the selected window in response to the
user's hand motion. Release may also be accomplished by dwelling a
bit longer in time while in Move, and/or Scroll modes. The user 900
may also act upon a selected window with other actions. By speaking
the words "Close", "Minimize", or "Maximize" the selected window is
respectively closed, minimized or maximized. By speaking the word
"Raise", the selected window is brought to the foreground, and by
speaking "Send to Back", the selected window is sent behind (to the
background) all other open windows. By speaking "Scroll", the user
initiates a scrolling mode on the selected window. The user may
control the rate of the scroll by the position of the hand. The
hand shaped icon tracks the user's hand position, and the rate of
the scrolling of the selected window is proportional to the
distance between the current hand icon position and the position of
the hand icon at the time the scrolling is initiated. Scrolling can
be terminated by the user speaking "Release" or by the user moving
their hand behind the engagement plane and out of the engagement
volume. These are just a few examples of the voice recognition
perceptual computer control capabilities of the disclosed
architecture. It is to be appreciated that these voiced commands
may also be programmed for execution in response to one or more
object movements in accordance with the present invention.
[0084] In accordance with another aspect of the invention, dwell
time can be used as a modality to control windows in lieu of, or in
addition to, verbal commands and other disclosed modalities. Dwell
time is defined as the time, after having engaged the system, that
the user holds their hand position stationary such that the system
hand shaped icon remains over a particular window. For example, by
dwelling on a selected window for a short period of time (e.g., two
seconds), the system can bring the window to the foreground of all
other open windows (i.e., a RAISE command). Similarly, by dwelling
a short time longer (e.g., four seconds), the system will grab (or
select for dragging) the window, and the user causes the selected
window to move up or down within the display by moving a hand up or
down (i.e., a MOVE command). Lateral motion is also similarly
achieved. Additional control over GUI windows can be accomplished
in a similar fashion by controlling the dwell time of the hand
shaped icon over the open window.
[0085] In accordance with a more robust aspect of the invention,
hand gestures are interpreted by hand motion or by pattern
recognition. For example, the user can bring the window to the
front (or foreground), on top of all other open windows by moving a
hand from a position closer to the display to position farther from
the display, the hand remaining in the engagement volume 910.
Similarly, the user can cause the selected window to be grabbed and
moved by bringing fingers together with their thumb, and
subsequently moving the hand. The selected window will move in
relation to the user hand movement until the hand is opened up to
release the selected window. Additional control over the selected
window can be defined in response to particular hand movements or
hand gestures. In accordance with another aspect of the present
invention, the selected window will move in response to the user
pointing their hand, thumb, or finger in a particular direction.
For example, if the user points their index finger to right, the
window will move to the right within the display. Similarly, if the
user points to the left, up, or down the selected window will move
to the left, up or down within the display, respectively.
Additional window controls can be achieved through the use of
similar hand gestures or motions.
[0086] In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the
system is configurable such that an individual user selects the
particular hand gestures that they wish to associate with
particular commands. The system provides default settings that map
a given set of gestures to a given set of commands. This mapping,
however, is configurable such that the specific command executed in
response to each particular hand gesture is definable by each user.
For example, one user may wish to point directly at the screen with
their index finger to grab the selected window for movement while
another user may wish to bring their fingers together with their
thumb to grab the selected window. Similarly, one user may wish to
point a group of finger up or down in order to move a selected
window up or down, while another user may wish to open the palm of
their hand toward the cameras and then move their opened hand up or
down to move a selected window up or down. All given gestures and
commands are configurable by the individual users to best suit that
particular user's individual personal preferences.
[0087] Similarly, in accordance with another aspect of the present
invention, the system may include a "Record and Define Gesture"
mode. In the "Record and Define Gesture" mode, the system records
hand gestures performed by the user. The recorded gestures are then
stored in the system memory to be recognized during normal
operation. The given hand gestures are then associated with a
particular command to be performed by the system in response to
that particular hand gesture. With such capability, a user may
further tailor the system to their personal preference or,
similarly, may tailor system operation to respond to specific
commands most appropriate for particular applications.
[0088] In a similar fashion, the user can choose the particular
words, from a given set, they wish to use for a particular command.
For example, one user may choose to say "Release" to stop moving a
window while another may wish to say "Quit". This capability allows
different users, which may prefer to use different words for a
given command, the ability to tailor the system in a way most
efficient for their personal use.
[0089] The present invention can be utilized in an expansive list
of applications. The following discussion is exemplary of only a
few applications with which the present invention may be utilized.
One such application is associated with user control of a
presentation, or similar type of briefing application, wherein the
user makes a presentation on a projection type screen to a group of
listeners.
[0090] Referring now to FIG. 9B, there is illustrated a multiple
monitor implementation. Here, the system includes three monitors
(or displays) through which the user 900 exercises control of GUI
features; a first display 912, a second display 914, and a third
display 916. The cameras (906 and 908) are similarly situated as in
FIG. 9A, to define the engagement volume 910. By utilizing the
"flick" or "bump" motion(s) as performed by a hand 918 of the user
900, the user 900 can move a window 920 from the first display 912
to the second display 914, and further from the second display 914
to the third display 916. The flick motion of the user hand 918 can
effect movement of the window 920 from the first display 912 to the
third display 916 in a single window movement, or in multiple steps
through the displays (914 and 916) using corresponding multiple
hand motions. Of course, control by the user 900 occurs only when
the user hand 918 breaks the engagement plane 912, and is
determined to be a control object (i.e., an object meeting
parameters sufficient to effect control of the computer).
[0091] As mentioned hereinabove, the user 900 is located generally
in front of the displays (912, 914, and 916), which is also within
the imaging capabilities of the pair of cameras (906 and 908). The
microphone 904 is suitably located to receive user voice signals.
The cameras (906 and 908) are mounted substantially parallel to
each other and on a horizontal plane above the displays (912, 914,
and 916), and separated by a distance that provides optimum
detection and tracking for the given cameras and the engagement
volume 910.
[0092] In operation, the user 900 moves the hand 918 through the
engagement plane 912 and into the engagement volume 910 established
for the system. The system, which had detected and tracked the hand
918 before it entered the volume 912, begins providing feedback to
the user 900 by displaying the hand shaped icon 922 on one of the
displays (912, 914, and 916). The microphone 904 provides
additional means for the user 900 to invoke one or more verbal
commands in order to act upon the selected window 920 under the
corresponding icon 922. The window 920 directly underneath the hand
shaped icon is the selected window. When the user hand 918 enters
the volume 910, it is recognized as a control object. The
corresponding icon 922 is presented by the system on the computer
display 912. By dwelling a predetermined amount of time, the
associated window is assigned for control. The user 900 causes the
selected window to move up or down within the display by invoking
the `Move` command as explained above and then moving the hand up
or down, or to move across one or more of the monitors (914 and
916) by invoking the `Flick` command and then using the flick hand
motion. Of course, if the second display 914 was the initial point
of control, the user 900 can cause the window 920 to be moved left
to the first display 912, or right to the third display 916.
Movement of the window is terminated (or "released") when the user
hand dwells for a time longer than a predetermined dwell time, or
out of the engagement volume 910.
[0093] Alternatively, the user may speak the word "Release" and the
system will stop moving the selected window in response to the
user's hand motion. Release may also be accomplished by dwelling a
bit while in Move, and/or Scroll modes. The user may also act upon
a selected window with other actions. By speaking the words
"Close", "Minimize", or "Maximize" the selected window is
respectively closed, minimized or maximized. By speaking the word
"Raise", the selected window is brought to the foreground, and by
speaking "Send to Back", the selected window is sent behind (to the
background) all other open windows. By speaking "Scroll", the user
initiates a scrolling mode on the selected window. The user may
control the rate of the scroll by the position of the hand. The
hand shaped icon tracks the user's hand position, and the rate of
the scrolling of the selected window is proportional to the
distance between the current hand icon position and the position of
the hand icon at the time the scrolling is initiated. Scrolling can
be terminated by the user speaking "Release" or by the user moving
their hand behind the engagement plane and out of the engagement
volume. These are just a few examples of the voice recognition
perceptual computer control capabilities of the disclosed
architecture.
[0094] Referring now to FIG. 10, there is illustrated a briefing
room environment where voice and/or gestures are utilized to
control a screen projector via a computer system configured in
accordance with an aspect of the present invention. The briefing
room 1000 comprises a large briefing table 1002 surrounded on three
sides by numerous chairs 1004, a computer 1006, a video projector
1008, and a projector screen 1010. Utilization of the present
invention adds additional elements comprising the disclosed
perceptual software 1012, two video cameras (1014 and 1016) and a
microphone 1018. In this application, a user 1020 is positioned
between the projector screen 1010 and briefing table 1002 at which
the audience is seated. A top face 1022 of an engagement volume
1024 is defined by rectangular area 1026. Similarly, a front
surface indicated at 1028 represents an engagement plane.
[0095] As the user gives the presentation, the user controls the
content displayed on the projection screen 1010 and advancement of
the slides (or presentation images) by moving their hand(s) through
the engagement plane 1028 into the engagement volume 1024, and/or
speaking commands recognizable by the system. Once inside the
engagement volume 1024, a simple gesture is made to advance to the
next slide, back-up to a previous slide, initiate an embedded
video, or to effect one of a number of many other presentation
capabilities.
[0096] A similar capability can be implemented for a home media
center wherein the user can change selected video sources, change
channels, control volume, advance chapter and other similar
functions by moving their hand across an engagement plane into an
engagement volume and subsequently performing the appropriate hand
gesture. Additional applications include perceptual interfaces for
TabletPCs, Media center PCs, kiosks, hand held computers, home
appliances, video games, and wall sized displays, along with many
others.
[0097] It is appreciated that in more robust implementations,
instead of the engagement volume being fixed at a position
associated with the location of the cameras that requires the
presenter to operate according to the location of the engagement
volume, the system can be configured such that the engagement
volume travels with the user (in a "roaming" mode) as the user
moves about the room. Thus the cameras would be mounted on a
platform that rotates such that the rotation maintains the cameras
substantially equidistant from the presenter. The presenter may
carrier a sensor that allows the system to sense or track the
general location of the presenter. The system would then affect
rotation of the camera mount to "point" the cameras at the
presenter. In response thereto, the engagement volume may be
extended to the presenter allowing control of the computer system
as the presenter moves about. The process of "extending" the
engagement volume can include increasing the depth of the volume
such that the engagement plane surface moves to the presenter, or
by maintaining the volume dimensions, but moving the fixed volume
to the presenter. This would require on-the-fly focal adjustment of
the cameras to track quick movements in the depth of objects in the
volume, but also the movement of the presenter.
[0098] Another method of triggering system attention in this mode
would be to execute a predefined gesture that is not likely to be
made unintentionally, e.g., raising a hand.
[0099] It is also appreciated that the system is configurable for
individual preferences such that the engagement volume of a first
user may be different than the volume of a second user. For
example, in accordance with a user login, or other unique user
information, the user preferences may be retrieved and implemented
automatically by the system. This can include automatically
elevating the mounted cameras for a taller person by using a
telescoping camera stand so that the cameras are at the appropriate
height of the particular user, whether sitting or standing. This
also includes, but is not limited to, setting the system for
"roaming" mode
[0100] Referring now to FIG. 11, there is illustrated a block
diagram of a computer operable to execute the present invention. In
order to provide additional context for various aspects of the
present invention, FIG. 11 and the following discussion are
intended to provide a brief, general description of a suitable
computing environment 1100 in which the various aspects of the
present invention may be implemented. While the invention has been
described above in the general context of computer-executable
instructions that may run on one or more computers, those skilled
in the art will recognize that the invention also may be
implemented in combination with other program modules and/or as a
combination of hardware and software. Generally, program modules
include routines, programs, components, data structures, etc., that
perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data
types. Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the
inventive methods may be practiced with other computer system
configurations, including single-processor or multiprocessor
computer systems, minicomputers, mainframe computers, as well as
personal computers, hand-held computing devices,
microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, and the
like, each of which may be operatively coupled to one or more
associated devices. The illustrated aspects of the invention may
also be practiced in distributed computing environments where
certain tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are
linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing
environment, program modules may be located in both local and
remote memory storage devices.
[0101] With reference again to FIG. 11, the exemplary environment
1100 for implementing various aspects of the invention includes a
computer 1102, the computer 1102 including a processing unit 1104,
a system memory 1106, and a system bus 1108. The system bus 1108
couples system components including, but not limited to the system
memory 1106 to the processing unit 1104. The processing unit 1104
may be any of various commercially available processors. Dual
microprocessors and other multi-processor architectures also can be
employed as the processing unit 1104.
[0102] The system bus 1108 can be any of several types of bus
structure including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral
bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of commercially
available bus architectures. The system memory 1106 includes read
only memory (ROM) 1110 and random access memory (RAM) 1112. A basic
input/output system (BIOS), containing the basic routines that help
to transfer information between elements within the computer 1102,
such as during start-up, is stored in the ROM 1110.
[0103] The computer 1102 further includes a hard disk drive 1114, a
magnetic disk drive 1116, (e.g., to read from or write to a
removable disk 1118) and an optical disk drive 1120, (e.g., reading
a CD-ROM disk 1122 or to read from or write to other optical
media). The hard disk drive 1114, magnetic disk drive 1116 and
optical disk drive 1120 can be connected to the system bus 1108 by
a hard disk drive interface 1124, a magnetic disk drive interface
1126 and an optical drive interface 1128, respectively. The drives
and their associated computer-readable media provide nonvolatile
storage of data, data structures, computer-executable instructions,
and so forth. For the computer 1102, the drives and media
accommodate the storage of broadcast programming in a suitable
digital format. Although the description of computer-readable media
above refers to a hard disk, a removable magnetic disk and a CD, it
should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other types
of media which are readable by a computer, such as zip drives,
magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital video disks,
cartridges, and the like, may also be used in the exemplary
operating environment, and further that any such media may contain
computer-executable instructions for performing the methods of the
present invention.
[0104] A number of program modules can be stored in the drives and
RAM 1112, including an operating system 1130, one or more
application programs 1132, other program modules 1134 and program
data 1136. It is appreciated that the present invention can be
implemented with various commercially available operating systems
or combinations of operating systems.
[0105] A user can enter commands and information into the computer
1102 through a keyboard 1138 and a pointing device, such as a mouse
1140. Other input devices (not shown) may include one or more video
cameras, one or microphones, an IR remote control, a joystick, a
game pad, a satellite dish, a scanner, or the like. These and other
input devices are often connected to the processing unit 1104
through a serial port interface 1142 that is coupled to the system
bus 1108, but may be connected by other interfaces, such as a
parallel port, a game port, a firewire port, a universal serial bus
("USB"), an IR interface, etc. A monitor 1144 or other type of
display device is also connected to the system bus 1108 via an
interface, such as a video adapter 1146. In addition to the monitor
1144, a computer typically includes other peripheral output devices
(not shown), such as speakers, printers etc.
[0106] The computer 1102 may operate in a networked environment
using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as
a remote computer(s) 1148. The remote computer(s) 1148 may be a
workstation, a server computer, a router, a personal computer,
portable computer, microprocessor-based entertainment appliance, a
peer device or other common network node, and typically includes
many or all of the elements described relative to the computer
1102, although, for purposes of brevity, only a memory storage
device 1150 is illustrated. The logical connections depicted
include a LAN 1152 and a WAN 1154. Such networking environments are
commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computer networks,
intranets and the Internet.
[0107] When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 1102
is connected to the local network 1152 through a network interface
or adapter 1156. When used in a WAN networking environment, the
computer 1102 typically includes a modem 1158, or is connected to a
communications server on the LAN, or has other means for
establishing communications over the WAN 1154, such as the
Internet. The modem 1158, which may be internal or external, is
connected to the system bus 1108 via the serial port interface
1142. In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative
to the computer 1102, or portions thereof, may be stored in the
remote memory storage device 1150. It will be appreciated that the
network connections shown are exemplary and other means of
establishing a communications link between the computers may be
used.
[0108] Referring now to FIG. 12, there is illustrated a network
implementation 1200 of the present invention. The implementation
1200 includes a first perceptual system 1202 and a second
perceptual system 1204, both operational according to the disclose
invention. The first system 1202 includes cameras 1206 (also
denoted C1 and C2) mounted on a rotational and telescoping camera
mount 1208. A first user 1210 located generally in front of the
first system 1202 effects control of a GUI content A of the first
system 1202 in accordance with the novel aspects of the present
invention by introducing hand gestures into an engagement volume
1211 and/or voice signals. The first user 1210 may rove about in
front of the cameras 1206 in accordance with the "roaming"
operational mode described previously, or may be seated in front of
the cameras 1206. The second system 1204 includes cameras 1212
(also denoted C3 and C4) mounted on a rotational and telescoping
camera mount 1214. A second user 1216 located generally in front of
the second system 1204 effects control of a GUI content B of the
second system 1204 in accordance with the novel aspects of the
present invention by introducing hand gestures into an engagement
volume 1217 and/or voice signals. The second user 1216 may rove
about in front of the cameras 1212 in accordance with the "roaming"
operational mode described previously, or may be seated in front of
the cameras 1212.
[0109] The first and second systems (1202 and 1204) may be
networked in a conventional wired or wireless network 1207 peer
configuration (or bus configuration by using a hub 1215). This
particular system 1200 is employed to present both content A and
content B via a single large monitor or display 1218. Thus the
monitor 1218 can be driven by either of the systems (1202 and
1204), as can be provided by conventional dual-output video
graphics cards, or the separate video information may be
transmitted to a third monitor control system 1220 to present the
content. Such an implementation finds application where a
side-by-side comparison of product features is being presented,
other similar applications where two or more users may desire to
interact. Thus content A and content B may be presented on a split
screen layout of the monitor 1218. Either or both user 1210 and
1216 may provide keyboard and/or mouse input to facilitate control
according to the present invention.
[0110] What has been described above includes examples of the
present invention. It is, of course, not possible to describe every
conceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes
of describing the present invention, but one of ordinary skill in
the art may recognize that many further combinations and
permutations of the present invention are possible. Accordingly,
the present invention is intended to embrace all such alterations,
modifications, and variations that fall within the spirit and scope
of the appended claims. Furthermore, to the extent that the term
"includes" is used in either the detailed description or the
claims, such term is intended to be inclusive in a manner similar
to the term "comprising" as "comprising" is interpreted when
employed as a transitional word in a claim.
* * * * *