Methods and apparatuses for gesture recognition

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9251409-B2
Application number	US-201114351000-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 18, 2011
Priority date	Oct 18, 2011
Publication date	Feb 2, 2016
Grant date	Feb 2, 2016

Abstract

Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products are herein provided for enabling hand gesture recognition using an example infrared (IR) enabled mobile terminal. One example method may include determining a hand region in at least one captured frame using an adaptive omnidirectional edge operator (AOEO). The method may further include determining a threshold for hand region extraction using a recursive binarization scheme. The method may also include determining a hand location using the determined threshold for the extracted hand region in the at least one captured frame. The method may also include determining a fingertip location based on the determined hand location. Similar and related example apparatuses and example computer program products are also provided.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
determining a hand region in at least one captured frame using an adaptive omnidirectional edge operator (AOEO), wherein determining the hand region comprises:
determining an omnidirectional edge operator;
determining an image differencing between the at least one captured frame and a background; and
determining an adaptive threshold for output binarization using perimeter learning;

determining a threshold for hand region extraction using a recursive binarization scheme;
determining a hand location using the determined threshold for the extracted hand region in the at least one captured frame; and
determining a fingertip location based on the determined hand location.

2. A method of claim 1 wherein determining the threshold for output binarization is based on a contrast of the at least one captured frame.

3. A method of claim 1 wherein determining the threshold for hand region extraction further comprises determining an initial threshold based on an image brightness.

4. A method of claim 1 wherein determining the hand location further comprises causing a hand to be verified in the at least one captured frame based on shape invariants.

5. A method of claim 1 wherein determining the fingertip location further comprises causing a skeletonization of the captured at least frame.

6. An apparatus comprising:
a processor and
a memory including software, the memory and the software configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:
determine a hand region in at least one captured frame using an adaptive omnidirectional edge operator (AOEO) by:
determining an omnidirectional edge operator;
determining an image differencing between the at least one captured frame and a background; and
determining an adaptive threshold for output binarization using perimeter learning;

determine a threshold for hand region extraction using a recursive binarization scheme;
determine a hand location using the determined threshold for the extracted hand region in the at least one captured frame; and
determine a fingertip location based on the determined hand location.

7. An apparatus of claim 6 wherein the at least one memory including the computer program code is further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to determine the threshold for output binarization based on a contrast of the at least one captured frame.

8. An apparatus of claim 6 wherein the at least one memory including the computer program code is further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to determine an initial threshold based on an image brightness.

9. An apparatus of claim 6 wherein the at least one memory including the computer program code is further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to cause a hand to be verified in the at least one captured frame based on shape invariants.

10. An apparatus of claim 6 wherein the at least one memory including the computer program code is further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to cause a skeletonization of the captured at least frame.

11. A computer program product comprising:
at least one computer readable non-transitory memory medium having program code stored thereon, the program code which when executed by an apparatus cause the apparatus at least to perform the method of claim 1 .

12. A method comprising:
determining a hand region in at least one captured frame using an adaptive omnidirectional edge operator (AOEO);
determining a threshold for hand region extraction using a recursive binarization scheme, wherein determining a threshold for hand region extraction comprises:
determining a target ratio;
extracting a foreground from the at least one captured frame; and
determining a current ratio by comparing the extracted foreground with a background of the at least one captured frame;

adjusting a threshold based on the comparison between the target ratio and the current ratio;
determining a hand location using the determined threshold for the extracted hand region in the at least one captured frame; and
determining a fingertip location based on the determined hand location.

13. A method of claim 12 wherein determining the hand location further comprises causing a hand to be verified in the at least one captured frame based on shape invariants.

14. A method of claim 12 wherein determining the fingertip location further comprises causing a skeletonization of the captured at least frame.

15. An apparatus comprising:
a processor and
a memory including software, the memory and the software configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:
determine a hand region in at least one captured frame using an adaptive omnidirectional edge operator (AOEO);
determine a threshold for hand region extraction using a recursive binarization scheme by:
determining a target ratio;
extracting a foreground from the at least one captured frame; and
determining a current ratio by comparing the extracted foreground with a background of the at least one captured frame;

adjust a threshold based on the comparison between the target ratio and the current ratio;
determine a hand location using the determined threshold for the extracted hand region in the at least one captured frame; and
determine a fingertip location based on the determined hand location.

16. An apparatus of claim 15 wherein the at least one memory including the computer program code is further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to cause a hand to be verified in the at least one captured frame based on shape invariants.

17. An apparatus of claim 15 wherein the at least one memory including the computer program code is further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to cause a skeletonization of the captured at least frame.

18. A computer program product comprising:
at least one computer readable non-transitory memory medium having program code stored thereon, the program code which when executed by an apparatus cause the apparatus at least to perform the method of claim 12 .

19. A computer program product of claim 18 wherein determining the threshold for output binarization is based on a contrast of the at least one captured frame.

20. A computer program product of claim 18 , further comprising program code instructions to determine an initial threshold based on an image brightness.

Assignees

• Li Jiangwei
• Wang Kongqiao
• Xu Lei
• Fang Yikai
• Nokia Technologies Oy

Inventors

• Li Jiangwei
• Wang Kongqiao
• Xu Lei
• Fang Yikai

Classifications

• G06V40/28

  Recognition of hand or arm movements, e.g. recognition of deaf sign language (static hand signs G06V40/113) · CPC title

• G06T7/73 Primary

  using feature-based methods · CPC title

• G06V10/768

  using context analysis, e.g. recognition aided by known co-occurring patterns · CPC title

• G06V10/28

  Quantising the image, e.g. histogram thresholding for discrimination between background and foreground patterns · CPC title

• G06K9/00355 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic