Vision-based human-computer interface using hand gestures

The proliferation of interactive digital TV applications will depend on their complexity and ease of use. The investigation of simple, intuitive human-machine interfaces is therefore crucial for their success. While the operation of most home devices is today based on using remote control, in this paper we investigate an alternative solution using a visual input of the users´s gestures. The proposed system recognises point and click gestures of the user´s hand, which is enough to control simple iconic user interfaces of the interactive TV applications. Position of the user´s hand is tracked using Kalman filtering, and shape analysis is performed to detect the pose of the forefinger. A finger bending gesture is recognized and transformed into a click action on the screen. Simulations show that the system performs well in uncontrolled home environment under different lighting conditions and cluttered backgrounds and thus could be used in future smart home devices.