Thursday, November 4, 2010

'Imaginary' Interface Could Replace Screens and Keyboards

THIS TYPE OF TECHNOLOGY WAS SHOWN IN MINORITY REPORT.
Called Imaginary Interfaces, the German project uses a small, chest-mounted computer and camera to detect hand movements. Unlike Tony Stark in Iron Man, who manipulates holographic elements in his lab with his hands, users conjure up their own imaginary set of graphical interfaces. In generating a virtual reality interface, the Imaginary Interfaces device combines a camera and a computer to see and then interpret gestures. 


A user draws an imaginary line in the operating plane of the Imaginary Interfaces device 
A ring of light emitting diodes (LEDs) around the camera beams out invisible infrared light. The camera sees this light reflected by the nearby gesturing hands but the distant background does not get illuminated. To operate Imaginary Interfaces, people use two basic commands. Making an 'L' shape with one's non-dominant hand (typically the left) 'opens up' a two-dimensional plane where the finger tracing interaction will take place; the L acts as the lower left corner of the plane in this example. 
LOOKS LIKE TOM WAS USING THE L SHAPE WITH LED GLOVES
Users can 'pinch' with the dominant hand to select a point in space on this plane that can serve a function.  As an easy frame of reference, a grid can be visualized based on the lengths of the finger and thumb in the L gesture as a 'Y' and 'X' coordinate, respectively. Pinching at approximately 3, 2 – or three finger-lengths up and two thumb-lengths over – could press a virtual button. TECH NEWS DAILY

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