Hand Gesture Framing for Head-Mounted Camera Capture
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wearable computing devices lack intuitive methods for users to capture images with head-mountable cameras, particularly in augmented or virtual reality applications, where traditional methods may be cumbersome or inconvenient.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a hand gesture recognition system that allows users to frame an image with their hands and capture a photo by withdrawing their hands from the frame formation, enabling post-processing techniques such as cropping, white balancing, and exposure adjustment based on the hand gestures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If traditional control methods are used for head-mountable imaging devices, then device functionality is maintained, but ease of operation deteriorates due to cumbersome controls in AR/VR settings
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical control interfaces (buttons, switches, physical controls) with a gesture-based control system. The imaging device detects hand gestures through sensors and processes these gestures to control image capture functions, eliminating the need for physical controls that are cumbersome in AR/VR environments. This substitution of mechanical systems with gesture recognition directly improves ease of operation while maintaining device functionality.
2Ease of operation
If gesture recognition is implemented for image capture, then ease of operation improves through intuitive hand gestures, but device complexity increases due to additional sensors and processing requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the existing sensors in the head-mountable device serve multiple functions: they continue to detect environmental data for AR/VR operations while also detecting hand gestures for image capture control. By enabling sensors to perform both traditional AR/VR functions and gesture recognition, the patent avoids adding dedicated gesture sensors, thus improving ease of operation without proportionally increasing device complexity.
3Manufacturing precision
If frame formation gesture is used to define capture area, then manufacturing precision improves for cropped images, but measurement precision deteriorates due to difficulty in accurately detecting hand frame boundaries
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the system continuously monitors sensor data to detect when a hand frame gesture is formed, confirms the frame boundaries, and provides feedback (through visual or haptic signals) to the user that the frame is properly detected. This feedback loop allows the system to adjust and refine the detected frame area, compensating for initial detection uncertainties and achieving accurate cropped image capture despite challenges in precisely measuring hand frame boundaries.
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments described herein may help a computing device, such as a head-mountable device (HMD), to capture and process images in response to a user placing their hands in, and then withdrawing their hands from, a frame formation. For example, an HMD may analyze image data from a point-of-view camera on the HMD, and detect when a wearer holds their hands in front of their face to frame a subject in the wearer's field of view. Further, the HMD may detect when the wearer withdraws their hands from such a frame formation and responsively capture an image. Further, the HMD may determine a selection area that is being framed, within the wearer's field of view, by the frame formation. The HMD may then process the captured image based on the frame formation, such as by cropping, white-balancing, and/or adjusting exposure.