Patent ID: 7148913

Claim:
A vision-based pointer tracking system comprising: a computer system including a processor, a memory coupled with the processor, an input coupled with the processor for receiving a series of image frames from a camera, and an output coupled with the processor for outputting a path of a pointer, the computer system further comprising means, residing in its processor and memory for: searching a search window within the image frame for a portion of the window indicative of a pointer; recognizing the pointer; determining the position and trajectory of the pointer; robustly predicting the position of the pointer in the next image frame in the series of image frames; adjusting the search window within the next image frame such that the search window comprises a subset of the next image frame positioned so that the actual position of the pointer is likely to be within the search window in the next image frame; tracking the path of the pointer through an area represented by the series of image frames; and outputting the path of the pointer, whereby the means for robustly predicting the position of the pointer, combined with the adjusted search window enables the system to track the path of a pointer in a computationally efficient manner.