Patent ID: 7530019

Claim:
A user-following interface system comprising: one or more projectors adapted to project one or more images onto one or more selected surfaces in a real environment, wherein the one or more selected surfaces are selected from a plurality of surfaces; a user tracking module adapted to track positions of one or more users in the environment; a controller coupled to the one or more projectors and the user tracking module, the controller adapted to select the one or more surfaces based on the positions of the one or more users in the real environment, and to provide information to the one or more projectors suitable for allowing the one or more projectors to project the one or more images onto the one or more selected surfaces; and a sensing mechanism adapted to detect user interactions with a selected image projected onto one of the selected surfaces, wherein the controller is further adapted to select an interaction area for an image by: mapping position and orientation of a user into a three-dimensional environment model; determining a volume in the three-dimensional model that is reachable by the user; determining a set of surfaces available for interaction in the reachable volume; determining available interaction areas on each surface; determining a distance from an appendage of the user to a center of an available interaction area; eliminating interaction areas that are occluded by the user to create remaining interaction areas; and selecting one of the remaining interaction areas, within the reachable volume, that is closest to the user while being approximately orthogonal to a viewing direction of the user.