Patent ID: 8525876

Claim:
A method, comprising: capturing images, with a camera of an image capture device, in ambient light of a human hand in a field of view (FOV) of said camera; processing, by an image processor of said image capture device, a first one of said images to detect a presence of said hand, wherein said processing includes the steps of: determining if a first contour line starting from a border of said FOV is longer than a first threshold; determining, when said first contour line is longer than said first threshold, second contour lines for each of two edges of at least three fingers from said first one of said images of said hand in said FOV; generating single pixel width contour lines from each of said second contour lines; and determining if said single pixel width contour lines are finger edge or finger tip points, wherein said determining if said single pixel width contour lines are finger tip points comprises the steps of: computing a first and second derivative of each of said single pixel width contour lines when a straight line approximation of said single pixel width contour line is greater than a second threshold; and determining if each of said single pixel width contour lines with said straight line approximation greater than said second threshold is said finger tip point when a sign of said computed second derivative changes once; assigning, by said image capture device, a position of said presence of said hand; tracking, by said image capture device, movement of said hand within said FOV by processing at least a second one of said images; generating, by said image capture device, a command based on said tracked movement of said hand within said FOV; and transmitting, with an interface, said detection of said hand, said position of said hand, and said command to an external apparatus.