QPalm: A gesture recognition system for remote control with list menu

The coming ubiquity of digital media content is driving the need of a solution for improving the interaction between the people and media. In this work, we proposed a novel interaction technique, QPalm, which allows the user to control the media via a list menu shown on a distant display by drawing circles in the air with one hand. To manipulate a list menu remotely, QPalm includes two basic functions, browse and choosing, realized by recognizing the user's palm performing circular and push motions in the air. The circular motion provides fluidity in scrolling a menu up and down, while push motion is intuitive when the user decided to choose an item during a circular motion. Based on this design, we develop a vision system based on a stereo camera to track the user's palm without interfering by intruders behind or next to the operating user. For more specifically, the contribution of the work includes: (1) an intuitive interaction technique, QPalm, for remote control with list menu, and (2) a palm tracking algorithm to support QPalm based on merely depth and motion information of images for a practical consideration.