VISION-BASED POINTER TRACKING AND OBJECT CLASSIFICATION METHOD AND APPARATUS

A vision-based pointer tracking and object recognizing system is presented. The system comprises 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 includes a tracking system and a recognition system which are configured to accurately and efficiently track the fingertip of a user in order to allow the user to perform coarse segmentation of an object in preparation for object classification. The tracking system includes a Robust Tracking Filter that accommodates uncertainties. The object recognition system incorporates an invariant object recognition technique that allows objects to be recognized despite changes in user viewpoint.