User-defined virtual interaction space and manipulation of virtual cameras in the interaction space

1. A method for defining interface modalities in a three dimensional (3D) sensor space, the method including:

detecting a control gesture made by a control object moving in a three dimensional (3D) sensor space, wherein the control gesture includes at least one portion having a sweep that defines a collection of points within a distance to a point in the 3D sensor space;

obtaining at least one gesture parameter for the control gesture; and defining spatial attributes for an interaction modality in the 3D sensor space responsive to the at least one gesture parameter of the control gesture.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one gesture parameter includes at least one of a length and a width of the control gesture.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one gesture parameter includes at least one of a structure, a scale, an orientation, or a density of the control object.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the spatial attributes include at least one of a height and a width of an interaction space.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the spatial attributes include at least numerosity of elements in the interaction modality.

6. The method of claim 1 , further including detecting a context-setting control gesture that identifies a context for interpreting a subsequent control gesture that defines spatial attributes of the interaction modality.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the context-setting control gesture is a voice, visual, or device command.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the subsequent control gesture applies to an entire interaction space.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the subsequent control gesture applies to an element of virtual interaction space.

10. The method of claim 6 , further including creating context-aware elements of the interaction modality that automatically interpret the context-setting control gesture and the subsequent control gesture to define spatial attributes of the interaction modality.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the control gesture is a stroke of a user appendage.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the control object is a detectable object and the control gesture defines a set of points that have at least one parameter in common within a threshold deviation.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein a threshold deviation is determined by a variation in angle along velocity vectors over time.

14. The method of claim 1 , the method further including:

defining a vertical extent of a virtual interaction space in proportion to length of vertical portion of the sweep made by the control object;

defining a horizontal extent of the virtual interaction space in proportion to width of horizontal portion of the sweep made by the control object; and

manipulating controls in a physical interaction space by superimposing the virtual interaction space on the physical interaction space responsive to the vertical extent and horizontal extent.

15. The method of claim 1 , the method further including:

defining a vertical extent of a virtual interaction space in proportion to length of vertical portion of the sweep made by the control object;

defining a horizontal extent of the virtual interaction space in proportion to width of horizontal portion of the sweep made by the control object; and

manipulating controls in a synthetic interaction space by linking the virtual interaction space to an image responsive to the vertical extent and horizontal extent.

16. The method of claim 1 , the method further including:

detecting a circular sweep of a control object responsive to a control gesture in a three dimensional (3D) sensor space;

calculating a radius for the circular sweep based on a found point that is equidistant to a plurality of points defined on contour of the control gesture;

constructing a radial-based virtual interaction modality in the 3D sensor space that is in proportion to the radius of the circular sweep; and

manipulating controls in a physical interaction space by superimposing the radial-based virtual interaction modality on the physical interaction space responsive to the circular sweep.

17. The method of claim 1 , the method further including:

identifying a pair of starting points in respective centers of control points of one or more control objects that are detected in a three dimensional (3D) sensor space, wherein the pair of starting points are fixed distance apart;

detecting an outward expanding movement of control points of one or more control objects in the 3D sensor space;

identifying a pair of resting points in respective centers of control points of one or more control objects when control points of one or more control objects come to rest;

defining a horizontal extent of a virtual interaction space in proportion to a distance between starting points and resting points;

defining a vertical extent of the virtual interaction space in proportion to width of one or more control objects; and

presenting the virtual interaction space responsive to the vertical extent and horizontal extent.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein control objects are hands and control points are finger tips.

19. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructs for defining interface modalities in a three dimensional (3D) sensor space, which instructions, when executed by one or more processors perform actions including:

detecting a control gesture made by a control object moving in a three dimensional (3D) sensor space, wherein the control gesture includes at least one portion having a sweep that defines a collection of points within a distance to a point in the 3D sensor space;

obtaining at least one gesture parameter for the control gesture; and

defining spatial attributes for an interaction modality in the 3D sensor space responsive to the at least one gesture parameter of the control gesture.

20. A system, for controlling a machine, including:

at least one camera;

one or more processors coupled to the at least one camera to process image information;

a computer readable medium storing instructions or defining interface modalities in a three dimensional (3D) sensor space, which instructions, when executed by one or more processors perform actions including:

detecting a control gesture made by a control object moving in a three dimensional (3D) sensor space, wherein the control gesture includes at least one portion having a sweep that defines a collection of points within a distance to a point in the 3D sensor space;

obtaining at least one gesture parameter for the control gesture; and

defining spatial attributes for an interaction modality in the 3D sensor space responsive to the at least one gesture parameter of the control gesture.