Spatial-input-based cursor projection systems and methods

1. A system comprising:

a spatial input subsystem configured to

visually detect a hand gesture acted out by a user within a physical user space associated with a display screen, the hand gesture having an index finger pointing at the display screen,

determine that the detected hand gesture is predefined to indicate a request for cursor projection, and

output data associated with the hand gesture in response to the determination;

a cursor projection subsystem communicatively coupled to the spatial input subsystem and configured to

receive the data associated with the hand gesture from the spatial input subsystem, and

map the hand gesture to at least one cursor position on the display screen based on at least one of a plane projection heuristic and a vector projection heuristic.

2. A method comprising:

detecting, by a cursor projection system, spatial input provided by a user within a physical user space associated with a display screen;

determining, by the cursor projection system, that the detected spatial input is predefined to indicate a request for cursor projection; and

mapping, by the cursor projection system, the spatial input to a cursor position on the display screen based on a vector projection heuristic by

identifying a plurality of reference points associated with the spatial input,

determining a vector based the plurality of reference points,

determining an intersection of the vector intersects with the display screen, and

setting the intersection as the cursor position on the display screen.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein:

the spatial input comprises a hand gesture acted out by the user within the physical user space, the hand gesture having an index finger pointing at the display screen; and

the plurality of reference points comprises a first reference point associated with a tip of the index finger and a second reference point associated with another part of the index finger.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein:

the spatial input comprises a hand gesture acted out by the user within the physical user space, the hand gesture having an index finger pointing at the display screen; and

the plurality of reference points comprises a first reference point associated with the index finger and a second reference point associated with an eye of the user.

5. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

executing, by the cursor projection system, a calibration mode configured to facilitate a calibration of the vector projection heuristic;

receiving, by the cursor projection system, user input during the calibration mode; and

calibrating, by the cursor projection system, the vector projection heuristic by defining, based on the user input, the reference points to be identified and used in the determining of the vector.

6. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

mapping, by the cursor projection system, the spatial input to an additional cursor position on the display screen based on the vector projection heuristic by

identifying a plurality of other reference points associated with the spatial input,

determining an additional vector based the plurality of other reference points,

determining an additional intersection of the additional vector with the display screen, and

setting the additional intersection as the additional cursor position on the display screen.

7. The method of claim 2 , embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one tangible computer-readable medium.

8. A method comprising:

detecting, by a cursor projection system, spatial input provided by a user within a physical user space associated with a display screen;

determining, by the cursor projection system, that the detected spatial input is predefined to indicate a request for cursor projection; and

mapping, by the cursor projection system, the spatial input to a cursor position on the display screen based on a plane projection heuristic by

projecting a sub-region virtual plane within the physical user space,

determining a position on the sub-region virtual plane based on the spatial input, and

mapping the position on the sub-region virtual plane to the cursor position on the display screen.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

detecting, by the cursor projection system, additional spatial input provided by another user within the physical user space associated with the display screen;

determining, by the cursor projection system, that the additional spatial input is associated with another request for cursor projection; and

mapping, by the cursor projection system, the additional spatial input to an additional cursor position on the display screen based on the plane projection heuristic by

projecting an additional sub-region virtual plane within the physical user space;

determining a position on the additional sub-region virtual plane based on the additional spatial input; and

mapping the position on the additional sub-region virtual plane to the additional cursor position on the display screen.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the sub-region virtual plane and the additional sub-region virtual plane are projected at distinct planar areas located within the physical user space and oriented parallel to the display screen.

11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

executing, by the cursor projection system, a calibration mode configured to facilitate a calibration of the plane projection heuristic;

receiving, by the cursor projection system, user input during the calibration mode;

defining, by the cursor projection system, the sub-region virtual plane and the additional sub-region virtual plane based on the user input; and

calibrating, the plane projection heuristic for mapping each of the sub-region virtual plane and the additional sub-region virtual plane to the display screen.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the user input comprises:

a spatial indication by the user of boundary locations of the sub-region virtual plane within the physical user space; and

a spatial indication by the another user of boundary locations of the additional sub-region virtual plane within the physical user space.

13. The method of claim 8 , embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one tangible computer-readable medium.

14. A method comprising:

detecting, by a cursor projection system, spatial input provided by a user within a physical user space associated with a display screen;

determining, by the cursor projection system, that the detected spatial input is predefined to indicate a request for cursor projection; and

mapping, by the cursor projection system, the spatial input to at least one cursor position on the display screen based on at least one of a plane projection heuristic and a vector projection heuristic.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the mapping is based on the plane projection heuristic and comprises:

projecting a virtual plane within the physical user space;

determining at least one position on the virtual plane based on the spatial input; and

mapping the at least one position on the virtual plane to the at least one cursor position on the display screen.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the mapping is based on the vector projection heuristic and comprises:

identifying a plurality of reference points associated with the spatial input;

determining at least one vector based on the reference points;

determining at least one intersection of the at least one vector with the display screen; and

setting the at least one intersection as the at least one cursor position on the display screen.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the mapping is based on the plane projection heuristic and the vector projection heuristic and comprises:

mapping the spatial input to a first cursor position on the display screen based on one of the plane projection heuristic and the vector projection heuristic; and

mapping the spatial input to an additional cursor position on the display screen based on the other of the plane projection heuristic and the vector projection heuristic.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein:

the spatial input is mapped to the first cursor position based on the plane projection heuristic, the first cursor position representing a translational position of the spatial input on a virtual plane projected in the physical user space, the virtual plane oriented parallel to the display screen; and

the spatial input is mapped to the additional cursor position based on the vector projection heuristic, the additional cursor position representing at least one of a pitch rotation and a yaw rotation of the spatial input.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the spatial input comprises a hand gesture acted out by the user within the physical user space, the hand gesture having an index finger pointing at the display screen.

20. The method of claim 14 , wherein the at least one cursor position comprises a plurality of cursor positions, and wherein the method further comprises:

detecting, by the cursor projection system, an existence of a predefined relationship between the plurality of cursor positions; and

automatically executing, by the cursor projection system, an operation in response to the detected existence of the predefined relationship.

21. The method of claim 14 , further comprising providing, by the cursor projection system, a tool configured to facilitate the user providing input to select between use of the plane projection heuristic and the vector projection heuristic in the mapping of the spatial input to the at least one cursor position on the display screen.

22. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

executing, by the cursor projection system, a calibration mode configured to facilitate user calibration of the at least one of the plane projection heuristic and the vector projection heuristic;

receiving, by the cursor projection system, user input during the calibration mode; and

calibrating, by the cursor projection system, the at least one of the plane projection heuristic and the vector projection heuristic based on the user input.

23. The method of claim 22 , wherein the calibrating comprises:

defining, based on the user input, a sub-region virtual plane for projection within the physical user space; and

calibrating the plane projection heuristic for mapping the sub-region virtual plane to the display screen.

24. The method of claim 14 , embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one tangible computer-readable medium.