Virtual Touch Sensor Using a Depth Camera

In this paper, a virtual touch sensor using a depth camera is proposed. Touch regions are detected by finding each region that consists of pixels within a certain distance from a touch surface. Touch points are detected by finding a pixel in each touch region whose neighboring pixels are closest to surfaces. A touch path error due to noise in the depth picture is corrected through a filter that introduces a weight parameter in order to respond quickly even with sudden changes. The virtual touch sensor is implemented by using the proposed methods for the touch point detection and the touch path correction. In the virtual touch sensor, a touch surface and pixels of a depth picture can be regarded as a virtual touch panel and virtual touch units, respectively. The virtual touch sensor can be applied to wide fields of touch interfaces. Results of simulations show the implementation of the touch-pen interface using the virtual touch sensor.