Projected Interactive Display for Public Spaces

1. Introduction

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The thesis applies a new way to interact with sources of information using an

interactive projected display. For a long time the ubiquitous mouse and keyboard has

been used to control a graphical display. Recently advances and research in human

computer interaction (HCI) has paved the way for techniques such as vision, sound,

speech recognition, and context-aware devices that allow for a much richer, multimodal

interaction between man and machine.

In the past decades, with the advent of increased processing power and technology,

there has been great interest from the academic and commercial sector in developing new

and innovative human computer interfaces. Some of the available devices have developed

into track-ball, electronic pens, cyber-gloves, 3D-mice and magnetic tracking devices to

name a few. Recent research moves away from traditional input devices. PUI or

Perceptual User Interfaces and VBI or Vision Based Interfaces are examples of recent

research areas. (Turk, 1998 & Porta, 2002). What is interesting in this line of research is

the development of natural and intuitive interface methods that make use of human body.

A certain class of this research falls under bare hand human-computer interaction which

this study is about. Bare hand human interaction uses as a basis of input the human hands

without the use of devices in contact with the human body.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

 Information-rich interactive viewing modules are usually implemented as

computer based kiosks. However placing computer peripherals such as touch-screens and

mouse and keyboard controlled computers in a public area would require significant

space and have maintenance concerns on the physical hardware being used by the

common public. Using a projected display and a camera based input device, would

eliminate the hardware problems associated with the space and maintenance. It also

attracts people since projected displays are new and novel.

1.3 Objectives

1.3.1 General Objectives

• The general objective of the thesis is to create an interactive projected display

system.

1.3.2 Specific Objectives

• To use an LCD projector for the display

• To use a PC camera as the basis of user input

• To use a PC to implement algorithms to detect user inputs from the camera

• To use a PC to source the information-rich content

• To create an interactive DLSU campus map as a demo application

1.4 Scope and Delimitation

The proponents will create a real time interactive projected display using a

projector and camera. The proponents will use development tools for image/video
processing and computer vision to program the PC. Algorithms for hand detection and

tracking will be implemented using these tools.

The projector and camera set-up will be fixed in such a way that blocking the

projector is not a problem. Trapezoidal distortion which results from projecting from an

angle will be manually compensated if present. Since the system is dependent on the

camera and projection, the lighting conditions will be controlled. The set-up area must

not have too much light as to overpower the projection.

1.5 Significance of the Study

The study applies a new way of presenting information using projected displays
and allows the user to interact with it. A projected display conserves space as the system
is ceiling mounted and there is no hardware that directly involves the user. Using only the
hands of the user as an input, the system is intuitive and natural-- key criteria for effective
interfaces. The study presents an alternative to computer based modules where space can
be a problem.

Furthermore research in this area has promising applications. As found in

literature there have been numerous research applying similar techniques for applications
in ……………………………………………………………..Augmented Reality.

1.6 Description of the Project

The system is comprised of 3 main components; (1) the PC which houses the

information and control content, (2) the projector which displays the information, and (3)

the PC camera which is the input of the system. Development of the study would be

heavily invested in the software programming of the PC. The functions of the PC would

be the following: detection of the position and action of the hands of the user relative to

the screen, generating a response from a specific action, hosting the information rich
content. Techniques of image/video processing and machine vision will be used to

facilitate the first two functions of the PC.

As a demo application an interactive map of the school is used. The projector will

project the campus directory of De La Salle University Manila. The camera will capture

the images needed and will upload to the computer. The user will then pick on which

building he/she would like to explore using his/her hand as the pointing tool. Once the

user has chosen a building, a menu will appear that will give information about the

building. Information includes brief history, floor plans, facilities, faculties, etc. Once the

user is finished exploring the building, he/she can touch the back button to select another

building in the campus. The cycle will just continue until the user is satisfied.

1.7 Methodology

Development of the study would be heavily invested in the software programming

of the PC. We the researchers must spend time in acquiring skills in programming for the

implementation of the research. Researching a lot about video capture and processing is

greatly needed for these will affect the purpose of the system. Familiarizing with the

different programming language and acquiring skill with it is necessary.

The proponents of the research needs to obtain all the materials that is needed for

the achievement of the study, materials such as the camera that will capture the input, the

projector which will give the output display (projected display) and the PC which the

system will be based. The appropriate specifications of the camera and the projector will

be carefully looked at to get the precise requirements. After which the system has its
working prototype, testing and making the necessary adjustments will be needed upon

detecting problems in the system. The role of the advisers in this case is extremely

important; they will help/guide the researchers in their own area of expertise so it is a

reality that the researchers also need consultation and suggestions given by their advisers.

After the necessary adjustments, complete testing of the system and gathering of

the data’s and results, the promoters of the idea must give in their conclusions for future

study and revision of the project, also for future researchers on the topic to have solutions

in the research limitations.

1.8 Gantt Chart

1.9 Estimated Budget of the Project

Projector…………………..P50,000
PC Camera………………..P 500 - 2000

References

Porta, M. (2002) Vision-based user interfaces:methods and

applications
International Journal of Human Computer Studies. Elsevier Science

Turk, M. (1998). Moving from GUIs to PUIs. Symposium on Intelligent Information

Media. Microsoft Research Technical Report MSR-TR-98-69