A near touch user interface for touch screen based systems : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering in Electronics and Computer Systems Engineering at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Abstract

Industry has been heavily pushing for new methods of human-computer interaction in the last several years and this has seen many different technologies move into the mainstream, from infrared sensors[1] and z-cameras[2] to touch screens[3]. Because touch screens are a more mature and developed technology they provide an ideal platform for mainstream technology development, but their level of interactiveness is limited, and these limitations must be overcome or compensated for with clever interface design. In this thesis, a solution to these inherent limitations in touch screen interface design is proposed by augmenting the touch screens interaction capabilities with one or two cameras to enable a near touch user experience on top of the standard touch screen. This offers flexibility in system design (the near touch is implemented as an extra layer, and can be activated only if present) as well as providing an inexpensive solution. Several Image processing algorithms relevant to this task are also discussed and their implementation evaluated.