Interacting beyond the Screen A Multitouchless Interface Expanding User Interaction

Multitouch technology is now com-monplace across modern devices and provides direct interaction with an ap-plication’s GUI. However, interaction is limited to the 2D plane of the display. The detection and tracking of fingertips in 3D, independent of the display, opens up multitouch to new application areas, ranging from medical analysis in sterile en-vironments to home entertainment and gaming. Furthermore, the additional dimension of interac-tion provides new avenues for UI design. Unfortunately, using gloves, specialized hardware, or multi-camera stereo rigs to accurately track the hands limits the tech-nology’s applications. Alterna-tively, detecting and trackin