Vision Based Hand Gesture Interfaces for Wearable Computing and ...

Chapter 2
Literature Review
This chapter discusses the most relevant research and publications pertaining
to this dissertation. The path that this literature review takes follows user in-
terface (UI) construction from theory to practice. First, a definition and some
possible classifications of gestures are given. Next, research is described that con-
cerns biomechanical and human factors issues of hand gestures. The lion’s share
of this chapter deals with computer vision (CV) methods and their suitability to
implementing user interfaces. Last but not least, two promising application areas
for hand gesture-based user interfaces are covered: the non-traditional realms of
augmented environments as well as mobile and wearable computing.
2.1 Hand gestures
In its most general meaning, a gesture is any physical configuration of the
body, whether the person is aware of it or not, whether performed with the entire
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