InteractiveDisplay: A computer-vision-based solution to retrofit existing flat displays into interactive surfaces

This paper outlines InteractiveDisplay, a novel and cost effective solution to create vision-based interactive surface systems by retrofitting existing regular displays. The proposed solution uses a regular off-the-shelf web camera as the main input device, and the raw image data captured by the web camera are processed using several image processing algorithms such as, background subtraction and skin color detection, to identify foreground objects. InteractiveDisplay´s configuration addresses complexity and cost related issues with currently available computer-vision-based interactive surfaces. The proposed system provides an opening for more people to experience a new level of interactions with computing systems using the existing and commonly available technologies. The presented system is capable of responding in real-time for user interactions and provides a cost-effective configuration that requires minimum engineering efforts to set-up.