Methods and systems for enabling depth and direction detection when interfacing with a computer program

A system for detecting pointing direction of an object directed toward a display screen that can render graphics of a computer program, comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory coupled to the processor, the memory having embodied therein one or more computer executable instructions configured to implement, upon execution, a method for detecting depth and direction when interfacing with a computer program, the method comprising:
• (a) capturing two or more stereo images presented in front of two or more corresponding image capture devices, each image capture device having a capture location in a coordinate space
• (b) synchronizing the image capture devices with a strobe signal that is visible to each image capture device;
• when a person is captured in the image,
• (c) identifying a first body part of the person in the image and assigning the first body part a first location in the coordinate space;
• (d) identifying a second body part of the person in the image and assigning the second body part a second location in coordinate space;
• and
• (e) identifying a relative position in coordinate space between the first location and the second location when viewed from the capture location, wherein the relative position includes a dimension of depth.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having embodied therein one or more computer executable instructions configured to implement, upon execution, a method for detecting depth and direction when interfacing with a computer program, the method comprising:

• (a) capturing two or more stereo images presented in front of two or more corresponding image capture devices, each image capture device having a capture location in a coordinate space
• (b) synchronizing the image capture devices with a strobe signal that is visible to each image capture device;
• when a person is captured in the image,
• (c) identifying a first body part of the person in the image and assigning the first body part a first location in the coordinate space;
• (d) identifying a second body part of the person in the image and assigning the second body part a second location in coordinate space;
• and
• (e) identifying a relative position in coordinate space between the first location and the second location when viewed from the capture location, wherein the relative position includes a dimension of depth.