Computer implemented method for sign language characterization

A computer-implemented method of recognizing sign language, the method comprising:

• detecting, via circuitry, one or more interest points in an extracted sign language feature, wherein the one or more interest points are localized in space and time in each of ,a plurality of images acquired from a plurality of frames of a sign language video including the extracted sign language feature, wherein the detecting is carried out using a Scale Invariant Features Transform (SIFT) descriptor and the interest points represent corners in each image;
• applying a digital filter to determine one or more extrema of a central region of the one or more interest points;
• associating one or more features with each interest point of the one or more interest points using a neighboring pixel function;
• clustering, via the circuitry, a group of extracted sign language features from the plurality of images based on a similarity between the extracted sign language features according to the associating;
• representing each image of the plurality of images by a histogram of visual words corresponding to the respective image to generate a code book;
• training, via the circuitry, a classifier based on labels assigned to the plurality of images to classify each extracted sign language feature using the code book;
• detecting, via the circuitry, a posture in each frame of the plurality of frames of the sign language video using the trained classifier;
• constructing, via the circuitry, a sign gesture based on the detected postures, and
• identifying text words that correspond with the sign gesture and presenting the text on a display so as to ease communication between deaf people and non-deaf people.