Method and system for reducing effects of undesired signals in an infrared imaging system

A system for providing input to an application that is being executed the system for reducing the effects of undesired infrared light within an imaging system, the system comprising:

• (a) a light-permeable surface having a processing side and an interactive side, the interactive side being configured to enable a physical object to be disposed on or adjacent to the interactive side, the processing side being opposite to the interactive side;
• (b) a first infrared light source disposed on the processing side of the light-permeable surface, the first infrared light source selectively emitting infrared light that is transmitted through the light-permeable surface to the interactive side and reflected back through the light-permeable surface by the physical object that is disposed on or adjacent to the interactive side of the light-permeable surface, the first infrared light source comprising an image capture synchronization output that produces an image capture signal at the inception of each image capture interval;
• (c) an image capture device disposed on the processing side of the light-permeable surface, the image capture device sensing infrared light passing through the light permeable surface and imaging the interactive display surface to detect the physical object and its location;
• (d) a processor in communication with the first infrared light source and the image capture device;
• and
• (e) a memory in communication with the processor, the memory storing data and machine instructions that cause the processor to carry out a plurality of functions, including:
• (i) activating the first infrared light source during a first image capture interval;
• (ii) capturing a first set of image data during the first image capture interval with the image capture device and tagging the first set of image data to indicate having been captured with the first infrared light source activated;
• (iii) deactivating the first infrared light source during a second image capture interval;
• (iv) capturing a second set of image data during the second image capture interval with the image capture device and tagging the second set of image data to indicate having been captured with the first infrared light source deactivated;
• and
• (v) generating a composite set of image data by subtracting from first values in the first set of image data corresponding second values in the second set of image data, an effect of infrared light captured by the image capture device but not emitted by the first infrared source being substantially eliminated in the composite set of data.