Methods and systems for a virtual input device

A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions executable by a head-mountable computing device to cause the head-mountable computing device to perform functions comprising:

• receiving information indicative of an amount of movement of the head-mountable computing device;
• determining that the indicated amount of movement is within a range of movement associated with the head-mountable computing device being substantially stationary and responsively:
• providing, by a projector coupled to the head-mountable computing device, a projected input device onto a surface, wherein the projected input device comprises a pattern of objects, and wherein the pattern of objects includes a plurality of regions;
• receiving, from a camera coupled to the head-mountable computing device, an image of the projected input device;
• determining an approximate location of the surface based on a brightness level of the projected input device within the image of the projected input device;
• modifying a power of the projector to adjust the brightness level of the projected input device based on the brightness level indicating that a distance between the surface and the camera exceeds a predetermined threshold distance;
• highlighting a first region of the plurality of regions;
• detecting that a size of a second region increased relative to the first region;
• and
• highlighting the second region instead of the first region.

A system comprising:

• an image-capture device;
• a projector;
• and
• a computing device in communication with the projector, wherein the computing device is configured to detect that the system is substantially stable and responsively:
• cause the projector to provide a projected input device onto a surface, wherein the projected input device comprises a pattern of objects, and wherein the pattern of objects includes a plurality of regions;
• receive from the image-capture device a reference background image including the projected input device;
• determine an approximate location of the surface based on a brightness level of the projected input device within the reference background image;
• modify a power of the projector to adjust the brightness level of the projected input device based on the brightness level indicating that a distance between the surface and the image-capture device exceeds a predetermined threshold distance;
• highlighting a first region of the plurality of regions;
• detecting that a size of a second region increased relative to the first region;
• and
• highlighting the second region instead of the first region.