US Patent 10019074 Touchless input

A series of depth maps image a scene including a human subject. Each depth map includes a plurality of pixels, where each of the plurality of pixels defines a depth of a surface imaged by that pixel. The human subject is modeled with a virtual skeleton including a virtual hand joint. A position of the virtual hand joint is mapped to a corresponding portion of one or more depth maps in the series of depth maps. One or more fingers are modeled from depth map information of the corresponding portion of the one or more depth maps. A finger gesture is interpreted from the modeled fingers.