US Patent 9390500 Pointing finger detection

A number of images of an environment may be obtained over time by a number of sensors. The data obtained by the sensors may be used to generate contours of objects in the environment. In some cases, hands with pointing fingers in the environment may be identified based on the contours of the objects in the environment. In particular, contours having a palm segment and a pointing finger segment may be identified as hands with pointing fingers. In an implementation, 1-dimensional curvature and distance information may be used to identify contours having a palm segment and a pointing finger segment.