MarkerMouse: Mouse cursor control using a head-mounted marker

Abstract

We propose MarkerMouse, an inexpensive method for controlling the mouse cursor using a web cam and a marker placed on the user's forehead. Two modes of cursor control were compared: position-control and velocity-control. In position-control mode the cursor is positioned where the user's head is pointing. In velocity-control mode the mouse cursor moves in a constant speed in the direction the user's head is pointing. In an experiment designed according to ISO 9241-9, we found a mean throughput 1.61 bps in position-control mode. Throughput was 34% less, or 1.07 bps, in velocity-control mode. We explain how from the marker image we control the mouse cursor position and reduce noise in our computations. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.