Virtualization of Tangible Interface Objects

Abstract

An example system includes a computing device located proximate to a physical activity surface, a video capture device, and a detector. The video capture device is coupled for communication with the computing device and is adapted to capture a video stream that includes an activity scene of the physical activity surface and one or more interface objects physically intractable with by a user. The detector processes the video stream to detect the one or more interface objects included in the activity scene, to identify the one or more interface objects that are detectable, to generate one or more events describing the one or more interface objects, and to provide the one or more events to an activity application configured to render virtual information on the one or more computing devices based on the one or more events.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A physical activity surface visualization system, comprising:
 a detachable camera adapter that, when attached to a computing device, covers at least a portion of a field of view of a camera of the computing device and redirects at least a portion of the field of view of the camera to a physical activity surface located proximate to the computing device; and   a detector that receives a video stream from the camera adapted by the detachable camera adapter to capture a scene of the physical activity surface, detects one or more physical objects placed in the scene, identifies the one or more physical objects placed in the scene, and renders virtual information on a display of the computing device based on the one or more identified physical objects placed in the scene.