1. A method of interpreting input from a user, said method comprising: providing a surface within reach of a hand of the user; sensing a plurality of locations on the surface that are touched by the user; determining an alphanumeric character having a shape most similar to the plurality of touched locations on the surface, the determining including: collecting information associated with a plurality of hand localized modules corresponding to skin on the hand of the user and a background corresponding to the surface; generating a first score corresponding to a likelihood that a portion of the collected information corresponds to the skin on the hand of the user using a first lower level statistical model; generating a second score corresponding to a likelihood that a portion of the collected information corresponds to the background using a second lower level statistical model; generating a combined score based on the first score and the second score using a higher level statistical model; identifying the alphanumeric character using combined scores from the first and second lower level statistical models and the higher level statistical model; and generating an output for the user including the alphanumeric character; and receiving feedback from the user regarding whether the alphanumeric character included in the output corresponds to the plurality of touched locations on the surface.
1. A method of interpreting input from a user, said method comprising: providing a surface within reach of a hand of the user; sensing a plurality of locations on the surface that are touched by the user; determining an alphanumeric character having a shape most similar to the plurality of touched locations on the surface, the determining including: collecting information associated with a plurality of hand localized modules corresponding to skin on the hand of the user and a background corresponding to the surface; generating a first score corresponding to a likelihood that a portion of the collected information corresponds to the skin on the hand of the user using a first lower level statistical model; generating a second score corresponding to a likelihood that a portion of the collected information corresponds to the background using a second lower level statistical model; generating a combined score based on the first score and the second score using a higher level statistical model; identifying the alphanumeric character using combined scores from the first and second lower level statistical models and the higher level statistical model; and generating an output for the user including the alphanumeric character; and receiving feedback from the user regarding whether the alphanumeric character included in the output corresponds to the plurality of touched locations on the surface. 3. The method of claim 1 further comprising: during online operation, determining whether the first and second scores from the first and second lower level models passes a reliability test.