Body posture detection system, suit and method

• US 10,642,368 B2
• Filed: 11/21/2017
• Issued: 05/05/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HTC Corporation
• Original Assignee: HTC Corporation
• Inventors: Chen, Yuan-Tung
• Primary Examiner(s): Chang, Kent W
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shah, Sujit
• Application Number:
  US15/818,771
• Publication Number:
  US 20180143696A1
• Time in Patent Office: 896 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6805 Vests
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 13/00 Indicating or recording presence, absence, or direction, of movement electric switches H01H; counting moving objects G06M7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 11/14 using ultrasonic, sonic, or infrasonic waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/08 Systems for measuring distance only indirect measurement G01S15/46
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/18 using ultrasonic, sonic, or infrasonic waves
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/01 Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer G06F3/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors

Abstract

A body posture detection system includes an inertial measurement unit, at least two ultrasonic transceivers and a processor. The inertial measurement unit is configured to retrieve an orientation vector of a first portion of a human body. The ultrasonic transceivers are mounted on the first portion and a second portion of the human body respectively. The processor is configured to generate a candidate gesture range of the first portion according to the orientation vector. The processor is configured to measure a distance between the first portion and the second portion according to an ultrasound transmitted between the ultrasonic transceivers. The processor is further configured to determine a current gesture of the first portion from the candidate gesture range according to the distance.

Claims

1. A body posture detection system, comprising:

an inertial measurement unit, mounted on a first portion of a human body, configured to sense an orientation vector of the first portion;

an ultrasonic module, comprising a first ultrasonic transceiver mounted on the first portion and a second ultrasonic transceiver mounted on a second portion of the human body; and

a processor, communicatively connected with the inertial measurement unit and the ultrasonic module, wherein the processor is configured to generate a plurality of candidate gestures of the first portion shared an identical angle between a gravitation and the orientation vector according to the orientation vector sensed by the inertial measurement unit and

the processor is configured to measure a distance between the first portion and the second portion according to an ultrasound transmitted between the first ultrasonic transceiver and the second ultrasonic transceiver;

wherein the processor is further configured to eliminate a plurality of impossible gestures from the candidate gestures according to the distance and a human kinetic constraint, in order to determine a current gesture.

2. The body posture detection system of claim 1, wherein the first portion is a first limb portion of the human body, and the candidate gestures are generated by the processor according to the orientation vector and a body kinematic constraint of the first limb portion.

3. The body posture detection system of claim 2, wherein the second portion is a torso portion of the human body, and the current gesture determined by the processor indicates a position and a direction of the first limb portion relative to the torso portion.

4. The body posture detection system of claim 2, wherein the second portion is a second limb portion of the human body, and the current gesture determined by the processor indicates a relative position between the first limb portion and the second limb portion.

5. The body posture detection system of claim 1, the ultrasound is generated by the first ultrasonic transceiver and transmitted to the second ultrasonic transceiver, or generated by the second ultrasonic transceiver and transmitted to the first ultrasonic transceiver.

6. The body posture detection system of claim 1, the distance is measured by the processor according to a flight time of the ultrasound.

7. A body posture detection suit, comprising:

a torso fitting component;

a plurality of limb fitting components, connected to the torso fitting component;

a plurality of inertial measurement units, disposed on the torso fitting component and the limb fitting components respectively, configured to sense orientation vectors of the torso fitting component or the limb fitting components;

a plurality of ultrasonic transceivers, disposed on multiple reference points on the limb fitting components, configured to send ultrasounds and to receive the ultrasounds respectively; and

a processor, in communication with the inertial measurement units and the ultrasonic transceivers, configured to measure distances among these reference points according to flight times of the ultrasounds, retrieve the orientation vectors, generate a plurality of current gestures of the limb fitting components shared an identical angle between a gravitation and the orientation vector according to the orientation vector, and

eliminate a plurality of impossible gestures from the candidate gestures according to the distance and a human kinetic constraint in order to determine a current gesture of the limb fitting components in combination with the torso fitting component.

8. The body posture detection suit of claim 7, wherein the inertial measurement units are disposed on ends of the limb fitting components or disposed along a proximal axis of the torso fitting component.

9. The body posture detection suit of claim 7, wherein the reference points are distributed on segments of the limb fitting components.

10. The body posture detection suit of claim 7, further comprising:

a head mounted display, in communication with the processor, configured to output a scenario of a simulated environment that an avatar is presented therein, and to display a gesture of the avatar in the scenario according to the current gesture of the torso fitting component and the limb fitting components.

11. A body posture detection method, applied on a human body, wherein the body posture detection method comprises:

sensing, by an inertial measurement unit, an orientation vector of a first portion of the human body;

measuring, by a processor, a distance between a first portion of the human body and a second portion of the human body according to an ultrasound transmitted between a first ultrasonic transceiver mounted on the first portion and a second ultrasonic transceiver mounted on the second portion;

generating, by the processor, a plurality of candidate gestures of the first portion shared an identical angle between a gravitation and the orientation vector according to the orientation vector sensed by the inertial measurement unit; and

eliminating a plurality of impossible gestures from the candidate gestures according to the distance and a human kinetic constraint, in order to determine a current gesture.

12. The body posture detection method of claim 11, wherein the first portion is a first limb portion of the human body, the candidate gestures are generated by the processor according to the orientation vector and a body kinematic constraint of the first limb portion.

13. The body posture detection method of claim 12, wherein the second portion is a torso portion of the human body, the current gesture determined by the processor indicates a position and a direction of the first limb portion relative to the torso portion.

14. The body posture detection method of claim 12, wherein the second portion is a second limb portion of the human body, the current gesture determined by the processor indicates a relative position between the first limb portion and the second limb portion.

15. The body posture detection method of claim 11, the ultrasound is generated by the first ultrasonic transceiver and transmitted to the second ultrasonic transceiver, or generated by the second ultrasonic transceiver and transmitted to the first ultrasonic transceiver.

16. The body posture detection method of claim 11, the distance is measured by the processor according to a flight time of the ultrasound.