INPUT DEVICE AND CALIBRATION METHOD

• US 20130150697A1
• Filed: 11/29/2012
• Published: 06/13/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Imai, Hirokazu, Toriumi, Yoichi, Kawabe, Hideo, Kabasawa, Kenichi, Suzuki, Tatsuya, Ueno, Masatoshi
• Granted Patent: US 9,402,559 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/384
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1124 Determining motor skills
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1125 Grasping motions of hands
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/224 Measuring muscular strength
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/296 for electromyography [EMG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/316 Modalities, i.e. specific diagnostic methods
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/389 Electromyography [EMG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4082 Diagnosing or monitoring movement diseases, e.g. Parkinson, Huntington or Tourette
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6824 Arm or wrist
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/72 Signal processing specially adapted for physiological signals or for diagnostic purposes character recognition, recognising digital ink, document-oriented image-based pattern recognition G06V30/00; recognition or understanding of postal images G06V30/424
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/721 using a separate sensor to detect motion or using motion information derived from signals other than the physiological signal to be measured
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7221 Determining signal validity, reliability or quality A61B5/7207 and A61B5/7217 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7267 involving training the classification device
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7275 Determining trends in physiological measurement data; Predicting development of a medical condition based on physiological measurements, e.g. determining a risk factor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7282 Event detection, e.g. detecting unique waveforms indicative of a medical condition A61B5/4094, A61B5/4818, A61B5/349, A61B5/0823 take precedence

Abstract

There is provided an input device including a plurality of electrodes that are arranged on a surface of a body in a direction crossing a muscular fiber group of the body at a right angle, and detect electromyogram signals generated from the muscular fiber group according to a motion performed by the body; a switch unit that switches an electrode acquiring an electromyogram signal between the plurality of electrodes; and a control unit that selects an electrode detecting an electromyogram signal for identifying the motion from among the plurality of electrodes.

Claims

1. An input device comprising:

a plurality of electrodes that are arranged on a surface of a body in a direction crossing a muscular fiber group of the body at a right angle, and detect electromyogram signals generated from the muscular fiber group according to a motion performed by the body;

a switch unit that switches an electrode acquiring an electromyogram signal between the plurality of electrodes; and

a control unit that selects an electrode detecting an electromyogram signal for identifying the motion from among the plurality of electrodes.

2. The input device according to claim 1,

wherein the control unit selects the at least one electrode detecting the electromyogram signal for identifying the motion based on the respective electromyogram signals acquired by the plurality of electrodes.

3. The input device according to claim 2,

wherein the control unit selects the electrode having detected the electromyogram signal having a signal-to-noise ratio of a predetermined threshold value or more from among the plurality of electrodes so that an overlap with electrodes used in identifying other motions becomes small.

4. The input device according to claim 1,

wherein the control unit calibrates an electrode used as the at least one electrode according to a change in a relative positional relationship between the at least one electrode detecting the electromyogram signal for identifying the motion and the muscular fiber group.

5. The input device according to claim 2, further comprising:

a storage unit that stores electrode selection information representing a combination of the electrodes for detecting the electromyogram signal used for identifying the motion.

6. The input device according to claim 5,

wherein the control unit identifies an amount of change in a relative positional relationship between the at least one electrode detecting the electromyogram signal for identifying the motion and the muscular fiber group by estimating a position of the electrode using an electromyogram signal evaluation value of the electromyogram signal and the electrode selection information, and calibrates an electrode used as the at least one electrode.

7. The input device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a motion identification unit that identifies the motion performed by the body using the electromyogram signal detected by the selected electrode.

8. The input device according to claim 1,

wherein the surface of the body on which the plurality of electrodes are arranged is a forearm, and

wherein the plurality of electrodes are arranged in a direction of the muscular fibers and a circumferential direction of the forearm.

9. A calibration method comprising:

time-divisionally detecting electromyogram signals while switching between a plurality of electrodes that are arranged on a surface of a body in a direction crossing a muscular fiber group of the body at a right angle and detect the electromyogram signals generated from the muscular fiber group according to a motion performed by the body; and

selecting at least one electrode detecting an electromyogram signal for identifying the motion based on the respective electromyogram signals acquired by the plurality of electrodes.

10. The calibration method according to claim 9,

wherein electrode selection information representing a combination of the electrodes for detecting the electromyogram signals used for identifying the motion are stored in advance, and

wherein selecting the at least one electrode includes identifying an amount of change in a relative positional relationship between the at least one electrode detecting the electromyogram signal for identifying the motion and the muscular fiber group by estimating a position of the electrode using an electromyogram signal evaluation value of the electromyogram signal and the electrode selection information, and selecting an electrode used as the at least one electrode.