MUSCLE INTERFACE DEVICE AND METHOD FOR INTERACTING WITH CONTENT DISPLAYED ON WEARABLE HEAD MOUNTED DISPLAYS

• US 20140198034A1
• Filed: 01/14/2014
• Published: 07/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: META Platforms Technologies LLC (Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.))
• Original Assignee: Thalmic Labs Inc.
• Inventors: Bailey, Matthew, Grant, Aaron, Lake, Stephen
• Application Number:
  US14/155,087
• Publication Number:
  US 20140198034A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/156
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/017 Head mounted
• 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 3/014 Hand-worn input/output arrangements, e.g. data gloves
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/015 Input arrangements based on nervous system activity detection, e.g. brain waves [EEG] detection, electromyograms [EMG] detection, electrodermal response detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• 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 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

There is disclosed a muscle interface device and method for interacting with content displayed on wearable head mounted displays. In an embodiment, the muscle interface device comprises a sensor worn on the forearm of a user, and the sensor is adapted to recognize a plurality of gestures made by a user'"'"'s hand and or wrist to interact with content displayed on the wearable head mounted display. The muscle interface device utilizes a plurality of sensors, including one or more of capacitive EMG, MMG, and accelerometer sensors, to detect gestures made by a user. The detected user gestures from the sensors are processed into a control signal for allowing the user to interact with content displayed on the wearable head mounted display in a discreet manner.

Claims

1. A muscle interface device for interacting with content displayed on a wearable head mounted display, comprising:

a plurality of sensors that in use are worn on a portion of an arm of a user to detect signals generated by at least one muscle of the arm of the user; and

a transmitter communicatively coupled to the plurality of sensors and which in use transmits communication signals indicative of muscle activity detected by the plurality of sensors to a receiver on the wearable head mounted display;

wherein the communication signals transmitted to the receiver on the wearable head mounted display cause one or more interactions with content displayed on the wearable head mounted display.

2. The muscle interface device of claim 1, further comprising:

a processor communicatively coupled to the plurality of sensors and the transmitter, and which interprets the signals detected by the plurality of sensors as a gesture and translates the signals detected by the plurality of sensors to a control signal to interact with content displayed on the wearable head mounted display, wherein the control signal is transmitted by the transmitter at least as part of the communications signals.

3. The muscle interface device of claim 1 wherein the detected signals are transmitted to the receiver on the wearable head mounted display to be interpreted as a gesture by the wearable head mounted display.

4. The muscle interface device of claim 1, further comprising a haptic feedback module for confirming the interpretation of a gesture.

5. The muscle interface device of claim 1 wherein the plurality of sensors includes at least one sensor selected from the group consisting of:

an electromyographic (EMG) sensor and a mechanomyographic (MMG) sensor.

6. The muscle interface device of claim 1 wherein the transmitter includes a wireless transmitter to wirelessly transmit wireless communications signals to the receiver on the wearable head mounted display.

7. The muscle interface device of claim 1, further comprising:

an accelerometer to detect an acceleration of the arm of the user and to provide a signal representing the acceleration.

8. A method for interacting with content displayed on a wearable head mounted display, the method comprising:

displaying content on the wearable head mounted display;

detecting a user gesture by a muscle interface device, wherein the muscle interface device includes a plurality of sensors responsive to signals generated by muscles of a user and a transmitter, and wherein detecting the user gesture includes detecting signals generated by muscles of the user by the plurality of sensors of the muscle interface device;

identifying the user gesture by at least one circuit of the muscle interface device;

transmitting the identified gesture to the wearable head mounted display by the transmitter of the muscle interface device;

receiving the identified gesture by the wearable head mounted display; and

translating the identified gesture to a control signal by the wearable head mounted display to interact with content displayed thereon.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the transmitter of the muscle interface device is a wireless transmitter, and wherein:

transmitting the identified gesture to the wearable head mounted display by the transmitter of the muscle interface device includes wirelessly transmitting the identified gesture to the wearable head mounted display by the wireless transmitter of the muscle interface device;

and receiving the identified gesture by the wearable head mounted display includes wirelessly receiving the identified gesture by the wearable head mounted display.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

pairing the muscle interface device with the wearable head mounted display.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the plurality of sensors includes one or more electromyography (EMG) sensors, and wherein detecting a user gesture by a muscle interface device includes detecting an electrical signal produced by a muscle of the user by the one or more EMG sensors of the muscle interface device.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein the plurality of sensors includes one or more mechanomyography (MMG) sensors, and wherein detecting a user gesture by a muscle interface device includes detecting a vibration produced by a muscle of the user by the one or more MMG sensors of the muscle interface device.

13. The method of claim 8 wherein the muscle interface device further comprises an accelerometer, and wherein detecting a user gesture by the muscle interface device includes detecting acceleration by the accelerometer.