Communication system for deaf, deaf-blind, or non-vocal individuals using instrumented glove
First Claim
1. An instrumented glove for use in a man-machine interface comprising a cover material configured to fit on the hand of a wearer, a plurality of variable resistance strain gage means supported by said cover material and positioned to flex with movement of the hand, said cover material including guiding pockets in which said strain gage means are supported, said strain gage means comprising strain gage responsive means mounted on a flexible support material, and means electrically connected to said plurality of strain gage means for transmitting changes in resistance of said plurality of strain gage means to circuitry of the machine system.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A communication system for deaf, deaf-blind, or non-vocal individuals includes an instrumented glove for obtaining electrical signals indicative of a hand configuration of a first individual. Strain gage sensors in the glove flex with movement of the hand. Each sensor includes a tension strain gage and a compression strain gage which are serially connected and form two legs in a bridge circuit. Signals from the bridge circuit are amplified and digitized and applied to a computer which includes an adaptive pattern recognition algorithm which is responsive to hand-state vectors for recognizing letter beacons in hand-space. A second individual communicates with the first individual through the computer system using a portable keyboard. The output devices for communicating to the first and second individuals depend on the visual, vocal and hearing capabilities of the individuals and can be selected from a voice synthesizer, LCD monitor, or braille display.
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Citations
25 Claims
- 1. An instrumented glove for use in a man-machine interface comprising a cover material configured to fit on the hand of a wearer, a plurality of variable resistance strain gage means supported by said cover material and positioned to flex with movement of the hand, said cover material including guiding pockets in which said strain gage means are supported, said strain gage means comprising strain gage responsive means mounted on a flexible support material, and means electrically connected to said plurality of strain gage means for transmitting changes in resistance of said plurality of strain gage means to circuitry of the machine system.
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8. A communication system for use by deaf, deaf-blind or non-vocal individuals comprising
means for deriving electrical signals indicative of the configuration of a hand of a first individual including an instrumented glove having a cover material configured to fit on the hand of a wearer, a plurality of variable resistance strain gage sensor means supported by said cover material and positioned to flex with movement of the hand, said cover material including guiding pockets in which said strain sensor means are supported, and means for electrically connecting said plurality of strain gage means to circuitry of the communication system, computer means for receiving the electrical signals and determining letters corresponding to configurations of the hand, said computer means including an adaptive pattern recognition algorithm responsive to hand-state vectors for recognizing letter beacons in hand-space, and first output means responsive to said computer means for providing an output of letters recognized by said adaptive pattern recognition algorithm.
Specification