Oral controller method and apparatus
First Claim
1. A method of orally controlling a device through selective placement of the tongue, comprising the following steps:
- selectively placing the tongue in the aperture of one of a plurality of intraoral sensors positioned at predetermined locations in the mouth to cause a change of state in the output of said sensor;
selectively placing the tongue in the same or another selected sensor to cause a change of state in the output of the sensor selected; and
detecting and interpreting the outputs of said plurality of sensors in accordance with a coding scheme to produce commands for controlling a device that may be remote from the user.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An oral controller and related method for lingual control of remote apparatus are disclosed. Preferably, the controller includes a mouthpiece having an intraoral structure and lingual transducer electronics including an array of photosensitive switches the light beams of which are selectively temporarily interruptible by the placement of the user'"'"'s tongue in a light beam'"'"'s path. A normally open electrical contact switch and associated circuitry including one or more batteries are provided for detecting closure of this switch when the mouthpiece is properly placed in the user'"'"'s mouth, at which time controller circuitry within a separate housing is activated and the photosensitive switches are operated at a low, battery-saving duty cycle. Openings of the photosensitive switches are detected, and their sequence encoded and transmitted, e.g. in the form of an audio signal or a luminous, ultrasonic or RF (modulated) carrier signal, to a remote wireless receiver capable of decoding the lingual placement sequences into symbolic control codes, e.g. computer commands. Preferably, the transmitter or receiver produces an audible tone representing the control code to provide aural feedback to the user. In a proposed modification to the invention, all switch, transducer and transmitter circuitry, including the battery or batteries, are housed in a modified mouthpiece structure the weight of which is partly supported by the user'"'"'s chin.
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Citations
11 Claims
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1. A method of orally controlling a device through selective placement of the tongue, comprising the following steps:
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selectively placing the tongue in the aperture of one of a plurality of intraoral sensors positioned at predetermined locations in the mouth to cause a change of state in the output of said sensor; selectively placing the tongue in the same or another selected sensor to cause a change of state in the output of the sensor selected; and detecting and interpreting the outputs of said plurality of sensors in accordance with a coding scheme to produce commands for controlling a device that may be remote from the user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. An oral controller comprising:
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a mouthpiece including a plurality of intraoral sensors, each sensor including an aperture for receiving the tip of the user'"'"'s tongue therein to cause the sensor to output a signal; a transmitter operatively coupled with said sensors for generating a signal stream indicative of the sequential activation of selected sensors by the user for transmission to a remote receiver; and a receiver responsive to said signal stream, said receiver decoding said signal stream into one or more coded symbols for controlling a device remote from the user based upon the user'"'"'s selective operation of said mouthpiece sensors in accordance with a predetermined language. - View Dependent Claims (5)
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6. An oral controller comprising:
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a mouthpiece including an intraoral region having plural normally closed switches operable by the selective placement of a user'"'"'s tongue proximate thereto; a mouth-placement detection circuit coupled with said mouthpiece for applying power to said switches upon detection that said mouthpiece is in contact with the user'"'"'s mouth; a transmitter operatively coupled with said switches, said transmitter detecting the opening of each of said switches and generating a signal stream indicative thereof for transmission to a remote receiver; and a receiver responsive to said signal stream, said receiver decoding said signal stream into one or more coded symbols for controlling a device remote from the user based upon the user'"'"'s selective operation of said switches in accordance with a predetermined language. - View Dependent Claims (7)
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8. A lingual transducer comprising:
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an intraoral structure including a normally open switch that is closed when said structure is placed is placed in a user'"'"'s mouth, said structure further including at least one photosensitive switch the coupleable terminals of which are supplied with a voltage upon closure of said normally open switch, sad photosensitive switch thereafter being normally closed by a light beam and being actuable by lingual placement in the path of said beam momentarily to interrupt the same and to open said photosensitive switch, and electronics coupleable with sad structure for detecting such closure of sad normally open switch, supplying thereupon such voltage to said photosensitive switch, detecting such actuation of said photosensitive switch and generating a signal indicative of such lingual placement in the path of said beam. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
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Specification