Continuous sign-language recognition apparatus and input apparatus
First Claim
1. A continuous sign-language recognition apparatus comprising:
- sign-language input means for converting a series of sign-language words into sign-language patterns which are time-series patterns of feature vectors and inputting said sign-language patterns;
a dictionary of template pattern of sign-language word for storing template patterns of sign-language word; and
sign-language word recognition means coupled to said sign-language input means and said dictionary for matching said sign-language patterns with said template patterns of sign-language word to recognize sign-language words expressed in said sign-language patterns,each of said template patterns of sign-language word being expressed as a feature vector for the sign-language word having a static pattern, and as a time-series pattern of a feature vector for the sign-language word having a dynamic pattern;
each of said sign-language patterns and each of said template patterns of sign-language word being expressed as a combination of a plurality of component patterns; and
each of said template patterns of sign-language word being expressed as a feature vector for the component pattern having a static pattern, and as a time-series pattern of a feature vector for the component pattern having a dynamic pattern;
said sign-language word recognition means includes matching portions of component pattern for matching the respective component patterns constituting one of said sign-language patterns with the component patterns constituting said template patterns of sign-language word, and a detection portion of sign-language word for integrating the matching results of said matching portions of component pattern to detect a sign-language word;
wherein each of said matching portions of component pattern includes;
selection means for determining whether each of the component patterns is static or dynamic with reference to said dictionary of template pattern of sign-language word;
static pattern detection means for matching one of said sign-language patterns with said template patterns of sign-language word, in response to a component pattern which is a static pattern, and outputting pattern detected positions; and
dynamic pattern detection means for matching one of said sign-language patterns with said template patterns of sign-language word, in response to a component pattern which is a dynamic pattern, and outputting pattern detected positions.
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Abstract
A continuous sign-language recognition apparatus and input apparatus which employ expressions of template patterns of sign-language word as well as the template patterns of sign-language word to realize high speed and highly accurate sign-language recognition. Each of component patterns constituting a template pattern of a sign-language word is expressed by a feature vector representing the pattern when the pattern is a static pattern, or by a time-series pattern of a feature vector when the pattern is a dynamic pattern. Also, using the template patterns of sign-language word, different matching methods are applied to the static and dynamic patterns for recognizing each component pattern, and the respective results are integrated on the basis of a temporal overlap of the respective component patterns to continuously recognize sign-language words.
155 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A continuous sign-language recognition apparatus comprising:
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sign-language input means for converting a series of sign-language words into sign-language patterns which are time-series patterns of feature vectors and inputting said sign-language patterns; a dictionary of template pattern of sign-language word for storing template patterns of sign-language word; and sign-language word recognition means coupled to said sign-language input means and said dictionary for matching said sign-language patterns with said template patterns of sign-language word to recognize sign-language words expressed in said sign-language patterns, each of said template patterns of sign-language word being expressed as a feature vector for the sign-language word having a static pattern, and as a time-series pattern of a feature vector for the sign-language word having a dynamic pattern; each of said sign-language patterns and each of said template patterns of sign-language word being expressed as a combination of a plurality of component patterns; and each of said template patterns of sign-language word being expressed as a feature vector for the component pattern having a static pattern, and as a time-series pattern of a feature vector for the component pattern having a dynamic pattern; said sign-language word recognition means includes matching portions of component pattern for matching the respective component patterns constituting one of said sign-language patterns with the component patterns constituting said template patterns of sign-language word, and a detection portion of sign-language word for integrating the matching results of said matching portions of component pattern to detect a sign-language word; wherein each of said matching portions of component pattern includes; selection means for determining whether each of the component patterns is static or dynamic with reference to said dictionary of template pattern of sign-language word; static pattern detection means for matching one of said sign-language patterns with said template patterns of sign-language word, in response to a component pattern which is a static pattern, and outputting pattern detected positions; and dynamic pattern detection means for matching one of said sign-language patterns with said template patterns of sign-language word, in response to a component pattern which is a dynamic pattern, and outputting pattern detected positions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A continuous sign-language recognition system comprising:
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means for converting a series of sign-language words into sign-language patterns which are time-series patterns of feature vectors and inputting said converted sign-language patterns; means for storing template patterns for sign-language words; pattern matching means for matching said input sign-language patterns with said template patterns of sign-language word, to recognize a sign-language word expressed in said input sign-language patterns; recognizing means responsive to said matching means for recognizing a sign-language word from the results of matching between the input sign-language pattern and the template patterns; and means for outputting the sign-language word recognized by said recognizing means; each of said template patterns for sign-language words includes a description for identifying whether each of gesture elements each constituting a sign-language word is a static pattern or a dynamic pattern, and a pattern of the gesture element expressed as a format that is different depending upon whether the gesture element is a static pattern or a dynamic pattern; said pattern matching means, referring to said template patterns in said storing means, selecting a relevant one of different matching schemes in accordance with whether each gesture element in the template patterns is static or dynamic and performing a matching of said input sign language patterns with the pattern of each gesture element using the selected matching scheme, independently from the other gesture elements; and said sign-language word recognizing means integrating recognition results of the gesture elements each constituting a sign-language word, based on a time relation with the recognition results. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A continuous sign-language recognition system comprising:
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means for converting a series of sign-language words into sign-language patterns which are time-series patterns of feature vectors and inputting said sign-language patterns; pattern storage means for storing template patterns of sign-language morphemes; word store means for storing sign-language words each expressed as a combination of sign-language morphemes constituting a sign-language word; pattern matching means for matching said sign-language patterns with said template patterns of sign-language morphemes, in order to recognize sign-language morphemes expressed in said sign-language patterns; morpheme recognition means responsive to said pattern matching means for recognizing sign-language morphemes from the results of matching between one of said sign-language patterns and the template patterns of sign-language morphemes; word recognition means connected to said morpheme recognition means for recognizing a sign-language word by matching the recognized sign-language morphemes with a combination of sign-language morphemes constituting a sign-language word; and means for outputting the sign-language word recognized by said word recognizing means; said template patterns stored in said sign-language morpheme template storing means including a description of identifying whether each of gesture elements constituting a sign-language morpheme is a static pattern or a dynamic pattern, and a pattern of the gesture element expressed as a format different depending upon whether the gesture element is a static pattern or a dynamic pattern; said pattern matching means for matching the input sign-language patterns with the sign-language morpheme template patterns, referring to said template patterns in said pattern storage means, selecting a relevant one of different matching schemes in accordance with whether each gesture element in the template patterns is static or dynamic, and performing a matching of said sign language patterns with the pattern of each gesture element using the selected matching scheme, independently from the other gesture elements; and said morpheme recognition means integrating recognition results of the gesture elements each constituting a sign-language morpheme, based on a time relation with the recognition results to recognize the sign-language morpheme.
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14. An input system comprising:
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sign-language input means for converting a series of gestures into gesture patterns which are time-series patterns of feature vectors and inputting the converted gesture patterns; storing means for storing template patterns of gestures; matching means for matching the input gesture patterns with the template patterns of the gesture stored in said storing means, in order to recognize a gesture expressed in the gesture pattern; gesture recognizing means responsive to said matching means for recognizing the gesture expressed in the gesture pattern, from the results of matching between the input gesture patterns and the template patterns; and means for performing a processing corresponding to the recognized gesture; each of said gesture template patterns stored in said template pattern storing means including a description of identifying whether each of gesture elements constituting a gesture is a static pattern or a dynamic pattern, and a pattern of the gesture element expressed as a format different depending upon whether the each gesture element is a static pattern or a dynamic pattern; said matching means for matching the input gesture patterns with the gesture template patterns, referring to said template patterns in said storing means, selecting a relevant one of different matching schemes in accordance with whether each of gesture elements in the template patterns is static or dynamic and performing a matching of said gesture patterns with the pattern of each gesture element using the selected matching scheme, independently from the other gesture elements; and said gesture recognizing means integrating recognition results of the gesture elements constituting a gesture, based on a time relation with the recognition results. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification