Wearable electromyography-based controllers for human-computer interface
First Claim
1. A human-computer interface, comprising:
- an arbitrarily positionable wearable device having a plurality of sensor nodes, wherein each sensor node further includes one or more Electromyography (EMG) sensors;
a module for activating the wearable device following receipt of an explicit indication provided by the user;
a module for automatically measuring muscle generated electrical signals using one or more of the EMG sensors;
a module for automatically determining which muscle generated electrical signals correspond to one or more specific user gestures; and
a module for causing one or more computing devices to automatically execute one or more specific commands corresponding to one or more of the specific user gestures.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A “Wearable Electromyography-Based Controller” includes a plurality of Electromyography (EMG) sensors and provides a wired or wireless human-computer interface (HCl) for interacting with computing systems and attached devices via electrical signals generated by specific movement of the user'"'"'s muscles. Following initial automated self-calibration and positional localization processes, measurement and interpretation of muscle generated electrical signals is accomplished by sampling signals from the EMG sensors of the Wearable Electromyography-Based Controller. In operation, the Wearable Electromyography-Based Controller is donned by the user and placed into a coarsely approximate position on the surface of the user'"'"'s skin. Automated cues or instructions are then provided to the user for fine-tuning placement of the Wearable Electromyography-Based Controller. Examples of Wearable Electromyography-Based Controllers include articles of manufacture, such as an armband, wristwatch, or article of clothing having a plurality of integrated EMG-based sensor nodes and associated electronics.
184 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A human-computer interface, comprising:
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an arbitrarily positionable wearable device having a plurality of sensor nodes, wherein each sensor node further includes one or more Electromyography (EMG) sensors; a module for activating the wearable device following receipt of an explicit indication provided by the user; a module for automatically measuring muscle generated electrical signals using one or more of the EMG sensors; a module for automatically determining which muscle generated electrical signals correspond to one or more specific user gestures; and a module for causing one or more computing devices to automatically execute one or more specific commands corresponding to one or more of the specific user gestures. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A process for sending commands to one or more computing devices, comprising:
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arbitrarily positioning a wearable device in contact with an outer surface of a user'"'"'s skin, said wearable device having a plurality of Electromyography (EMG) sensors for measuring muscle generated electrical activity via the skin of the user; performing an automated positional localization process to automatically determine an approximate position of the wearable device on the surface of the skin of the user'"'"'s body; automatically evaluating muscle-generated electrical signals of the user measured via one or more of the EMG sensors to automatically identify one or more specific gestures of the user from a predefined set of gestures; and automatically directing one or more computing devices to execute one or more specific commands corresponding to one or more of the identified gestures. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14)
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15. A system for providing a human-computer interface (HCI), comprising:
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a user-wearable device having a plurality of Electromyography (EMG) sensors, said user-wearable device being placed on an outer surface of the user'"'"'s skin in an approximate position on a pre-determined body part of the user; an automated self-calibration process which maps muscle generated electrical signals corresponding to one or more specific user gestures to one or more specific commands, said muscle generated electrical signals being measured by one or more of the EMG sensors; an automated process for identifying a subset of the EMG sensors as being sufficient to measure muscle generated electrical signals to accurately identify the specific commands mapped the specific user gestures; an automated process for disabling all EMG sensors not included in the subset; an automated process for using the subset of EMG sensors to evaluating muscle generated electrical signals associated with one or more user gestures to identify the commands associated with those user gestures; and a process for transmitting specific commands associated with one or more specific user gestures to one or more computing devices. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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Specification