Control system and apparatus utilizing signals originating in the periauricular neuromuscular system

• US 8,989,857 B2
• Filed: 11/14/2011
• Issued: 03/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sandy L. Heck
• Original Assignee: Sandy L. Heck
• Inventors: Heck, Sandy L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Shah, Milap
• Application Number:
  US13/295,446
• Publication Number:
  US 20120149467A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,226 Days
• Field of Search: 463 36- 39, 600/595, 600/383, 600544-547, 340/573.1, 623/25, 341/21
• US Class Current: 600/546
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/212 using sensors worn by the player, e.g. for measuring heart beat or leg activity
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/235 using a wireless connection, e.g. infrared or piconet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1012 involving biosensors worn by the player, e.g. for measuring heart beat, limb activity
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1031 using a wireless connection, e.g. Bluetooth, infrared connections
• 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

Abstract

Loosing the ability to interact with one'"'"'s environment can be devastating. The invention enables a person to control the real or virtual action or movement of an output device in from one to three dimensions through the use of at least one electrical sensor implanted beneath the skin or as a part of a headset on either one side or on both sides of the person'"'"'s head in electrical communication with a vestigial periauricular nerve or muscle. Each sensor communicates through a selected channel to transmit information preferably in digital form to an output device designating an action to be taken or the position of a target location for enabling the output device to perform the action or to move toward or to a target location through real or virtual space. At least one and preferably up to four sensors are located on each side of the head.

Claims

1. An apparatus adapted to be attached to a person for enabling a person to control the real or virtual action or movement of an output device to perform spatially oriented tasks in at least one dimension comprising:

at least a pair of electrical sensors adapted to be located bilaterally such that at least one such sensor is thereby, adapted to be positioned on each side of the person'"'"'s head in electrical communication with a vestigial periauricular nerve or muscle;

said sensors being coupled through at least two communication channels and being mounted on a wearable head-supported structure to provide information to an output device from the sensors designating a real or virtual target location,

signal processing, signal transmission and power elements wired to the sensors,

wherein the signal processing, signal transmission and power elements are mounted on a structure that is adapted to be supported by the person using the apparatus and including an amplifier, filter, analog-to-digital converter and radio frequency transmitter connected to transmit the information arising from each side of the head to a receiver that actuates the output device, and

the receiver being arranged for receiving the information from each such sensor to activate the output device or direct real or virtual motion of the output device in the direction of the target location or to the target location through real or virtual space which thereby allows the person freedom of movement while providing hands-free operation responsive to signals that arise from different periauricular nerves or muscles.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 including bilateral sensing wherein said sensor comprises at least one electrical sensor adapted to be supported on each side of the person'"'"'s head in electrical skin contact communication with one vestigial periauricular nerve or muscle.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 including a member on the wearable head-supported structure, said head-supported structure having an element positioned to be located superiorly of the ear of the user and another element positioned to then be located posteriorly of the ear of the user with at least one sensor on each such element on at least one side of the head so as to be adapted to position the sensors to pick up electrical signals from two different periauricular nerves or muscles.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein at least one of the sensor is adapted to be a surgically implanted electrode for being located under the skin of the person in electrical contact with a vestigial periauricular nerve or muscle that comprises at least one member selected from an anterior auricularis muscle, a superior auricularis muscle, a posterior auricularis muscle and an occipitalis muscle.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein at least one sensor is a skin surface electrode that is adapted to be placed on the skin of the person and connected to sense signal power and signal frequency of an EMG signal from a vestigial periauricular muscle to activate the output device or direct the output device toward or to the target location.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the output device is at least one actuator for assisting handicapped or able bodied persons with respect to at least one member selected from disability assistance, strength enhancement, sensor enhancement, computer or cursor manipulation, gaming device operation including a video game, the operation of an appliance, a vehicle and a robotic device in a hands-free manner.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each channel carries at least one wireless digital signal.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 including a headset having at least first and second spaced apart sensor support positions that have first and second sensors that are each adapted for placement proximate a different periauricular nerve or muscle.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the headset has at least one such sensor adapted to be located above the ear and at least one sensor adapted to be located behind or in front of the ear.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 including a wearable headset that includes multiple electrical sensors located on a left and right side thereof for placement on corresponding sides of the person'"'"'s head, said sensors being adapted to be placed in electrical communication with at least one member selected from an anterior auricularis muscle, a superior auricularis muscle, a posterior auricularis muscle and an occipitalis muscle and a vestigial periauricular nerve.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 including a user supported feedback element for providing feedback from the apparatus to the user for enhancing a person'"'"'s ability to use said apparatus.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the bilaterally located electrical sensors comprise at least one skin surface electrode adapted to be positioned above the ear over right and left superior auricularis muscles and at least one skin surface electrode adapted to be positioned behind the ear over the right and left posterior auricular muscles.

13. An apparatus adapted to be attached to a person for enabling a person to activate or control an output device in real or virtual space comprising:

a support structure adapted for being mounted on a person'"'"'s head having at least a pair of electrical sensors that are adapted to be located on the left side of a person'"'"'s head and a pair of electrical sensors that are adapted to be located on the right side of a person'"'"'s head in electrical communication with a vestigial periauricular nerve or muscle that comprises at least two members selected from an anterior auricularis nerve or muscle, a superior auricularis nerve or muscle, aposterior auricularis nerve or muscle and an occipitalis nerve or muscle and

each of said sensors being coupled through a communication channel for providing information to a real or virtual output device to designate the position of a real or virtual target location in at least one dimension,

signal processing, signal transmission and power elements wired to the sensors,

wherein the signal processing, signal transmission and power elements are mounted on a structure that is adapted to be supported by the person using the apparatus and including an amplifier, filter, analog-to-digital converter and radio frequency transmitter connected to transmit the information from each side of the head to a receiver that actuates the output device, and

the output device being operatively connected to the receiver to activate the output device or move the output device toward or to the target location responsive to signals that arise from different ones of said periauricular nerves or muscles to thereby perform a real or virtual spatially oriented function.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the sensor comprises a plurality of the sensors on each side of the head.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein each sensor is adapted to be a surgically implanted electrode that is located on each side of the head under the skin in electrical contact with a vestigial periauricular nerve or muscle.

16. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein each of the sensors is a skin surface electrode that is placed adapted to be on the skin of the person for receiving EMG signals from a vestigial periauricular muscle.

17. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the output device is at least one actuator for assisting handicapped or able bodied persons with respect to at least one member selected from disability assistance, strength enhancement, sensor enhancement, computer or cursor manipulation, gaming device operation including a video game, the operation of an appliance, a vehicle and a robotic device in a hands-free manner.

18. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein each channel carries at least one wireless digital signal.

19. A method adapted to enable a person to control an output device comprising:

providing a support structure to be mounted on the head of a person for placing at least two electrical sensors on at least one side of the person'"'"'s head in electrical communication wherein each of said sensors is in contact with a different vestigial periauricular nerve or muscle selected from an anterior auricularis muscle, a superior auricularis muscle, a posterior auricularis muscle and an occipitalis muscle and

connecting said sensors for transmitting a signal to communicate information from each such sensor to a real or virtual output device for activating the output device or designating a position of a real or virtual target location,

providing signal processing, signal transmission and power elements wired to the sensors,

wherein the signal processing, signal transmission and power elements are mounted on a structure that is adapted to be supported by the person using the apparatus and including an amplifier, filter, analog-to-digital converter and radio frequency transmitter connected to transmit the information to a receiver that actuates the output device, and

causing the output device to be thereby actuated or moved toward the target location or to the target location in real or virtual space responsive to signals that arise from different perauricular nerves or muscles.

20. The method of claim 19 and further including the step of providing bilateral sensing wherein at least one electrical sensor is placed on each side of a person'"'"'s head in electrical communication with the vestigial periauricular nerve or muscle.

21. The method of claim 19 including the step of placing a plurality of the sensors on both sides of the head in electrical communication with a periauricular nerve or muscle.

22. The method of claim 19 including the step of surgically implanting each electrical sensor under the skin of the person in electrical contact with a vestigial periauricular nerve or muscle.

23. The method of claim 19 including the step of placing a skin surface electrode on the skin of the person for receiving EMG signals from a vestigial periauricular muscle.

24. The method of claim 19 including the step of providing as said output device an actuator to assist handicapped or able bodied persons with respect to a member selected from disability assistance, strength enhancement, sensor enhancement, computer or cursor manipulation, gaming device operation including a video game, the operation of an appliance, a vehicle and a robotic device in a hands-free manner.

25. The method of claim 19 wherein each channel carries a different wireless digital signal.

26. The method of claim 19 including the further steps of providing a headset having at least first and second spaced apart sensor support positions that each have at least one of said two electrical sensors,

locating each of said two electrical sensors proximate different periauricular nerves or muscles, and

transmitting signals from each of the sensors through separate channels of communication to the output device.

27. The method of claim 19 including the steps of providing a wearable headset constructed and arranged to receive bilateral signals from a person'"'"'s head and adapted to locate the sensors in electrical communication on each side of the head with at least one member selected from an anterior auricularis muscle, a superior auricularis muscle, a posterior auricularis muscle and an occipitalis muscle and a vestigial periauricular nerve.

28. The method of claim 19 including the steps of extracting power information from at least one of the signals and extracting frequency information from at least one of the signals and using the power and frequency information for controlling the output device.

29. A method for enabling a person to control an output device comprising:

providing a wearable head-supported structure adapted for placing at least one electrical sensor on the left side and at least one electrical sensor on the right side of a person'"'"'s head in electrical contact with a vestigial periauricular nerve or muscle,

mounting the head-supported structure on the person'"'"'s head and connecting each sensor to communicate through at least two a communication channel for providing information to a moveable real or virtual output device to activate the device or designating the position of a real or virtual target location,

providing signal processing, signal transmission and power elements that are wired to the sensors,

wherein the signal processing, signal transmission and power elements are mounted on a structure that is adapted to be supported by the person using the apparatus, said elements including an amplifier, filter, analog-to-digital converter and radio frequency transmitter arranged to transmit the information from each side of the head to a receiver that actuates the output device,

arranging the receiver so as to receive the information from each such sensor to thereby allow the person freedom of movement while providing hands-free operation,

such that the output device performs an action or is moved to or toward the target location in real or virtual space responsive to signals that arise from different periauricular nerves or muscles.

30. The method of claim 29 including the step of placing a plurality of the sensors on each side of the head in electrical communication with a periauricular nerve or muscle.

31. The method of claim 29 including the step of surgically implanting each electrode under the skin of the person in electrical contact with a vestigial periauricular nerve or muscle.

32. The method of claim 29 wherein each of the sensors is a skin surface electrode and including the step of placing each skin surface electrode on the skin of the person for receiving EMG signals from a vestigial periauricular muscle.

33. The method of claim 29 including the step of operating the output device as an actuator to assist handicapped or able bodied persons with respect to a member selected from disability assistance, strength enhancement, sensor enhancement, computer or cursor manipulation, a gaming device including a video game, the operation of an appliance, a vehicle and a robotic device in a hands-free manner.

34. The method of claim 29 including the step of providing each channel with a different wireless digital signal.

35. The method of claim 29 including the steps of providing a wearable headset constructed and arranged to receive bilateral signals from the person'"'"'s head and including multiple electrical sensors adapted to be positioned on the left side and multiple electrical sensors adapted to be positioned on the right side of the person'"'"'s head in electrical contact with a member selected from an anterior auricularis muscle, a superior auricularis muscle, a posterior auricularis muscle and an occipitalis muscle.

36. An apparatus adapted to be implanted beneath the skin of a person for enabling the person to control the real or virtual action or movement of an output device to perform spatially oriented tasks in at least one dimension comprising:

at least a pair of separate electrical sensors for being located bilaterally and being constructed and arranged to be implanted beneath the skin on either side of the person'"'"'s head in electrical communication with a vestigial periauricular nerve or muscle;

signal processing, signal transmission and power elements conductively connected to each sensor that includes an amplifier, a filter, an analog-to-digital converter and a radio frequency transmitter conductively connected thereto for being implanted with each such implanted electrical sensor to transmit information from the sensors to a receiver and

the receiver being arranged for receiving the information from each such sensor to activate the output device or direct real or virtual motion of the output device in the direction of the target location or to the target location through real or virtual space,

thereby allowing the person freedom of movement while providing hands-free operation of the apparatus responsive to subdermal electrical signals that arise from different periauricular nerves or muscles.

37. The apparatus of claim 36 wherein a plurality of the signal processing, signal transmission or power elements are contained in the same housing, which housing is adapted to be implanted beneath the skin of the person.

38. The apparatus of claim 36 wherein one or more of the signal processing, signal transmission or power element is adapted to be worn externally by the person and to communicate with at least one of the implanted electrical sensors via wires or wireless radio frequency transmission.