Fingertip visual haptic sensor controller
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A visual sensing and control system, comprising:
- a first image sensing device, adapted to conduct measurements of an environment surrounding a user and generate image data based on said measurements;
a first controller associated with said first image sensing device;
a computer vision system in communication with said first image sensing device and first controller, wherein said computer vision system receives image data from said first image sensing device, further wherein said computer vision system is adapted to process said image data to recognize an object based on its texture and three-dimensional shape located at a location in said environment and sends a first signal through said controller to operate the recognized object, the operation occurring at the location of the recognized object; and
a haptic stimulator in communication with computer vision system, wherein said haptic stimulator is adapted to generate a haptic stimulus upon receipt of a second signal from said computer vision system, wherein said computer vision system is adapted to generate said second signal upon recognition of said object.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Systems, methods and devices for capturing environmental image data and providing tactile feedback about the visual environment to a user. One or more image sensing devices are mounted on various appendages of a user and are used to sense the environment. The image data is sent to a computer vision system where it is processed in order to identify specific objects within the environment. When the computer vision system makes such an identification it may send a signal to a haptic stimulator mounted on a user'"'"'s appendage or may be used to control an object in the environment.
-
Citations
41 Claims
-
1. A visual sensing and control system, comprising:
-
a first image sensing device, adapted to conduct measurements of an environment surrounding a user and generate image data based on said measurements; a first controller associated with said first image sensing device; a computer vision system in communication with said first image sensing device and first controller, wherein said computer vision system receives image data from said first image sensing device, further wherein said computer vision system is adapted to process said image data to recognize an object based on its texture and three-dimensional shape located at a location in said environment and sends a first signal through said controller to operate the recognized object, the operation occurring at the location of the recognized object; and a haptic stimulator in communication with computer vision system, wherein said haptic stimulator is adapted to generate a haptic stimulus upon receipt of a second signal from said computer vision system, wherein said computer vision system is adapted to generate said second signal upon recognition of said object. - View Dependent Claims (2, 35, 36)
-
-
3. A visual sensing and tactile stimulation system, comprising:
-
a first image sensing device which transmits image data corresponding to three-dimensional objects in an environment surrounding a user, the first image sensing device configured to collect and transmit image data for multiple images of three-dimensional objects corresponding to different locations of the image-sensing device as the image-sensing device is moved in three-dimensional space; a first haptic stimulator associated with said first image sensing device; and a computer vision system in communication with said first image sensing device and first haptic stimulator, wherein said computer vision system receives the image data from said first image sensing device, compares the image data to stored data of a predetermined three-dimensional object, and sends a first signal to said first haptic stimulator when said received image data corresponds to the predetermined three-dimensional object, wherein said haptic stimulator is adapted to provide a haptic stimulus after receipt of said first signal from said computer vision system. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 39, 40, 41)
-
-
10. A method for providing information about the physical structure of a three-dimensional environment of a user, comprising the steps of:
-
gathering image data about the three-dimensional environment surrounding said user using an image sensing device mounted on an appendage of said user; communicating the image data to a computer vision system; processing the image data by the computer vision system to identify features of a non-textual three-dimensional object in the three-dimensional environment; creating a signal based on said processing step; and transmitting a signal to a haptic stimulator mounted on said user to provide a haptic representation of the three-dimensional environment, wherein said haptic representation of the three-dimensional environment includes information about said features found in the environment; wherein the act of gathering image data comprises moving the image-sensing device in three-dimensions, collecting data for multiple images corresponding to different locations of the image-sensing device as it is moved in three-dimensional space; wherein the act of processing the image data comprises processing the image data of the multiple images, comparing the image data of the multiple images to predefined features of the three-dimensional object in a database to identify the features of the three-dimensional object. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, 34)
-
-
29. A method for providing information about the physical structure of a three-dimensional environment of a user, comprising the steps of:
-
gathering image data about the three-dimensional environment surrounding said user using an image sensing device mounted on an appendage of said user; communicating the image data to a computer vision system; processing the image data by the computer vision system to identify features of a three-dimensional object in the three-dimensional environment; creating a signal based on said processing step; and transmitting a signal to a haptic stimulator mounted on said user to provide a haptic representation of the three-dimensional environment, wherein said haptic representation of the three-dimensional environment includes information about said features found in the environment; wherein said appendage is a finger and the image sensing device is mounted on the dorsal aspect of said finger; wherein the act of gathering image data comprises waving the finger in three-dimensions within the environment to recognize the three-dimensional object; wherein the act of gathering image data further comprises waving a second image sensing device mounted on a dorsal aspect of a second finger in three-dimensions within the environment to recognize a second three-dimensional object, wherein the first and second image sensing devices are waved simultaneously. - View Dependent Claims (30)
-
-
37. A visual sensing and tactile stimulation system, comprising:
-
a first image sensing device which transmits image data corresponding to a three-dimensional object in an environment surrounding a user; a first haptic stimulator associated with said first image sensing device; and a computer vision system in communication with said first image sensing device and first haptic stimulator, wherein said computer vision system receives the image data from said first image sensing device and sends a first signal to said first haptic stimulator when said received image data corresponds to a first recognized three-dimensional object, wherein said haptic stimulator is adapted to provide a haptic stimulus after receipt of said first signal from said computer vision system; and a second image sensing device which transmits image data corresponding to a second three-dimensional object in the environment surrounding the user, wherein the computer vision system is in communication with the second image sensing device and a second haptic stimulator, wherein said computer vision system receives image data from said second image sensing device and said first image sensing device simultaneously, and sends a signal to said second haptic stimulator when said received image data corresponds to a second recognized three-dimensional object, and wherein the second haptic stimulator is adapted to provide a haptic stimulus after receipt of said signal from said computer vision system. - View Dependent Claims (38)
-
Specification