Closed loop feedback interface for wearable devices

• US 9,612,661 B2
• Filed: 01/02/2015
• Issued: 04/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/02/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wearable Devices Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Wearable Devices Ltd.
• Inventors: Wagner, Guy, Langer, Leeor, Dahan, Asher
• Primary Examiner(s): OSORIO, RICARDO
• Application Number:
  US14/588,592
• Publication Number:
  US 20160195928A1
• Time in Patent Office: 823 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/16 Use of wireless transmission of display information
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/003 Details of a display terminal, the details relating to the control arrangement of the display terminal and to the interfaces thereto specific for a CRT G09G1/165; for a flat panel G09G3/2092

Abstract

A gesture controlled system wearable by a user and operationally connected to a computerized device, the system comprising: at least one bio-potential sensor; at least one motion sensor; at least one haptic feedback actuator capable of creating haptic feedback corresponding to signals from the computerized device; a memory module, having a database with known records representing different gestures and a gesture prediction model; a signal processor, capable of identifying signal parameters from the sensors as known gestures; and a communication controller capable of transmitting information from the signal processor to the computerized device, wherein the at least one bio-potential sensor and the at least one feedback actuator are in direct contact with the skin of the user, wherein identified signals from the signal processor are transmitted to the computerized device, and wherein the at least one haptic feedback actuator is configured to allow reading text from the computerized device.

Claims

1. A gesture controlled system wearable by a user and operationally connected to a computerized device, the system comprising:

at least one bio-potential sensor;

at least one motion sensor capable of detecting movement;

at least one haptic feedback actuator capable of creating haptic feedback corresponding to signals from the computerized device;

a memory module, having a database with known records representing different gestures and a gesture prediction model;

a signal processor, capable of identifying signal parameters from the at least one bio-potential sensor and the at least one motion sensor as known gestures from the database according to the gesture prediction model; and

a communication controller capable of transmitting information from the signal processor to the computerized device,

wherein the at least one bio-potential sensor and the at least one haptic feedback actuator are in direct contact with the skin of the user, wherein identified signals from the signal processor are transmitted to the computerized device, and wherein the at least one haptic feedback actuator is configured to allow reading text from the computerized device, with conversion of the text into different haptic feedback corresponding to specific letters, words and predetermined data types.

2. The gesture controlled system of claim 1, further comprising a display interface capable of displaying information from the signal processor.

3. The gesture controlled system of claim 1, wherein the system is capable of fitting onto a wrist of the user, and detects electrical signals from nerve bundles in the wrist.

4. The gesture controlled system of claim 1, further comprising at least one heart rate sensor capable of detecting the heart rate of the user as additional input for the signal processor.

5. The gesture controlled system of claim 4, wherein the heart rate sensor is selected from a group including an optical sensor, an electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor, and a skin conductivity sensor.

6. The gesture controlled system of claim 1, wherein the bio-potential sensor is selected from a group including a surface electromyography (sEMG) sensor, a capacitive electromyography (cEMG) sensor, and a surface nerve conduction (SNC) sensor.

7. The gesture controlled system of claim 1, wherein the communication controller is a wireless communication controller.

8. The gesture controlled system of claim 7, wherein the wireless communication controller is a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) controller.

9. The gesture controlled system of claim 7, wherein the wireless communication controller is configured to allow cloud connectivity between the signal processor and an external data storage cloud.

10. The gesture controlled system of claim 1, wherein the at least one motion sensor is a Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS).

11. The gesture controlled system of claim 10, wherein the at least one motion sensor is selected from a group including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and a magnetometer.

12. The gesture controlled system of claim 1, wherein the signal processor is configured to allow detection of hand writing gestures.

13. The gesture controlled system of claim 1, wherein the at least one haptic feedback actuator is an electro-tactile stimulation actuator.

14. A method for communication between a gesture controlled system and a computerized device, the method comprising:

providing the gesture controlled system of claim 1;

calibrating the gesture controlled system to recognize a set of gestures;

detecting a movement by at least one of the sensors;

checking if the movement is a recognized gesture;

executing a command corresponding to a recognized gesture from the database on the computerized device; and

activating the at least one haptic feedback actuator for feedback corresponding to the executed command on the computerized device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises providing at least one heart rate sensor capable of detecting the heart rate of the user, and wherein the calibration is carried out when a predetermined value of the heart rate is measured.

16. A gesture controlled system wearable by a user and connected to a computerized device having a memory module, having a database with known and labeled gestures and a gesture prediction model, and a signal processor, capable of identifying signal parameters as known gestures from the database, the system comprising:

at least one bio-potential sensor;

at least one motion sensor capable of detecting movement;

at least one haptic feedback actuator;

a communication controller capable of transmitting information to the computerized device;

wherein the at least one bio-potential sensor and the at least one haptic feedback actuator are in direct contact with the skin of the user, wherein the processing of the signal from the sensors is carried out at the signal processor of the computerized device, and wherein the at least one haptic feedback actuator is configured to allow reading text from the computerized device with different haptic feedback corresponding to specific letters, words and predefined data types.

17. The gesture controlled system of claim 16, further comprising a display.

18. The gesture controlled system of claim 16, further comprising at least one heart rate sensor capable of detecting the heart rate of the user.

19. The gesture controlled system of claim 16, wherein the communication controller is a wireless communication controller.