Identifying hand gestures based on muscle movement in the arm

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10067564-B2
Application number	US-201514823685-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 11, 2015
Priority date	Aug 11, 2015
Publication date	Sep 4, 2018
Grant date	Sep 4, 2018

Abstract

Embodiments described herein include an arm band that captures sensor data used to identify hand gestures. When worn on the arm, the arm band permits a computing device to identify different gestures made by the hand. In one embodiment, the band measures a change in position of the tendons that control the positions of the fingers on the hand which can then be correlated to a particular hand gesture. For example, the thickness of the user's arm increases in a direction perpendicular to the palm of the hand when the fingers are extended relative to the thickness of the arm when the fingers are curled into the palm of the hand. By detecting this change in thickness, the computing device can distinguish between different gestures.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An arm band, comprising:
a first portion;
a second portion;
a pivoting element coupled to respective first ends of the first and second portions, wherein the pivoting element permits respective second ends of the first and second portions opposite of the first ends to separate relative to each other; and
a sensor configured to, when the arm band is worn on the arm, generate an output signal indicative of a thickness of the arm in a direction substantially perpendicular to a palm of a hand.

2. The arm band of claim 1 , wherein the sensor comprises a first sensing portion at the second end of the first portion and a second sensing portion at the second end of the second portion, wherein as the first and second portions pivot, the sensor is configured to change the output signal as a distance between the first and second sensing portions changes.

3. The arm band of claim 2 , wherein the sensor is a magnetometer and one of the first and second portions is a permanent magnet.

4. The arm band of claim 1 , where the first and second portions each comprise a respective flat surface between the first and second ends, wherein the flat surfaces are configured to be perpendicular to the palm of the hand when contacting the arm.

5. The arm band of claim 1 , further comprising:
a clamping element configured to force the second ends of the first and second portions to pivot closer together.

6. The arm band of claim 5 , wherein the clamping element comprises a spring at least one of integrated into the pivoting element and located at the first end of one of the first and second portions.

7. The arm band of claim 1 , further comprising:
a latching mechanism disposed on the second ends of the first and second portions, the latching mechanism comprising a receiving element, an elastic band, and a connector ball, wherein the connector ball is attached to the elastic band, and wherein the receiving element defines an aperture for receiving the connector band, thereby latching the first portion to the second portion.

8. The arm band of claim 1 , wherein the sensor is configured to measure at least one of a current, a voltage, and a resistance associated with a current path in the arm band, wherein the current path includes the first and second portions and the pivoting element, and wherein the at least one current, voltage, and resistance measured by the sensor changes as the thickness of the arm changes.

9. A system, comprising:
an arm band comprising:
a first portion,
a second portion,
a pivoting element coupled to respective first ends of the first and second portions, wherein the pivoting element permits respective second ends of the first and second portions opposite of the first ends to separate relative to each other, and
a sensor configured to, when the arm band is worn on the arm, generate an output signal indicative of a thickness of the arm in a direction substantially perpendicular to a palm of a hand, and

a computing device configured to receive the output signal and determine a hand gesture causing the thickness of the arm to change.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the computing device is configured to compare the output signal to one or more threshold to distinguish between a plurality of predefined hand gestures.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the computing device is configured to determine the hand gesture based on a rate of change in the output signal.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the sensor comprises a first sensing portion at the second end of the first portion and a second sensing portion at the second end of the second portion, wherein as the first and second portions pivot, the sensor is configured to change the output signal as a distance between the first and second sensing portions changes.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the sensor is a magnetometer and one of the first and second portions is a permanent magnet.

14. The system of claim 9 , wherein the arm band further comprises:
a clamping element configured to force the second ends of the first and second portions to pivot closer together.

Assignees

• Disney Entpr Inc

Inventors

• Smoot Lanny S
• Goslin Michael P
• REETZ Daniel James
• Olson Joseph L

Classifications

• G06T11/26

  Drawing of charts or graphs · CPC title

• A61B5/6824

  Arm or wrist · CPC title

• G06F3/011

  Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality (blind teaching G09B21/00) · CPC title

• G06F3/017 Primary

  Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures (interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883) · CPC title

• G06F3/03

  Arrangements for converting the position or the displacement of a member into a coded form · CPC title