Myoelectric potential measurement device and myoelectric potential measurement method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016007876-A1
Application number	US-201514788852-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 1, 2015
Priority date	Jul 8, 2014
Publication date	Jan 14, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Provided is a myoelectric potential measurement device that recognizes a user arm movement, including a bracelet having a plurality of electrodes, at least one memory, and a processor. The processor: uses the bracelet having the plurality of electrodes, which come into contact with the arm of the user, to measure a myoelectric potential at each of the plurality of electrodes; detects a measurement state when the each myoelectric potential is being measured; specifies at least one preferred electrode, which has a portion of the arm of the user positioned vertically thereunder, from among the plurality of electrodes in accordance with the measurement state, and weights the each myoelectric potential measured by the specified at least one preferred electrode, with respect to the each myoelectric potential measured by electrodes other than the preferred electrode from among the plurality of electrodes; and uses the weighted myoelectric potential to recognize the movement of the user, and outputs a recognition result.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A myoelectric potential measurement method comprising:
(a) using a bracelet having a plurality of electrodes that come into contact with the arm of the user, to measure a myoelectric potential at each of the plurality of electrodes; (b) detecting a measurement state when each myoelectric potential is being measured; (c) specifying at least one preferred electrode, which has a portion of the arm of the user positioned vertically thereunder, from among the plurality of electrodes in accordance with the measurement state, and weighting the myoelectric potential measured by the at least one specified preferred electrode, with respect to the each myoelectric potential measured by electrodes other than the at least one preferred electrode from among the plurality of electrodes; and (d) using the weighted myoelectric potential to recognize the movement of the arm of the user, and outputting a recognition result, wherein at least one of the (a) to (d) is performed by a processor.

2 . The myoelectric potential measurement method according to claim 1 ,
wherein, in the (a), the each myoelectric potentials is measured in a time-sequential manner for each of the plurality of electrodes, and, in the (d), reference is made to a recognition model that includes a plurality of types of movements of the arm and time-sequential changes in the myoelectric potentials associated with each of the types of movements, to recognize a movement of the arm of the user that corresponds to the time-sequential changes in the each measured myoelectric potential.

3 . The myoelectric potential measurement method according to claim 1 ,
wherein the plurality of types of movements of the arm includes a movement of a hand of the user.

4 . The myoelectric potential measurement method according to claim 1 ,
wherein, in the (b), the measurement state is detected by specifying a direction of gravity in the bracelet.

5 . The myoelectric potential measurement method according to claim 4 ,
wherein the bracelet is provided with a display unit that shows the recognition result obtained in the (d), and, in the (b), the measurement state is detected by specifying the direction of gravity in the display unit.

6 . The myoelectric potential measurement method according to claim 2 ,
wherein, in the (d), one recognition model is selected from a plurality of different recognition models in accordance with the measurement state detected in the (b), and, in the (d), the selected recognition model is used to recognize the movement of the arm.

7 . The myoelectric potential measurement method according to claim 6 ,
wherein the plurality of recognition models include a first recognition model indicating a myoelectric potential change pattern for a movement of the arm with which an anterior-side myoelectric potential is likely to occur, and a second recognition model indicating a myoelectric potential change pattern for a movement of the arm with which a posterior-side myoelectric potential is likely to occur.

8 . The myoelectric potential measurement method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
(e) storing changes that occur over time in the measurement state detected in the (b), wherein, in the (d), it is determined whether or not a position of a wrist included in the arm is within a predetermined space of a body of the user, in accordance with the stored changes that occur over time in the measurement state, and the movement of the arm of the user is recognized by the (d) when it is determined that the position of the wrist is within the predetermined space.

9 . The myoelectric potential measurement method according to claim 8 ,
wherein the predetermined space is a space that is set in a position higher than an elbow of the arm.

10 . The myoelectric potential measurement method according to claim 8 ,
wherein, in the (d), it is determined whether or not the position of the wrist is within the predetermined space when the position of the wrist included in the arm has moved in a gravitational direction and has entered the predetermined space, in accordance with the stored changes that occur over time in the measurement state, and the movement of the arm of the user is recognized by the (d) when it is determined that the position of the wrist is within the predetermined space when the position of the wrist included in the arm has moved in a gravitational direction and has entered the predetermined space.

11 . A myoelectric potential measurement device comprising:
a bracelet having a plurality of electrodes, at least one memory, and a processor, wherein the processor performs: (a) using the bracelet having the plurality of electrodes, which come into contact with the arm of the user, to measure a myoelectric potential at each of the plurality of electrodes; (b) detecting a measurement state when each myoelectric potential is being measured; (c) specifying at least one preferred electrode, which has a portion of the arm of the user positioned vertically thereunder, from among the plurality of electrodes in accordance with the measurement state, and weighting the myoelectric potential measured by the at least one specified preferred electrode, with respect to the each myoelectric potential measured by electrodes other than the at least one preferred electrode from among the plurality of electrodes; and (d) using the weighted myoelectric potential to recognize the movement of the arm of the user, and outputting a recognition result.

12 . The myoelectric potential measurement device according to claim 11 ,
wherein the memory stores a recognition model that includes a plurality of types of movements of the arm and time-sequential changes in the myoelectric potentials associated with each of the types of movements, and the processor performs, in the (a), measuring the each myoelectric potential in a time-sequential manner for each of the plurality of electrodes, and, in the (d), referring to the recognition model that includes the plurality of types of movements of the arm of the user and the time-sequential changes in the myoelectric potentials associated with each of the types of movements, to recognize a movement of the arm of the user that corresponds to the time-sequential changes in the each measured myoelectric potential.

13 . The myoelectric potential measurement device according to claim 11 ,
wherein the plurality of types of movements of the arm of the user includes a movement of a hand of the user.

14 . The myoelectric potential measurement device according to claim 11 , further comprising:
an acceleration sensor that detects a direction of gravitational acceleration, wherein the processor performs, in the (b), using the gravitational acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor to specify a direction of gravity in the bracelet, and thereby detecting the measurement state.

15 . The myoelectric potential measurement device according to claim 14 , further comprising:
a display unit that shows the recognition result obtained in the (d), and the processor performs, in the (b), using the gravitational acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor to specify the direction of gravity in the display unit, and thereby detecting the measurement state.

16 . The myoelectric potential measurement device according to claim 12 ,
wherein, in the (d), one recognition model is selected from a plurality of different recognition models in accordance with the measurement state detected in the (b), and, in the (d), the selected recognition model is used to

Assignees

• Panasonic Ip Man Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yoshioka Mototaka
• Ozawa Jun

Classifications

• A61B5/0492 Primary

  Human Necessities · mapped topic

• A61B5/11

  Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor or mobility of a limb {(A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721)} · CPC title

• A61B5/6824

  Arm or wrist · CPC title

• A61B5/296 Primary

  for electromyography [EMG] · CPC title

• G06F3/017

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