US 2015/0084860 A1 · SYSTEMS, ARTICLES, AND METHODS FOR GESTURE IDENTIFICATION IN WEARABLE ELECTROMYOGRAPHY DEVICES

Abstract

Systems, articles, and methods for performing gesture identification with improved robustness against variations in use parameters and without requiring a user to undergo an extensive training procedure are described. A wearable electromyography (“EMG”) device includes multiple EMG sensors, an on-board processor, and a non-transitory processor-readable storage medium that stores data and/or processor-executable instructions for performing gesture identification. The wearable EMG device detects, determines, and ranks features in the signal data provided by the EMG sensors and generates a digit string based on the ranked features. The permutation of the digit string is indicative of the gesture performed by the user, which is identified by testing the permutation of the digit string against multiple sets of defined permutation conditions. A single reference gesture may be performed by the user to (re-)calibrate the wearable EMG device before and/or during use.

Claims28

Dependent claims

A method of operating a wearable electromyography (“EMG”) device, wherein the wearable EMG device includes a set of EMG sensors and a processor, the set of EMG sensors communicatively coupled to the processor, and the method comprising:

detecting muscle activity of a user of the wearable EMG device by the set of EMG sensors, wherein the muscle activity corresponds to a gesture performed by the user;
in response to detecting muscle activity of the user by the set of EMG sensors, providing a set of signals from the set of EMG sensors to the processor;
determining a set of values from the set of signals by the processor;
ranking each value in the set of values by the processor, wherein ranking each value in the set of values by the processor includes assigning a rank number to each value in the set of values by the processor;
generating a permutation of a digit string based at least in part on the rank number of each value in the set of values by the processor;
and
identifying the gesture by the processor based at least in part on the permutation of the digit string.

4 more elements

A wearable electromyography (“EMG”) device comprising:

a set of EMG sensors responsive to muscle activity of a user of the wearable EMG device, wherein in response to muscle activity of the user the set of EMG sensors provide a set of signals;
a processor communicatively coupled to the set of EMG sensors;
a non-transitory processor-readable storage medium communicatively coupled to the processor, wherein the non-transitory processor-readable storage medium stores processor-executable gesture identification instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
determine a set of values from the set of signals;
assign a rank number to each value in the set of values;
generate a permutation of a digit string based at least in part on the rank number of each value in the set of values;
and
identify a gesture that corresponds to the muscle activity based at least in part on the permutation of the digit string.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Systems, articles, and methods for gesture identification in wearable electromyography devices

Life of this patent

Systems, articles, and methods for gesture identification in wearable electromyography devices

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims28