Control of a computer via distortions of facial geometry

A computer symbol entry system comprising:

• a video camera adapted to generate a video data stream;
• a digitally encoded mapping of a plurality of facial and upper torso distortions to alphanumeric characters;
• and
• a software program configured to encode facial and upper torso distortions from the video data stream, and correlate alphanumeric characters from the facial and upper torso distortions using the digitally encoded mapping.

A computer controller comprising:

• a video camera;
• and
• a hardware circuit configured to interpret a sequence of images within the digital output of the video camera to identify distortions of facial features in the sequence of images by computing numerical representation of facial features to produce a representation set and computing a function of the representation set to produce a distortion representation that is a symbol;
• wherein the hardware circuit sends an electronic control signal to a computer when the hardware circuit identifies a distortion of facial features in the sequence of images.

A system comprising:

• at least one sensor configured to assess a status of a user's face, head, neck, and shoulders, and generating a signal indicative of said status;
• a conversion circuit receiving the signal and generating in response thereto a user-selected symbolic value;
• and
• a processor receiving the user-selected symbolic value,
• wherein, based on the user-selected symbolic value, the system alters at least one component of at least one computing device.

A method for controlling a computing device using facial distortions, comprising:

• assessing, using at least one sensor, an extent to which specific muscles, located, at least partially, within a face, head, neck, and shoulders, of a user are contracted and thereby derive a plurality of muscle-specific statuses;
• quantizing each of the muscle-specific statuses;
• combining the quantized muscle-specific statuses into a composite number unique to each unique combination of quantized muscle statuses;
• converting the composite number into a context-specific user-selected symbolic value;
• and
• using the context-specific user-selected value to modify at least one bit of digital information.