Measurement of Facial Muscle EMG Potentials for Predictive Analysis Using a Smart Wearable System and Method

A system comprising:

• a wearable device comprising a housing, at least one electromyogram (EMG) sensor disposed at an external surface of the housing, an inertial sensor disposed within the housing, at least one microphone, at least one speaker, a first processor operatively connected to the at least one EMG sensor, the inertial sensor, the at least one microphone, and the at least one speaker, and a wireless transceiver operatively connected to the first processor;
• a mobile device in wireless communication with the wearable device through the wireless transceiver, the mobile device comprising a second processor and a network interface;
• and
• a remote computing resource in network communication with the mobile device through the network interface;
• wherein the first processor is configured to perform a first analysis on sensor data including an EMG signal from the at least one EMG sensor and an inertial signal from the inertial sensor, and to transmit, through the wireless transceiver to the mobile device, at least a portion of the sensor data;
• wherein the second processor is configured to perform a second analysis on the at least a portion of the sensor data and to transmit, through the network interface to the remote computing resource, at least a subset of the sensor data;
• wherein the remote computing resource is configured to perform a third analysis on the at least a subset of the sensor data and to return, through the network interface, a result of the third analysis to the mobile device;
• wherein the mobile device is configured to forward at least a portion of the result of the third analysis through the wireless transceiver to the wearable device;
• wherein the wearable device is configured to produce, at the at least one speaker, an audible output based at least in part on the portion of the result of the third analysis;
• and
• wherein the third analysis is of greater computational complexity than the first analysis.

A method of operating a wearable device, the wearable device comprising a housing, at least one electromyogram (EMG) sensor disposed at an external surface of the housing, an inertial sensor, at least one microphone, at least one speaker, a processor operatively connected to the at least one EMG sensor, the inertial sensor, the at least one microphone, and the at least one speaker, and a wireless transceiver operatively connected to the processor, the method comprising:

• generating, by the at least one speaker, voice feedback presenting two or more options to a user, wherein at least one of the two or more options corresponds to one of (i) initiating a telephone call to a person or place and (ii) playing an audio selection at the at least one speaker;
• receiving, at the at least one EMG sensor in response to the voice feedback, a facial-muscle signal indicative of electrical activity from a facial muscle of the user;
• receiving, at the inertial sensor in response to the voice feedback, an inertial signal indicative of at least one of head orientation and head movement of the user;
• receiving, at the at least one microphone in response to the voice feedback, an audio input signal;
• determining, by the processor and based at least in part on the audio input signal, whether the user is talking;
• determining, by the processor and in response to determining that the user is not talking, a selection by the user of one of the two or more options based at least in part on the facial-muscle signal in combination with the inertial signal;
• when the determined selection corresponds to initiating the telephone call, transmitting, through the wireless transceiver to an external device, a command to initiate the telephone call to the person or place;
• and
• when the determined selection corresponds to playing the audio selection, causing the at least one speaker to initiate playback of the audio selection.