System for tracking body movements in a virtual reality system

A system for tracking body movements comprising:

• a device for determining position and orientation of a body in space comprising:
• a plurality of receivers for receiving signals, the receivers secured to a garment extending over a wearer,
• a transmitter means for transmitting signals to the receivers,
• a position and orientation processing means for generating data to indicate the position and orientation of the receivers relative to the transmitter means, the processing means processing signals received from the receivers to provide data indicating the position and orientation of the body of the wearer of the garment in space;
• sensing means for monitoring movement of a plurality of body articulations, the sensing means secured to the garment for positioning the sensing means on a body articulation to be monitored, the sensing means traversing the monitored articulation to monitor flexion thereof;
• sensing means for determining ambulatory movement and absence thereof;
• signal generating means coupled to the sensing means for generating signals proportional to the degree of flexure of the sensing means, the sensing means actuating the signal generating means to indicate flexion of a monitored articulation and to indicate ambulatory movement and absence thereof;
• data collection means for receiving signals generated by the generating means, the data collection means secured to the data suit and coupled to the signal generating means for processing signals received therefrom to generate data indicative of degree of flexion in each of the monitored body articulations;
• and
• computing means for processing data received from the data collection means and the processing means to control the movements of an object a program running thereon.

A system for tracking body movements comprising:

• a garment configured to inhibit relative movement between a wearer and the garment, the garment configured to extend at least over the arms of the wearer;
• a body position and orientation subsystem for determining the position and orientation of the body of the wearer of the garment in space, the subsystem comprising,
• a plurality of receivers secured to the garment at a number of selected locations,
• transmitter means for transmitting signals to the receivers,
• position and orientation processing means for generating data to indicate the position and orientation of the receivers relative to the transmitter means, the processing means processing signals received from the receivers to provide data indicating the position and orientation of the body of the wearer;
• a plurality of sensing means for monitoring flexion of a plurality of body articulations, the sensing means secured to the garment to prevent relative movement between the sensing means and monitored articulations for inhibiting erroneous data from being generated, the sensing means secured to the garment at a number of different selected locations for monitoring flexion of a plurality of body articulations, the sensing means including an elongated flexible sensor dimensioned to traverse a desired articulation so that flexion of the articulation causes a proportional flexure of the flexible sensor to indicate flexion of the articulation;
• a plurality of signal generating means, one generating means coupled to each sensing means, the signal generating means generating signals proportional to the degree of flexure of the sensor to indicate degree of flexion of the monitored articulation;
• pressure sensing means for determining when the wearer of the garment is walking and standing, the pressure sensing means coupled to signal generating means for generating signals to indicate that the wearer is a determined one of walking and standing;
• a data collection unit secured to the garment, the data unit coupled to the signal generating means for receiving signals generated thereby, the data unit processing received signals to generate data indicative of flexion in each of the monitored body articulations and for determining that the wearer is a selected one of walking and standing, the data collection unit including filter means for removing extraneous signal noise and signal normalization means for inhibiting erroneous generation of data thereby;
• and
• computing means for processing data generated by the data collection unit and data generated by the processing means to control the movement of an object in a program running thereon.