US 9,754,510 B1Granted

Vision-assist devices for providing information to a user through thermal feedback and methods

AssigneeToyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.

InventorNobuyuki Matsuno

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Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to vision-assist devices and methods. In one embodiment, a vision-assist device includes one or more processors, one or more memory modules communicatively coupled to the one or more processors, and one or more sensing devices communicatively coupled to the one or more processors and operable to sense an environment. Machine readable instructions stored in the one or more memory modules cause the one or more processors to: receive environmental information from the one or more sensing devices; and generate a thermal feedback signal regarding a subset of the environmental information acquired by the one or more sensing devices. One or more heating elements are communicatively coupled to the one or more processors and produce thermal feedback in response to receipt of the thermal feedback signal. The thermal feedback is indicative of the subset of environmental information.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A vision-assist device comprising:

one or more processors;
one or more memory modules communicatively coupled to the one or more processors;
one or more sensing devices communicatively coupled to the one or more processors and operable to sense an environment;
one or more heating elements communicatively coupled to the one or more processors for producing thermal feedback;
a housing configured to be worn on a body of a user comprising a first body portion and a second body portion, wherein the one or more heating elements comprise at least a first heating element coupled to the first body portion and a second heating element coupled to the second body portion;
and
machine readable instructions stored in the one or more memory modules that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
receive environmental information from the one or more sensing devices;
and
generate a thermal feedback signal regarding a subset of the environmental information acquired by the one or more sensing devices;
and
generate thermal feedback with the one or more heating elements in response to receipt of the thermal feedback signal, wherein the thermal feedback is indicative of the subset environmental information received from the one or more sensing devices.

9 more elements

A vision-assist device for providing non-visual commands, the vision-assist device comprising:

one or more processors;
one or more memory modules communicatively coupled to the one or more processors;
one or more cameras communicatively coupled to the one or more processors and operable to generate image data corresponding to an environment of a user;
one or more heating elements communicatively coupled to the one or more processors for producing thermal feedback;
and
machine readable instructions stored in the one or more memory modules that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
receive environmental information of the environment of the user from the one or more cameras;
target a location of a point of interest within the environment of the user;
generate a thermal feedback signal regarding a subset of the environmental information acquired by the one or more cameras;
and
generate thermal feedback with the one or more heating elements, wherein the thermal feedback is indicative of at least one of instructions for communicating with the vision-assist device and directions to a location of a point of interest within the environment of the user.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.