System, device and method for tracking the human hand for upper extremity therapy
Inventors
Adams, Richard J. • Adams, Connor W. • Gressick, William T. • Lichter, Matthew D. • Olowin, Aaron B.
Assignees
Interested in licensing this patent?
MTEC can help explore whether this patent might be available for licensing for your application.
Publication Number
US-11696704-B1
Publication Date
2023-07-11
Expiration Date
Abstract
Embodiments of the presently described device, system and method support upper extremity (UE) therapy through tracking the human hand. The system can include a hand-wearable sensor mounting system with hand-wearable components and a movement interpretation circuit. The device can include a hand-wearable component comprising a hook, and a sensing transducer comprising a clip, wherein the clip is detachably securable to the hook. In embodiments, one or more sensing transducers are translationally and rotationally restricted when secured to the hand-wearable components.
Core Innovation
The invention provides systems and methods for upper-extremity rehabilitation that track human hand and human finger movement using detachable sensor transducers mounted on hand-wearable components. The hand-wearable components include ring components, dorsal mount components, and hand-wearable glove or glove orthosis configurations, and the sensor transducers are detachably securable to the hand-wearable components to enable accurate movement sensing and later removal.
A core aspect of the invention is a detachable sensing transducer mounting architecture that maintains translationally and rotationally restricted sensor positioning while remaining removable for sanitation. In the hand-wearable hook mounting configuration, the hook comprises a pair of opposing hook elements separated by a gap, and the sensing transducer comprises a clip whose neck portion is narrower than the gap width so the neck portion passes through the gap during detachable securing.
The invention further includes a movement interpretation circuit in communication with a computing device that interprets movements of the sensing transducers as movement of a human finger or a human hand. The described system supports movement interpretation that can drive puppeteering of a virtual-world avatar and virtual object interactions, and optionally includes human motion capture device-based skeletal tracking to estimate additional arm and joint states.
Claims Coverage
The partial content includes three independent claims that collectively cover a hand-wearable hook and detachable sensing transducer device, a multi-transducer hand-wearable sensor mounting system with movement interpretation circuitry, and a constrained mechanical restriction between a clip and a hook slot that restricts sensor translational and rotational motion. Across these claims, the core inventive contribution is the detachable clip-to-hook geometry that constrains sensor movement for interpretation of finger or hand movement, combined with a movement interpretation circuit that maps sensed motion to human finger/hand movement outputs for virtual-world use.
Hook with opposing elements and gap receiving a clip neck
A hand-wearable component comprising a hook with a pair of opposing hook elements separated by a gap, and a sensing transducer detachably securable to the hook, where the sensing transducer comprises a sensor housing and a clip, and the clip comprises a neck portion whose neck portion width is smaller than the gap width such that the neck portion is configured to pass through the gap between the pair of opposing hook elements as the sensing transducer is detachably secured to the hook.
Movement interpretation of finger or hand from detachably secured transducers
A hand-wearable sensor mounting system comprising a plurality of hand-wearable components; and a movement interpretation circuit comprising a plurality of sensing transducers, where each sensing transducer is communicatively coupled to a computing device executing programming that interprets movements of each sensing transducer as movement of a human finger or a human hand, and each sensing transducer is detachably securable to at least one of the plurality of hand-wearable components, including at least one hand-wearable component with a hook as recited for passing a clip neck through a hook gap.
Translationally and rotationally restricted clip by hook slot geometry
A hand-wearable device where a sensing transducer comprising a clip is detachably securable to a hook and is translationally and rotationally restricted by the hook when the clip is secured to the hook, wherein the hook comprises a pair of opposing hook elements formed with a gap, a floor surface, and opposing side walls forming a slot with a slot width, and the clip comprises a base portion with a base portion width less than the slot width whereby the base portion is maintained between the opposing side walls and the floor surface and hook elements when inserted through the slot, thereby restricting translational and rotational motion.
The claim set centers on a detachable hand-wearable mounting mechanism in which a clip is secured to a hook with a gap and slot geometry that restricts the sensing transducer translationally and rotationally, and on a movement interpretation circuit that interprets movements of those transducers as movement of a human finger or human hand for downstream interpretation in a computing device executing programming.
Stated Advantages
Provides sensing transducer mounting that maintains translationally and rotationally restricted positioning while remaining removable.
Documented Applications
Interprets movement of a human finger or a human hand as corresponding movements of a human avatar within a virtual world.
Includes virtual object interactions comprising pick up, translate, rotate, place, drop, throw, and squeeze, driven by sensory output commands.
Uses an optional external motion-capture device and skeletal tracking software to capture movement of a human arm to which the human hand and human finger are attached, for estimating additional arm or joint states.
Interested in licensing this patent?