Control of a computer via distortions of facial geometry
A system which, with data provided by one or more sensors, detects a user's alteration of the geometries of parts of his face, head, neck, and/or shoulders. It determines the extent of each alteration and normalizes it with respect to the maximum possible range of each alteration so as to assign to each part-specific alteration a numeric score indicative of its extent. The normalized part-specific scores are combined so as to produce a composite numeric code representative of the complete set of simultaneously-executed geometric alterations. Each composite code is translated, or interpreted, relative to an appropriate context defined by an embodiment, an application executing on an embodiment, or by the user. For example, each composite code might be interpreted as, or assigned to, a specific alphanumeric letter, a color, a musical note, etc. Through the use of this system, a user may communicate data and/or commands to a computerized device, while retaining full use of his hands and his voice for other tasks, and while being free to focus his visual attention on something other than the system.
1. 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.
2. The computer symbol entry system of claim 1 , wherein the software program encodes facial and upper torso distortions by encoding head tilt distortions.
3. The computer symbol entry system of claim 1 , wherein the software program encodes facial and upper torso distortions by encoding shoulder position distortions.
4. The computer symbol entry system of claim 1 , wherein the software program encodes facial and upper torso distortions by encoding eyebrow distortions.
5. The computer symbol entry system of claim 1 , wherein the software program encodes facial and upper torso distortions by encoding cheek distortions.
6. A computer controller comprising:
a video camera;
a software program configured to read a digital output of the video camera and interpret a sequence of images within the digital output to identify distortions of facial and upper torso features in the sequence of images by computing numerical representations of facial and upper torso features to produce a representation set and computing a function of the representation set to produce a distortion representation comprising a symbol;
wherein the software program executes a computer command when the software program identifies a distortion of facial and upper torso features in the sequence of images.
7. 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.