Granted Patent B2

US 12,675,163 · App. 18/774,910 · Granted Jul 7, 2026

Inventors: Julius Friedrich Rüdiger (Munich, DE); Peter Vincent Boesen (Munich, DE)

Assignee: BRAGI GmbH

G06F3/015G06F1/163G06F1/1694G06F3/017H04R1/1016H04R1/1041G06F2200/1637H04R5/033H04R2420/07H04R2460/13

Abstract

Claims (41)

1 . A wearable device for detecting and interpreting facial muscle activity, comprising:

a housing;

at least one electromyogram (EMG) sensor disposed at an external surface of the housing, configured to detect electrical activity from muscles in both a user's face and neck including the user's expressive facial muscles;

at least one inertial sensor disposed within the housing, configured to detect head movement;

a processor operatively connected to the at least one EMG sensor and the at least one inertial sensor, wherein the processor is configured to:

interpret the electrical activity from the user's expressive facial muscles as a first command to perform an action according to a pre-determined user setting;

interpret the electrical activity from the user's expressive facial muscles in combination with the head movement as a second command to perform an action according to a pre-determined user setting;

at least one microphone operatively connected to the processor, configured to detect speech and enable the processor to distinguish between commands and non-command expressive facial muscle activity;

at least one speaker operatively connected to the processor for providing audio feedback to the user;

a transceiver operatively connected to the processor for wireless communication with external devices.

2 . The wearable device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to not interpret the electrical activity from the user's expressive facial muscles as a command if the user is talking as determined by the at least one microphone.

3 . The wearable device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one EMG sensor is configured to detect specific facial expressions, including winks, winces, smiles, and blinks.

4 . The wearable device of claim 1 , further comprising a gesture control interface operatively connected to the processor, configured to detect user gestures proximate to the gesture control interface.

5 . The wearable device of claim 1 , wherein the transceiver is a Bluetooth transceiver.

6 . The wearable device of claim 1 , further comprising a battery disposed within the housing, configured to power the components of the wearable device.

7 . The wearable device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to prioritize commands based on context of the detected expressive facial muscle activity and the head movement.

8 . A method for using expressive facial muscle electromyogram (EMG) potentials as input for controlling a wearable device, the method comprising:

detecting electrical activity from muscles in both a user's face and neck, including from the user's expressive facial muscles using at least one EMG sensor disposed on an external surface of the wearable device;

detecting head orientation and head movement using at least one inertial sensor disposed within the wearable device;

receiving audio input from at least one microphone disposed within the wearable device;

interpreting the electrical activity from the user's expressive facial muscles as a first command to perform an action according to a pre-determined user setting using a processor;

interpreting the electrical activity from the user's expressive facial muscles in combination with the head orientation and the head movement as a second command to perform an action according to the pre-determined user setting using the processor;

distinguishing between commands and non-command expressive facial muscle activity based on the audio input received from the at least one microphone.

9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising generating voice feedback at the at least one speaker in response to the interpreted commands.

10 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising modifying the pre-determined user settings using a software application executing on a mobile device in wireless communication with the wearable device.

11 . A system for controlling a wearable device using expressive facial muscle activity, comprising:

a first earpiece and a second earpiece, each comprising:

a housing;

at least one electromyogram (EMG) sensor disposed at an external surface of the housing, configured to detect electrical activity from muscles in both a user's face and neck including from the user's expressive facial muscles;

at least one inertial sensor disposed within the housing, configured to detect head orientation and head movement;

a processor operatively connected to the at least one EMG sensor and the at least one inertial sensor, wherein the processor is configured to:

interpret the electrical activity from the user's expressive facial muscles as a first command to perform an action according to a pre-determined user setting;

interpret the electrical activity from the user's expressive facial muscles in combination with the head orientation and the head movement as a second command to perform an action according to the pre-determined user setting;

at least one microphone operatively connected to the processor, configured to detect speech and enable the processor to distinguish between commands and non-command expressive facial muscle activity;

at least one speaker operatively connected to the processor for providing audio feedback to the user;

a transceiver operatively connected to the processor for wireless communication with external devices;

a mobile device in wireless communication with the first earpiece and the second earpiece, comprising:

a software application configured to modify the pre-determined user settings and map different muscle movements or facial expressions to different actions.

12 . The system of claim 11 , further comprising a cloud computing service in communication with the mobile device, configured to perform analyses of the EMG sensor data and return results to the mobile device.

13 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the transceiver within each earpiece is configured to communicate with other smart devices in addition to the mobile device.

14 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the at least one speaker is configured to provide personalized audio feedback based on the interpreted commands and user preferences.

Assignments (2)

Continuity (6)

References Cited (362)