Medical device for improving environmental perception for blind or visually-impaired users
View Patent ↗A device for improving environmental perception for blind or visually impaired users, including a set of mechanical actuators intended to be in contact with the skin of a user, at least one digital camera designed to acquire a current digital image of an environment facing the user, a processing circuit connected to the camera for receiving pixel signals from the acquired digital image and converting at least one portion of the pixel signals into control signals, each of which powers a mechanical actuator of the set of actuators, an eye-tracking module for tracking each eye of the user to identify a gaze direction of the user. The processing circuit then selects, in the environment filmed by the camera, an area of acquired current image which is a function of the gaze direction and converts the pixel signals of said area into control signals, each of which powers an actuator of the set to stimulate the user's skin.
1. A device for improving environmental perception for blind or visually-impaired users, the device comprising:
at least one set of mechanical actuators intended to be in contact with the skin of a user,
at least one digital camera arranged for acquiring a current digital image of an environment facing the user,
a processing circuit connected to the camera for receiving signals from pixels of the acquired digital image and converting at least a part of the pixel signals into control signals each supplying a mechanical actuator of the set of actuators,
wherein the device furthermore comprises at least one eye-tracking module for at least one eye of the user for identifying a direction of gaze of the user,
wherein the processing circuit is arranged for selecting in the environment filmed by the camera an area of acquired current image which depends on the direction of gaze, and converting the signals from pixels of said area into control signals each supplying an actuator of the set for stimulating the skin of the user, and
wherein the processing circuit is further arranged for selecting within an acquired current image a limited area of the current image which depends on the direction of gaze, and converting the signals from pixels of said limited area into control signals each supplying an actuator of the set for stimulating the skin of the user.
2. The device as claimed claim 1 , comprising:
two sets of mechanical actuators intended to be in contact with the skin of a user, and
two eye-tracking modules for the respective eyes of the user, for defining two areas in the current image and converting the signals from pixels of each of the two areas into two respective sets of control signals supplying the two respective sets of actuators.
3. The device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the camera and the eye-tracking module, at least, are mounted onto a common mechanical support, the eye-tracking module being oriented toward one eye of the user, the camera being oriented so as to acquire a current digital image of an environment facing the user.
4. The device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein at least one connection between the processing circuit and the actuators is a wireless link for the transmission of the control signals for the actuators.
5. The device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein each actuator is arranged for stimulating the skin of the user according to an intensity that is a function of the control signal received, and the control signals are each functions of an intensity of color of pixel.
6. The device as claimed in claim 5 , wherein each actuator is mobile in vibration for stimulating the skin of the user by cyclical vibrations, the frequency of the vibrations of an actuator being determined by a type of color of pixel.
7. The device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the image area is of general shape corresponding to a shape of visual field of the eye tracked by the eye-tracking module, and the actuators of the set of actuators are distributed according to a two-dimensional shape corresponding to said shape of visual field.
8. A method implemented by a processing circuit of a device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the method comprises:
receive signals from pixels of the acquired digital image,
receive a measurement by eye-tracking of a direction of gaze of the user,
determine a bounding in the acquired image of an area corresponding to the direction of the gaze, and select the signals from pixels of said area,
convert the signals from pixels of said area into control signals each intended to supply one actuator of the set of mechanical actuators, the number of pixels in said area corresponding to a number of actuators that the set of mechanical actuators comprises,
transmit the respective control signals to the actuators of said set.
9. A non-transitory computer storage, storing instructions of a computer program causing the implementation of the method as claimed in claim 8 , when said instructions are executed by a processing circuit of a device for improving environmental perception.