CA2179559A1 - Tactile transducers - Google Patents

Abstract

Words can be entered into a computer character by character using sign language by a pair of gloves having electrodes disposed on their surfaces. When a sign is made, circuits are established between various combinations of electrodes which uniquely identify the sign being made.

Signs are read out using a hand tapper comprising a plate having a hand-shaped recess on its surface. Solenoids having tapper pins are disposed beneath the bottom of the recess and at the sides of the recess to allow the hand to be stimulated on its front and sides, thereby producing the sensation of being signed on by another person.

The gloves and tapper can be used in a tactile telephone which allows communication between deaf and blind persons, for data entry and read-out, and for allowing deaf blind access to literature via electronic media, such as computer discs or e-mail.

Description

20/06 '~6 16:40 FA~ 01245 275114 _ GEC PATENT DEPT ~ KIRBY EADES GALE ~ 004/027 ., ~acti~ e Tr~n~ucer This invention relates to transducers for con~erting tactile stimuli to electrical signals and vice versa. It particularly relates to such transducers in arrangements providing a man-machine interface between a user and a computer or a S communications system, such as tactile telephones.

Many deafblind people live alone and due to the nature o~
deafblind-ness they are unable to cnm~lnicate effectively with ~he outside world. A ~n-~l alphabet such as the Evans MAnll~1 is only useful if both parties are withi~ arms reach and this causes many problems for the dea~blind as well as their carers.

For example, sa~ the ~ational Deaf-Blind League were going to hold an outing for its deafblind Trl~mher5 The League would have to write to its members many aays in advance to ensure that the letter sent would be read by a sighted hearing carer of the deafblind individual, who would translate the letter into deafblind manual. Then, what happens if on the day of the outing or the night before it has to be cancelled? If there is no sighted ~earing person with the dea~blind indi~idual how do you tell the deafblind person that the meeting is cancelled? A sighted hearing person could go to the deafblind person~s home and tell them in person, but if 25 this message has to be relayed to thirty or forty dea~blind people who may live many miles away this b^com~ impractical.

Sighted hearing people take their telephones for granted, with all the advantages it brings, the opport~nity for spontaneous outings, the ability to keep in touch ~ith family and friends.
A tactile telephone for the dea~blind could give deafblind individuals an independence that they have never been able to achieve.

Sigh~ed hearing people are able to find out about the world 20/06 '96 16:41 FA2~ 01245 275114_ _ GEC PATE~T DEPT ~- RIRBY EADES GALE 1~loo5Jo27 .
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around t~em by sLmply ~icking up a newsp~r, switching on the tele~ision or by reading a book. Deaf-Blind people can only find out about the world around them if a sighted hearing interpreter tells them about it. Many stages of book publishing produce books stored on a magnetic medium to be read ~y computers etc., for later stages in publishing.
Therefore it would be simple to store a finished book onto a disk which can be read by a computer. Books are not t~e only literature which can be stored in this way. Letters written by sighted hearing people on their word processors can also be stored o~to a floppy disk and sent to a deafblind recipient.

Through an electronic system these floppy disks cont~;ning English text could be read by the ~eafblind user ~ia the Evan's manual alphabet. This would open ~p many avenues of co~ml7nlcation that sighted people have to the deafblind ml l n; ty.

A tactile telephone would allow deafblind and sighted hearing or deafblind and ot~er deafblind to c~mm~lnicate over the phone lines. Unfortunately, long con~ersions would prove expensi~e Therefore it is eq~ally important that deafblind people not only be able to read letters stored on disk but write their own letters. Most deafblind cannot write clearly as they are unable to see how their handwriting is progressing across the page.

Through an electronic system deafblind people could write t~eir own letters, ~ia the manual alphabet, and store them onto a floppy disk. This disk could then be sent either electronically, very fast, to the recipient (~ia modem and~or electronic mail) or through the normal post. Communication would also be possible via the Internet, allowing a blind person access to mail boxes and bulletin boards.

Many deafblind people cannot speak clearl~. A fe~ of these GEC PATENT DEPT ~ ~ KIRBY EADES GALE ~ 006/027 20/06 ' 96 16: 41 FA~ 01245 275114 pJ60542/DFD

write messages, many others use the manual alphabet but they persist in signing the m~nl~l alphabet too fast for other deafblind or sighted hearing manualists. M~nl~l language conversations often collapse in em~arrassed chaos. An electronic interpreting facility could have the mAn~
alphabet inp~t. The input letters can then be buffered and output either in manual alphabet form or in written or spoken English. This would enable deafblind to sighted hearing as well as deafblind to dea~blind cs~ml~nication within the same area.

Further, English characters typed in at a key~oard could be output in deafblind m~nl~l form for a deafblind individual to read. This would allow sighted hearing to deafblind co ~ ln;cation. Such interpreting ~acilities would not require either group to learn a new skill.

It has been proposed to provide a glo~e incorporating pressure-sensitive resistors. The glove is worn on one hand and signs are made using two-hand sign language. ~he resis~ors are situated in positions where they will be touched by the fingers of the other hand. While this has ~een found to be technically satisfactory, the pressure sensitive resistors required are ~pensive and require skilled manual assembly, making the glove expensive.

It has also been proposed to provide a hand tapper comprising a flat ~late having solenoids disposed beneath its surface.
However, its solenoids only operate in one plane and thus can only sti~ulate the front of a hand placed on the plate. ~s some signs of the UK two-hand sign language require touching the side of the hand, this prior art tapper is una~le to reprod~ce all the letters of the stAn~rd alphabet. Therefore a modified sign language has had to be devised for use with this ~and tapper.

The present invention arose during an attempt to pro~ide 20/OB ' 9B 16: ~2 FA2t 01245 275114 GEC PATENT DEPT ~ )~ KIRBY EADES GALE lel 007/oZ7 2 ~ ~q~5'~
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impro~ed tactile transducers.

A first aspect of the invention provides apparatus for electronically encoding manual sign language signs, the apparatus comprising first and second glo~es, the gloves having a ~irst plurality of electrodes and a second plurali~y of electrodes disposed thereon, the first and second pluralities being arranged such that, when a user wearing at least one of the gloves makes a sign in conjunction with the other glove, the juxtaposition of the electrodes causes the establishment of at least one electrical circuit between at least one electrode of the first plurality, and at least one electrode of the second plurality o~ electrodes, said a~ least one electrical circuit identifying the sign.
A second aspect of the invention provides a hand tapper for converting electrical signals representing alphabetical characters into tactile stimuli representing sign language signs, comprising:
a plate having a recess in its upper surface arranged to receive a hand therein;
a first plurality o~ tapper solenoids arranged beneath the bottom of the recess and arranged to act on the front of the handi and a second plurality of tapper solenoids disposed at the sides of the recess and arranged to act on the sides o~ the hand.

A third aspect of the i~vention provides data processing apparatus comprising apparatus and~or a hand tapper whereby data can be written into the data processing apparatus using the apparatus and/or data can be read ~rom the data processing apparatus using the hand tapper.

A fourth aspect of the invention provides a tactile telephone 20/06 '96 16:42 FA~ 01245 275114 GEC PATENT DEPT ~ KIRBY EADES GALE ~ 00~/0~7 2 1 7 9 5 ~ ~

comprising data processing apparatus and modem means for interfacing with a telephone network.

By using two such telephones a blind person can com~lln;cate to a deaf person via the conventional tel~rhon~ net~ork, ~oth persons using con~entional sign language. As both persons can both receive and transmit dat~ simultaneo~sly, neither risks missing part of a message by not ha~ing a hand on the receiver.
Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way o~
non-limiting example only, with reference to the drawings in which:

Figure 1 shows a console in accordance with the in~ention;

Figure 2 shows a plan view of a tapper plate in accordance with the invention;

Figure 3 shows a sectional view of ~igure 2 along line III-III;

Figure 4 shows the right hand of a pair of gloves in accordance with the invention;
Figure 5 shows the left hand o~ a pair o~ gloves in accordance with the invention;

Figure 6 shows a two-handed sign alpha~et which may be communicated using the invention;

Figure 7 shows a com~llnication system in accordance with the invention; and ~igure 8 shows a sign language translator in accordance with the invention 20/06 '96 16:43 FA2~ 01245 275114 GEC PATENT DEPT ~ RIRBY EADES GALE ~100~/027 r .~
~ I 7 ~

P~60542JDFD

Referring now to Figure 1, a console for use by a deaf and/or blind person comprises a computer 1 having a conventional keyboard 3, monitor 6, disc drive 7, loudspeaker 8 and modem 9. The console also has a hand tapper 2 which can be used to S read sign language in a tactile mAnner and glo~es 4, 5 w~ich can be used to write info~mation using sign language. Glove 4 is worn on the user~s right hand and glove 5 is worn by a dummy hand, not shown, mounted in a convenient position w~ere the user can sign on the gloved dummy hand with his glo~ed right hand.

Gloves 4 and 5 and hand tapper 2 allows a blind and~or deaf person to enter and read in~ormation to and from the computer using sign language. The hand tapper, which will be described lS in more detail later with reference to ~igures 2 and 3, stimulates the hand of the user gi~ing the sensation of being touched by a person making signs on that hand, the gloves, which will be descri~ed in more detail with reference to Figures 4 and 5, allow the user to input daSa by making signs with his gloved right hand on the glo~ed dummy hand. It can be seen that this arrange~ent allows the left hand to rest permanently on the tapper plate where it can recei~e data, leaving the right hand free to transmit data.

2~ The lef t hand glove need not be used in conjunction with a dummy hand but may be ~orn by the user if the hand tapper is not required. For example a sighted deaf person may find it more convenient to enter the data into the computer using sign language rather than by the keyboard, and, being sighted, has no need to read data ~y tactile stimuli.

Similarly, a blind hearing person may find it convenient to use sign language to enter data, but may receive data in spoken form ~ia the loudspeaker 8 Such an arrangement may be used when the computer is programmed with a speech synthesizer programme ~hich converts text files into speech.

20/0~ 16: 43 FA~ 01245 275114 GEC PATENT DEPT /~ I RIRI~Y EADES GALE l~l 010/027 2 1 7 9 55~

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The console can also be used as a translator which af~ords comm~nication between, for example, a sighted and/o~ hearing person and a deaf/~lind person. The deaf/blind person uses the gloves and hand tapper and the sighted person uses the keyboa~d and monitor. Signs made by the deaf/blind person appear as letters on the monitor and~or loudspeaker, and letters typed in at the keyboard are reproduced as sign characters on the hand tapper.

~eferring now to Figures 2 and 3, the hand tapper 20 consists o~ a body 23 having a recessed region 22 generally corresponAin~ to the shape of a human hand. Disposed beneath the surface of the recessed region 22 is a first plurality of tapper solenoids A, B, C, C, D, E, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, U, Y arranged with their axes substantially vertical, and arranged to act on the face of the fingers and palm of a hand placed in the recess 22. ~ second plurality of tapper solenoids F, P, Q, X is disposed beneath t~e upper surface 21 of hand tapper and arranged to act on the edge of the hand.
Solenoids P, X and F are arranged to ac~ on the side of the index finger 32 of the user's hand, shown in phantom in Figure 3, while solenoid Q is arranged to act on the junction between the index finger and the thumb. By activating appropriate combinations of solenoids, a person placing his hand on the tapper plate experiences the sensations which he woul~
experience if another person were signing on his hand. The provision of the second plurality of solenoids allows sensations to be produced on the sides of the hand, thereby allowing all the characeers of the conventional two-handed sign alphabet to be conveyed T~e glo~es used to generate signals corresponding to signs will now be described. Figure 4 shows the ~iew facing the palm of a left hand glove and Fisure 5 facing the palm of the right hand glove In Figures 4 and 5 the surface facing the reader will be defined as the upper surface. Referring now to Figure 4, the left hand glove has a number o~ first 20/06 ' ~ 16: 44 FA2~ 01245 275114 _GEC PATENT DEPT ~ ~ RIRBY EADES GALE Is~ Oll/UZ7 2 i 7~55~

electrodes disposed over its surface The electrodes are coupled to the computer by wires which have been omitted for clarity. The function of these electrodes will be described later~ The thumb has electrodes a, q. Electrode a extends part way over the tip of the thumb. ~he index finger has electrodes k and d on its upper surface. Electrode e extends over the tip and along the side of the finger. Electrodes f and x are arranged on the side of the finger. Electrode p is arranged on the back of the finger. The middle finger has electrodes i and j, the third finger has electrode o, and the little finger has electrodes u and s. The palm ~as elec~rodes y, v, m, r and t. Electrode t extends o~er the edge of the glo~e Referring now to Figure 5, t~e right hand glove has first electrodes g, and second electrodes ~1 to ~8. Conductors, which ha~e been omitted for clarity, couple these electrodes to the computer. Electrode g is disposed on the palm and electrode b on the tip of the middle ~inger. Electrodes T2, T8 and T6 are disposed on the tips o~ the thumb, third finger and little finger respectively and extend over the tips of their respective fingers. Electrode T1 is disposed at the tip of the index finger and extends o~er both the tip and the left hand side of the index finger. Electrodes ~4, T3 and T7 extend along the surfaces of the index, middle and third fingers Electrode TS is disposed on the back of the index finger.

The use of the gloves will now be described. The user puts t~e right hand glove on his ri~ht hand and puts the left hand glove on a dummy hand. He then makes signs in the con~entional Evans manual sign language using his gloved right hand and the gloved dummy hand. ~aking the signs causes one or more of the first plurality of electrodes to come into contact with one or more of the second plurality of electrodes. Electronic circuitry within the computer continuously checks for the existence of a circuit between 20/OB '~B lB:44 FA~ 01245 275114 GEC PATENT DEPT ~ RIRBY EADES GALE ~ ol~u~-( 2i 795~9 P~60542/DFD

individual ones of the first and second sets o~ electrodes and on recognising such a circuit, causes the generation o~ an ASCII symbol corresponding to the sign. In the following, the right hand is the hand which touches, and the left hand if the S hand which is touched, unless specified otherwise.

To take a simple case, consider the sign "Ah, which is produced by toll~h; n~ the thumb of the left hand with the index finger of the right. It can be seen that this brings Tl into contact with e, and that this is the only circuit which is established. The computer recognises that this circuit represents the letter "A" and inputs it to the processor just as if the user had typed letter A at the keyboard Consider signing letter C. This is signed by touching the thumb with the index finger (~ringing Tl into contact with a) and then running the index finger down the thumb and up to the tip oi the index finger of the left hand. To~ ing the thumb with the index would, in isolation, be interpreted as the letter "An, but because it is ;mm~iatel~ followed by the successive establishment of further circuits finishing with Tl contacting e, the computer recognises that this is ~C~. The cn~b; nAtions of circuits established for each letter of the alphabet is gi~en in table 1. Hyphens indicate a connection between first electrode~s) and second electrode(s), double oblique slashes indicate that circuits separated by the slashes are established simultaneously, the arrows in~icate that circuits are established sequentially in time, contiguous groupings of the same type of electrode indicate that they are simultaneously coupled in common to an electrode o~ the other ty~e, "or" indicates that any o~ the electrodes thus identified may be utilised The con~entional Evans manual alpha~et signs are shown in Figure 6. Howe~er, this embodiment xequires the use of the alternative unillustrated sign ~or letter ~`Z" which is produced ~y touching the palm with the ~ingertips rather than with the edge of the hand.

20~06 '9B 1~:45 F~ 01245 275114 GEC PATENT DEPT ,~ KIRBY EADES GALE ~013/U~
2 1 7955q P/60542~DFD

~he existence of the various combinations of circuits between the first and second sets of electrodes can be established by any convenient m~nn~ known to those skilled in the art. For example the seco~d electrodes may be ~iassed to a logical 1 ~oltage and the first electrodes to logical 0. Touching a first electrode with a second electrode changes the logical state of the first electrode and this change can be used to decode the sym~ol being signed. The fall in potential or current delivered by a second electrode can also be sensed to discriminate between signs such as L, M and N.

~or applications where sig~ing is made in conjunction with a dummy hand, the left hand glo~e may be permanently attached to the dummy hand. In an alternative arrangement in accordance with the in~ention the electrodes normally carried by the left hand glove may instead be provided on correspo~;ng locations of t~e dummy hand itself, Figure 7 s~ows an arrangement in accordance with the invention for comm~ication between two persons, either or both of which may be deaf andJor blind. The arrangement comprises first and second consoles 701, 702, each substantially as described with reference to Figure 1. A comm~n; cations link 703, for example, a public tel~ph~nG circuit, joins ~he two consoles.
Each console has a respecti~e hand tapper 720, 721 and xespective pairs of gloves 740, 750 and 741, 751. The other components of the consoles have been omitted for clarity Once a link has been estab~ished between the two consoles, a person A at console 701 can sign using the gloves 740, 750, the signs are con~erted to ASCII codes by computer 710 and sent to computer 711 in encoded form ~ia the telephone line 703. computer 711 con~erts the ASCII codes to electrical impulses w~ich dri~e appropriate combinations of solenoids on hand tapper 721 where they are sensed by the left ~and of a 3~ person B at console 702. Person B's right hand is free to sign his reply and can interrupt or comment while A iS still sending.

20/06 '~6 16:45 FA~ 01245 275114 _ GEC PATE~T DEPT ~ ,~ RIRBY EADES GAIF ~014/OZ7 2 ~ 795~9 While the arrangement is particularly advantageous in facilitating comm~n;cation between a deaf person and a blind person, it can also be used with advantage by persons familiar with sign language who prefer to sign rather than type.
It is not necessary for both persons to use the hand tapper and gloves. If A can sign whereas B cannot sign but is sighted, then B can enter his message on the conventional alp~a-numeric keyboard and read the reply on the monitor (not shown). The arrangement can also ~e used to allow com~l~n-cation ~etween persons who know different sign languages. The terminal 701 can be prograrnrned to respond to and produce signs in one sign language, while tenm;nal 702 can be pro~.~.u,.ed to respond and produce signs in a di~ferent sign language. Each person using a t~rm; n~l is then able to converse using his own language, signs being converted to ASCII for transmission and con~erted to the appropriate sign stimuli on arrival.

Such an arrangement can be used without a comml~n;cation link to provide a sign language translator. Referring now to Figure 8, a computer 810 has a ~irst hand tapper 820, a first pair of glo~es 840, 850, a second hand tapper 821 and a second pair of gloves 841, 851.
The first hand tapper 820 and first pair of gloves 840, 850 are arranged to produce and make signs in a first sign language, and the second hand tapper 821 and pair of gloves 8gl, 851, are arranged to produce and make signs in a second sign language. A first person makes signs in the first language using gloves 840, ~50 and the computer 810 supplies signals to hand tapper 821 to produce corresponding signs in the second language, which signs can be read by a second person conversant with the second language. Similarly the second person can make signS in the second language using gloves 84', 851 whic~ the computer 810 converts into impulses which produce corresponding signs in the first sign language 20/06 '96 16:46 FAX 01245 275114 _ _ GEC PATENT DEPT ~ XIRBY EADES GALE ~ 015/027 2 ~ 7 9 ~, ~

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tapper 820.

The computer 810 may display the signs being translated on its monitor, not shown, and/or may produce sounds corresponding to the letters and~or sounds being signed.

It is not necessary to use a computer to effect con~ersion especially if no visual and~or audio display is required. T~e necessary decoding of signs and conversion to hand tapper impulses may be performed using discrete logic circuits.

20/06 '~6 16:46 FA~ 01245 275114 GEC PATENT DEPT ~ ~ ~ KIRBY EADES GALE ~016/027 2 ~ 7955q P/ 6~542 /DFD

Tl~RrlF 1 A Tl - a B Tl - m ~/ T2 - b S C Tl - a - Tl - e D Tl - e t/ T2 - d E Tl - e F T3 - f / / T4 - x G T6 - g H T4 - mrt -T4 - i or o or u or e Ti - i J Tl - i - Tl - j L T4 - mrt M T4 T3 T7 -- mrt N T4 T3 - mrt O Tl - o P T2 - e ~ ~ Tl - P
Q T4 - q R Tl - r / ~ Tl - t S T4 - s or Tl - s T Tl - t U Tl - U
V T3 - V J ~ T4 - nN~t W T4 - d ~/ T3 - k /J T7 - e X T4 - x Y Tl - y Z Tl - y ~ / T8 - m or r or t Tl - e ~ / T8 - o

Claims (14)

1. Apparatus for electronically encoding manual sign language signs, the apparatus comprising first and second gloves, the gloves having a first plurality of electrodes and a second plurality of electrodes disposed thereon, the first and second pluralities being arranged such that, when a user wearing at least one of the gloves makes a sign in conjunction with the other glove, the juxtaposition of the electrodes causes the establishment of at least one electrical circuit between at least one electrode of the first plurality, and at least one electrode of the second plurality of electrodes, said at least one electrical circuit identifying the sign.

2. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 in which the electrodes are disposed on the outer surface of the gloves, and the at least one electrical circuit comprises galvanic contact.

3. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 in which at least one of the sets of electrodes is insulated on its outwardly facing surface and the at least one electrical circuit comprises capacitive coupling.

4. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim comprising encoder means arranged to detect the establishment of different ones of said at least one electrical circuits and to produce electrical output signals corresponding to the character being signed.

5. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 4 in which the electrical signals comprise an ASCII code corresponding to the alphabetical character being signed.

6. A hand tapper for converting electrical signals representing alphabetical characters into tactile stimuli representing sign language signs, comprising:
a plate having a recess in its upper surface arranged to receive a hand therein;
a first plurality of tapper solenoids arranged beneath the bottom of the recess and arranged to act on the front of the hand; and a second plurality of tapper solenoids disposed at the sides of the recess and arranged to act on the sides of the hand.

7. Data processing apparatus comprising apparatus as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 5 and/or a hand tapper as claimed in Claim 6 whereby data can be written into the data processing apparatus using the apparatus and/or data can be read from the data processing apparatus using the hand tapper.

8. A tactile telephone comprising data processing apparatus as claimed in Claim 7 and modem means for interfacing with a telephone network.

9. Sign language translation apparatus comprising first and second apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5;
first and second hand tappers according to Claim 6, the first apparatus and first hand tapper being arranged for use with a first sign language the second apparatus and second hand tapper being arranged for use with a second sign language;
conversion means disposed between the first apparatus and hand tapper and the second apparatus and hand tapper, the conversion means being such that, in use, making a sign in the first language with the first apparatus causes the generation of the corresponding sign in the second language on the second hand tapper, and making a sign in the second language on the second apparatus causes the generation of the corresponding sign in the first language on the first hand tapper.

10. Apparatus for producing electrical signals corresponding to sign language signs, substantially as described with reference to or as illustrated in Figures 4 and 5.

11. A hand tapper substantially as described with reference to Figures 2 and 3.

12. A tactile telephone substantially as described.

13. A communication system substantially as described.

14. Sign language translation apparatus substantially as described.