GB2319590A

GB2319590A - Electronic hand controller

Info

Publication number: GB2319590A
Application number: GB9624491A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Christopher Mark Barron
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1996-11-26
Filing date: 1996-11-26
Publication date: 1998-05-27
Also published as: GB9624491D0

Abstract

A hand controller allowing expressive intonation comprises an ergonomically designed grip with electronic or electromechanical detectors. As shown in fig.5, the controller has finger (2) and thumb (3) recesses, and micro strain gauges 6 in segments 7 under the surface of the grip, acting to detect force exerted by the user so that the intonation from finger movement is detected. A three-plane accelerometer may be provided at its centre of gravity to portray attitude and acceleration information. A strap (5), a wireless communications link (10) and an alphanumeric display (11) may also be provided.

Description

Expressive Electronic Hand Controller This invention relates to electronic controllers.

Electronic controllers encompass a wide range of products and fields. This invention is specifically designed to allow the portrayal of expressive movement and intonation.

Primarily the hand, arm and fingers but ultimately whole body movement of the user is reflected by the invention and this information is relayed electronically to a specific base station or computer where the user stimulus can be directed and made compatible with other forms of electronic or electro-mechanical technology that support or would be suitable for expressive intonation.

The invention allows control and expressive intonation to be relayed by a user to other systems by means of an ergonomically designed grip utilising electronic or and elctromechanical detectors.

A specific embodiment of the design is now described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a vertical front view of a left handed model of the design.

Figure 2 shows a vertical side view of a left handed model of the design.

Figure 3 shows a horizontal rear view of a left handed model of the design.

Figure 4 shows a horizontal rear view of a left handed model of the design with strap.

Figure 5 shows sensor placement of the design.

Figure 6 shows system schematic of the design.

with reference to the Figure 4 the design is comprised of a grip body 1. Finger recesses 2. Thumb recess 3. Palm support 4. Strap 5.

Referring to Figure 5 the body is laced with micro machined strain gauges 6 (for instance silicon) protected under a resilient yet flexible environmentally sealed coating (for instance PVC or other composite material for strength) and bonded to the body surface.

The strain gauges act as pressure sensitive strips to detect the force exerted by the user onto the surface of the device. These strips are placed strategically to allow compatibility with expressive intonation from finger movement or percussion against the pressure pad surface, thus the sensor layout is reflective of the scale and mechanics of a human hand.

These detectors can also be used to portray percussive information due to the potential for interactionlresonance between fingers (or finger rings) and the detector surfaces.

Referring to Figure 5 these pads are sub divided into segments 7 to allow grip position to be altered to facilitate more expressivelpercussive manipulation of the device for example: To achieve higher velocity attack from the movement of fingers it is necessary that the fingers are fully extended and pivot from the palm joint - thus a palm rest 4 is provided to allow grip position to be shifted comfortably and still maintain control of the attack points for the fingers 8 which have moved around the grip and also the tilt of the device - which may be necessary in some circumstances when relaying multiple actions together.

Because the device is intended for blind use - that is the user does not have to have visual contact with the device in order to operate it, referring to Figure 1 recesses are provided 2 for the fingers so that touch feedback can be provided to the user and that finger attack is guided as accurately as possible.

It is vital the the user does not have to be conscious of the grip moving during operation so a strap fabricated from a none-rotting elasticated material (for example neoprene) is provided 5 to pull the grip firmly into the users palm position. The strap is pivoted 9 so that shifts in grip position do not change the feel of the strap on the back of the hand or wrist.

To portray attitude and acceleration information the grip has at its' centre of gravity a miniature three-plane accelerometer (commercially available). So that arm, hand and body movement can be relayed (useful in music or dance for instance). This would also allow the detection of stimulae if the grip were to be hit or thrown into the air. This same detector can provide tilt information (useful in camera or lighting control) by means of gravity and a simple calculation.

The grip is balanced so that it is comfortable to the user and that the weight of the design is chosen to provide stability and 'feel'. Initially the grip is fabricated from medium density wood (for example Lime) and is hollowed to allow containment of the electronics and detectors. The surface of the controller is sealed to provide environmental protection.

In this model there is a wireless communications link 10 to a base station to allow maximum freedom of movement which is an important aspect of this invention. Details of the communication standard and interface configuration are outside of this application.

All the signals from the system are processed using commercially available data acquisition integrated circuits. In this case PIC devices, that handle both analog to digital conversion, data processing, encoding and data modulation for transmition. These are also low power devices to ensure long battery life. An alpha numeric display 11 is provided to give necessary status information to the user - for instance transmition channel, battery life, current mode. As the model is microsontroller based the functionality is completely reprogramable around the basic function as described above.

Referring to Figure 6: The system in this model consists of the following: S1. Detector Array S2. Three Plane Accelerometer/Tilt Detector S3. Switch Array S4. Multiplexer S5. System Control l.C.

S6 Multi-function Micro Controller S7. Alpha-numeric Display S8. RAM S9. R.F. Modulator/Transmitter S10. Power Supply/Battery Management S11. External Supply Input

Claims

CLAIMS 1. The invention allows control and expressive intonation to be relayed by a user to other systems by means of an ergonomically designed grip utilising electronic or and elctrnmechanical detectors.
2. An ergonomically designed grip as in Claim 1 with acceleration detection in one or more planes.
3. An ergonomically designed grip as in Claim 1 or Claim 2 with surface pressure detectors to allow user hand or finger control or expression.
4. An ergonomically designed grip as in Claim 1 or Claim 2 or Claim 3 with tilt detection in one or more planes.
5. An ergonomically designed grip as in Claim 1 or Claim 2 or Claim 3 or Claim 4 with a remote interface to allow transmition of control or expression information to other systems either intermittently or continuously.
6. An ergonomically designed grip as in Claim 5 with either a wired or wireless interface.