GB2302583A - Gloves and hand tapper for communicating with deaf-blind people - 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 email.

Description

Tactile Transducer This invention relates to transducers for converting tactile stimuli to electrical signals and vice versa. It particularly relates to such transducers in arrangements providing a manmachine interface between a user and a computer or a communications system, such as tactile telephones.

Many deafblind people live alone and due to the nature of deafblind-ness they are unable to communicate effectively with the outside world. A manual alphabet such as the Evans Manual is only useful if both parties are within arms reach and this causes many problems for the deafblind as well as their carers.

For example, say the National Deaf-Blind League were going to hold an outing for its deafblind members. The League would have to write to its members many days 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 hearing person with the deafblind individual 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 this message has to be relayed to thirty or forty deafblind people who may live many miles away this becomes impractical.

Sighted hearing people take their telephones for granted, with all the advantages it brings, the opportunity for spontaneous outings, the ability to keep in touch with family and friends.

A tactile telephone for the deafblind could give deafblind individuals an independence that they have never been able to achieve.

Sighted hearing people are able to find out about the world around them by simply picking up a newspaper, switching on the television 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 by 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 the only literature which can be stored in this way. Letters written by sighted hearing people on their word processors can also be stored onto a floppy disk and sent to a deafblind recipient.

Through an electronic system these floppy disks containing English text could be read by the deafblind user via the Evan's manual alphabet. This would open up many avenues of communication that sighted people have to the deafblind community.

A tactile telephone would allow deafblind and sighted hearing or deafblind and other deafblind to communicate over the phone lines. Unfortunately, long conversions would prove expensive.

Therefore it is equally 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 their own letters, via the manual alphabet, and store them onto a floppy disk. This disk could then be sent either electronically, very fast, to the recipient (via 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 clearly. A few of these write messages, many others use the manual alphabet but they persist in signing the manual alphabet too fast for other deafblind or sighted hearing manualists. Manual language conversations often collapse in embarrassed chaos. An electronic interpreting facility could have the manual alphabet input. 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 deafblind communication within the same area.

Further, English characters typed in at a keyboard could be output in deafblind manual form for a deafblind individual to read. This would allow sighted hearing to deafblind communication. Such interpreting facilities would not require either group to learn a new skill.

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

It has also been proposed to provide a hand tapper comprising a flat plate having solenoids disposed beneath its surface.

However, its solenoids only operate in one plane and thus can only stimulate the front of a hand placed on the plate. As some signs of the UK two-hand sign language require touching the side of the hand, this prior art tapper is unable to reproduce all the letters of the standard alphabet. Therefore a modified sign language has had to be devised for use with this hand tapper.

The present invention arose during an attempt to provide improved tactile transducers.

A first aspect of the invention provides 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.

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 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.

A third aspect of the invention 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 from the data processing apparatus using the hand tapper.

A fourth aspect of the invention provides a tactile telephone comprising data processing apparatus and modem means for interfacing with a telephone network.

By using two such telephones a blind person can communicate to a deaf person via the conventional telephone network, both persons using conventional sign language. As both persons can both receive and transmit data simultaneously, neither risks missing part of a message by not having a hand on the receiver.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a console in accordance with the invention; Figure 2 shows a plan view of a tapper plate in accordance with the invention; Figure 3 shows a sectional view of Figure 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 of a pair of gloves in accordance with the invention; Figure 6 shows a two-handed sign alphabet which may be communicated using the invention; Figure 7 shows a communication system in accordance with the invention; and Figure 8 shows a sign language translator in accordance with the invention.

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 read sign language in a tactile manner and gloves 4, 5 which can be used to write information 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 where the user can sign on the gloved dummy hand with his gloved right hand.

Gloves 4 and 5 and hand tapper 2 allows a blind and/or deaf person to enter and read information to and from the computer using sign language. The hand tapper, which will be described in more detail later with reference to Figures 2 and 3, stimulates the hand of the user giving the sensation of being touched by a person making signs on that hand, the gloves, which will be described in more detail with reference to Figures 4 and 5, allow the user to input data by making signs with his gloved right hand on the gloved dummy hand. It can be seen that this arrangement allows the left hand to rest permanently on the tapper plate where it can receive data, leaving the right hand free to transmit data.

The left hand glove need not be used in conjunction with a dummy hand but may be worn 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 by 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 via the loudspeaker 8. Such an arrangement may be used when the computer is programmed with a speech synthesizer programme which converts text files into speech.

The console can also be used as a translator which affords communication between, for example, a sighted and/or hearing person and a deaf/blind person. The deaf/blind person uses the gloves and hand tapper and the sighted person uses the keyboard 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.

Referring now to Figures 2 and 3, the hand tapper 20 consists of a body 23 having a recessed region 22 generally corresponding 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, 0, 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. A second plurality of tapper solenoids F, P, Q, X is disposed beneath the upper surface 21 of hand tapper and arranged to act on the edge of the hand.

Solenoids P, X and F are arranged to act 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 would 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 characters of the conventional two-handed sign alphabet to be conveyed.

The gloves used to generate signals corresponding to signs will now be described. Figure 4 shows the view facing the palm of a left hand glove and Figure 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 of first 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. The 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 has electrodes y, v, m, r and t. Electrode t extends over the edge of the glove.

Referring now to Figure 5, the right hand glove has first electrodes g, and second electrodes T1 to T8. Conductors, which have 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 finger. Electrodes T2, T8 and T6 are disposed on the tips of 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 over both the tip and the left hand side of the index finger. Electrodes T4, T3 and T7 extend along the surfaces of the index, middle and third fingers. Electrode T5 is disposed on the back of the index finger.

The use of the gloves will now be described. The user puts the right hand glove on his right hand and puts the left hand glove on a dummy hand. He then makes signs in the conventional Evans manual sign language using his gloved right hand and the gloved dummy hand. Making 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 individual ones of the first and second sets of electrodes and on recognising such a circuit, causes the generation of an ASCII symbol corresponding to the sign. In the following, the right hand is the hand which touches, and the left hand if the hand which is touched, unless specified otherwise.

To take a simple case, consider the sign A, which is produced by touching the thumb of the left hand with the index finger of the right. It can be seen that this brings T1 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 (bringing T1 into contact with a) and then running the index finger down the thumb and up to the tip of the index finger of the left hand.Touching the thumb with the index would, in isolation, be interpreted as the letter "A", but because it is immediately followed by the successive establishment of further circuits finishing with T1 contacting e, the computer recognises that this is "C". The combinations of circuits established for each letter of the alphabet is given 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 indicate 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 of the other type, "or" indicates that any of the electrodes thus identified may be utilised.

The conventional Evans manual alphabet signs are shown in Figure 6. However, this embodiment requires the use of the alternative unillustrated sign for letter "Z'' which is produced by touching the palm with the fingertips rather than with the edge of the hand.

The existence of the various combinations of circuits between the first and second sets of electrodes can be established by any convenient manner known to those skilled in the art. For example the second electrodes may be biassed to a logical 1 voltage 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 symbol 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.

For applications where signing is made in conjunction with a dummy hand, the left hand glove may be permanently attached to the dummy hand. In an alternative arrangement in accordance with the invention the electrodes normally carried by the left hand glove may instead be provided on corresponding locations of the dummy hand itself.

Figure 7 shows an arrangement in accordance with the invention for communication between two persons, either or both of which may be deaf and/or blind. The arrangement comprises first and second consoles 701, 702, each substantially as described with reference to Figure 1. A communications link 703, for example, a public telephone circuit, joins the two consoles.

Each console has a respective hand tapper 720, 721 and respective pairs of gloves 740, 750 and 741, 751. The other components of the consoles have been omitted for clarity.

Once a link has been established between the two consoles, a person A at console 701 can sign using the gloves 740, 750, the signs are converted to ASCII codes by computer 710 and sent to computer 711 in encoded form via the telephone line 703. computer 711 converts the ASCII codes to electrical impulses which drive appropriate combinations of solenoids on hand tapper 721 where they are sensed by the left hand of a 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.

While the arrangement is particularly advantageous in facilitating communication 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 alpha-numeric keyboard and read the reply on the monitor (not shown). The arrangement can also be used to allow communication between persons who know different sign languages. The terminal 701 can be programmed to respond to and produce signs in one sign language, while terminal 702 can be programmed to respond and produce signs in a different sign language. Each person using a terminal is then able to converse using his own language, signs being converted to ASCII for transmission and converted to the appropriate sign stimuli on arrival.

Such an arrangement can be used without a communication link to provide a sign language translator. Referring now to Figure 8, a computer 810 has a first hand tapper 820, a first pair of gloves 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 841, 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, 850 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 841, 851 which the computer 810 converts into impulses which produce corresponding signs in the first sign language 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 conversion especially if no visual and/or audio display is required. The necessary decoding of signs and conversion to hand tapper impulses may be performed using discrete logic circuits.

TABLE 1 A T1 - a B T1 - m // T2 - b C T1 - a - T1 - e D T1 - e // T2 - d E T1 - e F T3 - f // T4 - x G T6 - g H T4 - mrt -T4 - i or o or u or e I Ti - i J Ti - i Ti - j K T5 - K L T4 - mrt M T4 T3 T7 - mrt N T4 T3 - mrt O T1 - o P T2 - e // T1 - P Q T4 - q R T1 - r // T1 - t S T4 - s or T1 - s T T1 - t U T1 - u V T3 - v // T4 - mrt W T4 - d // T3 - k // T7 - e X T4 - x Y T1 - y Z T1 - y // T8 - m or r or t T1 - e // T8 - o

Claims (14)

1. CLAIMS 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. 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. 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. 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. 5. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 4 in which the electrical signals comprise an ASCII code corresponding to the alphabetical character being signed.
6. 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. 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. 8. A tactile telephone comprising data processing apparatus as claimed in Claim 7 and modem means for interfacing with a telephone network.
9. 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. 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. 11. A hand tapper substantially as described with reference to Figures 2 and 3.
12. 12. A tactile telephone substantially as described.
13. 13. A communication system substantially as described.
14. 14. Sign language translation apparatus substantially as described.