New patent indicates Kinect can also recognize American Sign Language

kinect-thumbIt looks like Microsoft’s upcoming motion controller has also a few tricks up it’s sleeve as a recent patent listing for Kinect includes American Sign Language support, among others. According to the patent, those who communicate through the use of American Sign Language (ASL) standards will be able to input letters, words and phrases using Kinect.

 

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It looks like Microsoft’s upcoming motion controller has also a few tricks up it’s sleeve as a recent patent listing for Kinect includes American Sign Language support, among others. According to the patent, those who communicate through the use of American Sign Language (ASL) standards will be able to input letters, words and phrases using Kinect.

“Where the user is unable to speak, he may be prevented from joining in the voice chat. Even though he would be able to type input, this may be a laborious and slow process to someone fluent in ASL. Under the present system, he could make ASL gestures to convey his thoughts, which would then be transmitted to the other users for auditory display.”

“In this situation, for example, when the user kills another user’s character, that victorious, though speechless, user would be able to tell the other user that he had been ‘PWNED’. In another embodiment, a user may be able to speak or make the facial motions corresponding to speaking words. The system may then parse those facial motions to determine the user’s intended words and process them according to the context under which they were inputted to the system.”

Furthermore, the patent also reveals that the Kinect can support a skeletal mapping system that can track your fingers and toes.

“Where more points are tracked, additional features may be identified, such as the bones and joints of the fingers or toes, or individual features of the face, such as the nose and eyes.”

Microsoft is set to release Kinect on November 4 in the US for US$ 150 and £129.99 in the UK.

 

 

Via [USPTO]

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