Flexible smart glove

{
  "publication_number": "US9529433B2",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B2",
  "title": "Flexible smart glove",
  "abstract": "A flexible smart glove detects fine hand and finger motions while permitting the wearer to make hand gestures with dexterity. The flexible smart glove has a thickness of less than about 100 μm and incorporates capacitive micro-sensors positioned at finger joint locations. The micro-sensors are thin film devices built on substrates made of a pliable material such as polyimide. Interdigitated serpentine capacitors monitor strain in the back of the hand, while parallel plate capacitors monitor contact pressure on the palm. Thus the smart glove responds electrically to various types of hand motions. Thin film resistors responsive to changes in body temperature are also formed on the flexible substrate. Motion and temperature data is transmitted from the glove to a microprocessor via a passive RFID tag or an active wireless transmitter. An ASIC is embedded in the smart glove to relay real time sensor data to a remote processor.",
  "claims": [
    "1. An apparatus, comprising: a fingered conformal glove fittable to a human hand, the conformal glove having a palm side and a top side that are made of a thin elastic material that permits a full range of motion of the hand; a plurality of capacitive micro-sensors embedded in the conformal glove at locations corresponding to finger joints, the capacitive micro-sensors including: a plurality of pressure micro-sensors embedded in the palm side, each pressure micro-sensor having a first metal plate and a second metal plate separated by a layer of a compressible dielectric material, and a plurality of flexure micro-sensors embedded in the top side, a first set of the plurality of flexure micro-sensors having interdigitated combs extending in a first direction and a second set of the plurality of flexure micro-sensors having interdigitated combs extending in a second direction, the second direction being perpendicular to the first direction, each of the plurality of capacitive micro-sensors being mounted to a respective flexible substrate; a wireless transmitter configured to communicate to a remote destination hand motion data acquired by the capacitive micro-sensors; and conducting wires coupling the capacitive micro-sensors to the wireless transmitter.",
    "2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising resistive temperature micro-sensors adjacent to at least some of the capacitive micro-sensors.",
    "3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein a thickness of the elastic material is less than 2 mm.",
    "4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the compressible dielectric material is polyimide.",
    "5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a capacitive micro-sensor embedded in the glove at a location corresponding to a wrist joint.",
    "6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wireless transmitter is a passive RFID transmitter that transmits the hand motion data acquired by the micro-sensors in response to an incident radio signal.",
    "7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wireless transmitter is an active transmitter programmed to transmit the hand motion data acquired by the micro-sensors to a remote computing device.",
    "8. A user-wearable garment comprising: an elastic material, and an embedded microelectronic sensor device, including a flexible substrate; a parallel plate capacitor formed on top of the flexible substrate, the parallel plate capacitor including a first metal plate formed in a first metal layer and a second metal plate formed in a second metal layer, the first and second metal plates separated by a layer of compressible dielectric material; a resistor in contact with one of the metal layers; an interdigitated capacitor formed in at least one of the metal layers; contact pads coupled to the capacitors and to the resistor, the contact pads permitting acquisition of electrical signals from the microelectronic sensor device; and a protective layer.",
    "9. The garment of claim 8 wherein the interdigitated capacitor has a fringe capacitance that varies with lateral applied forces.",
    "10. The garment of claim 8 wherein the parallel plate capacitor has a capacitance that varies with pressure applied to either one or both of the upper and lower metal lines.",
    "11. The garment of claim 8 wherein the upper and lower metal lines are coupled to the contact pads by a direct metal-to-metal interconnect that does not include vias.",
    "12. The garment of claim 8 wherein the flexible substrate, the compressible dielectric material, and the protective layer are all made of polyimide.",
    "13. The garment of claim 8 wherein the resistor is a metal serpentine resistor having a resistance that varies with temperature.",
    "14. A method of making wearable electronic sensor components, the method comprising: forming a base layer of polyimide on a rigid substrate; forming a lower capacitor plate layer on the base layer of polyimide; forming a compressible dielectric layer on the lower capacitor plate layer; depositing an upper capacitor plate layer on a top of the compressible dielectric layer; depositing a passivation layer on the top of the upper capacitor plate layer; and replacing the rigid substrate with a flexible support.",
    "15. The method of claim 14, further comprising a metallic resistor in contact with one of the capacitor plate layers, the metallic resistor suitable for use as a temperature sensor.",
    "16. The method of claim 14 wherein the metallic resistor is a serpentine structure made of platinum.",
    "17. The method of claim 14 wherein the replacing entails peeling the layers away from the rigid substrate and mounting the layers onto the flexible support.",
    "18. The method of claim 14 wherein the flexible support is made of polyimide.",
    "19. The method of claim 14 wherein the passivation layer is made of polyimide.",
    "20. The method of claim 14 wherein the rigid substrate is made of glass."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "Technical Field\n\nThe present disclosure generally relates to wearable technology and, in particular, to virtual reality gloves having embedded capacitive micro-sensors.\n\nDescription of the Related Art\n\nWearable electronic technology is currently a rapidly growing field. Examples of wearable technology include smart watches, continuous medical monitors, activity and fitness monitors, and clothing that incorporates environmental sensors. Techno-clothing includes virtual reality garments such as headgear featuring heads-up displays, computerized glasses, and wired smart gloves used for virtual reality gaming. Some commercially available smart gloves include motion sensors that incorporate optical input/output devices, micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) sensors, or miniature gyroscopes. However, commercially available smart gloves tend to be thick, bulky, and hard to take on and off a user's hand. Furthermore, because of the wide range of motion of the hand, durability and reliability are particularly challenging for designers of smart gloves.\n\nA thin, flexible smart glove detects fine hand and finger motions while permitting the wearer to engage in hand gestures with unobstructed dexterity. The flexible smart glove incorporates capacitive micro-sensors positioned at locations in the glove that correspond to joints of the hand. The capacitive micro-sensors are thin film devices built on flexible substrates made of a pliable material such as polyimide. The flexible substrates allow the micro-sensors to bend without cracking in response to hand and finger motion.",
  "cpc": [
    "G06F 3/014",
    "G09G 2370/16",
    "G09G 5/18"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "G06F 3/01",
    "G09G 5/18"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "STMicroelectronics Pte Ltd"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Ravi Shankar",
    "Olivier LENEEL"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2014-12-30",
  "publication_date": "2016-12-27",
  "grant_date": "2016-12-27",
  "priority_date": "2014-12-30",
  "application_number": "US-201414586547-A",
  "family_id": "56164083",
  "cited_by_count": 43,
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}