Patent ID: 7520864

Claim:
A multi-functional care-taking machine interface that provides a user with operation, wherein the interface comprises: a muscle stretch sensor, comprising: a sub-layer, made of a resilient material, attached to any moveable parts of the user; an attachment layer, attached to a surface of said sub-layer; a plurality of strain gauges, attached on top of said attachment layer in an array, for detecting the deformation of any movable part of a body of the user to generate corresponding electric signals; a stimulation source, which provides stimulations for said strain gauges; a plurality of cables, which connect said strain gauges with said stimulation source and said signal bus; and a cover layer, which covers said attachment layer, said strain gauges, said stimulation source, said signal bus, and said cables to prevent contamination and damage; a multiplexer amplifying filter amplifying and filtering the electric signals generated by said strain gauges and output analog signals, wherein said multiplexer amplifying filter further comprises: a stimulation circuit providing said stimulation source; a detecting and amplifying circuit converting mechanical strains into electric signals and amplifying the electric signals, wherein said detecting and amplifying circuit further comprises: a quarter bridge circuit, converting the mechanical strains into electric signals; a detect amplifying circuit, which further comprises a plurality of detect amplifiers that amplify the detected electric signals; and an operational amplifier circuit, which further comprises an operational amplifier that re-amplifies the detected electric signals; a multiplex circuit activating scanning; and an analog multiplexer and de-multiplexer circuit receiving commands from the multiplex circuit to activate scanning; an analog-to-digital converter converting the analog signals outputted by said multiplexer amplifying filter into digital electric signals; an image processing unit arranging and converting said digital electric signal into gray level potential images, processing the images and highlighting their characteristics; a muscle template database storing movement characteristics, and passing the movement characteristics to said image processing unit for further tallying so that corresponding commands can be given; and a control bus receiving said commands, and passing said commands to any one of related interfaces, signal converting units, and other control units.