Patent ID: 8723790

Claim:
A control system for enabling a user to interface with an electronic device with mouth control comprising: a light-emitting means, comprising one or more light-emitting devices, that causes light to shine on the user's face; a light-detection means, comprising one or more light-detecting devices, that detects the intensity of light reflected from the user's face from the light-emitting means and outputs a plurality of light-reflection signals corresponding to a plurality of combinations of the light-emitting devices and the light-detecting devices; a holding means for aiming the light-detection means and/or the light-emitting means primarily at the user's mouth, cheeks, and/or chin; a pattern-matching means that inputs the light-reflection signals and outputs a control output category signal; and a controller means that inputs the control output category signal and outputs a control signal to control the electronic device, wherein each of the one or more light detecting devices is a photodiode or phototransistor, whereby the motions and positions of and surrounding the user's mouth can be detected and interpreted as control commands for the electronic device.