Sony patents real-time sign language translator for games

Sony has patented a new concept that would allow sign language users to communicate with people who use a foreign sign language in games through a “real-time sign language translator.” This is according to a news report from gaming website mxdwn.com.

The patent’s name is “Translation of Sign Language in a Virtual Environment.”

The patent has a drawing of two users wearing headsets who are signing. Each individual has a device (such as a gaming console or computer) that is equipped with a camera. As one person signs, the device translates it into a written language. That written language is then translated into a second (foreign) written language. Finally, it is translated into a foreign sign language that will present itself in the avatar of the other person or vice versa.

The patent has another drawing of an example of ASL being translated to English text before it is translated to Japanese text and finally to Japanese Sign Language.

[Full-screen images] Credit: Patentscope.wipo.int

The patent said it can allow users to manually approve the written text before it is translated into the other language. There is another drawing where two users are communicating without the use of headsets, so Sony is thinking broadly here.

Sony said this technology could extend to non-gaming applications, such as a video meeting between two deaf people using different sign languages.

Mxdwn.com said while this concept looks exciting, it’s important to remember that patents don’t always become immediate products and that Sony has a history of filing patents for technologies that take years to materialize. So we may have to wait a long time.

It’s an interesting concept. I know there’s an emerging market of automatic sign language recognition technology and Sony is definitely a big player here because it has a lot of software and hardware at its disposal. The links to the news article and to the patent are in the bottom of the transcript.

https://games.mxdwn.com/news/sony-patents-real-time-sign-language-translator-for-its-games/

https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=US440654551&_cid=P20-M26PVC-05247-1

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