Kinect recognizes American Sign Language

According to a patent listing for Kinect, not only does the motion controller recognize the body, face, and voice, but American Sign Language as well.

Those who communicate through the use of ASL will be able to input letters, phrases, and words.

"Where the user is unable to speak, he may be prevented from joining in the voice chat," reads the patent. "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."

The patent also states Kinect tracks 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," according to the patent.

We're wondering if it can recognize the one fingered welcome as well, then. Okay. Bad joke there. Sorry. We'll send a mail regarding the patent.

Kinect's out on November 4 in the US for $150 and £129.99 in the UK. A European and UK release is expected to be revealed soon.

Via Gamespot.