Pattern recognition and synthesis for a sign language translation system

Sign language is one means of communication for hearing-impaired people. Words and sentences in sign language are mainly represented by hand gestures. In this report, we describe a sign language translation system which we are developing. The system translates Japanese Sign Language into Japanese text and vice versa. In this system, hand shapes and positions are provided by hand-based input in the form of time series. Then, hand gestures are recognized and translated into Japanese sentences using continuous DP (dynamic programming) matching. Japanese text is translated into sign language by generating three-dimensional computer-graphic animation of sign language gestures. (C)1996 Academic Press Limited