Method of investigating the gait of a living being
First Claim
1. A method of investigating the gait of a living being having feet by measuring the force exerted by its feet on the ground and of the location, duration and course in time of the application of force in a zone of a substantially horizontal measuring surface taking the form of part of the ground, the measuring surface being subdivided substantially at right angles to the direction of movement of the living being into elongate measuring sections parallel to each other and adjacent in succession in lamellar fashion, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) measuring the force exerted by the living being on a measuring section an dividing the force exerted into two components, one of each component acts on the measuring section adjacent a respective end thereof;
(b) breaking the two components into a vertical and a horizontal part resulting in two horizontal parts and two vertical parts;
(c) measuring the two vertical parts separately to obtain a measured value for each of the two vertical parts; and
(d) cyclically interrogating the measured values in the course of an interrogation sequence corresponding to the succession of measuring sections in the direction of movement of the living being, the measured values are put into intermediate storage in an analog measured value store and subsequently compared with a predetermined threshold value, and only those measured values put into intermediate storage which exceed the threshold values are passed on for an evaluation wherein the sum of the two measured values is formed for the determination of the total force exerted vertically on the measuring section and the ratio between the difference in the two measured values and their sum is formed to determine the location where the force is exerted on the measuring section.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
The force exerted on a measuring section is broken down into two components each acting on one end of a measuring section. The components are each broken down into a vertical part and a horizontal part. The two vertical parts obtained are measured separately. The measured values are cyclically interrogated in an interrogation sequence in the direction of movement of the living being and stored, to permit the determination of force, location, duration and course in time. The measuring surface is subdivided lamellar-fashion at right angles to the direction of movement. One measuring section is narrower than the foot and longer than the track width. The force sensing device (3) comprises a rigid crossbeam which is borne on a sensing block (7) on both sides and acts in the vertical direction on a measured value delivering sensor (23) disposed therein. The crossbeam is mounted to move only vertically and borne on a measuring spring (43) which bears against the sensing block and is preferably a flat spring. The measured value delivering sensor measures the vertical movement of the measuring spring. A transmission element (47) is disposed between the measuring spring and the measured value delivering sensor and is acted upon in the direction of the measuring spring.
78 Citations
11 Claims
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1. A method of investigating the gait of a living being having feet by measuring the force exerted by its feet on the ground and of the location, duration and course in time of the application of force in a zone of a substantially horizontal measuring surface taking the form of part of the ground, the measuring surface being subdivided substantially at right angles to the direction of movement of the living being into elongate measuring sections parallel to each other and adjacent in succession in lamellar fashion, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) measuring the force exerted by the living being on a measuring section an dividing the force exerted into two components, one of each component acts on the measuring section adjacent a respective end thereof; (b) breaking the two components into a vertical and a horizontal part resulting in two horizontal parts and two vertical parts; (c) measuring the two vertical parts separately to obtain a measured value for each of the two vertical parts; and (d) cyclically interrogating the measured values in the course of an interrogation sequence corresponding to the succession of measuring sections in the direction of movement of the living being, the measured values are put into intermediate storage in an analog measured value store and subsequently compared with a predetermined threshold value, and only those measured values put into intermediate storage which exceed the threshold values are passed on for an evaluation wherein the sum of the two measured values is formed for the determination of the total force exerted vertically on the measuring section and the ratio between the difference in the two measured values and their sum is formed to determine the location where the force is exerted on the measuring section. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. An apparatus for investigating the gait of a living being having feet by measuring the force exerted by its feet on the ground and of the location, duration and course in time of the application of force in a zone of a substantially horizontal measuring surface taking the form of part of the ground, said apparatus comprising:
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(a) elongate measuring sections, the measuring surface being subdivided substantially at right angles to the direction of movement of the living being into elongate measuring sections parallel to one another and adjacent in succession in lamellar fashion, the width of each of the measuring sections being smaller than the length of the foot of the living being and the length of each of the measuring sections being greater than the track width of the living being; (b) a plurality of measured value delivering sensors connected to an electronic evaluating unit associated with each measuring section, each of the measured value delivering sensors being a path sensor for vertical movement of a measuring spring; (c) a force sensing device having a substantially rectangular force sensing surface and comprising a stiff cross beam having an upper surface on which the measuring section is disposed, the cross beam borne on a lower surface thereof at opposing ends thereof, each end on a sensing block so as to act therein in the vertical direction on one of the plurality of measured value delivering sensors, the cross beam in the force sensing device mounted to move substantially only vertically and borne on a measuring spring which bears against the sensing block; and (d) a transmission element for the vertical movement of the measuring spring disposed between the spring and each of the plurality of measured value delivering sensors, the transmission element being operatively connected to each of the plurality of measured value delivering sensors and acted upon by a resilient means in the direction of the measuring spring. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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Specification