Control system for prosthetic devices
First Claim
1. A control system for use with a prosthetic device, the prosthetic device comprising a plurality of moveable sub-prostheses and incorporating any implementation of harness and shoulder control hardware such that the shoulder shrug control movement associated with a moveable body part ranging from the no-shrug position of the moveable body part through the full-shrug position of the moveable body part provides control by the user to the prosthetic device, the control system comprising:
- (a) a shoulder harness for engaging the body part and for receiving the movement from the body part,(b) a linear potentiometer for mechanically receiving the movement from said shoulder harness and for generating a linear sensing signal in consonance with the movement of the body part,(c) an attenuator potentiometer for receiving the linear sensing signal from said linear potentiometer and for scaling the linear sensing signal to be a function of the entire range of body part movement from the no-shrug position of the moveable body part through the full-shrug position of the moveable body part,(d) a bar graph driver circuit for receiving the scaled linear signal from said attenuator potentiometer and for dividing the scaled signal into a plurality of discrete command signals,(e) current driver means operatively associated with said bar graph driver circuit for receiving the discrete command signals from said bar graph driver circuit and for generating electrical drive signals, corresponding to said command signals, and(f) a solenoid/motor arrangement for receiving the drive signals from said current driver means and controlling each of said moveable sub-prosthesis of the prosthetic device by a different one of said drive signals.
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Abstract
A control system and method for prosthetic devices is provided. The control system comprises a transducer for receiving movement from a body part for generating a sensing signal associated with that movement. The sensing signal is processed by a linearizer for linearizing the sensing signal to be a linear function of the magnitude of the distance moved by the body part. The linearized sensing signal is normalized to be a function of the entire range of body part movement from the no-shrug position of the moveable body part through the full-shrug position of the moveable body part. The normalized signal is divided into a plurality of discrete command signals. The discrete command signals are used by typical converter devices which are in operational association with the prosthetic device. The converter device uses the discrete command signals for driving the moveable portions of the prosthetic device and its sub-prosthesis. The method for controlling a prosthetic device associated with the present invention comprises the steps of receiving the movement from the body part, generating a sensing signal in association with the movement of the body part, linearizing the sensing signal to be a linear function of the magnitude of the distance moved by the body part, normalizing the linear signal to be a function of the entire range of the body part movement, dividing the normalized signal into a plurality of discrete command signals, and implementing the plurality of discrete command signals for driving the respective moveable prosthesis device and its sub-prosthesis.
59 Citations
3 Claims
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1. A control system for use with a prosthetic device, the prosthetic device comprising a plurality of moveable sub-prostheses and incorporating any implementation of harness and shoulder control hardware such that the shoulder shrug control movement associated with a moveable body part ranging from the no-shrug position of the moveable body part through the full-shrug position of the moveable body part provides control by the user to the prosthetic device, the control system comprising:
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(a) a shoulder harness for engaging the body part and for receiving the movement from the body part, (b) a linear potentiometer for mechanically receiving the movement from said shoulder harness and for generating a linear sensing signal in consonance with the movement of the body part, (c) an attenuator potentiometer for receiving the linear sensing signal from said linear potentiometer and for scaling the linear sensing signal to be a function of the entire range of body part movement from the no-shrug position of the moveable body part through the full-shrug position of the moveable body part, (d) a bar graph driver circuit for receiving the scaled linear signal from said attenuator potentiometer and for dividing the scaled signal into a plurality of discrete command signals, (e) current driver means operatively associated with said bar graph driver circuit for receiving the discrete command signals from said bar graph driver circuit and for generating electrical drive signals, corresponding to said command signals, and (f) a solenoid/motor arrangement for receiving the drive signals from said current driver means and controlling each of said moveable sub-prosthesis of the prosthetic device by a different one of said drive signals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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Specification