Control system for a lower limb prosthesis or orthosis
First Claim
1. A control system for a lower limb prosthesis or orthosis, comprising:
- a plurality of sensors for generating electrical sensor signals representative of kinematic parameters which relate to the motion of upper and lower limb segments of the prosthesis or orthosis, said sensor signals indicating at least one of limb segment velocity and limb segment acceleration for each said limb segment,an electronic processing circuit including a comparison stage for comparing the kinematic parameters of said limb segments with each other and outputting corresponding binary state values, anda combination stage in which the binary state values are combined to produce a binary word representing a phase of motion.
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Abstract
In a control system for a lower limb prosthesis or orthosis, a plurality of sensors generate sensor signals representing kinematic measurements (21) relating to the movement of segments of a prosthesis or orthosis (e.g. a thigh segment and a shank segment). The sensor signals are applied in a comparison stage 22 to a plurality of comparison steps (K1, K2, K3) which produce binary outputs for feeding to a combining stage (23) in which a binary word (16) is produced, identifying a phase of limb motion. During a walking cycle, for instance, the binary word (16) changes, and the sequence of words represents a movement phase description which is used as the input for a prosthetic or orthotic movement controller.
33 Citations
24 Claims
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1. A control system for a lower limb prosthesis or orthosis, comprising:
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a plurality of sensors for generating electrical sensor signals representative of kinematic parameters which relate to the motion of upper and lower limb segments of the prosthesis or orthosis, said sensor signals indicating at least one of limb segment velocity and limb segment acceleration for each said limb segment, an electronic processing circuit including a comparison stage for comparing the kinematic parameters of said limb segments with each other and outputting corresponding binary state values, and a combination stage in which the binary state values are combined to produce a binary word representing a phase of motion. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A control system for a lower limb prosthesis or orthosis comprising;
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a plurality of sensors adapted and arranged to produce sensor outputs representative of kinematic parameters which relate to the motion of upper and lower limb segments of the prosthesis or orthosis, said sensor signals indicating the angular velocities or angular accelerations of each of said limb segments of the prosthesis or orthosis, and an electronic processing circuit arranged to perform a non-deterministic process of gait phase characterization based on said kinematic parameters of said limb segments to produce a digital movement description as a series of signal words representing successive movement phases which are characterised according to a common set of said kinematic parameters. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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21. A method of analysing gait characteristics comprising the steps of:
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receiving kinematic measurement data, said kinematic measurement data comprising kinematic parameters representing the motion of relatively moving upper and lower limb segments of a limb, the kinematic parameters being limb segment velocity and/or limb segment acceleration for each said limb segment, comparing said kinematic parameters of said limb segments with each other and outputting kinematic parameter state values, each said parameter state value being one of two values in dependence on the result of said comparison, and combining the parameter state values to produce a binary word, said binary word representing a unique gait phase. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
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Specification