Electronic sensor system for use with footwear

• US 10,470,711 B2
• Filed: 07/29/2016
• Issued: 11/12/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wiivv Wearables, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Wiivv Wearables, Inc.
• Inventors: Yuan, Kaiwen, Aggarwal, Manuj, Lawson, Colin Michael, Bewza, Enger Lasada, Hargovan, Shamil Mahendra, Jadavji, Louis-Victor
• Primary Examiner(s): Holmes, Rex R
• Application Number:
  US15/224,390
• Publication Number:
  US 20170027512A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,201 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A43B 17/006 multilayered
• CPC Class Codes: A43B 3/34 with electrical or electronic arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0247 Pressure sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/046 in a matrix array
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02055 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular condition and temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02438 with portable devices, e.g. worn by the patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02444 Details of sensor A61B5/02427 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1038 Measuring plantar pressure during gait
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/112 Gait analysis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6807 Footwear
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6812 Orthopaedic devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6829 Foot or ankle
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/21 characterised by their sensors, purposes or types
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/211 using inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers or gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/212 using sensors worn by the player, e.g. for measuring heart beat or leg activity
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/216 using geographical information, e.g. location of the game device or player using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/65 automatically by game devices or servers from real world data, e.g. measurement in live racing competition
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8082 Virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/13 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/19 Sporting applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/43 : using wireless personal area networks [WPAN], e.g. 802.15, 802.15.1, 802.15.4, Bluetooth or ZigBee
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/86 : Performing a diagnostic of the sensing device
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 : Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom

Abstract

The disclosed technique relates to an insert for footwear and to a composite orthotic insole comprising said insert, wherein the insert is embedded with a plurality of force (or pressure) sensors, and may be used to provide feedback on important information regarding the wearer'"'"'s gait biomechanics. The layer of sensors may be used to assist in monitoring the wearer'"'"'s health via foot pressure tracking. The insole can use a relative large number of sensors, which together provide broad coverage of the human foot impact area.

Claims

1. A flexible, multi-layered insole for footwear, the insole comprising:

a surface layer to contact a foot of a user;

a pressure-sensitive resistor layer having an electrical resistance that varies based upon applied pressure, wherein applied pressure reduces resistance to electrical current passing from a first side of the pressure-sensitive resistor layer to a second side of the pressure-sensitive resistor layer that is opposite the first side;

a sensor including a plurality of sensors arranged laterally across the insole, each sensor having a unique identifier;

an air gap between the pressure-sensitive resistor layer and the sensor layer, the air gap configured to collapse at least partially when the insole receives a footfall to thereby cause contact between the pressure-sensitive resistor layer and one or more of the sensors and cause each of said one or more of the sensors to output a respective signal including a respective unique identifier;

a load column positioned within the air gap and affixed between the pressure-sensitive resistor layer and the sensor layer, wherein the load column regulates an amount of pressure required to collapse the air gap, and wherein a largest dimension of the load column is perpendicular to a largest dimension of the flexible, multi-layered insole; and

a microcontroller coupled to receive and process the respective signals from the sensors wherein the microcontroller identifies sensor of origin of the one or more sensors based on the respective unique identifier included in each respective signal.

2. The insole of claim 1, further comprising:

a wireless communicator communicatively coupled with the microcontroller and configured to transmit processed signals from the microcontroller an external device.

3. The insole of claim 1, further comprising:

a multiplexer to receive the signals from the sensors and selectively output a subset of the signal to the microcontroller.

4. The insole of claim 1, wherein each of the sensors of the sensor layer includes a contact that directs the corresponding to a central location on the insole.

5. The insole of claim 4, wherein the central location is an arch section of the insole.

6. The insole of claim 1, wherein the sensors are arranged in a repeating pattern across the sensor layer.

7. The insole of claim 6, wherein the sensor layer contains a positive correlation between a number of sensors to a foot size of insole, and a static density of sensors despite variance in the foot size of insole.

8. The insole of claim 1, further comprising one or more of:

a geolocation sensor;

a thermometer;

an accelerometer;

an ultrasonic sensor;

a heartbeat sensor;

or

a gyroscope.

9. The insole of claim 2, further comprising:

application software resident on the external device, the application software including instructions to receive signals transmitted from the wireless communicator and develop analytical footfall models to report to a user.

10. The insole of claim 2, further comprising:

application software resident on the external device, wherein the external device is a gaming apparatus, and the application software including instructions to receive signals transmitted from the wireless communicator and provide user inputs to the gaming apparatus thereby influencing virtual reality simulations.

11. A method comprising:

receiving a footfall on a flexible, multi-layered insole, the footfall imparting pressure upon the insole;

in response to the imparted pressure, increasing the conductivity of a first layer of material of the insole, wherein resistance to electrical current passing from a first side of the first layer to a second side of the first layer that is opposite to the first side is reduced;

causing the first layer to at least partially collapse an air gap and contact one or more sensors included in a second layer of the insole, wherein the air gap is supported by a load column positioned within the air gap and affixed between the first layer and the second layer, the load column regulates an amount of pressure required to collapse the air gap, wherein a largest dimension of the load column is perpendicular to a largest dimension of the flexible, multi-layered insole; and

completing one or more circuits between the one or more sensors of the second layer and the first layer, each completed circuit delivering a signal to a microcontroller, each signal including a unique identifier associated with each of the one or more sensors that complete the one or more circuits.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

transmitting, by a wireless communicator, processed signals from the microcontroller to an external device.

13. The insole system of claim 11, further comprising:

cutting the sensor layer to a custom insole size from a sheet of sensors having a repeating pattern of sensors, each of the sensors including a contact directed to the center of the sheet of sensors such that contacts meet at a location on the sensor sheet which is included in every cut sensor layer despite variance in insole size.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the sensor layer contains a positive correlation between a number of sensors to a foot size of insole, and a static density of sensors despite variance in the foot size of insole.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the transmitting step further includes transmitting data from integrated sensors, integrated sensors further comprising one or more of the following sensors:

a geolocation sensor;

a thermometer;

an accelerometer;

an ultrasonic sensor;

a heartbeat sensor;

or

a gyroscope.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving, by application software resident on the external device, signals transmitted from the wireless communicator; and

developing analytical footfall models to report to a user.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving, by application software resident on the external device, signals transmitted from the wireless communicator, wherein the external device is an entertainment apparatus; and

providing user inputs to the entertainment apparatus thereby influencing virtual reality simulations.

24. The insole of claim 14, wherein the sensor layer contains a positive correlation between a number of sensors to a foot size of insole, and a static density of sensors despite variance in the foot size of insole.

18. A flexible, multi-layered insole for footwear, the insole comprising:

a surface arranged to contact a foot of a user;

a pressure-sensitive resistor layer that becomes more conductive as pressure is applied;

a sensor layer including a plurality of sensors arranged laterally across the insole, each sensor having a unique identifier;

an air gap between the pressure-sensitive resistor layer and the sensor layer, the air gap configured to collapse at least partially when the insole receives a footfall to thereby cause contact between the pressure-sensitive resistor layer and one or more of the sensors and cause each of said one or more of the sensors to output a respective signal including a respective unique identifier;

a buckling load column positioned within the air gap and affixed between the pressure-sensitive resistor layer and the sensor layer that regulates the amount of pressure required to collapse the air gap; and

a microcontroller coupled to receive and process the respective signals from the sensors wherein the microcontroller identifies sensor of origin of the one or more sensors based on the respective unique identifier included in each respective signal.

19. The insole of claim 18, further comprising:

a wireless communicator communicatively coupled with the microcontroller and configured to transmit processed signals from the microcontroller an external device.

20. The insole of claim 18, further comprising:

a multiplexer to receive the signals from the sensors and selectively output a subset of the signal to the microcontroller.

21. The insole of claim 18, wherein each of the sensors of the sensor layer includes a contact that directs the corresponding to a central location on the insole.

22. The insole of claim 21, wherein the central location is an arch section of the insole.

23. The insole of claim 18, wherein the sensors are arranged in a repeating pattern across the sensor layer.

25. The insole of claim 18, further comprising one or more of:

a geolocation sensor;

a thermometer;

an accelerometer;

an ultrasonic sensor;

a heartbeat sensor;

or

a gyroscope.