Foot monitoring system that generates an indication of how much shoe cushioning life remains in a shoe

• US 9,616,290 B2
• Filed: 06/25/2015
• Issued: 04/11/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bryce Benjamin Purks, Connor Kent Purks, David Kent Purks, Deborah Rhea Purks, Kory Patrick Purks
• Original Assignee: Bryce Benjamin Purks, Connor Kent Purks, David Kent Purks, Deborah Rhea Purks, Kory Patrick Purks
• Inventors: Purks, Bryce Benjamin, Purks, Connor Kent, Purks, Kory Patrick, Purks, Deborah Rhea, Purks, David Kent
• Primary Examiner(s): Tweel, Jr., John A
• Application Number:
  US14/750,345
• Publication Number:
  US 20150290496A1
• Time in Patent Office: 656 Days
• Field of Search: 34087007, 3405731, 3405737, 340665, 73488, 73490, 73510, 738654, 702141, 702150
• CPC Class Codes: A43B 5/06 Running shoes; Track shoes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0002 Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network A61B5/07 takes precedence; transmission systems for measured values G08C; transmission H04B; transmission of digital information H04L; wireless communication networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1036 Measuring load distribution, e.g. podologic studies
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1038 Measuring plantar pressure during gait
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1122 of movement trajectories
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/22 Ergometry; Measuring muscular strength or the force of a muscular blow exercising apparatus A63B21/00 ; measuring of work or force in general G01L
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 24/0062 Monitoring athletic performances, e.g. for determining the work of a user on an exercise apparatus, the completed jogging or cycling distance
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 15/18 in two or more dimensions
• 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

A foot monitoring system includes a measurement circuit and an alert circuit. The measurement circuit measures sideways roll of a person'"'"'s foot while the person is walking/running. The alert circuit determines that the person should change sideways spacing between the person'"'"'s feet to change further measured values of the sideways roll of the person'"'"'s foot toward preferred sideways roll values, and generates a notification that indicates to the person to change the sideways spacing between the feet. The foot measurement circuit may determine how much shoe cushioning life remains for a shoe worn by the person in response to comparison of values a peak pulse segment of impact measurements to another segment of the impact measurements that is outside the peak pulse segment.

Claims

1. A foot monitoring system comprising:

a measurement circuit configured to measure impacts from a foot wearing a shoe repetitively striking a surface while a person is walking/running; and

an alert circuit that is configured to;

monitor the measured impacts while the person is walking/running; and

compare a peak pulse segment of measurements of at least one impact to another segment of measurements that is outside the peak pulse segment of the measurements of the at least one impact; and

generate an indication of how much shoe cushioning life remains for the shoe based on the comparison of values of the peak pulse segment of the measurements of the at least one impact to the other segment of the measurements that is outside the peak pulse segment of the measurements of the at least one impact.

2. The foot monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the other segment overlaps at least a portion of the peak pulse segment and extends beyond the peak pulse segment of the measurements of the at least one impact while the person is walking/running.

3. The foot monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the other segment is an entire impact waveform of the measurements of the at least one impact while the person is walking/running, and the peak pulse segment of the measurements of the at least one impact is a subset of the measurements that includes a peak value of the measurements.

4. The foot monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the alert circuit generates the indication of how much shoe cushioning life remains for the shoe based on a ratio of at least one value of the peak pulse segment of the measurements to at least one value of the other segment of the measurements that is outside the peak pulse segment of the measurements.

5. The foot monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the alert circuit generates the indication of how much shoe cushioning life remains for the shoe based on a difference between at least one value of the peak pulse segment of the measurements and at least one value of the other segment of the measurements that is outside the peak pulse segment of the measurements.

6. The foot monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the impact alert circuit is configured to control an amount that an object displayed on a display device is filled-in or emptied to graphically indicate how much cushioning life remains in the shoe.

7. The foot monitoring system of claim 1, wherein:

the measurement circuit is configured to be mounted on the person'"'"'s shoe to increase sensitivity of the measurement from the foot wearing the shoe striking the surface while the person is walking/running, and

the alert circuit comprises a wrist watch.

8. The foot monitoring system of claim 1, wherein:

the measurement circuit is configured to be mounted on the person'"'"'s shoe to increase sensitivity of the measurement from the foot wearing the shoe striking the surface while the person is walking/running, and comprises a transmitter circuit that transmits at least some of the measurements through a wireless air interface to the alert circuit.

9. The foot monitoring system of claim 1, wherein:

the measurement circuit is configured to locally store at least some of the measurements in a log file for download to the alert circuit.

10. The foot monitoring system of claim 1, wherein:

the measurement circuit is configured to algorithmically combine at least some of the measurements and communicate the combined measurements as the measurements used by the alert circuit for the comparison.

11. The foot monitoring system of claim 1, wherein:

the alert circuit performs the comparison to generate the indication of how much cushioning life remains for a removable insole of the shoe.

12. The foot monitoring system of claim 11, wherein:

the alert circuit generates another indication from the comparison that indicates to the person how much cushioning life remains for a sole of the shoe.

13. The foot monitoring system of claim 4, wherein:

the alert circuit generates the indication of how much shoe cushioning life remains for the shoe based on comparison of the ratio to a threshold value.

14. The foot monitoring system of claim 1, wherein:

the alert circuit defines a baseline threshold level based on combining measurements of foot impact during a calibration interval, and generates the indication of how much shoe cushioning life remains for the shoe based on comparison of present measurements of foot impact to the baseline threshold level.

15. The foot monitoring system of claim 14, wherein:

the alert circuit defines the baseline threshold level using an average of measurements of foot impact during the calibration interval.

16. The foot monitoring system of claim 14, wherein:

the alert circuit generates the indication of how much shoe cushioning life remains for the shoe based on comparison of how much present measurements of foot impact have changed relative to the baseline threshold level.

17. The foot monitoring system of claim 1, wherein:

the alert circuit outputs an indication that the remaining shoe cushioning life has decreased, based on a difference from the comparison exceeding one or more defined threshold values.

18. The foot monitoring system of claim 1, wherein:

the alert circuit generates the indication of how much shoe cushioning life remains for the shoe based on comparing a slope of present measurements of foot impact to a slope of earlier measurements of foot impact.

19. The foot monitoring system of claim 1, wherein:

the alert circuit outputs an indication that the remaining shoe cushioning life has decreased, based on an increase in a difference between the peak pulse segment of the measurements of the at least one impact and the other segment of the measurements that is outside the peak pulse segment of the measurements of the at least one impact.

20. The foot monitoring system of claim 1, wherein:

the alert circuit outputs an indication that the remaining shoe cushioning life has decreased, based on an increase in a slope of the peak pulse segment of the measurements of the at least one impact relative to a slope of the other segment of the measurements that is outside the peak pulse segment of the measurements of the at least one impact.