US 11,951,066 B2
Walking assistance method and apparatus
Keehong Seo, Seoul (KR); Youngjin Park, Seoul (KR); Jusuk Lee, Hwaseong-si (KR); Hyundo Choi, Yongin-si (KR); and Seungyong Hyung, Yongin-si (KR)
Assigned to Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Gyeonggi-do (KR)
Filed by Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Suwon-si (KR)
Filed on May 15, 2019, as Appl. No. 16/412,867.
Claims priority of application No. 10-2018-0109919 (KR), filed on Sep. 14, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2020/0085666 A1, Mar. 19, 2020
Int. Cl. A61H 3/00 (2006.01); A61B 5/00 (2006.01); A61B 5/11 (2006.01); A61H 1/02 (2006.01)
CPC A61H 3/00 (2013.01) [A61B 5/112 (2013.01); A61B 5/1121 (2013.01); A61B 5/6828 (2013.01); A61B 5/6829 (2013.01); A61B 5/7267 (2013.01); A61B 5/7275 (2013.01); A61H 1/0262 (2013.01); A61B 2562/0219 (2013.01); A61H 2003/007 (2013.01); A61H 2201/5061 (2013.01); A61H 2201/5084 (2013.01); A61H 2205/10 (2013.01); A61H 2230/625 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A walking assistance method, comprising:
predicting a gait phase of a user within a gait cycle by,
receiving, from a sensor, information related to a motion of the user wearing a walking assistance apparatus,
encoding the information related to the motion to one of a plurality of vertices of a figure with a predetermined shape having i) a preset number of the plurality of vertices corresponding to respective phases of the gait cycle and ii) a continuous perimeter such that a value of the gait cycle remains continuous across a boundary between each of the plurality of vertices corresponding to the respective phases of the gait cycle, the encoding including,
applying the information to a trigonometric function corresponding to the figure to generate at least one vector, and
selecting the one of the plurality of vertices on the continuous perimeter of the figure based on the vector boundary, and
predicting the gait phase by decoding the selected one of the plurality of vertices to the gait phase such that the gait phase that is predicted is unsmoothed when the selected one of the plurality of vertices crosses the boundary; and
controlling an assistance torque applied to the walking assistance apparatus based on the gait phase.