US 12,138,039 B2
Mechanisms and methods for the design and fabrication of a mechanical interface between a wearable device and a human body segment
Hugh M. Herr, Somerville, MA (US)
Assigned to Bionic Skins LLC, Lebanon, NH (US)
Filed by Bionic Skins LLC, Lebanon, NH (US)
Filed on Jan. 18, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/577,495.
Application 17/577,495 is a continuation of application No. 14/838,985, filed on Aug. 28, 2015, granted, now 11,234,616.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/043,842, filed on Aug. 29, 2014.
Prior Publication US 2022/0133173 A1, May 5, 2022
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. A61B 90/00 (2016.01); A61B 5/107 (2006.01); A61B 34/10 (2016.01); A61F 2/50 (2006.01); A61F 2/76 (2006.01); A61F 2/78 (2006.01)
CPC A61B 5/1078 (2013.01) [A61B 5/107 (2013.01); A61B 34/10 (2016.02); A61F 2/5044 (2013.01); A61F 2/76 (2013.01); A61F 2/7812 (2013.01); A61B 2034/102 (2016.02); A61B 2090/064 (2016.02); A61B 2560/0425 (2013.01); A61B 2562/0219 (2013.01); A61B 2562/0223 (2013.01); A61B 2562/0261 (2013.01); A61F 2002/762 (2013.01)] 7 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for determining anatomical, biomechanical, and physiological properties of a body segment, including an instrument, the instrument comprising:
a first instrument portion including one or more force sensitive probes configured and arranged for measuring tissue deflection forces upon application of varying forces applied on a first side of the body segment;
a second instrument portion including one or more second force sensitive probes configured and arranged for measuring tissue deflection forces upon application of varying forces applied on a second side of the body segment; the second side of the body segment being on an opposite side of the body segment to the first side of the body segment;
wherein tissue deflection forces are measured by the first instrument portion and the second instrument portion simultaneously; and further wherein tissue deflections caused by the first instrument portion and the second instrument portion are measured by the system to create tissue deflection data; and
a controller configured to receive the tissue deflection data and configured to compute segment tissue viscoelastic properties as a function of the received tissue deflection data;
wherein the first instrument portion and the second instrument portion are mechanically untethered or tethered to ground;
each of the first instrument portion and the second instrument portion including one or more inertial measurement units each of inertial measurement units including one or more of gyroscopes, accelerometers, and magnetometers configured and arranged for
performing a zero velocity update by holding the first one or more force sensitive probes and the second one or more force sensitive probes stationary at a starting point on the body segment and then integrating forward to calculate trajectories in three-dimensional (3-D) space relative to the starting points to create a grounded reference frame, and
measuring changes in tissue deflection caused by the one or more first force sensitive probes in the first instrument portion and the one or more second force sensitive probes in the second instrument portion relative to the grounded reference frame in three-dimensional (3-D) space to create tissue deflection data.