Transfemoral prosthetic systems and methods for operating the same
AssigneeOssur Hf
InventorArinbjorn Viggo Clausen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Certain embodiments of the invention relate to increasing the functionality of a transfemoral prosthetic device. In one embodiment, the transfemoral prosthetic device is configured such that the prosthetic knee maintains a load consistent with a healthy knee walking on level ground, while the prosthetic ankle adjusts for the incline or decline. In certain embodiments, adjustments, such as a toe lift function, are automatically performed after about three strides of the transfemoral prosthetic device user and/or when each of the strides has a stride speed of at least about 0.55 meters/second.
Claims21
A transfemoral prosthetic device associated with a limb, comprising:
- a foot unit;
- a tibial member pivotally attached to the foot unit to define an ankle joint;
- a femoral member pivotally attached relative to the tibial member to define a knee joint;
- an actuator operatively coupled to the ankle joint and configured to actively adjust an ankle-angle between the tibial member and the foot unit during at least a portion of a swing phase of a gait cycle;
- at least one sensor disposed on the transfemoral prosthetic device and configured to generate data indicative of at least one of position or movement of the transfemoral prosthetic device during a gait of a user;
- and
- a processor communicatively coupled to the at least one sensor and configured to:
- receive said generated data,
- determine the ankle-angle of the transfemoral prosthetic device and that the user is moving up an incline or down a decline based at least in part on said generated data,
- determine ankle-angle adjustments based at least in part on determining that the user is moving up the incline or down the decline and on said determined ankle-angle of the transfemoral prosthetic device satisfying an ankle-angle threshold, wherein the ankle-angle adjustments comprise a first ankle-angle adjustment and a second ankle-angle adjustment, and wherein the first ankle-angle adjustment is used for ankle angle amounts in between a first threshold and a second threshold and the second ankle-angle adjustment is used for ankle angle amounts beyond the second threshold,
- generate a control signal based at least in part on said determined ankle-angle adjustments of the transfemoral prosthetic device, and
- actively adjust the ankle-angle of the transfemoral prosthetic device by actuating the at least one actuator operatively coupled to the ankle joint during at least a portion of the swing phase of the gait cycle based at least in part on said generated control signal.
A transfemoral prosthetic device associated with a limb, comprising:
- a foot unit;
- a tibial member pivotally attached to the foot unit to define an ankle joint;
- a femoral member pivotally attached relative to the tibial member to define a knee joint;
- an actuator operatively coupled to the ankle joint and configured to actively adjust an ankle-angle between the tibial member and the foot unit during at least a portion of a swing phase of a gait cycle;
- at least one sensor disposed on the transfemoral prosthetic device and configured to generate data indicative of at least one of position or movement of the transfemoral prosthetic device during a gait of a user;
- and
- a processor communicatively coupled to the at least one sensor and configured to:
- receive said generated data,
- determine the ankle-angle of the transfemoral prosthetic device and that the user is moving up an incline based at least in part on said generated data,
- determine ankle-angle adjustments based at least in part on determining that the user is moving up the incline and on said determined ankle-angle of the transfemoral prosthetic device satisfying an ankle-angle threshold, wherein the ankle-angle adjustments are based on an angular amount of the incline, wherein the ankle-angle adjustments comprise a first ankle-angle adjustment and a second ankle-angle adjustment, wherein the first ankle-angle adjustment is used for incline angular amounts greater than a first threshold but lower than a second threshold and the second ankle-angle adjustment is used for incline angular amounts greater than the second threshold;
- generate a control signal based at least in part on said determined ankle-angle adjustments of the transfemoral prosthetic device, and
- actively adjust the ankle-angle of the transfemoral prosthetic device by actuating the at least one actuator operatively coupled to the ankle joint during at least a portion of the swing phase of the gait cycle based at least in part on said generated control signal.
A transfemoral prosthetic device associated with a limb, comprising:
- a foot unit;
- a tibial member pivotally attached to the foot unit to define an ankle joint;
- a femoral member pivotally attached relative to the tibial member to define a knee joint;
- an actuator operatively coupled to the ankle joint and configured to actively adjust an ankle-angle between the tibial member and the foot unit during at least a portion of a swing phase of a gait cycle;
- at least one sensor disposed on the transfemoral prosthetic device and configured to generate data indicative of at least one of position or movement of the transfemoral prosthetic device during a gait of a user;
- and
- a processor communicatively coupled to the at least one sensor and configured to:
- receive said generated data,
- determine the ankle-angle of the transfemoral prosthetic device and that the user is moving down a decline based at least in part on said generated data,
- determine ankle-angle adjustments based at least in part on determining that the user is moving down the decline and on said determined ankle-angle of the transfemoral prosthetic device satisfying an ankle-angle threshold, wherein the ankle-angle adjustments are based on an angular amount of the decline, wherein the ankle-angle adjustments comprise a first ankle-angle adjustment and a second ankle-angle adjustment, wherein the first ankle-angle adjustment is used for decline angular amounts greater than a first threshold but lower than a second threshold and the second ankle-angle adjustment is used for decline angular amounts greater than the second threshold;
- generate a control signal based at least in part on said determined ankle-angle adjustments of the transfemoral prosthetic device, and
- actively adjust the ankle-angle of the transfemoral prosthetic device by actuating the at least one actuator operatively coupled to the ankle joint during at least a portion of the swing phase of the gait cycle based at least in part on said generated control signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.