System and method for sensing and interpreting dynamic forces

Abstract

The present invention relates to a sensing system which is capable of discriminating types of causes of changing loads on a surface, such as the type of motion of a human subject. The system has wide ranging applications including sports performance (e.g. golf club swing analysis). The system comprises a deformable load bearing surface (2), a plurality of mutually spaced sensors (6), a processor (8) and an output (10). The sensors (6) are coupled through the deformation response of the surface (2) to an applied load (4) to receive local sensory data from the surface (2). The processor (8) is operatively coupled to the sensors (6) and is arranged to transform the sensory data into information data relating to a load (4) applied to the surface (2), e.g. by means of a neural network algorithm. In an alternative embodiment, a housing including the deformable load bearing surface (2) contains a flowable material (e.g. liquid) which flows in response to the deformation of the surface.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.