Methods and systems for sensing equilibrium

A system for determining postural stability comprising:

• an article of footwear including an insole portion;
• one or more input sensors housed in the insole portion of the article of footwear, wherein the one or more input sensors are configured to produce pressure information proportional to mechanical pressure placed on the one or more input sensors;
• a communications module including a first communications transceiver, wherein the communications module is housed in the article of footwear, coupled with the one or more input sensors, and configured to receive the pressure information from the one or more input sensors and transmit the pressure information using the first communications transceiver;
• and
• a computing device including a second communications transceiver, wherein the computing device is configured to receive the pressure information from the communications module using the second communications transceiver and the computing device contains instructions on a computer-readable medium to determine postural stability from the pressure information.

A method for determining postural stability of a person, comprising:

• providing an article of footwear worn by the person with an insole portion;
• providing one or more pressure sensing transducers in the insole portion of the article of footwear;
• reading the one or more pressure sensing transducers;
• generating pressure information proportional to the mechanical pressure placed on the one or more pressure sensing transducers;
• transmitting the pressure information;
• receiving the transmitted pressure information;
• and
• calculating postural state information for the person based on the received pressure data information.

A method for determining postural stability in a person, the method comprising:

• receiving a first pressure information from one or more pressure sensors, the first pressure information proportional to the mechanical pressure placed on the one or more pressure sensors;
• storing the first pressure information;
• calculating a range of postural stability for the person from the first pressure information;
• receiving a second pressure information from the one or more pressure sensors, the pressure information proportional to the mechanical pressure placed on the one or more pressure sensors;
• calculating a current postural state for the person based on the second pressure information;
• and
• calculating a next postural state for the person based on the current postural state and the range of postural stability.

A system for determining postural stability of a person, the system comprising:

• an article of footwear, said article of footwear including:
• an insole portion,
• one or more input sensors for measuring pressure housed in the insole portion, wherein the one or more input sensors are configured to produce pressure information proportional to mechanical pressure placed on the one or more input sensors, and
• a communications module including a first wireless communications transceiver, wherein the communications module is housed in the article of footwear, coupled with the one or more input sensors, and configured to receive the pressure information from the one or more input sensors and transmit the pressure information using the first wireless communications transceiver;
• a communications medium coupled with the first wireless communications transceiver;
• a second wireless communications transceiver coupled with the communications medium and configured to receive the pressure information from the communications module;
• a stability processing device electrically coupled with the second wireless communications transceiver and configured to acquire the pressure information from the second wireless communications transceiver and determine postural stability information from the pressure information;
• and
• a display device electrically coupled with the stability processing module, configured to display the postural stability information.

A scale for determining postural stability of a person, the scale comprising:

• a body portion;
• one or more input sensors for measuring pressure housed in the body portion, wherein the one or more input sensors are configured to produce pressure information proportional to mechanical pressure placed on the one or more input sensors;
• a stability processing module housed in the body portion, the stability processing module configured to analyze the pressure information and determine based on the pressure information a person's postural stability;
• and
• a communications module including a first wireless communications transceiver, wherein the communications module is housed in the scale, coupled with the stability processing module, and configured to receive the determined postural stability and transmit the determined postural stability using the first wireless communications transceiver.