Prosthetic socket with inflatable bladders and automated bladder inflation and pressure control
OwnerD. Barry McCoyinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
According to embodiments of the invention a novel prosthetic socket may include one or more inflatable pressure bladders disposed within the socket which may be controlled to be set at a desired pressured by the patient, and then automatically monitored and controlled to maintain the set pressure. The user may further incrementally increase or decrease the pressure as needed for different activities. A control system may comprise an external control device, such as a cell phone/tablet running a proprietary control and monitoring application, and may further include a back-end server which stores patient data, operating values and long term monitoring data.
Claims7
A prosthetic socket system comprising:
- a prosthetic socket comprising,
- an outer shell;
- an inflatable bladder system comprising:
- at least one inflatable bladder of predetermined shape and size disposed within the outer shell,
- an air pump in fluid communication with the at least one inflatable bladder;
- and
- a pump controller in communication with the air pump operable for selectively controlling the air pump to inflate and deflate the at least one bladder;
- and
- an external control device in wireless communication with the inflatable bladder system, said external control device comprising;
- a user interface for receiving input and displaying output;
- a memory including a table of operating values;
- a processor coupled to the memory and the user interface, and programmed with executable instructions including an analytics engine which is operable for
- a) receiving input from a user to set an operating pressure value;
- b) selectively controlling the air pump to cyclically inflate and deflate the bladder according to said operating value;
- c) operating a feedback loop which continuously monitors pressure of the bladder,
- d) selectively controlling the air pump to maintain said predetermined pressure at a constant level based on said feedback loop;
- and
- e) continuously recording pressure values during said timed wear cycle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.