Control system utilizing a mobile application for a legged mobility exoskeleton device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019105215-A1
Application number	US-201615743136-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 30, 2016
Priority date	Dec 14, 2015
Publication date	Apr 11, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method of controlling a mobility device including at least one drive component that drives at least one joint component is described. The control may include providing said mobility device, providing an electronic communication device having a control application to be executed by the electronic control device, receiving an input of settings information to the electronic communication device, the settings information being stored by the control application, electronically connecting the electronic communication device to the mobility device, and executing the control application with the electronic communication device to perform a session of using the mobility device. The electronic communication device executes the control application to control the at least one drive component of the mobility device to selectively configure and modulate the at least one joint component in accordance with the settings information. The control application may be based on multiple device and/or user profiles with the settings being set based on the profiles. Session information may be displayed in real time as a displayed session dashboard, and stored in session logs for future review and analysis.

First claim

1 . A method of controlling a mobility device including at least one drive component that drives at least one joint component, the control method comprising the steps of:
providing said mobility device; providing an electronic communication device having a control application to be executed by the electronic communication device; receiving an input of settings information to the electronic communication device, the settings information being stored by the control application; electronically connecting the electronic communication device to the mobility device; and executing the control application with the electronic communication device to perform a session of using the mobility device, a session comprising information as to performance of the mobility device grouped according to a specific time period of device use; wherein the electronic communication device executes the control application to control the at least one drive component of the mobility device to selectively configure and modulate the at least one joint component in accordance with the settings information.

2 . The control method of claim 1 , wherein the settings information comprises at least one selectable profile including settings associated with the profile;
the method further comprising receiving an input to the electronic control device selecting a profile, and the electronic communication device executes the control application to control the at least one drive component of the mobility device to selectively configure and modulate the at least one joint component in accordance with the settings associated with the selected profile.

3 . The control method of claim 2 , wherein the at least one selectable profile includes device information for a particular mobility device.

4 . The control method of claim 2 , wherein the at least one selectable profile includes user information for a user of the mobility device.

5 . The control method of claim 2 , wherein the at least one selectable profile includes a simulated situation of a use case for the mobility device.

6 . The control method of claim 2 , wherein the settings associated with the selected profile comprise settings organized by a plurality of modes of operation of the mobility device.

7 . (canceled)

8 . The control method of claim 2 , wherein the settings associated with the selected profile comprise settings organized by joint component configuration of the at least one joint component.

9 - 10 . (canceled)

11 . The control method of claim 2 , wherein the settings information includes a plurality of selectable profiles, and the method further comprises receiving an input to the electronic communication device selecting a profile from among the plurality of profiles.

12 . The control method of claim 1 , further comprising displaying session information pertaining to the session in real time on a session dashboard.

13 . (canceled)

14 . The control method of claim 12 , wherein the session information comprises an instrument panel for the mobility device.

15 . (canceled)

16 . The control method of claim 14 , wherein the session scrolling of discrete events and the instrument panel are displayed as a combined screen on the session dashboard.

17 . The control method of claim 12 , wherein the session dashboard is displayed on a display of the electronic communication device.

18 - 22 . (canceled)

23 . The control method of claim 12 , further comprising storing the session information in a session log.

24 . (canceled)

25 . The control method of claim 23 , further comprising storing a plurality of session logs for a plurality of sessions in a collection of associated sessions.

26 . The control method of claim 1 wherein the electronic communication device includes a location device, and the control method further comprises acquiring location data during the session and controlling the mobility device based on the location data.

27 . (canceled)

28 . The control method of claim 1 , wherein the electronic device connects to the mobility device over a wireless interface.

29 . The control method of claim 1 , wherein the mobility device is a legged mobility exoskeleton device comprising a plurality of drive components that drive a plurality of joint components including at least knee joint components and hip joint components.

30 - 31 . (canceled)

32 . A non-transitory computer readable medium storing program code for a control application for use in operating an electronic communication device to control a mobility device including at least one drive component that drives at least one joint component, the program code when executed by a computer performing the steps of:
receiving an input of settings information to the electronic communication device, the settings information being stored by the control application; electronically connecting the electronic communication device to the mobility device; and executing the control application with the electronic communication device to perform a session of using the mobility device, a session comprising information as to performance of the mobility device grouped according to a specific time period of device use; wherein the electronic communication device executes the control application to control the at least one drive component of the mobility device to selectively configure and modulate the at least one joint component in accordance with the settings information.

33 - 59 . (canceled)

60 . An electronic communication device comprising:
an electronic controller that executes a control application for controlling a mobility device including at least one drive component that drives at least one joint component; an input device for receiving an input of settings information to the electronic communication device; a memory, the settings information being stored by the control application in the memory; and a communications interface for electronically connecting the electronic communication device to the mobility device; and wherein the electronic controller executes the control application to perform a session of using the mobility device, a session comprising information as to performance of the mobility device grouped according to a specific time period of device use; wherein the electronic controller executes the control application to control the at least one drive component of the mobility device to selectively configure and modulate the at least one joint component in accordance with the settings information stored in the memory.

61 - 88 . (canceled)

89 . An exoskeleton system comprising:
the electronic communication device of claim 60 ; and a mobility device comprising:
at least one drive component that drives at least one joint component;
a mobility device communications interface for electronically connecting the mobility device to the electronic communication device
an internal control device for controlling the at least one drive component to selectively configure and modulate the at least one joint component in accordance in accordance with signals received from the electronic device over the mobility device communications interface.

90 - 93 . (canceled)

Assignees

• Parker Hannifin Corp

Inventors

• Dalley Skyler Ashton
• Farris Ryan
• Morrison Scott

Classifications

• A61H2201/164

  Feet or leg, e.g. pedal · CPC title

• A61H2201/5043

  Displays · CPC title

• A61H2201/501

  connected to external computer devices or networks · CPC title

• A61H2201/5069

  Angle sensors · CPC title

• A61H2201/5048

  Audio interfaces, e.g. voice or music controlled · CPC title