1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to shoes, and particularly, to a pressure-detecting shoe.
2. Description of Related Art
A shoe is an item of footwear for protecting the human foot in daily lives, such as in jogging, racing, physical training, dancing, or other forms of competition. In order to increase the wearing comfort, materials and structures of shoes are diversified. For example, high permeability materials or elastic gasbags may be applied to the related shoes.
However, such shoes can not provide feedback of the wear and tear of the shoe, and thus do not provide the valuable information to healthcare providers. For example, patients with an injured foot or leg, or patients having trouble moving their foot or leg due to an injury or disease, may have to undergo physical therapy for recovery. Accurate information in the way the patient walks or carries themselves may be an important part of recovery. Since the above mentioned shoes can not provide feedback during the recovery period, the related information can only be obtained through observation by doctors, where some information may be overlooked or difficult to ascertain. Besides the medical use, the information in daily walking, running, dancing, video game playing or other activities of a normal, is also helpful to judge or correct the user's activities, posture or stride.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a shoe which can provide feedback while under the care of a healthcare professional.
Many aspects of the disclosure can be better understood with reference to the drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the views.
Embodiments of the disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The present disclosure relates to a pressure-detecting shoe having a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS), which integrates micro-sensors, actuators, signal processing circuits, control circuits, interface circuits, with a communication and power supply therein. The pressure sensors of the present disclosure may be any type of
MEMS pressure sensor, such as piezoresistive MEMS pressure sensors or capacitive MEMS pressure sensors.
As shown in
The main body 10 includes a sole 12 and a vamp 14. The sole 12 defines a toe region 121, a ball region 122 adjacent to the toe region 121, an arch region 123 adjacent to the ball region 122 and a heel region 124 adjacent to the arch region 123. The sole 12 includes an outsole 101 and an insole 102. The outsole 101 and the insole 102 define a housing space 120 there between. The sole 12 and the vamp 14 define a wearing space 140 there between to accommodate a user's foot.
The pressure sensor module 20 is located in the housing space 120, and includes a plurality of toe pressure sensitive bags 21 corresponding to the toe region 121, a plurality of toe pressure sensors 22 connected to the toe pressure sensitive bags 21, a ball pressure sensitive bag 23 corresponding to the ball region 122, a ball pressure sensor 24 connected to the ball pressure sensitive bag 23, a heel pressure sensitive bag 25 corresponding to the heel region 124, a heel pressure sensor 26 connected to the heel pressure sensitive bag 25, a process unit 27 and a power supply unit 28 to supply electric power to the process unit 27.
The pressure sensor module 20 may include five toe pressure sensitive bags 21 corresponding to five toes respectively in the toe region 121, and five toe pressure sensors 22 connected to the five toe pressure sensitive bags 21 respectively in this embodiment. The pressure sensor module 20 may include only one toe pressure sensitive bag 21 corresponding to the five toes and one toe pressure sensor 22, or five toe pressure sensitive bags 21 and only one toe pressure sensor 22 in other embodiments.
The toe sensor 22 is connected to the toe pressure sensitive bag 21 for sensing pressure applied to the toe pressure sensitive bag 21 and correspondingly providing a signal. Specifically speaking, each of the toe pressure sensitive bags 21 includes a first compressible surface 211 and a first fixed surface 212 opposite to the first compressible surface 211, and the first compressible surface 211 and the first fixed surface 212 are attached to the insole 102 and the outsole 101 respectively. Each of the toe pressure sensitive bags 21 includes a bag body 21a and a fluid 21b therein. The fluid 21b may be gas or liquid with a predetermined volume. The bag body 21a defines an opening 214, and the toe pressure sensor 22 seals the opening 214 so as to sense the pressure applied to the toe pressure sensitive bag 21 according to the fluid pressure of the fluid 21b. The toe pressure sensitive bags 21 are made out of elastic materials, such as rubber.
When a force is applied to the insole 102 in the toe region 121, the corresponding pressure is applied to at least one of the toe pressure sensitive bags 21 and compresses the first compressible surface 211. The toe pressure sensitive bag 21 is compressed, and a portion of the fluid 21b flows outward through the opening 214. The gas flow or liquid flow affects the corresponding toe pressure sensor 22. The toe pressure sensor 22 can sense the pressure applied to the toe pressure sensitive bag 21 from the gas flow or liquid flow of the fluid 21b, and provides a corresponding signal. The value and producing timing of the digital signal can show the magnitude and applied timing of the pressure. When there is no force applied to the insole 102 in the toe region 121, the toe bag 21 decompresses and returns to its normal shape.
The toe pressure sensors 22 can be located in the housing space 120 corresponding to the toe region 121 in this embodiment. It is noted that the positions of the toe pressure sensors 22 should not be limited thereto, and the toe pressure sensors 22 may be located in any position. For instance, the toe pressure sensors 22 may be located in the ball region 122, the arch region 123 or the heel region 124 in other embodiments.
The ball sensor 24 is connected to the ball pressure sensitive bag 23 for sensing pressure applied to the ball pressure sensitive bag 23 and correspondingly providing a signal. The ball pressure sensitive bag 23 includes a second compressible surface 231 and a second fixed surface 232 opposite to the second compressible surface 231, and the second compressible surface 231 and the second fixed surface 232 are attached to the insole 102 and the outsole 101 respectively. The ball pressure sensitive bag 23 is filled with a fluid. The fluid may be gas or liquid with a predetermined volume. The ball pressure sensitive bag 23 defines an opening 234, and the ball pressure sensor 24 seals the opening 234 so as to sense the pressure applied to the ball pressure sensitive bag 23 according to the fluid pressure of the fluid filled in the ball pressure sensitive bag 23. The ball pressure sensitive bag 23 is made out of elastic material, such as rubber.
The heel pressure sensor 26 is connected to the heel pressure sensitive bag 25 for sensing pressure applied to the heel pressure sensitive bag 25 and correspondingly providing a signal. The heel pressure sensitive bag 25 includes a third compressible surface 251 and a third fixed surface 252 opposite to the third compressible surface 251, and the third compressible surface 251 and the third fixed surface 252 are attached to the insole 102 and the outsole 101 respectively. The heel pressure sensitive bag 25 is filled with a fluid. The fluid may be gas or liquid with a predetermined volume. The heel pressure sensitive bag 25 defines an opening 254, and the heel pressure sensor 26 seals the opening 254 so as to sense the pressure applied to the heel pressure sensitive bag 25 according to the fluid pressure of the fluid filled in the heel pressure sensitive bag 25. The heel pressure sensitive bag 25 is made out of elastic material, such as rubber.
The process unit 27 is electrically connected to the toe pressure sensor 22, the ball pressure sensor 24, and the heel pressure sensor 26 to receive the signals applied to the toe bag 21, the ball pressure bag 23 and the heel bag 25 respectively. The process unit 27 can be electrically connected to the pressure sensors 22, 24, and 26 through any interconnections. The process unit 27 calculates the pressures applied to the toe bag 21, the ball bag 23, and the heel bag 25 according to the received signals. The process unit 27 may be a micro control unit (MCU) or an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC).
The pressure sensor module 20 may further include a wireless transmission unit 29 and a control unit 30. The wireless transmission unit 29 is electronically connected to the process unit 27 for transmitting data between the control unit 30 and the process unit 27. The wireless transmission unit 29 can receive data from the control unit 30 and transmits data to the control unit 30. The wireless transmission unit 29 may be a BLUETOOTH unit in this embodiment. The power supply unit 28 may be a battery unit, and may supply electric power to both the process unit 27 and the wireless transmission unit 29.
The control unit 30 may be located in a computer or a video game console. The control unit 30 receives the signals from the process unit 27, and may output the signals to a display unit or an executive unit (not shown) of the computer or the video game console. Accordingly, the moving information, such as the stride timing, pressure sensor sequence, compression, compression variations, stride interval of the toe, sole and heel is obtained, and is helpful to the medical professional, patient, walker, runner, dancer and video game player. With this information, the medical professional and patient may acquire recovering status of the patient in detail from the accumulated information. A normal would be able to change their stride while walking or running according to the accumulated information to improve the physical training effect or relaxation of their activities. The dancer and video game player may clearly know their accuracy of the stride timing and movement so as to improve their accuracy in concordance with the music rhythm. The detailed accuracy may provide a greater fun in the game.
For example, the stride of a average person walking is usually the heel, the ball and the toes for one foot, and then the person pushes off to the next step with the toes. However, patients with an injury or disease may have trouble with their stride. For example, they may use the ball to touch the ground before the heel, or their ball and heel may touch the ground simultaneously. In addition, the patients may exhibit a weaker transition force from foot to foot; and stride frequency by comparison. Accordingly, the doctors can compare the actual treading portions, compression forces, and the stride frequencies with average conditions, to diagnose the recovering speed and to determine physical therapy changes or treatment.
The pressure-detecting shoe 100 may optionally include soft stuff 50 located in spaces between the toe bags 21, the toe pressure sensors 22, the ball bag 23, the ball pressure sensor 24, the heel bag 25 and the heel pressure sensor 26 in the housing space 120. The soft stuff 50 can be a buffer to absorb the external shock, and help to hold the pressure sensor module 20.
As show in
The inner and outer side pressure sensitive bags 37 and 39 are located in the housing space 220 corresponding to the inner and outer side regions 241 and 242 respectively. The inner and outer side pressure sensors 38 and 40 are connected to the inner and outer side pressure sensitive bags 37 and 39 respectively for sensing the pressure applied to the inner and outer side pressure sensitive bags 37 and 39 and correspondingly providing signals respectively. The structures, arrangements and sensing processes of the inner and outer side pressure sensitive bags 37 and 39 and inner and outer side pressure sensors 38 and 40 are similar to the toe pressure sensitive bag 31 and the toe pressure sensors 32.
The process unit 227 is electrically connected to the toe pressure sensor 32, the ball pressure sensor 34, the inner side pressure sensor 38, the outer side pressure sensor 40 and the heel pressure sensor 36 to receive the signals applied to the toe pressure sensitive bags 31, the ball pressure sensitive bag 33, the inner side pressure sensitive bag 37, the outer side pressure sensitive bag 39 and the heel pressure sensitive bag 35 respectively. Since the pressure sensor module 260 further includes the inner side pressure sensor 38, and the outer side pressure sensor 40, the lateral treading information in both sides of the ball region 222 are obtained.
For example, some dancers not only need to apply weight to the toes, ball and heels of feet, but also needs to apply lateral weight distribution to the inner sides and outer sides of the feet. In such a case, the pressure-detecting shoe 200 provides additional information about the movement and weight distribution on the feet and thus provides greater fun.
The toe bag, the ball bag, the heel bag, the inner side bag, and the outer side bag may include no opening in other embodiments. The toe pressure sensor, the ball pressure sensor, the heel pressure sensor, the inner side pressure sensor, and the outer side pressure sensor may be directly connected to the toe bag, the ball bag, the heel bag, the inner side bag, and the outer side bag respectively. When the toe bag, the ball bag, the heel bag, the inner side bag, or the outer side bag is compressed, the pressure is transmitted to the corresponding pressure sensor directly through the bag body.
The information acquired from the wearing of these shoes have broader application than that of medical use and the accumulation of data for therapy; they can also be used for evaluating activities such as running, dancing or other activities where the user's weight balance and general foot movements would need to be monitored.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
99118142 | Jun 2010 | TW | national |