Electrical Stimulus Device With Inclined Electrodes And Optical Sensors
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electrical stimulus devices require a time-consuming calibration process to determine which muscle each electrode corresponds to, especially due to individual differences in arm thickness and muscle position, making it difficult to accurately stimulate target muscles without prior calibration.
Innovation Solution
The device includes multiple electrodes arranged on a flexible sheet-shaped member wound around the arm, with some electrodes inclined at specific angles to ensure overlap with target muscles, and optical distance sensors to detect muscle displacement, allowing for direct stimulation and monitoring without the need for extensive calibration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple electrodes are arranged on a band-shaped device to stimulate forearm muscles, then the device can provide electrical stimulus signals to move fingers and hands, but individual differences in arm thickness and muscle position make it difficult to determine which muscle each electrode corresponds to without calibration
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs a calibration process in advance to establish the correspondence between electrodes and muscles. During calibration, electrical stimulus signals are sequentially supplied to each electrode to determine which finger moves, and this electrode-finger correspondence information is stored for future use. This preliminary action eliminates the need for repeated calibration, making subsequent operations simple and easy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses optical distance sensors to detect finger position and provides feedback information about which finger is being stimulated. This feedback mechanism allows the system to automatically adjust and confirm electrode-muscle correspondence, reducing the need for manual calibration while maintaining high adaptability to individual differences.
2Measurement precision
If a calibration process is performed to determine electrode-muscle correspondence by sequentially supplying electrical stimulus signals to check which finger moves, then accurate stimulation can be achieved, but great effort and time are required
Solution Approach 1:
The calibration process is performed once in advance to establish electrode-finger correspondence, and the results are stored in memory. This preliminary calibration eliminates the need for repeated time-consuming procedures, reducing calibration time to nearly zero for subsequent uses while maintaining high accuracy through the stored correspondence data.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a digital model or map of the electrode-finger correspondence relationship during calibration and stores it for reuse. This copying of the calibration results allows the system to quickly reference pre-established mappings without repeating the entire calibration process, significantly reducing time while preserving measurement precision.
3Ease of manufacture
If electrodes are arranged in a fixed pattern on the band, then manufacturing is simplified, but individual differences in arm thickness cause misalignment with target muscles
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary calibration to map the fixed electrode positions to the actual muscle positions on the user's arm. This calibration process compensates for individual differences in arm thickness and muscle position, allowing fixed-pattern electrodes to achieve precise alignment through software-based adaptation rather than requiring custom positioning for each user.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adjusts operational parameters such as stimulus signal characteristics and electrode selection based on calibration data to compensate for physical misalignment. By changing these parameters rather than the physical electrode positions, the system maintains manufacturing simplicity while achieving precise muscle stimulation despite individual anatomical variations.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration allows for accurate stimulation of target muscles without a detailed calibration process, reducing effort and time, and enables continuous monitoring of muscle motion during stimulation, improving the efficiency and usability of the device.
Implementation Method 1
An electrical stimulus signal output from an electrical stimulus generation circuit is provided to a user from a specific electrode of the multiple electrodes to output electrical stimulus to a muscle of the arm
Implementation Method 2
multiple optical distance sensors arranged on the one surface of the member detect displacement of muscles of the arm
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3A~3B
AI summary
Provided is an electrical stimulus device including a member to be wound around an arm of a user, multiple electrodes arranged on one surface of the member, and multiple optical distance sensors arranged on the one surface of the member. An electrical stimulus signal output from an electrical stimulus generation circuit is provided to the user from a specific electrode of the multiple electrodes to provide a stimulus to a muscle of the arm at a position facing the specific electrode, and the multiple optical distance sensors detect displacement of muscles of the arm. Some electrodes of the multiple electrodes are substantially rectangular electrodes inclined with respect to a circumferential direction of the arm of the user at a predetermined angle of lower than 90°.