JP2001252264A - Visualization device for walking footprints - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] By visualizing the trajectory of walking, the walking state can be objectively grasped, and doctors, trainers, and trainees can accurately grasp the walking situation and problems. To provide a footprint visualization device that contributes to shortening a training period and improving walking stability. SOLUTION: A walking locus detecting unit 31 is provided with a large number of electrodes 4 which are energized by contact with a conductor at predetermined intervals on a wiring board 1 and detects a position where a foot is grounded by energizing the electrodes 4 as a walking locus. An arithmetic unit that stores the walking trajectory data detected by the walking trajectory detecting unit over time, and outputs the stored walking trajectory data so as to be simultaneously displayed, and a display unit 19 that displays the output of the arithmetic unit.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for visualizing a walking trajectory during walking training, thereby objectively grasping the walking state, and enabling a doctor, a trainer, and a trainee to perform walking. The present invention relates to a walking footprint visualization device capable of accurately grasping a footprint.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When walking cannot be performed due to an accident, injury or illness, or when walking training is performed by rehabilitation from long-term bedridden, etc., in parallel with muscle strength recovery,
Training is needed to treat reflexive involuntary reactions of balance and strength. At this time, by observing the training situation objectively, it is necessary to accurately grasp the situation or cause where the trainee cannot walk as intended.

[0003]

However, even though the posture during walking can be grasped by a simple method such as video shooting, it is difficult to numerically grasp the locus of walking by video shooting. . As an observation by video shooting, there is a method of installing a video camera on the ceiling and detecting the trajectory of the head, shoulder, etc. as a trajectory by image processing, but it is necessary to attach a luminous body to the part to observe the trajectory. There is a problem that it is difficult to easily relocate the observation device because it is necessary to install a camera in the portion.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the conventional observation apparatus, and visualizes the trajectory of the walking, thereby objectively grasping the walking state. It is an object of the present invention to provide a walking footprint visualization device that accurately grasps problems and problems and contributes to shortening a training period and improving walking stability.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, a walking footprint visualization device according to the present invention comprises a plurality of electrodes, which are energized by contact with a conductor, arranged at predetermined intervals on a wiring board. A walking locus detecting unit that detects a position where the foot touches the ground by energization of the walking locus as a walking locus, and stores the walking locus data detected by the walking locus detecting unit with time, and simultaneously displays the stored walking locus data. An arithmetic unit for outputting the data and a display unit for displaying the output of the arithmetic unit are provided.

[0006] In this walking footprint visualization device, the position where the foot touches the ground is detected as a walking track along with the elapsed time by walking on a walking track detecting unit installed on the floor surface, and the walking track of the footprint is visualized. Can be observed. As a result, the walking state can be grasped objectively, and the doctor, the trainer and the trainee can accurately grasp the walking situation and problems, improve the walking stability, and improve the training period. Can be shortened.

In this case, the electrodes can be formed on the printed wiring board, and a plurality of the printed wiring boards can be connected to form the walking locus detecting section.

Accordingly, even when the electrodes are formed on the printed wiring board whose size is restricted, the walking locus detecting section can be formed to a required size, and the footprint can be visualized in a wide range.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 to FIG. 9 show an embodiment of a walking footprint visualizing apparatus according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 7, the walking footprint visualization device includes a walking trail detecting unit 31 that detects a position where a pedestrian's foot touches the ground as a walking trail, and a walking trail data detected by the walking trail detecting unit 31 over time. And a calculation / display unit 19 for simultaneously displaying the stored walking trajectory data.

As shown in FIG. 1, the walking trajectory detecting unit 31 arranges a large number of electrodes 4 to be energized by contact with a conductor on the printed wiring board 1 in a grid pattern. Is detected as a walking locus. The interval between the electrodes 4 is set to about several mm from the size of the foot when the target of the walking trainee is limited to an adult, and the size and weight of the foot when the target is to a child with a small foot. Considering the lightness, make it even smaller. The shape of the electrode 4 provided on the lattice point is a shape such that two electrodes face each other as shown in FIG. 1B, or a concentric shape as shown in FIG. Further, the printed wiring board 1 has connectors 2 and 3 for connecting signals to the outside.
Be provided on the side. If the connector is provided on two or more sides, it will interfere with the connection of the printed wiring board, which will be described later, but if a single printed wiring board can secure a sufficient footprint detection area, the connector is provided at an arbitrary location To do.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
An even number of printed wiring boards 1 are connected in an arbitrary number in two rows so that the connectors 2 and 3 face each other. The effective walking area of the printed wiring board 1 excluding the connectors 2 and 3 is about 70 cm. However, this is arranged such that the connector portions are arranged at both ends and the walking area is provided at the center. Thereby, a walking area having a width of about 1.4 m can be provided for the length of the connected printed wiring boards 1. The signal of each printed wiring board 1 is transmitted to the connection cable 18.
Via a computer and the like, and input to the calculation / display unit 19 composed of a personal computer or the like.

The wiring of the printed wiring board 1 will be described with reference to FIG. The internal wiring is composed of a vertical wiring and a horizontal wiring of the lattice, and the vertical wiring is a column wiring and the horizontal wiring is a row wiring. FIG. 2 shows a grid of 6 columns × 6 rows. The size of the printed wiring board 1 is such that the length of each side of the printed wiring is approximately 60 to 80 due to the restriction of the wiring board manufacturing apparatus.
cm, in which case the number of grids is 200 rows x 200
About a row. The electrode 4 is provided at the intersection of each of the column wirings 5A to 5F and the row wirings 6A to 6F.

The cross-sectional shape of the printed wiring board 1 will be described with reference to FIG. The printed wiring board 1 has L1, L2, L
3, a four-layer wiring board composed of four wiring layers L4.
Only the two electrodes 7 and 8 of the electrode 4 are provided on the L1 wiring layer on the surface. If anything other than an electrode is placed on the L1 wiring layer, the wiring is protected by the solder resist resin layer, but unexpected generation of electrodes between the wiring and the electrode or disconnection of the wiring due to wear of the resin layer due to walking is a concern. Therefore, the wiring is formed in an inner layer. The column wiring 9 is disposed on the L2 wiring layer, and the row wiring 10 is disposed on the L3 wiring layer so as to form a grid.
The electrode 8 is connected to the L2 wiring layer. The L4 wiring layer on the back surface forms the ground electrode 11, and prevents the induction noise from being superimposed on the signal on the wiring layer.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, the pedestrian wears shoes 12 whose back surface is made conductive, and
Walk directly on one electrode 4. An electrically conductive sole 13 is provided on the sole of the shoe 12. Specifically, a conductive rubber obtained by adding carbon and metal powder to rubber at the time of manufacturing the shoe is attached to the shoe sole 13. Alternatively, the sheet-shaped conductive rubber is cut into a shape that matches the pedestrian's shoes, temporarily adhered to the pedestrian's shoe sole with double-sided adhesive tape, etc. to perform walking training, and removed after the measurement of the trajectory is completed. . Or
The conductive portion is formed by a method such as applying a conductive paint to the pedestrian's shoe sole.

FIG. 5 shows a method of measuring a trajectory with shoes that are used daily without using the exclusive measuring shoes for conductivity as described above. On the printed wiring board 1, a conductive rubber 14 provided with a projection 14a on the back surface is placed so as to overlap. There is a gap 14b between the electrode 4 and the conductive rubber 14, and the gap 14b is crushed by the pressure of the pedestrian when walking, and the conductive rubber 14 comes into close contact with the electrode. In this case, a protective layer 15 can be further provided on the conductive rubber 14. The protective layer 15 is made of a material that satisfies requirements such as ease of walking for a pedestrian and shock absorption when the pedestrian falls.
Select commercially available carpets and flooring materials as appropriate for the training content.

FIG. 6 shows the electrodes 7 and 8 and the conductive rubber 1.
4 shows a conductive state of a portion 4. The electrodes 7 and 8 are insulated from each other, and when the conductive rubber 16 comes into close contact therewith, a resistor 17 is formed between the electrodes. Note that the resistance value is not a fixed value but changes depending on the pressure applied to the electrode.

Next, based on FIG.
A method for detecting a change in electrical resistance due to pressurization of shoes using the grid-like electrodes described above will be described. Here, the operation will be described with a 4-column by 4-row lattice structure. There are column wirings 21A to 21D and row wirings 22A to 22D, and electrodes (not shown) exist at intersections of the grid. When the conductive rubber comes into close contact with this electrode portion, conduction occurs between the column wiring and the row wiring at the intersection.

The column wirings 21A to 21D include a series resistor 24A.
To 24D and a field effect transistor (FET) 25A to
25D, and is connected to the anode of the power supply 20.
The row wirings 22A to 22D are connected to the cathode of the power supply 20 via a signal selector 23 for selecting each row and a load resistor 29. Note that the signal selector 23 can be easily realized by a semiconductor element such as an analog gate and a field effect transistor. A field-effect transistor is a semiconductor element that can control a resistance between a drain and a source by a voltage applied to a gate.

Here, it is assumed that the conductive rubber adheres to the intersection of the column wiring 21A and the row wiring 22C and the intersection of the column wiring 21B and the row wirings 22B and 22C, and resistors 26, 27 and 28 are generated. A voltage is applied to the gate of the field-effect transistor 25A, and the gates of the other field-effect transistors 25B to 25D are cut off without applying a voltage.
At 3, the load resistance is sequentially switched from the row wirings 22A to 22D. While connected to the row wiring 22A,
The voltage (E _RL ) of the load resistance becomes E _RL = 0 because the column wiring and the row wiring are electrically open. Row wirings 22B and 22
The same is true while the circuit selector 23 is connected to D.

On the other hand, when the circuit selector 23 is connected to the row wiring 22C, E _RL = E (Rc + R _L0AD ) / (Rs + Rc + R _L0AD ). Here, the variables of the equation are: E: power supply voltage of the power supply 20 Rs: series resistance 24A Rc: resistance 26 R _L0AD of the conductive rubber at the electrode portion: load resistance 29 Although the circuit has a drain resistance of a field effect transistor, the series resistances 24A to 24D are reduced by several kΩ.
When used as described above, the drain has a value of several Ω to several tens of Ω, which is sufficiently smaller than the series resistance and can be ignored.

Next, when the gate voltage is applied only to the field effect transistor 25B to operate it and the other field effect transistors 25A, 25C, 25D are cut off, the circuit selector 2
Only when 3 is connected to the row wirings 22B and 22C, a current flows through the load resistance 29 via the resistances 27 and 28 between the electrodes,
A voltage is generated at the load resistor 29.

As described above, the column wiring is sequentially selected for each column, and the row wiring is sequentially selected for the selected column.
9 produces a voltage. As a result, even if the number of grids is increased, scanning for sequentially selecting row wirings is performed on column wirings.
A grid point where the electrodes are electrically connected with the conductive rubber on the electrodes provided on the two-dimensional plane can be detected as a change in voltage. It is not necessary to store the detected voltage in a continuous analog amount. The detected voltage is converted into binary information of a grid point where a voltage has been generated and a grid point where no voltage has been generated. Can be held as a point where "0" does not occur.

By detecting the pressure point at the moment of one scan and repeating this at regular time intervals, it is possible to obtain data in which the pressure point changes over time. Then, if all the data of the multiple scans are added for each grid point, the locus of the grid point where the voltage is generated can be visualized as a footprint image as shown in FIG.

Further, by scanning at a fixed time interval, the walking speed can be calculated from the transition of the pressing point. Furthermore, it is also possible to divide one footprint into a heel side and a toe side, calculate the weight movement state from the heel side to the toe side, and use the calculated data as walking state analysis data.

As described above, the power supply 20 of the circuit has been described as a DC power supply, but it is not limited to a DC power supply, and an AC power supply can be used. Also, even when conductive rubber is stuck on the sole of the shoe and walking on the electrode, it is assumed that a person directly contacts the electrode. Therefore, the circuit voltage and the circuit current are several volts or less so that the pedestrian does not get an electric shock. , Circuit current 10μA
It is desirable to make the following. In general, DC is higher than AC, and DC has higher safety, so that it is preferable to use DC. However, as shown in FIG.
In a configuration in which conductive rubber is placed on the printed wiring board 1 and a protective material is placed thereon, there is no danger of electric shock if the protective material 15 is made of an insulator.

Although the selection of the column wiring has been described using the field effect transistor, other elements such as an analog gate and a reed relay can be realized in the same manner as the selection of the row wiring.

[0028]

According to the walking footprint visualization device of the present invention, by walking on the walking track detecting unit installed on the floor, the position where the foot touches the ground is detected along with the elapsed time as the walking track, and the footprint is detected. The locus of walking can be visualized and observed. As a result, the walking state can be grasped objectively, and the doctor, the trainer and the trainee can accurately grasp the walking situation and problems, improve the walking stability, and improve the training period. Can be shortened.

Further, by forming the electrodes on the printed wiring board and connecting the plurality of printed wiring boards to form the walking locus detecting section, the electrodes are formed on the printed wiring board whose size is restricted. Even in such a case, the walking track detecting section can be formed to a required size, and the footprint can be visualized over a wide range.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1A and 1B show an embodiment of a walking footprint visualization device according to the present invention, wherein FIG. 1A is a plan view showing a printed wiring board of a walking trajectory detection unit, FIG. 1B is an enlarged view showing electrodes of the printed wiring board,
(C) is an enlarged view showing another example of the electrode.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing wiring of the printed wiring board of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the printed wiring board.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the user walks on the electrode while wearing conductively processed shoes.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a state of walking on an electrode while wearing ordinary shoes.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a conductive state of an electrode and a conductive rubber.

FIG. 7 is an overall view showing an embodiment of a visualization device for walking footprints of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a method of detecting a change in electric resistance with an electrode of a printed wiring board.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a track of an energized electrode is visualized as a footprint image.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Printed wiring board 2, 3 Connector 4 Electrode 7, 8 electrode 19 Operation / display part 31 Walking locus detection part

Claims (2)

[Claims] A walking locus detecting unit for arranging a plurality of electrodes, which are energized by contact with a conductor, at predetermined intervals on a wiring board, and detecting, as a locus of walking, a position where the foot is grounded by energizing the electrodes; A processing unit that stores the walking locus data detected by the walking locus detection unit over time and outputs the stored walking locus data so as to be simultaneously displayed, and a display unit that displays the output of the calculating unit. A footprint visualization device characterized by the following. 2. The walking footprint visualization device according to claim 1, wherein electrodes are formed on a printed wiring board, and the plurality of printed wiring boards are connected to form the walking trajectory detection unit.