EP-4257105-B1 - METHOD AND DEVICE FOR ADJUSTING VALUE OF CONTROL PARAMETER OF WEARABLE DEVICE

EP4257105B1EP 4257105 B1EP4257105 B1EP 4257105B1EP-4257105-B1

Inventors

LIM, BOKMAN
KIM, KYUNGROCK
HWANG, Jungsik

Dates

Publication Date: 20260506
Application Date: 20220603

Claims (10)

A wearable device (100) comprising: a processor (142) configured to control the wearable device; at least one sensor (121) configured to measure an angle of a joint in a body of a user; a motor driver circuit (112) configured to be controlled by the processor; a motor (114) electrically connected to the motor driver circuit; and a thigh support frame configured to transmit a torque output by the motor to a portion of the body of the user; wherein the processor is configured to perform operations comprising: outputting a first torque value to the motor driver circuit configured to control the motor to apply a force to a portion of a body of a user while the user is wearing the wearable device, the first torque value being determined based on a first value of a control parameter, and the control parameter including at least one of a torque magnitude information, a torque output timing information, and sensitivity information of a torque smoothing factor, wherein the control parameter is generated by the processor; obtaining a first angular velocity of an angle of a first joint in the body of the user in association with the output of the first torque value, wherein the first joint in the body of the user is a hip joint; determining, based on the first angular velocity, a second value of the control parameter to change the first angular velocity of the first joint; outputting a second torque value to the motor driver circuit, the second torque value being determined based on the second value of the control parameter; obtaining a second angular velocity of the first joint in the body of the user in association with the output of the second torque value; and characterized by the processor being further configured to perform operations comprising: determining a final value of the control parameter based on the second value of the control parameter, based on a termination condition on optimization of the control parameter being satisfied after the second angular velocity is obtained; wherein the determining of the second value of the control parameter to change the first angular velocity of the first joint comprises: re-determining the second value of the control parameter to change the first angular velocity of the first joint, based on the termination condition being not satisfied after the second angular velocity is obtained, wherein the termination condition comprises at least one of whether a number of times of adjusting a value of the control parameter corresponds to a threshold number of adjustment, whether a number of strides of the user corresponds to a threshold number of strides, and a passage of time for adjusting the value of the control parameter corresponds to a threshold time, and characterized in that the determining of the second value of the control parameter comprises: calculating a first gait agility value representing gait agility of the user based on the first angular velocity of the first joint in the body of the user obtained in association with the output of the first torque value; and determining the second value of the control parameter to change the gait agility of the user.
The wearable device of claim 1, wherein the first gait agility value is calculated based on the first torque value and the first angular velocity.
The wearable device of claim 1, wherein the calculating of the first gait agility value representing gait agility in association with the first torque value comprises: obtaining the first angular velocity of the first joint at a first time at which the first torque value is output; determining a first power value generated from the first joint based on the first angular velocity; and calculating the first gait agility value based on the first torque value and the first power value.
The wearable device of claim 1, wherein the determining of the second value of the control parameter to change the gait agility of the user comprises: determining the second value of the control parameter to increase the gait agility of the user based on the first gait agility value.
The wearable device of claim 1, wherein the first value of the control parameter comprises a first gain value and a first delay value.
The wearable device of claim 3, wherein the determining of the first power value based on the first angular velocity comprises: determining the first power value based on the first angular velocity and the first torque value.
The wearable device of claim 3, wherein the calculating of the first gait agility value based on the first torque value and the first power value comprises: calculating a first root mean square, RMS, torque value based on the first torque value; calculating a first mean power value based on the first power value; and calculating the first gait agility value based on the first RMS torque value and the first mean power value.
The wearable device of claim 4, wherein the calculating of the first mean power value based on the first power value comprises: calculating the first mean power value based on the first power value and a second power value related to a second time subsequent to the first time.
The wearable device of claim 1, wherein the outputting of the first torque value comprises: obtaining previous state information of the portion of the body of the user while the user is wearing the wearable device at a previous time; determining a previous state factor based on the previous state information; and outputting the first torque value based on the previous state factor and the first value of the control parameter.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program that causes a processor to perform operations of claim 1.

Description

BACKGROUND 1. Field The disclosure relates to a wearable device, and more particularly, to a method, not being part of the invention, and an apparatus for outputting a torque to provide a force to a user and adjusting control parameter values of the wearable device. 2. Description of the Related Art With the onset of aging societies, a growing number of people experience inconvenience and pain in walking from weakened muscular strength or joint problems due to aging, and there is growing interest in walking assist devices that enable the elderly with weakened muscular strength or patients with muscular joint discomfort to walk with ease. In similar regards, publication US 2018/0360347 A1 relates to a walking assistance method and apparatus designed to assist a user by generating torque profiles based on a user's gait motion and state variables, publication US 2017/0027802 A1 relates to a walking assistance method and apparatus designed to provide gait assistance by detecting a landing time of a user's foot and initiating torque output to assist in walking based on the user's joint angles at specific points in the gait cycle, and publication US 2020/390637 A1 relates to a method and apparatus for setting an assisting torque profile based on a reference gait model generated from body information of a user. SUMMARY According to an example embodiment of the disclosure, there is provided a method, not being part of the invention, of adjusting a control parameter value performed by a wearable device, corresponding to the appended claims. The method includes: outputting a first torque value to a driver circuit configured to control the wearable device to apply a force to a portion of a body of a user while the user is wearing the wearable device, the first torque value being determined based on a first value of a control parameter, and the control parameter including at least one of magnitude information, output timing information, and sensitivity information; obtaining a first angular velocity of a first joint in the body of the user in association with the output of the first torque value; determining, based on the first angular velocity, a second value of the control parameter to change the first angular velocity of the first j oint; outputting a second torque value to the driver circuit, the second torque value being determined based on the second value of the control parameter; obtaining a second angular velocity of the first joint in the body of the user in association with the output of the second torque value; and determining a final value of the control parameter based on the second value of the control parameter, based on a termination condition on optimization of the control parameter being satisfied after the second angular velocity is obtained; wherein the determining of the second value of the control parameter to change the first angular velocity of the first joint includes: re-determining the second value of the control parameter to change the first angular velocity of the first joint, based on the termination condition being not satisfied after the second angular velocity is obtained, wherein the termination condition includes at least one of whether a number of times of adjusting a value of the control parameter corresponds to a threshold number of adjustment, whether a number of strides of the user corresponds to a threshold number of strides, and a passage of time for adjusting the value of the control parameter corresponds to a threshold time. According to an example embodiment of the disclosure, there is provided a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program that causes a processor to perform a method, not being part of the invention, of adjusting a control parameter value performed by a wearable device, corresponding to the appended claims. The method includes: outputting a first torque value to a driver circuit configured to control the wearable device to apply a force to a portion of a body of a user while the user is wearing the wearable device, the first torque value being determined based on a first value of a control parameter, and the control parameter including at least one of magnitude information, output timing information, and sensitivity information; obtaining a first angular velocity of a first joint in the body of the user in association with the output of the first torque value; determining, based on the first angular velocity, a second value of the control parameter to change the first angular velocity of the first joint; outputting a second torque value to the driver circuit, the second torque value being determined based on the second value of the control parameter; obtaining a second angular velocity of the first joint in the body of the user in association with the output of the second torque value; and determining a final value of the control parameter based on the second value of the control parameter, based on a termination condition on optimizati