US-12622602-B2 - Measurement device

US12622602B2US 12622602 B2US12622602 B2US 12622602B2US-12622602-B2

Abstract

An anthropometric measurement device for measuring anatomical features includes: a sheet having a width and a length; a plurality of incisions extending from an edge of the sheet, each of the plurality of incisions spaced apart a distance so as to define a plurality of slats between the incisions. The slats are configured to be displaced in a direction normal to the plane of the sheet and held in position when the edge of the sheet is pressed over the anatomical feature, so as to indicate a dimension of the feature.

Inventors

Calum Armstrong

Assignees

SONY INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT INC.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20221018
Priority Date: 20211103

Claims (20)

1 . An anthropometric measurement device for measuring an anatomical feature, the anthropometric measurement device comprising: a sheet comprising a material and an edge; a plurality of incisions extending from the edge of the sheet, wherein adjacent incisions of the plurality of incisions are spaced apart from one another by one or more distances; a plurality of cantilevered slats located between the adjacent incisions of the plurality of incisions; and a plurality of hinges located at proximal ends of the plurality of cantilevered slats opposite the edge of the sheet, wherein: the plurality of hinges connects the plurality of cantilevered slats to the sheet, the material comprises a stiffness and elasticity defined by at least a thickness and basis weight of the sheet, the stiffness of the material is configured to allow the plurality of the hinges to open in a direction towards normal to a plane of the sheet rotating at least a subset of the plurality of cantilevered slats out of the plane of the sheet to a plurality of open positions, and the elasticity of the material is configured to maintain deformation of at least the subset of the plurality of cantilevered slats at the plurality of open positions.
2 . The anthropometric measurement device of claim 1 , wherein the sheet comprises a scale running perpendicular and adjacent to the plurality of incisions.
3 . The anthropometric measurement device of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of incisions comprises a first set of incisions and a second set of incisions, the first set of incisions and second set of incisions are spaced apart a first distance of the one or more distances and the first distance defines an opening in the sheet.
4 . The anthropometric measurement device of claim 3 , wherein the sheet comprises a marker at the opening, the marker arranged, in use, to assist a user to centre the anthropometric measurement device over the user's head.
5 . The anthropometric measurement device of claim 3 , wherein the opening is shaped to fit over a user's ear.
6 . The anthropometric measurement device of claim 3 , wherein the opening comprises a groove to fit over a user's nose.
7 . The anthropometric measurement device of claim 3 , wherein the opening comprises one or more notches, arranged to guide a height at which a measurement is taken.
8 . The anthropometric measurement device of any of claim 1 , wherein at least one pair of adjacent incisions of the plurality of incisions are spaced apart a first distance of the one or more distances and a remainder of adjacent incisions are spaced apart a second distance of the one or more distances.
9 . The anthropometric measurement device of claim 1 , further comprising: a central control circuit; and a plurality of sensors, wherein the plurality of sensors and central control circuit are configured to detect displacement of at least the subset of the plurality of cantilevered slats in the direction towards normal to the plane of the sheet and determine a measurement of the anatomical feature based on the detected displacement.
10 . The anthropometric measurement device of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of sensors comprises flex sensors located at each of the plurality of cantilevered slats, each flex sensor configured to detect deflection of the respective cantilevered slat.
11 . The anthropometric measurement device of claim 1 , wherein the material is a paper, cardboard, or plastics material.
12 . The anthropometric measurement device of claim 11 , wherein the material is the paper or the cardboard and the basis weight is between about 150 gsm to about 450 gsm.
13 . A method of measuring an anatomical feature, the method comprising the steps of: providing a sheet comprising a material and an edge, wherein the material comprises a stiffness and elasticity defined by at least a thickness and basis weight of the sheet; cutting a plurality of incisions extending from an edge of the sheet, wherein adjacent incisions of the plurality of incisions are cut such that the adjacent incisions are spaced apart from one another by one or more distances that to define a plurality of cantilevered slats between the incisions and a plurality of hinges located at proximal ends of the plurality of cantilevered slats opposite the edge of the sheet and connects the plurality of cantilevered slats to the sheet; pressing the edge of the sheet over the anatomical feature, so as to displace a subset of the plurality of cantilevered slats in a direction towards normal to a plane of the sheet, wherein the stiffness of the material is configured to allow the plurality of hinges to open in the direction towards normal to the plane of the sheet rotating at least the subset of the plurality of cantilevered slats out of the plane of the sheet to a plurality of open positions, and the elasticity of the material is configured to maintain deformation of at least the subset of the plurality of cantilevered slats at the plurality of open positions; and determining a measurement of a dimension of the anatomical feature based on a number of slats in the subset of the plurality of cantilevered slats at the plurality of open positions.
14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the anatomical feature is a user's head and the edge of the sheet is pressed over the user's head, to measure the dimension of the user's head.
15 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the one or more distances is a single uniform distance, and the step of determining the measurement of the dimension of the anatomical feature comprises multiplying the number of the slats in the subset of the plurality of cantilevered slats at the plurality of open positions by the uniform distance.
16 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the material is a paper, cardboard, or plastics material.
17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the material is the paper or the cardboard and the basis weight is between about 150 gsm to about 450 gsm.
18 . An anthropometric measurement device comprising: a sheet comprising a first edge, a second edge, a length, and a width, wherein the length defines a longitudinal axis of the sheet, the first edge defines the length of the sheet, the second edge defines the width of the sheet, and the first edge is perpendicular to the second edge; a plurality of incision markers extending from the first edge of the sheet, wherein adjacent incision markers of the plurality of incision markers are spaced apart from one another by one or more distances and wherein the plurality of incision markers extend: along a width axis that is normal to the longitudinal axis, and to a length which extends over half of the width of the sheet; a plurality of slats located between the adjacent incision markers of the plurality of incision markers; and a plurality of hinge regions located at proximal ends of the plurality of slats opposite the edge of the sheet, wherein the plurality of hinge regions connects the plurality of slats to the sheet.
19 . The anthropometric measurement device of claim 18 , further comprising an opening in the sheet defined by a pair of adjacent incision markers that are spaced apart from one another by a first distance of the one or more distances that is different from a remainder of the one or more distances, wherein the opening separates the plurality of incision markers into a first set of incision markers and a second set of incision markers, and wherein the opening extends: along the width axis that is normal to the longitudinal axis, and to a length which extends over half of the width of the sheet.
20 . The anthropometric measurement device of claim 18 , wherein each hinge of the plurality of hinges comprises a color changing substance.

Description

The present invention relates to devices and methods for measuring anthropometric features, and in particular devices and methods for measuring head dimensions. BACKGROUND Improvements in media technologies have allowed audio, visual and interactive content to be tailored for each consumer of the media. In order to provide such tailored user experiences, it has become increasingly desirable to obtain measurements of user's anatomy such as the head and ears to personalise content delivered to each user. For example, obtaining head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) of users enables delivery of improved audio experiences. Generation and utilisation of personalised HRTFs require the measurement of certain anthropometric features of the user, such as head dimension. Taking physical measurements of a user has traditionally been done with tools such as callipers but this is not always possible to do in a simple or remote manner. The user must have access to suitable equipment (e.g. pair of callipers), which is often not the case, and even when in possession of such equipment, assistance by a second person is usually required as the user cannot easily measure his own head. Furthermore, such physical measurements are prone to errors in alignment and calibration. For example, when taking head measurements using a pair of callipers, which can only measure the distance between two exact points in space, it is often difficult to ensure that they are placed symmetrically about the widest point of the head routinely across measurements for multiple different users. Attempts have been made to implement digital techniques utilising cameras and smart phone applications, machine learning models, computer vision and the like, but these tools are still also prone to error and are not available to everyone without the required equipment and computation. There is, therefore, a need for a simple and robust technique for accurately measuring anthropometric features of a user, which is easy to implement and which is accessible by a wide audience. The present invention seeks to mitigate at least some of the above problems. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to an aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a measurement device for measuring anatomical features, the device comprising: a sheet having a width and a length; a plurality of incisions extending from an edge of the sheet, each of the plurality of incisions spaced apart a distance so as to define a plurality of slats between the incisions, wherein the slats are configured to be displaced in a direction normal to the plane of the sheet and held in position when the edge of the sheet is pressed over the anatomical feature, so as to indicate a dimension of the feature. By having a sheet with cantilevered slats on an edge, a user can perform anthropometric measurements of their own anatomical features with ease and accuracy. For example, when measuring head width, a user can place the board over his head and sweep across in a given direction, such that the head displaces a number of slats depending on how wide it is. The number of slats which have been displaced may be counted to provide an indication of the head width. The slats may all have a uniform width, in which case the exact measurement of the head width can be obtained by multiplying the number of slats with the width of the slats—with a measurement error being the width of each slat. A significant advantage of the devices disclosed herein is that it is almost guaranteed that the ‘widest point’ of the head (or other anthropometric feature) is being measured each time, which is otherwise tricky with prior art devices such as callipers. The sheet may comprise a scale which runs along the direction of the dimension being measured. The scale may run perpendicular and adjacent to the plurality of incisions. The subset of slats which are displaced by contact with the user's anatomy under measurement may be configured to be easily distinguished from the slats which have not been displaced. The displaced slats may preferably be held in position once displaced from the plane of the sheet, in which the non-displaced slats remain. Preferably, the material of the sheet is selected to provide sufficient stiffness such that when a slat is displaced by a force having component normal to its plane, the maximum displacement is maintained even after application of the force. In other words, when the edge containing the slats is pressed over a user's anatomy (e.g. head) to displace a subset of the slats, the subset may remain displaced in place even after the sheet is moved away from the anatomy being measured. In other examples, a uni-directional lock mechanism may be implemented to ensure that the displaced slats remain in position at or near the maximum displacement once pushed by contact with the user's anatomy. The sheet may comprise a latch configured to interact with a displaced slat to hold it into place. In other examples, the de