A load cell apparatus for use with a bed includes a housing having a top portion and a bottom portion, and a load cell device held by the bottom portion of the housing. The load cell device is structured to generate a signal having a magnitude that is proportional to a first force being applied to the load cell device. The load cell apparatus also includes a button member held by the housing in a manner wherein the button member is structured to engage the load cell device and apply the first force to the load cell device in response to a second force being applied to the top portion of the housing. Also, various systems for monitoring parameters such as weight, sleep quality, fall risk, and/or pressure sore risk that may incorporate such a load cell apparatus.

Matrix pressure sensor with neural network, and calibration method

Matrix pressure sensor (1), comprising: a matrix (2) of tactile pixels (10) at least some of which have a reciprocal crosstalk effect between them, a neural network (30) for processing an image (I.sub.P_MES) of the response from the sensor and providing a corrected image (I.sub.P_COR), this network having been trained from an augmented database (BD.sub.AUG) comprising: real homogeneous pressing data measured by applying a homogeneous pressure (P.sub.R) to at least some of the pixels, better still to all of the pixels of the matrix, and additional partial pressing data produced through simulation by applying binary masks (MAS) to the real homogeneous pressing data, so as to simulate partial pressing without a crosstalk effect with the pixels situated outside partial pressing areas.

Matrix pressure sensor with neural network, and calibration method

Matrix pressure sensor (1), comprising: a matrix (2) of tactile pixels (10) at least some of which have a reciprocal crosstalk effect between them, a neural network (30) for processing an image (I.sub.P_MES) of the response from the sensor and providing a corrected image (I.sub.P_COR), this network having been trained from an augmented database (BD.sub.AUG) comprising: real homogeneous pressing data measured by applying a homogeneous pressure (P.sub.R) to at least some of the pixels, better still to all of the pixels of the matrix, and additional partial pressing data produced through simulation by applying binary masks (MAS) to the real homogeneous pressing data, so as to simulate partial pressing without a crosstalk effect with the pixels situated outside partial pressing areas.

The present disclosure provides a new and improved temperature compensated surface-launched acoustic wave (SAW) strain sensor using multiple reflectors in SAW devices mounted on a split-carrier package that provides complete isolation from strain for a temperature sensing portion of the device, while exposing a strain sensing portion of the device to both strain and temperature, with the influence of temperature being common to the various portions of the device, and a single acoustic reference with respect to which multiple differential acoustic measurements can be made, to provide inherently temperature-compensated strain measurements.

The present disclosure provides a new and improved temperature compensated surface-launched acoustic wave (SAW) strain sensor using multiple reflectors in SAW devices mounted on a split-carrier package that provides complete isolation from strain for a temperature sensing portion of the device, while exposing a strain sensing portion of the device to both strain and temperature, with the influence of temperature being common to the various portions of the device, and a single acoustic reference with respect to which multiple differential acoustic measurements can be made, to provide inherently temperature-compensated strain measurements.

Circuitry for biasing a sensor comprises a bias generator module configured to receive a supply voltage and to generate a bias voltage for biasing the sensor. The circuitry further comprises a control module configured to compare a voltage indicative of the supply voltage to a threshold voltage and to output a control signal to the bias generator module based on the comparison. The bias generator module is configured to control the bias voltage based on the control signal.

A force sensor includes a substrate, sensing elements, a flex cable, and a seal assembly. The substrate has proximal and distal surfaces, and a cavity defined therein. The sensing elements are disposed within the cavity of the substrate and the pin block assembly is electrically coupled to the sensing elements. The seal assembly includes at least one gasket, a retainer plate, and a seal restraint. The seal assembly is held under compressive load to seal the cavity of the substrate and protect the sensing element disposed therein.

A sensor drive circuit for driving a sensor with a current includes at least one circuit configured to generate a drive current for the sensor, the drive current having a reverse temperature characteristic with respect to a temperature characteristic of an output voltage of the sensor. A temperature characteristic of sensor sensitivity has a negative first order coefficient and a positive second order coefficient. The sensor drive circuit includes a first current source configured to generate a first current having a temperature characteristic of which a first order coefficient is positive. The sensor drive circuit includes a second current source configured to generate a second current having a temperature characteristic of which a first order coefficient is negative. The sensor drive circuit includes a first current calculator configured to add the first current and the second current to generate a third current.

A sensor pressing member to which a sensor is attached such that the sensor is exposed toward a measurement target. The sensor pressing member presses the sensor in a first direction relative to the measurement target to bring the sensor into contact with the measurement target. The sensor pressing member includes an elastic body positioned opposite the measurement target with the sensor in between in the first direction. The elastic body includes a cavity therein.

An ultrasound system is disclosed that includes an ultrasound imaging device including a display screen, a processor and memory having stored thereon logic, and an ultrasound probe. The logic of the ultrasound imaging device, upon execution by the processor, can causes an alteration of content displayed on the display screen in accordance of with ultrasound probe movement-related data. The ultrasound imaging device can include a light source configured to provide incident light to the optical fiber cable, the optical fiber cable including a plurality of reflective gratings disposed along a length thereof. Each of the plurality of reflective gratings can be configured to reflect light with different specific spectral widths to provide distributed measurements in accordance with strain applied to the optical fiber cable. The ultrasound imaging device can obtain the ultrasound probe movement-related data through an optical fiber.