Smart garment technology

Abstract

A method and apparatus for making a connection with a part of a body to transfer an electromagnetic signal for a predetermined purpose, the apparatus including: a garment including one or more electrode capable of passing the signal to or from the part of the body; and a controller for controlling the nature of or processing the signal dependant on one or more parameters in order to vary the nature of the signal dependant on the purpose; wherein at least one parameter of the one or more parameters is stored on a data storage device included in the garment.

Claims

1. Apparatus for making a connection with a part of a body to transfer an electromagnetic signal for a predetermined purpose comprising: a garment comprising one or more electrodes that pass the signal to or from the part of the body; a controller that is electronically detachable from the garment and controls the nature of, or measures, the signal dependent on one or more parameters, the controller comprising output terminals capable of connecting to the one or more electrodes; and a second electrically programmable data storage device included in the garment wherein at least one parameter of the one or more parameters is stored; wherein the controller determines a selection of output terminals capable of connecting to the one or more electrodes said signal being delivered to said selection of output terminals to cause a current to flow between selected electrodes from the one or more electrodes, and wherein the controller comprises a first data storage device, and the controller automatically loads the one or more parameters from the second electrically programmable data storage device to the first data storage device to configure the controller to deliver the signal to the selected output terminals.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second data storage device includes parameters relating to a user of the garment and the predetermined purpose.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second data storage device includes parameters relating to selection of electrodes.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the electrodes are connected to the controller by a connector.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the second data storage device forms part of the connector.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller changes characteristics of the signal dependent on the parameters.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the changes to the signal characteristics are associated with the predetermined purpose.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller changes the selected electrodes dependent on the parameters.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second data storage device includes a memory to record parameters derived from the body.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more electrodes are oriented in the garment in a predetermined pattern.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the signal passes from one electrode to another dependent on the predetermined purpose.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the signal includes a pulse train comprising two or more component signal elements.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the garment is an item of clothing.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the garment is a brace.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the garment is an adhesively attached electrode.

16. A method of transferring an electromagnetic signal to or from a part of a body for a predetermined purpose comprising: wearing a garment including one or more electrodes that pass the signal to or from the part of the body; controlling or measuring the signal dependent on one or more parameters in accordance with the predetermined purpose with a controller being electronically detachable from the garment and comprising output terminals that are capable of connecting to the one or more electrodes, said controller comprising a first data storage device; storing at least one parameter of the one or more parameters on a second electronically programmable data storage device included in the garment; and selecting output terminals to which the signal is delivered to cause a current to flow between selected electrodes from the one or more electrodes, wherein the output terminals are capable of connecting to the one or more electrodes; wherein the selecting step comprises automatically loading the one or more parameters from the second data storage device to the first data storage device to configure the controller to deliver the signal to the selected output terminals.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising including parameters relating to the user of the garment and the predetermined purpose in the second data storage device.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising connecting the or each electrode to the controller.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising forming the second data storage device as part of the connection.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising changing the signal characteristics in association with the predetermined purpose.

21. The method of claim 16, further comprising changing the characteristics of the signal dependent on the parameters.

22. The method of claim 16, further including recording parameters derived from the body as a result of a signal incident thereon on a memory.

23. The method of claim 16, further comprising orienting the one or more electrodes in the garment in a predetermined pattern to deliver a selected type of signal.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising passing the signal from one electrode to another dependent on the predetermined purpose.

25. The method of claim 16, comprising producing a pulse train comprising two or more component signal elements.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Reference will now be made by way of example, to the accompanying drawing, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a diagram of a garment including wires and a controller.

(3) FIG. 2 is a diagram of a further garment including wires and connectors.

(4) FIG. 3 is a diagram of one type of device which may be incorporated into a garment.

(5) FIG. 4 is a diagram showing electrodes and pathways.

(6) FIG. 5 is a timing diagram for waveforms used in electrical stimulation.

(7) FIG. 6 is a pulse train for a channel.

(8) FIG. 7 illustrates an alternative attachment means which is directed at stimulation of the facial muscles.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(9) FIG. 1 shows a typical wired garment 100 and controller 102 which connect together in an appropriate manner for example a plug or other connector 104. The controller may be an electronic module and the wired garment also contains a component 105 supporting a data storage device 106. For example the data storage device may be a serial data electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) or any other appropriate type of storage device.

(10) The clothing in FIG. 1 is in the form of a body belt with four separate electrodes 108a, 108b, 108c, 108d, which each impart the required stimulation at a particular point of the body wearing it. The belt may be equipped with fastening means for holding the belt in place and may also include some external indicators to enable the belt to be correctly positioned on the body.

(11) Referring to FIG. 2 a different garment 200 is shown. This garment includes four electrodes 202a-d each connected to a component 204. The component is shown in more detail in FIG. 3 and is similar in both FIGS. 1 and 2. The component 204 includes two female connections 206 and 208 for receiving the prongs of plug 104 (as shown in FIG. 1). The electrodes 202a-d are connected to one of the female connections 206 via connection wires 203. The data storage device 210 (equivalent to 106 in FIG. 1) is connected to the other connection 208. The data storage device may be a one wire serial EEPROM memory device such as that supplied by Dallas Semiconductor and is integrated into the Data Storage Element on the garment. Upon connection to the controller using the plug 104 and switch on, the controller can read the contents of the serial EEPROM and thereby configure the controller for delivery of the required treatment for a particular person and that garment.

(12) Entry of configuration data to the memory on the garment can be accomplished in various ways. It can be entered at manufacture through use of a special jig which interfaces with connector 208. Data can also be entered after manufacture, by a suitably programmed computer and an adapter which converts data format for communication to the memory via connector 208. The controller 102 may also be programmed to have a configuration mode, whereby data and options selected by a user can be transferred and stored in the garment memory.

(13) FIG. 4 shows how the electrodes 40a-d and pathways (lines with arrows in the figure) used in delivery of the pulse may be defined in a four electrode example. Such information could be provided on a pulse by pulse basis, but more likely it would be provided for groups of pulses or entire pulse trains. These options could be coded in the data storage means.

(14) It will be appreciated that for more or less electrodes different combinations and numbers of interconnections and paths can be envisaged. In addition, by use of certain types of pulsing and electrode combinations any type of pulse or electric pattern can be generated as will be described in greater detail below.

(15) The electronic module contains a microcomputer and drive circuitry which generates electrical pulses on the set of one or more output terminals, which terminals are, in use, intended to be connected to electrodes on the garment in contact with the body. The controller can deliver electrical drive signals to the terminals such as to cause currents to flow between selected terminals and thereby between the electrodes which are connected to the terminals. The microcontroller program uses stored data as input to calculate the precise timing of the signals to be the applied to the output terminals.

(16) FIG. 7 shows an attachment means for supporting electrodes on the face in accordance with the present invention. The data storage element 210 (not shown in FIG. 7) is integrated into the connector module 204 located on the headset attachment means.

(17) The term garment is intended to include anything which is worn on or in contact with a body. The attachment means of FIG. 7 are thus encompassed within the definition of the term garment, as is any other form of attachment means howsoever attached to the body. The attachment means can be braces, frames, wires, adhesives or any other form. The only requirement is that there are one or more electrodes and a storage element for data supported on or in contact with the body.

(18) The setup and configuration of the stimulation controller to co-operate with a body electrode accessory such as a wired garment requires the input of data sufficient to specify the particular requirements of interfacing with that garment for the intended treatment. Various types of data are required and include: Data specifying the stimulation pulse train waveform; Data specifying the electrical connections to electrodes; Data specifying the trigger options for the stimulation; Data specifying signal acquisition parameters; and Data specifying particulars of the patient and the selected therapy.

(19) FIG. 5 shows some typical waveform that could be used in the electrical stimulation which will be described in greater detail below and include:

(20) Symmetric biphasic pulse, with alternating leading phase polarity;

(21) Monophasic pulses;

(22) Pulse doublets; and

(23) Asymmetric biphasic pulse with alternating leading phase polarity. Such pulse geometries can be described by identifying the waveform type from a list similar to that shown above and specifying certain parameters, such as Leading Phase Polarity P, Leading Phase Amplitude V.sub.1, Leading Phase Duration t.sub.1, Trailing Phase duration t.sub.2, Interphase interval t.sub.3, Trailing Phase amplitude V.sub.2. The Pulse Repetition Rate may be defined in terms of the Inter-Pulse Interval (T). These pulse parameters can be different for each channel of stimulation and therefore can be expressed as an array, for example t.sub.1(1), t.sub.2(2), . . . t.sub.2(i) etc.

(24) FIG. 6 shows the main elements of an amplitude modulated pulse train which can be described by the Maximum Signal Amplitude V, Ramp_Up Time RU, Contraction-Time CT, Ramp_Down Time RD, Off-time RT, Modulation type, Depth of Modulation M. There may be several such trains on different channels and the time relationship between them also needs to be defined as Phase Delay. Alternative modulation schemes can also be specified, for example, frequency modulation, pulse width modulation, phase modulation. The treatment may be broken into segments, each with a defined duration in seconds. The stimulation parameters for each segment can be different and in this way complex treatment sequences involving changes in frequency, pulse width, waveform type etc can be encoded.

(25) Table A summarizes data required to specify the pulse train of a treatment segment, and typical ranges for the values which arise. For data storage efficiency, an indirect index can be stored as a value, and the actual value thereby recovered from a lookup table in the controller. For example, a typical pulse train used in electrical stimulation applied could be characterized by the following data set.

(26) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE A Pulse Train Timing Description. Parameter Typical Range Number of user channels 1 to 4 Pulse Frequency(n)* .1 to 200 Hz Leading Phase duration(n) 50uS to 10000 us Trailing Phase Duration(n) 50uS to 10000 us ON time (Contraction) (n) 0.5 to 99 seconds OFF time (Relaxation) 0.5 to 99 seconds Ramp Up time 0.0 to 9.9 seconds Ramp Down Time 0.0 to 9.9 seconds Treatment segment time 1 to 99 minutes, or indefinite Maximum Amplitude(n) 10 to 100 mA Pulse Type(n) Biphasic/Monophasic/Doublet Modulation Amplitude/Frequency/Pulse Width Inter-Channel Delay(n) 0.0 to 9.9 seconds Channel tracking Alternate/Synchronous Depth of Modulation 0 to 100% Pulse Frequency in 1 to 40 Hz Relaxation Phase Duration in Relaxation 50 to 400uS Flip alternate leading Yes or No phase polarity Segment duration 1 to 10,000 seconds, or indefinite *The argument indicates channel specific values. For example; Pulse Frequency(i) denotes the pulse frequency on channel i.

(27) The microcontroller may also select which output terminals to apply the drive signals to. For example at any given time it may select a certain subset of the set of terminals to be anodes, another subset of the set of terminals to be cathodes. The controller applies signals to a constant current drive circuit which causes a stimulation current to flow between the anode set and the cathode set. These assignments can be changed with time to create bidirectional current flow, and to create current flows between different terminals. Data specifying the electrode selection to be used to produce a succession of pulses can be stored in various forms.

(28) The simplest form is a bit map memory 2N bits wide, where N is the number of electrodes in use. The high N bits are used to identify which electrodes are to be used as anodes, while the low N bits are used to identify which electrodes are to be used as cathodes. Electrodes unselected as either are left floating electrically. A 2N bit record like this can be used for each phase of a sequential stimulation, with an additional record which specifies the phase duration. A multiphase stimulation sequence can be specified to any required level of detail, limited only by the data storage capacity and speed of retrieval in real time.

(29) Clearly there are many data structures in which such information can be represented, and there are many data compression possibilities. An important aspect of the present information is that some or all of this data is stored on the data storage device located in the electrode attachment accessory or garment.

(30) The possible electrical connections are illustrated by way of example in Table B.

(31) TABLE-US-00002 TABLE B Electrical Connection Number of Electrodes 1 to N Allowed pathways. Example 1-2, 2-1, 1-3, 3-1 Note for N = 24, all possible paths are 1-2, 2-1, 1-3, 3-1, 1-4, 4-1, 2-3, 3-2, 2-4, 4-2, 3-4, 4-3 Electrode area Area of each electrode in cm.sup.2 1 thru N Pathway impedance Calibrated pathway impedance limits (Ohms)

(32) Frequently in electrical stimulation therapy systems there are further options which may be selected. For example the stimulation may be selected to be triggered rather than free running, and the trigger conditions themselves may be programmable. The trigger source could be a hand switch or foot switch. A typical table of such trigger options by many of example could be as shown in Table C.

(33) TABLE-US-00003 TABLE C Trigger Options Mode Burst/Continuous Trigger Mode None/gated/+ve edge monostable/ve edge monostable/dual gated. Analog input threshold None/level/+ve level/ve level Trigger count 1 to N events. Trigger source Handswitch/external port terminal.

(34) When the garment has a signal monitoring function then the data storage device may be used to provide information to the controller on how to process the signal. The electrodes to be used are identified and further information on acceptable electrode impedance, amplifier gain and filter settings are also provided as is shown by many of example in Table D.

(35) TABLE-US-00004 TABLE D Monitoring Characteristics Example for Characteristic ECG monitoring. Differential electrodes 1-2 Reference electrode 3 Electrode impedance 1k Gain required 800 High pass filter corner 8 frequency Low pass filter corner 40 frequency

(36) There may also be a requirement to store patient specific data, for example patient identification number or patient name, start date, program number selected, treatment session duration in minutes, total treatment hours to be completed, total treatment hours actually completed, intensity limit on each channel, intensity level reached on each channel, average intensity level used on each channel, date of next appointment. In addition the device may log patient measurements such as body temperature during session, heart rate, blood pressure, maximum force produced, muscle fatigue index etc.

(37) A data file specifying at least some of the above information is stored in a memory device located within the garment. When the controller is connected to the garment and switched on the controller loads the file into its on-board memory and uses this information to deliver the electrical stimulation to the output terminals, and/or to process signals recovered on the electrodes identified. During and after the treatment the controller may store various treatment specific data back in the memory device located in the garment, for example, the average intensity used, total time used, number of treatments completed etc.

(38) While the description here has referred to a wired connection between the controller and the garment, clearly it is possible to have the garment identification and data exchange between the garment and the controller implemented in a wireless link.

(39) An important characteristic is that the data storage device containing the data describing the medical treatment is stored to some extent at least in the garment.

(40) While our apparatus has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred example, it will be understood that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit, and scope of this disclosure.