General Electric Company

Cedaron Medical, Inc.

Litton Industrial Products, Inc.

Loredan Biomedical, Inc.

Gary L Engle

Malcolm L Bond

Theodore F Naumann

Robert W Cribbs

Joseph J Forma

Philip T Dempster

Joe Forma

Fredrick Luffman

A system for isolating, evaluating and exercising the muscle groups of the human hand which includes structure for detecting the cardinal movements of the hand and translating the movements into rotational data for the system, the structure for detecting effectively isolating the movements of the hand so that the movements of other muscle groups of the body are not detected by the system. The system also generally includes an assembly for providing a selective variable resistance to the structure for detecting and for ascertaining the force applied to the structure for detecting by the movements of the hand.

Physiological evaluation and exercise system

A system for isolating, evaluating and exercising the muscle groups of the human hand which includes apparatus for detecting the cardinal movements of the hand and translating the movements into rotational data for the system, the apparatus for detecting effectively isolating the movements of the hand so that the movements of other muscle groups of the body are not detected by the system. The system also generally includes a mechanism for providing a selective variable resistance to the apparatus for detecting and for ascertaining the force applied to the apparatus for detecting by the movements of the hand.

A system for isolating, evaluating and exercising the muscle groups of the human hand, wrist, arm and shoulder including an adaptable detector for interpreting the cardinal movements of at least one muscle group of the hand during flexion, extension, or deviation of the wrist, or abduction, opposition, flexion or hyperextension of individual digits of the hand. The detector translates the movements of the muscle group into rotational data for the system and effectively isolates the movements of the muscle group so that the movements of other muscle groups of the body are not detected by the system. The system also includes a controlled resistance coupled to the detector which provides a variable resistance against the muscle group and ascertains the force applied to the detector by the movements of the one muscle group. The resistance can be varied to provide isotonic, isokinetic, or isometric modes of testing against said at least one muscle group.

An apparatus for evaluation of a limb of a test subject. The apparatus generally includes a pedal or grip to secure the distal end of the limb to the apparatus and a seat to secure the proximal end of the limb to the apparatus. A motor and transmission assembly is coupled to the pedal or grip to provide a controlled load to the distal end of the limb. The apparatus also includes a measurement and control system to determine the load to be applied, and to measure and compute the force on each joint of the limb while the controlled load is applied to the limb. The measurement and control system includes a force sensor, coupled to the pedal, the force sensor being capable of resolving force in at least two directions; a position sensor, coupled to the pedal; and a computer with control software, coupled to the force sensor and the motor, the computer including means for controlling the force exerted on the pedal or grip by the limb of the test subject and the force exerted on the pedal or grip by the motor and transmission.

Closed chain evaluation and exercise system

An isokinetic exercise system includes an active exercise resistance unit and a computer controller. The active exercise resistance unit includes a lever arm assembly attached to a motor, and a patient attachment cuff is slidingly mounted to the lever arm assembly. A potentiometer is used to determine the length of the patient's limb, and a potentiometer/optical encoder assembly is used to determine the angular position of the lever arm assembly as the limb is exercised. A strain gauge assembly is used to determine the torque applied to the lever arm assembly. The limb length, position and torque values are converted into digital form and supplied to a computer. The computer accepts selected velocity and maximum torque value from the operator and uses these values to control the velocity of and torque applied to the lever arm assembly. More specifically, the computer predicts a subsequent lever arm angular position based on the set velocity. If the actual subsequent angular position of the lever arm assembly does not match the expected position, then motor current is directly adjusted to ensure that subsequent actual and calculated positions of the lever arm match. The exercise system also includes a torque limiting function wherein the torque applied to the lever arm or patient attachment device is limited to a set maximum. If the patient attempts to exceed this maximum torque, then the motor accelerates the lever arm to keep the torque within the prescribed limits.

Position-based motion controller

A video motion analysis system wherein a camera converts an image of a body having illuminated markers placed thereon into a plurality of image frames. Each image frame comprises a plurality of image lines, and each image line comprises a plurality of pixels. An image preprocessor receives the plurality of image lines and detects the occurrence of each marker in each image line. This is done by comparing each pixel amplitude value to a threshold value and indicating when the pixel amplitude value exceeds the threshold value. When a pixel amplitude value exceeds the threshold value, an offset value representing the difference between the pixel amplitude value and the threshold value is added to a running total of amplitude values for the detected marker. Similarly, the offset value is used to calculate the moment value for each pixel in each marker based on the position of the pixel in the scan line. The calculated moment value is added to a running total of moment values for the detected marker. The amplitude and moment sums for each series of pixels for each marker in each image line are passed to a signal processor which groups the amplitude and moment sums for each marker together. The grouped values are used to calculate a centroid value for each marker. Centroid calculation is performed in real time and the resulting values are provided to a master CPU for further processing.

Method and apparatus for analyzing a body having a marker located thereon

In a system such as an ultrasonic scanner in which a signal must be variably amplified with time in response to a time gain control (TGC) signal, automatic noise rejection is provided by periodically comparing amplified noise with a threshold value above which noise interferes with signal analysis. TGC signal control of a variable amplifier is permitted so long as the amplified noise is less than the threshold value. A maximum control voltage, V.sub.n, is applied to the variable amplifier when the amplified noise exceeds the threshold level.

Automatic noise rejection for use in scanner and the like

In an ultrasonic sector scanner in which display control data is obtained from beam reflection vectors for controlling television display pixels, missed pixels in a display horizontal scan line between two vectors are filled by interpolating known pixel values in the two vectors. By property weighting the known pixel values an improved picture is presented in a display of a digital scanner system.

Method and means for generating pixel data in an ultrasonic scanning

An improved still or frozen picture is provided in an ultrasonic sector scanner by generating and displaying two frames. The first frame is identical to the frame generated for dynamic real-time display. The second frame is generated from vectors lying intermediate vectors of the first frame with the same reflected signal data applied thereto. Accordingly, the pixel data is doubled in the still or frozen picture.

Method and means for improving video display image

Pixel data stored in a display memory of an ultrasonic scanning system is updated in response to new pixel data generated from a reflected ultrasonic wave and stored pixel data. A lookup table of pixel values is provided in a second memory, and the second memory is addressed using the new pixel data and the stored pixel data. The value stored in the second memory at the address is then used to update the display memory.

Method and means for filtering and updating pixel data

A position reference voltage for controlling the electron beam of a display in an ultrasonic scanning system includes circuitry for receiving a position voltage from a scanner in the system, and a voltage from a variable voltage source. When the variable voltage exceeds the position voltage the variable voltage is locked whereby a new position voltage for the display is derived from the sum of the locked voltages and the scanner position voltage. The variable voltage source includes a digital counter and a digital to analog converter. A comparator compares the sum of the variable voltage and the scanner position voltage, with a reference potential and a flip-flop responds to the comparator to disable the counter when the summed voltages exceed the reference potential.

Reference voltage generation means for controlling a display

Pixel data is selectively updated in an ultrasound scanning system in which the monitor display includes a plurality of addressable pixels. A random access memory holds the intensity values for the display pixels, and the memory is updated in response to rescanning of a patient. Updating is inhibited for a pixel of a vector when the preceding vector included the same pixel. Spurious display effects are thereby minimized.

Method and means for eliminating fountain effect in an ultrasound system

A scan converter, used in an imaging system, for inverting the R-.theta. format of stored data into a format compatible with video display. As the video display is scanned horizontally, the .theta. addresses are sequentially addressed by means responsive to the scan position. The switch points thus defined are updated within succeeding video lines in accordance with trigonometric relationships between the video lines and the radial lines. Means responsive to the scanning of a reference video line initializes the switch point values in accordance with respective intersection points of the displayed radial lines and the reference video line. The R coordinate is similarly initialized and updated in accordance with trigonometric relationships between the radial lines and the video lines.

Scan converter

A Scan Converter for use with an Ultrasonic Imaging System is disclosed, which permits the buffering of sweep address and video data with relatively fewer bits of information. In essence, the propogation path of the ultrasonic pulses is resolved into a pair of vectoral components while the propogation path media is defined by successive contiguous body segments which are to be respectively displayed as video picture elements. A series of first signals indicate the crossing of segment boundaries in the vectoral direction having the faster rate of boundary crossings. A second signal is produced having a unique valve which indicates a boundary crossing by the pulse in the other vectoral direction. Reflections of the ultrasonic pulse are sampled at a rate determined by the first signals; i.e., the rate at which segment boundaries are crossed in the first vectoral direction. The sample values are held for storage in memory. The memory includes a matrix of memory location associated with respective picture elements. The one coordinate of the memory address is successively incremented with the storage of the respective successive values. The second coordinate of the address is incremented by the unique value of the forementioned second signal; in other words, when a segment boundary is crossed in the slower vectoral direction.

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Fair Oaks, CA, United States of America

Gary L Engle