The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 16, 2023
Filed:
Jul. 28, 2020
Elitac B.v., Utrecht, NL;
Wouter Karel Vos, Utrecht, NL;
Tine Joke Spikker-Titsing, Utrecht, NL;
ELITAC B.V., Utrecht, NL;
Abstract
Bilateral vestibular loss is a chronic condition of which the causes can be ototoxic, infectious, traumatic, autoimmune or congenital. An object of the invention is to improve the effectiveness of a vibrotactile feedback arrangement. The current invention provides a vibrotactile feedback arrangement for use arranged to a human body, comprising: a sensor arranged for sensing a current attitude of the human body relative to the environment; tactile actuators arranged for allowing the human body to perceive an attitude deviation; an elongated carrier for holding the tactile actuators and the sensor in tactile communication with the human body and for holding the tactile actuators and the sensor substantially fixed relative to the human body; and a processing unit configured for: receiving the current attitude from the sensor; determining the attitude deviation based on comparing a desired attitude of the human body with the current attitude; and transmitting an actuation signal to one or more of the tactile actuators based on the attitude deviation; wherein the tactile actuators are arranged to the carrier such that, when the carrier is used, the tactile actuators are arranged substantially in a reference plane; wherein the reference plane is functionally perpendicular to a central axis of a torso of the human body and the reference plane intersects the torso to define a circumference, wherein the tactile actuators are arranged to the circumference; and wherein the carrier comprises stretchable material such that the relative distance between the tactile actuators and/or between the tactile actuators and the sensor is maintained independent of the length of the circumference.