Patent ID: 9200897
Filing Date: 2015-12-01
Classification: G01B,G01L,G06T,G16H

Abstract:
1. A measurement and testing system comprising, in combination: an array of force plates disposed adjacent to one another, each of the force plates including: wherein each one of the plate components of the force plates is separated from one or more other adjacent plate components of one or more other adjacent force plates by a respective plate gap; and a data acquisition and processing device operatively coupled to each of the force transducers of each of the force plates, the data acquisition and processing device configured to receive each of the one or more signals that are representative of the one or more measured quantities and to convert the one or more signals into output data, the data acquisition and processing device configured to determine individual load output data for each loaded force plate in the array of force plates, the data acquisition and processing device further configured to determine, based upon the individual load output data determined for each loaded force plate, a first subset of the array of force plates experiencing a first load from a first portion of the body of the subject and a second subset of the array of force plates experiencing a second load from a second portion of the body of the subject, at least one of the first and second subsets experiencing an overlapping load condition whereby at least one of the first load and the second load acts on a pair of adjacent force plates separated by one of the respective plate gaps extending between the adjacent force plates, the data acquisition and processing device further being configured to construct a first virtual force plate comprising one or more force plates from the first subset and a second virtual force plate comprising one or more other force plates from the second subset so that composite output forces and/or moments are capable of being determined for each of the first and second portions of the body of the subject despite the overlapping load condition, and the data acquisition and processing device additionally being configured to compute one or more first composite output forces and/or moments for the first virtual force plate based the individual load output data for each loaded force plate in the first subset, and to compute one or more second composite output forces and/or moments for the second virtual force plate based the individual load output data for each loaded force plate in the second subset, the first and second composite output forces and/or moments corresponding to the first and second portions of the body of the subject, respectively.