Patent ID: 7431737

Claim:
A method for controlling an ankle device associated with the movement of a limb, the method comprising: monitoring, with at least one sensor, at least one of position and movement of an ankle device associated with a limb throughout at least one gait cycle, wherein the device comprises a foot unit, a lower limb member, and at least one actuator; generating data indicative of the at least one of position and movement throughout the at least one gait cycle; processing the data with a processing module to determine if the data corresponds to one of a plurality of defined gait patterns or events, wherein information defining said plurality of gait patterns or events is stored in a memory of the device; determining ankle-angle adjustments corresponding to a determined gait pattern or event; and adjusting the device based on the determined ankle-angle adjustments corresponding to the determined gait pattern or event, wherein the adjusting comprises actuating the at least one actuator to move the lower limb member relative to the foot unit in a manner substantially mimicking movement of a healthy ankle, said ankle-angle adjustments being applied over a swing phase of subsequent gait cycles until a state transition is detected from the determined gait pattern or event to a different gait pattern or event.