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EP0275665A2 Expired / Lapsed EP ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Improvements in and relating to educational devices

Assignee: Treadwell Shirley Anne
•
Filing: 1987-12-15
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2007-12-15
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Abstract

Abstract An educational device particularly for use as a ski trainer comprising a rig (2) consisting of a baseboard (39) on which a person (1) under instruction stands on a pair of skis (12) mounted on sensors (3) arranged on the baseboard (39), the sensors (3) being responsive to the weight, pressure, or movement of the said person to produce output signals therefrom which are converted and computed in a data processing unit (5) to provide a simulated trace of the weight, pressure or movement of the person or a simulated trajectory representing his skiing track on the screen (10) of a visual display unit. (Figures 1, 2 and 3).

Inventors

  • 👤 Michael Anthony Smithard
  • 👤 John Howard Treadwell

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction EP
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-10-30 04:21
CPC Classifications
A; A63; A63B; A63B69/00; A63B69/18; A63F; A63F13/00; A63F13/20; A63F13/21; A63F13/218; A63F13/24; A63F13/245; A63F13/55; A63F13/57; A63F13/573; A63F13/80; A63F13/807; A63F13/85; A63F13/90; A63B24/00; A63B24/0003; A63B24/0006; A63B2024/0012; A63B71/00; A63B71/06; A63B71/0619; A63B71/0622; A63B2071/0638; A63B2071/0641; A63B2220/00; A63B2220/50; A63B2220/51; A63B69/0066; A63F13/50; A63F13/53; A63F13/533; A63F13/577; A63F2300/00; A63F2300/10; A63F2300/1056; A63F2300/1062; A63F2300/30; A63F2300/308; A63F2300/50; A63F2300/57; A63F2300/60; A63F2300/64; A63F2300/643; A63F2300/646; A63F2300/80; A63F2300/8041; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S482/00; Y10S482/901; Y10S482/902

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 12
Claim 1
Independent Claim 93 words
An educational device comprising a plurality of sensors (3) responsive to the pressure, weight or movement applied thereto by a person (1) under instruction to generate output signals indicative of the said pressure, weight or movement applied by the said person (1), and data processing means (5) responsive to said output signals from the sensors (3) and arranged to convert said signals into visible signals for the production of a visual display (9) of the said pressure, weight or movement and simulated trajectory on a visual display screen (10) visible to said person.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 93 words
An educational device comprising a plurality of sensors (3) responsive to the pressure, weight or movement applied thereto by a person (1) under instruction to generate output signals indicative of the said pressure, weight or movement applied by the said person (1), and data processing means (5) responsive to said output signals from the sensors (3) and arranged to convert said signals into visible signals for the production of a visual display (9) of the said pressure, weight or movement and simulated trajectory on a visual display screen (10) visible to said person.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 46 words
A pressure transducer employing a matrix material of rubber or elastomeric material (30) which is impregnated with carbon or metal particles (31) the matrix (30) being located between conductive plates (32) forming electrodes such that the volume and/or surface resistivity changes with applied force or pressure.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 46 words
A pressure transducer employing a matrix material of rubber or elastomeric material (30) which is impregnated with carbon or metal particles (31) the matrix (30) being located between conductive plates (32) forming electrodes such that the volume and/or surface resistivity changes with applied force or pressure.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 46 words
An educational device as claimed in claim 1, wherein there is provided means (6) for converting analogue signals from the sensors (3) to digital signals and said data processing means (5) including means (8) for computing a simulated trajectory (4) for display on the screen (10).
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 64 words
An educational device as claimed in claim 1, and for use as a ski trainer including an instrumented rig (2) on which the person (1) under instructions is arranged to stand, said rig (2) comprising a baseboard (39) having mounted thereon a plurality of pads (14) containing said sensors (3) and a pair of skis (12) located on said pads (14) and secured thereto.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 52 words
An educational device as claimed in claim 4, wherein each of said sensors (3) comprises a cartridge (18) sandwiched between upper and lower blocks (19, 20), compliant pads (22) being mounted on the cartridge (18) such that the weight of said person is transmitted through the pads (22) to the sensors (3).
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 106 words
An educational device as claimed in claim 5, wherein a cartridge (18) incorporates a plurality of sensors (3) and includes a number of electrodes (34) corresponding to twice the number of sensors (3) and formed on each of two sheets of printed circuit board material (35) together with associated tracks (36) to connect the electrodes (34) to terminals located on one end of the said sheets, the sensors (3) being mounted between the electrodes (34) to form the cartridge assembly (18), and the assembly (18) being located between a number of compliant pads (22) corresponding in number to the number of electrodes (34) of the cartridge.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 111 words
An educational device as claimed in claim 4, wherein the baseboard (39) of the rig (2) is secured to a rigid frame (40), a pair of handles (42) being arranged on either side of the frame (4) and arranged to be gripped by the person under instruction and standing on the rig (2), said person by leaning away from and pulling on one or other of the handles (42) simulating the effect of the centrifugal force associated with turning movements to provide a corresponding trace or simulated trajections (9) on the screen (10) as the weight or pressure of the person is applied to the sensors (3) of the rig (2).
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 57 words
An educational device as claimed in claim 4, wherein said skis (12) are individually mounted on platforms (44) which are themselves mounted on rails or runners (45) on the baseboard (39) such that the platforms (44) and skis (12) are slidable transversely on the rig (2), thereby allowing the rig (2) to simulate rotational and tilting movements.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 80 words
An educational device as claimed in any of claims 1, or 3 to 8, wherein each sensor (3) comprises a variable resistor and is connected to a voltage source such as to produce a voltage signal which is a measure of the force or pressure applied to the sensor (3), the signals from a plurality of said sensors (3) being multiplexed (53) and applied via an analogue-to-digital converter (54) to a data bus (55) of said data processing means (5).
Claim 12
Dependent Claim 77 words
An educational device as claimed in claims 1 or 3, and for use as a windsurfing trainer including a board (80) fitted with a plurality of sensors (3) responsive to the weight distribution of a person under instruction, said sensors (3) also being positioned to measure the force on the sail and/or wishbone and/or mast (81) such as to provide on said screen a visual presentation of the person's movements and weight distribution on said board (80).

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