WO2002058788A1

WO2002058788A1 - Portable electro-stimulator device and associated

Info

Publication number: WO2002058788A1
Application number: PCT/IT2002/000033
Authority: WO
Inventors: Marco Paolizzi
Original assignee: Vupiesse Italia S.R.L.
Priority date: 2001-01-25
Filing date: 2002-01-21
Publication date: 2002-08-01
Also published as: BR0206684A; ITRN20010004A1

Abstract

A portable electro-stimulator device comprises a battery (6), activation means (9), means (7) for regulating the electro-stimulation pulses and means (3) for connection to a source of working programs which can be executed, able to load one program (10) at a time. An electro-stimulator apparatus comprises a loading unit (1) which contains an archive of programs which can be executed and at least one portable electro-stimulator device (2) suitable for execution of one program at a time, which can be connected to the loading unit (1) via suitable connection means (3) able to allow transfer of the program in question from the loading unit (1) to the portable electro-stimulator device (2).

Description

Portable electro-stimulator device and associated apparatus DESCRIPTION Technical field The present invention relates to a portable electro-stimulator device and associated apparatus. Background art

It is known that the contraction of the skeletal muscles in the human body is activated by the central nervous system by means the transmission of pulses of an electrochemical nature via its nerve branches.

Technological progress has resulted in the development of instruments, known as electro- stimulators, able to generate specific electric currents capable of causing a muscular contraction, said currents replacing the pulses generated by the central nervous system. In this case the current is applied at the point where the nerve endings come into contact with the muscle cells. By modulating a series of variable parameters such as the frequency of the electric pulses, the duration of the contraction and recovery time, etc., it is possible to obtain various programs useful for achieving various results, ranging from strengthening of muscular power to aesthetic toning and decontraction of traumatised and contracted muscles. In addition to correct positioning of the electrodes, it is therefore necessary to select carefully the appropriate program for the result to be achieved. The known electro-stimulators consist of a main body housing the batteries and the electronic instruments which allow one to choose a program from among a set of predefined programs and activate it. The main body also has a certain number of outputs, each of which can be associated with a pair of electrodes to be applied onto the body of a user. Each pair of electrodes is designed to perform electric stimulation of a bundle of muscles, so that a greater number of outputs corresponds to a greater number of muscles which are stimulated at the same time.

Electro-stimulators are therefore per se closed systems which are able to perform only one program at a time from among those contained in the database provided. There is therefore the risk of the whole structure becoming obsolete owing to the presence of a limited number of programs which cannot be updated. Only recently has it been thought to widen the performance range of these apparatus by enabling powering thereof using chip cards or CD ROMs equipped with programs which are not included in the machine ' s database. In this case also, however, the entire apparatus must be used for each application. It is obvious that in any case the instruments for selection of the various programs and the need to execute any one of said programs or also only one program at a time result in dimensional requirements and an operational complexity which exceed the operating performance strictly necessary for these devices. Whereas, in this connection, each apparatus may be used by one user at a time and this fact, in particular in environments such as gymnasiums or sports clubs, constitutes a major operational drawback or, alternatively, results in an unacceptable increase in costs, a constructional solution able to meet the needs of several users at the same time exists. This solution consists in a main unit, housing the working programs, and a plurality of satellite units, operation of which is controlled by the main unit via the transmission of radio signals.

The satellite units therefore do not have an operational autonomy and the system in any case remains a closed system since only the working programs introduced in the main unit may be executed, the most obvious advantage being limited to the absence of physical connections between the main unit and satellite units. Disclosure of the invention

The object of the present invention is therefore that of eliminating the abovementioned drawbacks .

The invention, as characterized by the claims, achieves the object by providing a portable electro- stimulator which is completely autonomous during the execution of a single program. The main advantage obtained by means of the present invention consists essentially in the fact that the structural complexity of the portable device is kept to a minimum and the electronic equipment provided coincides with the actual operational possibility of executing only one program at a time.

Therefore operation of the said device is extremely simple and the dimensions and weight very limited, to the extent that the device may be applied in a particular location. Moreover, the invention allows the creation of an electro-stimulator apparatus which can be used by several persons, using a single unit containing a large number of programs and several portable devices which can be used individually, each being separately loaded, by the main unit, with a single specific program which may be different from each of the others, and being suitable for operation completely independently from the main unit at the time of execution of the program. Brief description of the drawings

Further advantages and characteristic features of the invention will emerge more clearly from the detailed description which follows, with reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate a non- limiting example of embodiment thereof and in which:

Figure 1 shows a perspective view of the invention;

- Figures 2 and 3 illustrate two possible modes of use of the invention; - Figure 4 shows a block diagram of the invention. Detailed description of the preferred embodiment (s)

As can be seen from the figures, the invention relates to a portable electro-stimulator device comprising a battery (6), activation means (9), means

(7) for regulating the electro-stimulation pulses, means (3) for connection to a source of working programs, able to load only one program (10) at a time, and means (4) for execution of said single program (10) so as to render the portable electro- stimulator device (2) completely autonomous.

In the example of embodiment, shown the connection means comprise a slide (3) provided with electrical contacts. The same slide (3) also acts as a terminal for recharging of the battery (6), allowing the number of electrical contacts to be kept to a minimum. Instead of the slide, the connection means (3) may comprise an optical signal or an electromagnetic signal. As can be noted in Figure 1, means (5) for signalling when a program (10) has been loaded, consisting of a luminous LED, are located on the surface of the portable electro-stimulator device (2) . The execution means consist traditionally of at least one pair of electrodes (4) . That which allows an electro-stimulator to be converted into an open system which can be continuously updated on the base of the needs of each user is the possibility of combining a loading unit

(1) containing at least one program (10) which can be executed and a portable electro-stimulator device of the type described above, linking them together by means of connection means (3) able to allow the transfer of a program (10) from the loading unit (1) to the portable electro-stimulator device (2) . The loading unit, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, may consist of another electro-stimulator (1) which contains a certain number of working programs, resulting in a combination which allows the presence of two instruments which can be used at the same time and one of which, the portable electro-stimulator (2) - having very small dimensions and being very simple to use - is specifically designed to execute a single predefined program.

Other solutions ensuring the maximum possibility of updating the range of programs which can be executed consist in the use of a loading unit (1) formed by a computer (la) containing a data bank, and an interface (lb) able to transmit one specific program at a time from the computer (la) to the portable electro-stimulator device (2) . The data bank inside the computer (la) may obviously be stored there in a wide variety of ways: it may be present on a magnetic medium (8) such as, for example, a floppy disk or a CD ROM, or be located on a network, for example in any Internet site.

In practice it is obviously possible to make modifications and/or improvements which nevertheless fall within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. Portable electro-stimulator device, characterized in that it comprises a battery (6), activation means (9), means (7) for regulating the electro-stimulation pulses, means (3) for connection to a source of working programs which can be executed, able to load one program (10) at a time, and means (4) for execution of said single program (10) , so as to render the portable electro-stimulator device (2) completely autonomous.

2. Device according to Claim 1, characterized in that said connection means comprise a slide (3) provided with electrical contacts.

3. Device according to Claim 2, characterized in that said slide (3) also acts as a terminal for recharging the battery (β), so as to reduce the number of electrical contacts to a minimum.

4. Device according to Claim 1, characterized in that the connection means (3) comprise an optical signal.

5. Device according to Claim 1, characterized in that the connection means (3) comprise an electromagnetic signal.

6. Device according to Claim 1, characterized in that it comprises means (5) for signalling when a program has been loaded.

7. Device according to Claim 1, characterized in that the execution means comprise at least one pair of electrodes (4) .

8. Electro-stimulator apparatus, characterized in that it comprises a loading unit (1) which contains at least one program (10) which can be executed and a portable electro-stimulator device (2) according to any one of the preceding claims, able to execute exclusively a single program (10) , which unit and device being connected together by connection means (3) able to allow the transfer of said program (10) from the loading unit (1) to the portable electro- stimulator device (2) .

9. Apparatus according to Claim 8, characterized in that the loading unit is in turn an electro-stimulator (1) .

10. Apparatus according to Claim 8, characterized in that the loading unit (1) comprises a computer (la) containing a data bank, and an interface (lb) able to transmit a program from said computer (la) to the portable electro-stimulator device (2) .

11. Apparatus according to Claim 10, characterized in that the data bank of the computer (la) is located on a magnetic medium (8) .

12. Apparatus according to Claim 10, characterized in that the data bank of the computer (la) is located on a network.

13. Device according to the preceding claims and in accordance with that described and illustrated with reference to the figures of the accompanying drawings and for the objects mentioned.