Foot measuring device

Abstract

The invention presents an apparatus for measuring the dimensions of human feet. The apparatus is comprised of a base ( 20 ) and a cover ( 2 ), which fits over it to define the borders of two essentially rectangular wells ( 3, 31 ) in the upper surface of said base, into which the feet to be measured are placed. Pressure pads ( 5, 5′ ) containing a sensor are placed at the bottom of each well and the perimeters of the well, are surrounded by arrays comprised of a multitude of emitter/detector pairs, which are used to make length and width measurements of said feet. In addition, computational means, which calculate the dimensions of the feet from data from the pressure pads and emitter/detector pairs and display means are provided. The apparatus is characterized in that the computational means comprises a software algorithm, which uses information supplied by the pressure pads to correct errors in the length and width measurements caused by misplacement/misalignment of the feet in the wells and the emitters and corresponding detectors are provided in two contiguous levels spaced in a way that increases the accuracy of the measurements. A method of using the apparatus is also presented.

1 . An apparatus for measuring the dimensions of human feet, comprising:
 a. a base, which comprises and supports electrical and optical components;   b. a cover, which fits over said base to protect said components, and defines the borders of two essentially rectangular wells in the upper surface of said base, into which said feet to be measured are placed;   c. pressure pads containing a sensor matrix, which are used to provide structural and additional information of said feet;   d. a multitude of emitter/detector pairs, which are used to make length and width measurements of said feet;   e. computational means, which calculate said dimensions from said measurements; and   f. display means, which display said dimensions, said structural information and other pre-determined information;   
       characterized in that said computational means comprises a software algorithm, which uses information supplied by said pressure pads to correct errors in said length and width measurements caused by misplacement/misalignment of said feet in said wells, and said emitters and corresponding detector are provided in two contiguous levels, wherein the upper level is offset from the lower level by one half of the width of an individual emitter/detector. 
     
     
         2 . An apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the light sources are infrared emitting light emitting diodes. 
     
     
         3 . An apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the detectors are infrared sensitive phototransistors. 
     
     
         4 . An apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the computation means and the display means are an integral part of said apparatus. 
     
     
         5 . An apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein at least a part of the computation means and the display means are provided by a separate computation unit that is not an integral part of said apparatus. 
     
     
         6 . An apparatus according to  claim 5 , wherein the separate computation unit is a personal computer. 
     
     
         7 . A method for using the apparatus of  claim 1  to automatically measure the length and width of the feet of a human comprising the following steps:
 i. providing an apparatus as defined in  claim 1 ;   ii. placing the feet in the wells;   iii. initiating the measurement process;   iv. activating the light source/detector pairs for making the length and width measurements;   v. sending the data received from said detectors to the computational means;   vi. activating the pressure sensors incorporated in the pressure pads;   vii. sending data received from said pressure pads to the computational means;   viii. calculating the position of the feet from said data received from said pressure pads;   ix. calculating the apparent length and width of the feet from said data received from said detectors;   x. in case of misplacement/misalignment of said feet in the wells of said apparatus, activating a software algorithm for correcting said calculated apparent length and width of the feet, thereby obtaining the actual length and width of said feet; and   xi. displaying the results of the measurements.   
     
     
         8 . A method according to  claim 7 , wherein steps (iv) to (v) are carried out simultaneously with steps (vi) and (vii).