阅读说明：本技术 截顶二十面体式神经传感器网及其模块化元件 (Truncated twenty-face type neural sensor net and modular element thereof ) 是由 唐·M·图克 潘·鲁 罗曼·舒斯特曼 于 2020-06-24 设计创作，主要内容包括：一种截顶二十面体式神经传感器网及用于所述截顶二十面体式神经传感器网的模块化元件。神经传感器网包括多个大致五边形的元件,这些元件通过细长的弹性的张力线而在所述元件的相应顶点处彼此连接,张力线在其之间限定多个大致六边形的元件。神经传感器网可以由多个模块化元件组装成。(A truncated twenty-face style neural sensor mesh and modular elements for the same. The neural sensor mesh comprises a plurality of generally pentagonal elements connected to one another at respective vertices of the elements by elongate, resilient tensile strands defining a plurality of generally hexagonal elements therebetween. The neural sensor mesh may be assembled from a plurality of modular elements.)

1. A neural sensor mesh comprising a plurality of generally pentagonal elements connected to one another at their respective vertices by elongate, elastic tensile strands defining a plurality of generally hexagonal elements therebetween.

2. A modular element for a neural sensor mesh, comprising a body formed from a sheet of material, the body defining a plurality of nodes and a plurality of tension lines, wherein the plurality of tension lines are elongate segments of the sheet of material, the elongate segments connecting the plurality of nodes so as to define sides of a triangle, the plurality of nodes defining vertices of the triangle, wherein there are more than fifteen nodes, and wherein, when the modular element is laid flat, five of the more than fifteen nodes are connecting nodes defining vertices of a pentagon, the connecting nodes for connecting the modular element to another modular element or elements, and ten of the more than fifteen nodes are closely spaced pairs of warp nodes arranged at substantially midway between the vertices, wherein the nodes of each pair of warp nodes are separated by respective slits in the body of the modular element, the warp nodes and the slits are used to warp the modular elements into a 3D dome configuration for assembly to a head surface.

3. The modular component of claim 2, further comprising at least one additional node, the at least one additional node being a bridging node adjacent to and corresponding to one of the connecting nodes to provide a common line of tension between the modular component and another modular component.

4. A modular component according to claim 3 wherein there are five said bridging nodes.

5. A modular component according to claim 4 wherein the nodes are annular.

6. A modular component according to claim 3 wherein the nodes are annular.

7. A modular component according to claim 2 wherein the nodes are annular.

8. A modular component according to claim 2, comprising an inner pentagonal component surrounded by an outer hexagonal tessellating lattice.

9. A modular component according to claim 8 in combination with and joined together with two other substantially identical modular components such that the outer hexagonal tessellating lattices of three modular components define hexagonal components between three inner pentagonal components of the three modular components.

10. A combination of modular elements according to claim 9, wherein at least two of the three modular elements further comprise at least one additional node, the at least one additional node being a bridging node and being adjacent to and corresponding to an associated one of the connecting nodes of the at least two modular elements to provide a common line of tension between the at least two modular elements.

11. A combination of modular elements according to claim 10, wherein there are five said bridging nodes for each of said at least two modular elements.

12. A combination of modular elements according to claim 11, wherein all three of the modular elements comprise a bridging node.

13. A combination of modular elements according to claim 12, wherein there are five said bridging nodes for each of the three modular elements.

14. A combination of modular elements according to claim 13, wherein the nodes are ring-shaped.

15. An assembly comprising a plurality of modular elements connected to one another to form a neural sensor mesh.

16. An electrode assembly for a neural sensor mesh, comprising:

a cover;

a housing; and

an electrode, the housing and the cover adapted to snap fit together to capture the electrode between the housing and the cover.

17. The electrode assembly of claim 16, wherein the neural sensor mesh is formed from a sheet of material defining a plurality of nodes and a plurality of tensile wires, wherein the tensile wires are elongate segments of the sheet of material connecting the nodes to define sides of a triangle, the nodes defining vertices of the triangle, and wherein the housing and the cover are adapted to snap-fit together to capture one or more of the nodes between the housing and the cover.

18. The electrode assembly of claim 17, wherein the electrode assembly is configured to retain an absorbent material in electrical contact with the electrode.

19. A method for forming a neural sensor mesh, the method comprising forming a plurality of substantially identical planar modules, and connecting the modules together so as to warp an otherwise planar module into a respective 3D dome configuration.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the module is substantially pentagonal in shape.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to wearable devices known in the field of neuroscience as "sensor nets" for positioning electrodes on the surface of the head, which electrodes may be used for one or both of brain measurements such as electroencephalography and brain stimulation such as transcranial electrical stimulation.

Background

The present inventors have initiated U.S. patent No.5,291,888 entitled geodetic sensor network ("GSN"). The term "sensor" is used generically to refer to an electrode that may be used for sensing or stimulation.

GSNs are modeled after icosahedrons or dodecahedrons, and "tessellate" the head surface, where the sensors are connected to each other by tension wires, defining triangular open spaces between the sensors in a substantially regular pattern.

GSN is a highly successful concept that has not been improved since the publication of patent No.5,291,888 for many years.

However, the present invention is an improvement that provides better fit of the head and also enables reduced manufacturing costs.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention discloses a truncated twenty-face type neural sensor net and a modular element for the truncated twenty-face type neural sensor net.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a neural sensor mesh comprising a plurality of substantially pentagonal elements connected to one another at respective vertices of the elements by elongate resilient tensile wires defining a plurality of substantially hexagonal elements therebetween.

According to another aspect of the invention, a neural sensor mesh is assembled from a plurality of modular elements.

According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a modular element for a neural sensor mesh, the modular element comprising a body formed from a sheet of material, the body defining a plurality of nodes and a plurality of tension lines, wherein the tension lines are elongate lengths of the sheet of material, the elongate lengths connecting the nodes so as to define sides of a triangle, the nodes defining vertices of the triangle, wherein there are more than fifteen nodes, and wherein, with the modular element laid flat, five of the more than fifteen nodes are connecting nodes defining vertices of a pentagon for connecting the modular element to another one or more modular elements, and ten of the more than fifteen nodes are closely spaced pairs of warp nodes arranged approximately midway between the vertices, wherein the nodes of each pair of warp nodes are separated by respective slits in the body of the modular element, the warp nodes and slits are used to warp the element into a 3D dome configuration for fitting to the head surface.

Alternatively, the nodes may be of a ring configuration.

Optionally, there may be at least one additional node as a bridging node adjacent to and corresponding to one of the connecting nodes to provide a common line of tension between the modular element and the other modular element.

Alternatively, there may be five bridging nodes.

Alternatively, the modular elements may comprise internal pentagonal elements surrounded by an external hexagonal tessellation lattice.

Optionally, at least three substantially identical modular elements comprising respective inner pentagonal elements and outer hexagonal tessellation lattices may be connected together such that the outer hexagonal tessellation lattices of the three modular elements define hexagonal elements between the three inner pentagonal elements of the three modular elements.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electrode assembly for a neural sensor mesh, the electrode assembly including a cover, a case, and an electrode, the case and the cover being adapted to be snap-fitted together so as to capture the electrode between the case and the cover.

Alternatively, the neural sensor mesh may be formed from a sheet of material defining a plurality of nodes and a plurality of tensile wires, wherein the tensile wires are elongate segments of the sheet of material connecting the nodes so as to define sides of a triangle, the nodes defining vertices of the triangle, and the housing and the cover may be adapted to be snap-fitted together so as to capture one or more of the nodes between the housing and the cover.

Alternatively, the electrode assembly may be configured to hold an absorbent material in electrical contact with the electrodes.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for forming a neural sensor mesh, the method comprising forming a plurality of substantially identical planar modules, and connecting the modules together so as to warp the modules into a 3D dome configuration.

Preferably, the shape of the module is substantially pentagonal.

It should be understood that the summary is provided as a means of generally determining what is described in the drawings and detailed description, and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. The objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a truncated icosahedral neural sensor mesh according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 shows a more detailed view of the truncated twenty-face style neural sensor mesh of fig. 1.

Fig. 3 shows a schematic plan view of a generic modular element for positioning electrodes on the surface of a head according to the invention.

Figure 4 shows a plan view of a preferred modular element for positioning electrodes on the surface of a head according to the invention.

Fig. 5 shows an exploded isometric view of an electrode according to the present invention, particularly suitable for use in the modular element of fig. 2, and a common node shown disconnected from the modular element.

Figure 6 shows an isometric view of the assembled electrode and node of figure 5.

FIG. 7 shows a cross-sectional view of the assembly of FIG. 6 along line 7-7 of the assembly.

Fig. 8 shows a plan view showing the nine modular elements of fig. 2 and showing the interconnections between the nine modular elements.

Fig. 9 shows an exploded isometric view of the electrode of fig. 5, wherein the common node is replaced by two pairs of node bs.

Detailed Description

The present invention provides a truncated twenty-face style neural sensor mesh, and also provides modular elements that can be used in combination with other modular elements to form a neural sensor mesh. The head is typically, but not necessarily, a human head, and the electrodes may be used to measure electrical activity in the brain and/or to stimulate such activity.

Fig. 1 shows in schematic form a truncated icosahedral neural sensor mesh 10 according to the present invention. The regular icosahedron has twenty triangular faces; whereas a truncated icosahedron has thirty-two faces, twelve of the thirty-two faces being pentagons and twenty of the thirty-two faces being hexagons. As shown in fig. 1, the truncated icosahedral-type neural sensor mesh 10 only needs to partially cover the head, and thus does not need as many faces as archimedes.

Five pentagonal elements "P", specifically labeled 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, and 8, of the neural sensor mesh 10 can be seen in fig. 1. The pentagonal elements P are connected to each other at the vertices of the pentagonal elements by elastically extendable tension lines "TL". The tension line TL may be of any type known in the art of neural sensor networks. The line of tension TL defines the perimeter of hexagonal element "H" corresponding to the hexagonal face of the truncated icosahedron.

Fig. 2 shows a more detailed view of the sensor web 10 shown in fig. 1. FIG. 2 shows how the inner portions of elements P and E can be provided with a finer line of tension "TL_A'coming mosaic latticed, tension line' TL_AThe intersection of "defines node" N ". The electrodes of the sensor mesh (not shown) will be located at nodes N, respectively. At the general level of fig. 1, the tessellation scheme is an equal mix of pentagons and hexagons; whereas in the preferred embodiment of fig. 2, the tessellation scheme is hexagonal except at the center of pentagonal element P.

Fig. 3 shows in partially schematic form a preferred modular pentagonal element "MPE" according to the invention, which corresponds to the pentagonal element P in fig. 1. The modular pentagonal elements can be formed from a sheet of resilient material, such as polyurethane, and are shown in a flat or planar configuration. The figure shows the general body portion 12 of the module and highlights the external features of the module, in particular the five connecting nodes "a", the respective five pairs of warp nodes "B" and the five bridging nodes "C", the centres of which are located on a set of coplanar lines "L" defining a regular pentagon_A"on; the corresponding five pairs of warp nodes "B" lie slightly on line L_ASubstantially at the nodeAt an intermediate position between A; and five bridging nodes "C" are also located on line L_AAnd is adjacent to the corresponding entity of node a. Despite these deviations, it is evident from fig. 3 that the overall shape of the element P is substantially pentagonal.

When the modular elements are laid flat or in a 2D configuration, the connection nodes a define the pentagons of the modular pentagonal elements. The pentagon is particularly advantageous for tessellating a substantially spherical surface such as the surface of a human head. The connection node a is used to connect one modular element to another.

The purpose of warping the node bs is to warp the modular elements from their ordinary 2D configuration to a 3D domed configuration that can conform to the curvature of the head by drawing the nodes of each pair of nodes "B" together so that the nodes conform to each other. This warping is achieved by providing five slits "SL" in the body portion 12 of the modular element, the slits SL corresponding to pairs of nodes B, respectively. A slit is a void space in a sheet of material that terminates at approximately a point, such as the triangular void space shown.

The purpose of bridging node C will be explained in connection with fig. 8.

Figure 4 shows the preferred modular pentagonal element MPE in greater detail, showing the features of the body section 12, and figure 4 is proportional to the preferred overall diameter dimension "D" shown. The diameter dimension D may be larger or smaller depending on the size of the head and the number of modular elements used to cover the head.

At the center of the module there is a central node "CN" which is connected to five further nodes "N" by five tension lines TL_CN", to form a regular pentagonal array; and has five slit nodes "S" at the vertices of the slit SL. Also as previously described, there is one bridging node C adjacent to each node a.

With the exception of nodes A, B, C, CN and S, all nodes are connected in an intra-modular fashion to the six nearest neighbor nodes in a hexagonal array that becomes a substantially regular hexagon when nodes "B" are pulled together and the module is warped as described above.

The nodes may be provided in the elastic sheet in the form of holes, and the lines of tension may be defined by larger holes in the elastic sheet. This allows the nodes and tensile lines to be formed together simply by die cutting or etching the sheet to remove excess material, but this may be done in any other desired manner. It has been found that etching is a particularly cost-effective manufacturing method for the modular element according to the invention in terms of reduced processing costs, and that etching has the advantage that it is not affected by the flexibility of the sheet.

The entire truncated icosahedral neural sensor mesh or any number of modular elements for the truncated icosahedral neural sensor mesh may be formed as described above; and the entire truncated icosahedron neural sensor mesh, or any number of modular elements for the truncated icosahedron neural sensor mesh, may also be formed with an additive manufacturing process, such as by using a 3D printer.

The thickness of the sheet material depends on the desired flexibility or elasticity of the tensile cord, for example between 5 and 15 mils; a preferred example is about 10 mils (i.e., about 0.01 ").

When a truncated twenty-face style neural sensor mesh is formed from a plurality of modules, the modules need not be identical; but this is generally optimal from a cost and practicality standpoint.

It is also not necessary that the body portion of the module have the geometry shown in fig. 4; however, this particular geometry is believed to provide the advantage of a maximum number of nodes, while substantially equalizing the forces on the nodes.

It may also be noted that the spaces between the nodes shown in fig. 4 may be further tessellated with additional nodes to increase the node density of the module. For example, an additional node may be added at the center of the triangle space shown in FIG. 4, which is connected to the existing node at the vertex of the triangle space. The same is true for the tessellation shown in fig. 2.

As previously mentioned, each node is adapted to receive a respective one of the electrodes. Fig. 5-7 illustrate an exemplary electrode assembly 20 for use with modular component 10, and a preferred manner of attaching the electrode assembly to a universal node 15 of the module. It is to be appreciated that node 15 may be a node stack (e.g., node B shown in fig. 9) that is shared between two or more modules. Node 15 has an aperture "AP" and, according to the preferred embodiment 10, six tension lines "TL" connect node 15 to adjacent nodes.

Fig. 5 shows assembly 20 exploded along an axis "L" centered on the aperture AP of node 15. The assembly 20 includes a cover portion 22, a housing portion 24, and an electrode 26. Fig. 6 shows how the housing portion 24 is snapped onto the cover portion 22, and fig. 7 shows how the electrodes 26 are snapped into the housing portion 24. Fig. 5 also shows that an absorbent element 28 formed of foam material may be provided and captured by the foot 26a of the electrode 26 as shown, but the absorbent element may also be captured by the inner surface 24a (see fig. 7) of the shell 24, for example by providing a spike or bump on the surface.

The absorbent element serves to absorb and thereby retain a conductive solution or gel that reduces the impedance of the electrical contact between the electrode and the scalp during use of the module 10, and the electrical input to or output from the electrode 26 may be carried by a single wire-like conductor 26b, as is generally known in the art.

Returning to fig. 4, the preferred modular element MPE has twenty-six interior or "body" nodes that are not shared with other modules. Five nodes a, five pairs of nodes B and five nodes C may each be shared with five further modules, in which case the groups of nodes may be counted as allocating three additional nodes to twenty-six individual nodes of a module, and may be counted as a total of twenty-nine nodes per MPE. It is desirable to provide at least 256 electrodes and this can be achieved by connecting nine modules MPE together.

Figure 8 shows nine modules MPE as shown in figure 4, numbered 1-9. The modules numbered 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 and 8 correspond to those shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 8 also shows the interconnections between all three node types A, B and C, any two or more of which may be connected by operating the nodes so that they overlap each other and connecting the nodes together with an electrode assembly.

Fig. 9 shows the result of this operation of two pairs of nodes B, and how the electrodes 20 are used to maintain the overlapping configuration of the nodes.

As previously described, connecting the respective a-nodes of two modular elements connects one modular element to the other; and connecting the corresponding pair of B-nodes warps the modular elements from a planar 2D configuration of the modular elements to a domed 3D configuration. As can now be appreciated from fig. 8, the nodes connecting the respective bridging nodes C fill the gaps between the modular elements that would otherwise not be bridged by the tension lines. Thus, the C-node provides the desired feature, although this is not required to maintain a substantially uniform radial distribution of tension across the node throughout the entire neural sensor mesh formed from the plurality of modular elements.

Finally, it will be noted from an examination of figures 8 and 4 that each preferred modular pentagonal element MPE has an inner pentagonal element "IPE" surrounded by an outer hexagonal tessellated lattice structure. In this regard, for additional reference, the modular elements MPE shown in fig. 4 are compared with the modular elements MPE associated with the internal pentagonal element numbered 9 in fig. 8.

In fig. 8, these internal pentagonal elements IPE are numbered, and the internal pentagonal elements correspond to pentagonal elements P in fig. 1. The outer hexagonal tessellated lattices of the modular pentagonal elements MPE fill the spaces between the inner pentagonal elements to create hexagonal elements H shown in figure 1 when the modular elements are connected together. For example, three pentagonal elements 4, 5, and 8 and the central hexagonal element "H" shown in FIG. 1₁"may be formed by connecting three modular pentagonal elements MPE associated with the internal pentagonal elements numbered 4, 5 and 8 in figure 8.

The truncated icosahedral neural sensor mesh according to the present invention better fits various head shapes than the original icosahedral GSN, including the typical elliptical shape of caucasian (with smaller frontal portion than parietal region) and the more cuboidal or spherical head shape of many asians.

The modular element according to the invention provides reduced manufacturing costs by facilitating mass production. The module element is preferably used to form a truncated icosahedral neural sensor mesh, but module elements according to the present invention may also be used to form icosahedral sensor meshes similar to GSNs, as well as other mesh geometries or configurations.

It should be understood that while a particular truncated icosahedral neural sensor mesh and its modular elements have been shown and described as being preferred, other configurations may be utilized without departing from the principles of the present invention, in addition to those already mentioned.

The terms and expressions which have been employed in the foregoing specification are used therein as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention in the use of such terms and expressions of excluding equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof, it being recognized that the scope of the invention is defined and limited only by the claims which follow.