Hang timer for determining time of flight of an object
First Claim
1. A device, comprising:
- a housing;
at least one accelerometer disposed within the housing, the at least one accelerometer being configured to detect a static acceleration of said device during a time-of-flight event, and being further configured to provide an accelerometer output electrical signal indicative of the static acceleration of the device during the time-of-flight event; and
a microprocessor in electrical communication with the at least one accelerometer, the microprocessor being configured to calculate an approximate time-of-flight of the device during the time-of-flight event from the accelerometer output electrical signal, the microprocessor being further configured to provide a microprocessor output electrical signal indicative of the calculated time-of-flight of the object during the time-of-flight event.
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Abstract
The invention disclosed herein relates to systems and methods for detecting, calculating, and displaying the time-of-flight or hang-time of a moving and jumping object such as a skier or snowboarder by using at least one accelerometer secured within a small wearable device. In one embodiment, the inventive device comprises: a static acceleration detection means for detecting the static acceleration of the object over at least first, second, and-third periods of time as the object respectively moves, jumps in at least first, second, and third trajectories, and lands at least first, second, and third times along the surface thereby defining at least respective first, second, and third time-of-flight events; a calculating means for determining the approximate time-of-flight of the object during the first, second, and third time-of-flight events; and a display means for displaying in a readable format the approximate time-of-flights associated with the first, second, and third time-of-flight events.
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Citations
31 Claims
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1. A device, comprising:
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a housing;
at least one accelerometer disposed within the housing, the at least one accelerometer being configured to detect a static acceleration of said device during a time-of-flight event, and being further configured to provide an accelerometer output electrical signal indicative of the static acceleration of the device during the time-of-flight event; and
a microprocessor in electrical communication with the at least one accelerometer, the microprocessor being configured to calculate an approximate time-of-flight of the device during the time-of-flight event from the accelerometer output electrical signal, the microprocessor being further configured to provide a microprocessor output electrical signal indicative of the calculated time-of-flight of the object during the time-of-flight event. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A device for determining the hang-time of an object, comprising:
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an accelerometer, wherein the accelerometer is configured to measure a first static acceleration and a second static acceleration; and
a computing device, wherein the computing device is configured to determine a first change in magnitude from the first static acceleration to the second static acceleration, wherein the first change in magnitude corresponds to a take-off event of the object, and wherein the computing device determines a following second change in magnitude from the second static acceleration back to the first static acceleration, wherein the second change in magnitude corresponds to a landing event of the object, and wherein a current time-of-flight corresponds to a time between the first change in magnitude, during the take-off event, and the second change in magnitude, during the landing event. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A method for determining approximate time-of-flights of an individual who moves, jumps, and lands a plurality of times along a surface, the individual having a first static acceleration when the individual is on the surface, and a second static acceleration when the individual is off of the surface, the method comprising:
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securing a device housing to the individual at or near a center of mass of said individual;
detecting, by use of at least one accelerometer secured within said housing, the first and second static acceleration of the individual over a first period of time as the individual moves, jumps in a first trajectory, and lands for a first time along the surface thereby defining a first time-of-flight event; and
calculating from the detected first and second static acceleration over the first period of time the approximate time-of-flight of the individual during the first time-of-flight event, wherein the time-of-flight begins when the first static acceleration changes to the second static acceleration and ends when the second static acceleration changes back to the first static acceleration, wherein the first and second static acceleration are separated in magnitude a predetermined unit of gravity. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A computer readable medium bearing computer executable instructions, for determining a time-of-flight of an object, comprising:
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measuring a first static acceleration and a second static acceleration using an accelerometer; and
computing a first change in magnitude from the first static acceleration to the second static acceleration, wherein the first change in magnitude corresponds to a take-off event of the object, and computing a following second change in magnitude from the second static acceleration back to the first static acceleration, wherein the second change in magnitude corresponds to a landing event of the object, further wherein the time-of-flight corresponds to a time between the first change in magnitude, during the take-off event, and the second change in magnitude, during the landing event. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31)
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Specification