ACCURATE STEP COUNTER

• US 20080172203A1
• Filed: 01/16/2007
• Published: 07/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/16/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications USA Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications USA Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Jorgensen, Filip
• Application Number:
  US11/623,588
• Publication Number:
  US 20080172203A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/160
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 22/006 Pedometers

Abstract

A device may obtain samples from an accelerometer and a gyroscope, determine kinematics signals based on the samples, and compute a number of steps taken by a user based on the kinematics signals.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

obtaining samples from an accelerometer and a gyroscope;

determining kinematics signals based on the samples; and

computing a number of steps taken by a user based on the kinematics signals.

2. The method as in claim 1, wherein determining kinematics signals include:

determining an acceleration signal, a velocity signal, or a distance signal.

3. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

removing noise from the obtained samples.

4. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an average step length from the user.

5. The method as in claim 4, wherein computing a number of steps includes:

computing the number of steps taken by the user based on the kinematics signals and the average step length.

6. The method as in claim 1, wherein determining kinematics signals includes:

numerically solving equations of motion to determine kinematics signals based on the samples.

7. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving samples from a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver.

8. The method as in claim 7, wherein determining kinematics signals includes:

numerically solving equations of motion based on the samples that are obtained from the accelerometer, the gyroscope, and the GPS receiver.

9. The method as in claim 1, further including:

initializing the kinematics signals.

10. A device comprising:

an accelerometer for providing acceleration measurements;

a gyroscope for providing angular rate measurements; and

a processor to;

accept the acceleration measurements from the accelerometer and the angular rate measurements from the gyroscope;

establish kinematics signals based on the acceleration measurements and the gyroscope measurements; and

count a number of user foot steps based on the kinematics signals and an average step length.

11. The device as in claim 10, wherein the kinematics signals includes:

a velocity signal, an acceleration signal, or a distance signal.

12. A device comprising:

a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver for providing position measurements and velocity measurements;

an accelerometer for providing acceleration measurements;

a gyroscope for providing angular rate measurements; and

a processor to;

accept the position measurements from the GPS receiver, the velocity measurements from the GPS receiver, the acceleration measurements from the accelerometer, and the angular rate measurements from the gyroscope;

establish kinematics signals based on the position measurements, the velocity measurements, the acceleration measurements, and the angular rate measurements; and

count user foot steps by comparing the kinematics signals and reference kinematics signals.

13. The device as in claim 12, wherein the kinematics signals include:

a velocity signal, a acceleration signal, or a distance signal.

14. A device comprising:

means for detecting acceleration in a first coordinate frame;

means for detecting angular rates in the first coordinate frame;

means for determining kinematics signals in a second coordinate frame based on the detected acceleration and the detected angular rates; and

means for counting steps based on the kinematics signals.

15. The device as in claim 14, wherein the kinematics signals includes:

an acceleration signal, a velocity signal, or a distance signal in three dimensions.

16. The device as in claim 14, further comprising:

means for removing noise from the detected acceleration.

17. The device as in claim 14, further comprising:

means for receiving an average step length from a user that is carrying the device.

18. The device as in claim 17, wherein the means for counting steps includes:

means for counting steps taken by the user based on the kinematics signals and the average step length.

19. The device as claim 14, further comprising:

means for solving equations of motion to determine the kinematics signals based on the detected acceleration and the detected angular rates.

20. A portable device comprising:

an accelerometer for providing acceleration measurements;

a gyroscope for providing angular rate measurements;

a processor to;

accept the acceleration measurements from the accelerometer and the angular rate measurements from the gyroscope;

establish kinematics signals based on the acceleration measurements and the gyroscope measurements by solving equations of motions; and

measure a distance traveled based on the kinematics signals; and

a housing that contains components of the portable device, the components including the accelerometer, the gyroscope, and the processor.

21. The portable device as in claim 20, wherein the housing includes a cell phone housing, a laptop housing, an electronic notepad housing, or a personal digital assistant (PDA) housing, a pager housing, or a mobile telephone housing.