BODY MOVEMENT DETECTING APPARATUS AND BODY MOVEMENT DETECTING METHOD

• US 20100256532A1
• Filed: 03/26/2010
• Published: 10/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tanita Corporation (Tanita)
• Original Assignee: Tanita Corporation (Tanita)
• Inventors: NISHIBAYASHI, Kenji
• Granted Patent: US 8,671,784 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/595
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1123 Discriminating type of movement, e.g. walking or running A61B5/1116, A61B5/112 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4866 Evaluating metabolism A61B5/083 takes precedence

Abstract

There is provided a body movement detecting apparatus including: a body movement data acquiring unit configured to detect a body movement of a user and acquire body movement data relating to the body movement; a memory unit configured to memorize the body movement data corresponding to the type of an activity of the user as registered body movement data; a body movement determining unit configured to compare the body movement data acquired by the body movement data acquiring unit with the registered body movement data and determine the type of the activity of the user; and a computing unit configured to be able to calculate consumed energy by the body movement corresponding to the type of the activity determined by the body movement determining unit.

Claims

1. A body movement detecting apparatus comprising:

a body movement data acquiring unit configured to detect a body movement of a user and acquire body movement data relating to the body movement;

a memory unit configured to memorize the body movement data corresponding to the a type of an activity of the user as registered body movement data;

a body movement determining unit configured to compare the body movement data acquired by the body movement data acquiring unit with the registered body movement data and determine the type of the activity of the user; and

a computing unit configured to be able to calculate consumed energy by the body movement corresponding to the type of the activity determined by the body movement determining unit.

2. The body movement detecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the computing unit is capable of calculating the consumed energy using a body activity strength determined by the type of the activity.

3. The body movement detecting apparatus according to claim 1, comprising an input unit being capable of inputting the type of the activity of the user, wherein the registered body movement data is body movement data acquired by the body movement data acquiring unit and memorized in the memory unit in correspondence with the type of the activity input by the input unit.

4. The body movement detecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the memory unit memorizes one or more types of the activities together with body activity strengths for the respective types of the activities, and the user is allowed to operate the input unit to select a desired type of the activity from the types of the activities memorized in the memory unit, and causes the registered body movement data to be memorized in the memory unit.

5. The body movement detecting apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the memory unit memorizes the types of the activities except for walking and/or running together with the body activity strengths for the respective types of the activities,

the body movement determining unit is capable of determining whether or not the user is walking and/or running by a predetermined threshold value relating to the body movement data acquired by the body movement data acquiring unit, and

the computing unit calculates the consumed energy on the basis of a body activity strength calculated on the basis of a body movement strength of the body movement data when the body movement determining unit determines that the user is walking and/or running, and on the basis of the body activity strength determined by the type of the activity of the registered body movement data when the body movement determining unit determines that the user is not walking and/or running.

6. The body movement detecting apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the computing unit calculates the consumed energy on the basis of the body activity strength determined by the type of the activity of the registered body movement data when the body movement determining unit determines that there are the registered body movement data corresponding to the body movement data acquired by the body movement data acquiring unit, and calculates the consumed energy on the basis of a body activity strength calculated on the basis of a body movement strength of the body movement data when the body movement determining unit determines that there is no registered body movement data corresponding to the body movement data.

7. A body movement detecting method comprising:

a body movement acquiring step configured to detect a body movement of a user and acquire body movement data relating to the body movement;

a registered body movement data acquiring step for memorizing the body movement data corresponding to the a type of an activity of the user as registered body movement data;

a body movement determining step for comparing the body movement data acquired by a body movement data acquiring unit after the registered body movement data acquiring step with the registered body movement data and determining the type of the activity of the user; and

an energy computing step being able to calculate consumed energy by the body movement corresponding to the type of the activity determined by the body movement determining unit.