METHOD FOR CONFIGURING A MOTION SENSOR AS WELL AS A CONFIGURABLE MOTION SENSOR AND A SYSTEM FOR CONFIGURING SUCH A MOTION SENSOR

• US 20130289932A1
• Filed: 12/30/2010
• Published: 10/31/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: AR Innovation AG
• Original Assignee: AR Innovation AG
• Inventors: Baechler, Herbert
• Application Number:
  US13/976,118
• Publication Number:
  US 20130289932A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/141
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/085 combined with means for recording calibration data
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0002 Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network A61B5/07 takes precedence; transmission systems for measured values G08C; transmission H04B; transmission of digital information H04L; wireless communication networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2024/0071 Distinction between different activities, movements, or kind of sports performed
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 24/0062 Monitoring athletic performances, e.g. for determining the work of a user on an exercise apparatus, the completed jogging or cycling distance
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 15/0891 with indication of predetermined acceleration values G01P15/135 takes precedence

Abstract

The present invention provides a method for configuring a motion sensor (1) comprising an accelerometer (2) and/or a gyroscope (2), a processing unit (3), a memory unit (4) and a program selection means (7). The proposed method comprises providing configuration data to the program selection means (7), selecting by the program selection means (7) a signal processing program from a plurality of signal processing programs stored in the memory unit (4) dependent on the provided configuration data, and determining by the processing unit at least one motion parameter from one or more output signals of the accelerometer (2) and/or the gyroscope (2) using the selected signal processing program. Furthermore, the present invention proposes a corresponding configurable motion sensor (1) as well as a system for configuring such a versatile motion sensor (1).

Claims

1. A method for configuring a motion sensor (1) comprising an accelerometer (2) and/or a gyroscope (2), a processing unit (3), a memory unit (4) and a program selection means (7), the method comprising:

providing configuration data (10) to the program selection means (7);

selecting by the program selection means (7) a signal processing program (11) from a plurality of signal processing programs (11) stored in the memory unit (4) dependent on the provided configuration data (10); and

determining by the processing unit (3) at least one motion parameter (13) from one or more output signals of the accelerometer (2) and/or the gyroscope (2) using the selected signal processing program (11).

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the motion sensor (1) further comprises a wireless transmitting unit (5), the method further comprising:

selecting a transmission protocol program (12) from a plurality of transmission protocol programs (12) stored in the memory unit (4) dependent on the received configuration data (10); and

sending by the wireless transmitting unit (5) the at least one motion parameter (13) or the one or more output signals of the accelerometer (2) and/or the gyroscope (2) or one or more signals based on said output signals using the selected transmission protocol program (12).

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the motion sensor (1) further comprises a receiving unit (6), and wherein the step of providing configuration data (10) comprises:

receiving by the receiving unit (6) the configuration data (10).

4. The method of one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the motion sensor (1) further comprises a motion classification means (8), the method further comprising:

extracting motion features from the one or more output signals of the accelerometer (2) and/or the gyroscope (2);

identifying by the motion classification means (8) a motion pattern from a plurality of motion patterns based on the extracted motion features; and

generating at least part of the configuration data (10) to be provided to the program selection means (7) dependent on the identified motion pattern.

5. The method of one of the claims 1 to 4, further comprising receiving by the receiving unit (6) a signal processing program (11) and/or a transmission protocol program (12).

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

downloading a software module (14), which comprises at least a signal processing program (11) and a transmission protocol program (12), from an application server (16) to a sensor interfacing device (18) or sensor hub (9), such as for instance a sports computer, a mobile phone or a portable digital assistant;

extracting the signal processing program (11) and/or the transmission protocol program (12) from the software module (14); and

sending the signal processing program (11) and/or the transmission protocol program (12) from the sensor interfacing device (18) or sensor hub (9) to the receiving unit (6).

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising receiving by the sensor hub (9) using the transmission protocol program (12) the at least one motion parameter (13) or the one or more output signals of the accelerometer (2) and/or the gyroscope (2) or one or more signals based on said output signals from the wireless transmitting unit (5).

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the software module (14) further comprises an application program (15), the method further comprising extracting the application program (15) from the software module (14) and executing by the sensor hub (9) the application program (15) module for post-processing and/or displaying and/or storing the received at least one motion parameter (13) or the one or more output signals of the accelerometer (2) and/or the gyroscope (2) or one or more signals based on said output signals from the wireless transmitting unit (5).

9. The method of one of the claims 6 to 8, further comprising sending by the wireless transmitting unit (5) information regarding one or more of the following to the sensor hub (9):

configuration data (10);

identification number, such as a serial number or address data, of the motion sensor;

list of signal processing programs (11) stored in the memory unit (4);

list of transmission protocol programs (12) stored in the memory unit (4);

information regarding one or more of the signal processing programs (11) or one or more of the transmission protocol programs (12) stored in the memory unit (4), for instance a checksum or a version number;

information regarding the selected signal processing program (11) or the selected transmission protocol program (12).

10. A configurable motion sensor (1) comprising an accelerometer (2) and/or a gyroscope (2), a processing unit (3), a memory unit (4), a wireless transmitting unit (5), a receiving unit (6) and a program selection means (7), wherein the processing unit (3) is connected to the accelerometer (2) and/or the gyroscope (2), the memory unit (4), the wireless transmitting unit (5), the receiving unit (6) and the program selection means (7), and wherein the receiving unit (6) is operable to receive configuration data (10), and wherein the processing unit (3) is operable to determine at least one motion parameter (10) from one or more output signals of the accelerometer (2) and/or the gyroscope (2) using one of a plurality of signal processing programs (11) storable in the memory unit (4) and selectable by the program selection means (7) dependent on the configuration data (10), and wherein the wireless transmitting unit (5) is operable to transmit the at least one motion parameter (10) using one of a plurality of transmission protocol programs (12) storable in the memory unit (4) and selectable by the program selection means (7) dependent on the configuration data (10).

11. The configurable motion sensor (1) of claim 10, further comprising a separate sensor hub (9), such as for instance a sports computer, a mobile phone or a personal digital assistant, wherein the wireless transmitting unit (5) is wirelessly connected to the sensor hub (9), and wherein the sensor hub (9) is adapted to perform one or more of the following:

present the at least one motion parameter (13) to the user of the sensor hub (9), for instance visually via a display or acoustically, e.g. via a loudspeaker;

send the at least one motion parameter (10) to a remote computer (20) or a data server (20) via a communication network (19), e.g. by means of short message service or packet data service;

present a time series of the least one motion parameter (10) to the user of the sensor hub (9) via a display;

store the at least one motion parameter (10) in a memory of the sensor hub (9).

12. The configurable motion sensor (1) of claim 11, wherein the sensor hub (9) is connected to the receiving unit (6) via a wireless connection or via a wired connection and wherein the sensor hub (9) is further adapted to perform one or more of the following:

send configuration data (10);

send a signal processing program (11);

send a transmission protocol program (12);

to the receiving unit (6).

13. The configurable motion sensor (1) of one of the claims 10 to 12, further comprising motion classification means (8) capable of identifying a plurality of motion patterns based on motion features extractable from the one or more output signals of the accelerometer (2) and/or the gyroscope (2).

14. The configurable motion sensor (1) of claim 13, wherein the motion classification means (8) is connected to the program selection means (7) and determines the signal processing program (11) and/or the transmission protocol program (12) to be employed for determining the at least one motion parameter (10) and/or for transmitting the at least one motion parameter (10), respectively.

15. The configurable motion sensor (1) of claim 13, wherein motion classification means (8′

) is located in the sensor hub (9) and is adapted to generate at least part of the configuration data (10) based on an identified motion pattern.

16. A sensor network comprising a plurality of configurable motion sensors (1, 1′

) of one of the claims 10 to 15 and a single, common sensor hub (9) to which all the configurable motion sensors (1′

) are operationally connected.

17. A system for configuring a configurable motion sensor (1′

), comprising an application server (16) with a software database (17), a sensor interfacing device (18), such as for instance a computer, and the configurable motion sensor, wherein a plurality of software modules (14) requiring the motion sensor (1′

) to determine at least one motion parameter (10) are stored in the software database (17), and wherein each of the plurality of software modules (14) requiring the motion sensor (1′

) comprises an application program (15), a signal processing program (11) and a transmission protocol program (12), and wherein the sensor interfacing device (18) is operable to download a selected software module (14) via a communication network (19) and to extract the signal processing program (11) and the transmission protocol program (12) from the selected software module (14) and to upload the signal processing program (11) and the transmission protocol program (12) to the configurable motion sensor (1′

).

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the sensor interfacing device (18) is operable to send configuration data (10) which determine the signal processing program (11) and/or the transmission protocol program (12) to be used in the configurable motion sensor (1′

) to the configurable motion sensor (1′

).

19. The system of claim 17 or 18, wherein the sensor interfacing device (18) is further operable to extract the application program (15) from the selected software module (14) and to upload the application program (15) and the transmission protocol program (12) to a sensor hub (9), such as for instance a sports computer, a mobile phone or a personal digital assistant, intended in be operationally connected with the configurable motion sensor (1′

).

20. The system of one of the claims 17 to 19, wherein the sensor hub (9) is the sensor interfacing device (18), and wherein the sensor hub (9) is operable to execute the application program (15) and the transmission protocol program (12).