ELECTRONIC DEVICE, CONTROL PROGRAM, CONTROL METHOD, AND SYSTEM

• US 20160101319A1
• Filed: 05/16/2014
• Published: 04/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyocera Corporation
• Original Assignee: Kyocera Corporation
• Inventors: TANABE, Shigeki, MORITA, Hideki
• Granted Patent: US 10,130,843 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4866 Evaluating metabolism A61B5/083 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/40 Acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/74 Atmospheric pressure
• 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: G01C 22/006 Pedometers

Abstract

An electronic device includes an acceleration sensor configured to detect an acceleration value, an atmospheric pressure sensor configured to detect an atmospheric pressure value, and a controller. The controller is configured to calculate the amount of activity or the number of steps based on the acceleration value detected by the acceleration sensor and the atmospheric pressure value detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

an acceleration sensor configured to detect an acceleration value;

an atmospheric pressure sensor configured to detect an atmospheric pressure value; and

a controller configured to calculate an amount of activity or a number of steps based on the acceleration value detected by the acceleration sensor and the atmospheric pressure value detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor.

4. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein

the controller is configured to obtain the amount of activity based on the acceleration value and a difference in the atmospheric pressure values at a start and an end of movement.

5. The electronic device according to claim 4, wherein

the controller is configured to obtain the amount of activity without based on the atmospheric pressure value when it is determined based on the acceleration value that a user of the electronic device moves by a bicycle and a type of the bicycle is set to a power-assisted bicycle.

6. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein

the controller is configured to determine whether a change in an atmospheric pressure signal detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor results from an altitudinal change or an atmospheric pressure change based on an acceleration signal detected by the acceleration sensor.

7. The electronic device according to claim 6, wherein

the controller is configured to:

determine an acceleration state based on the acceleration signal detected by the acceleration sensor; and

determine whether the change in the atmospheric pressure signal results from an altitudinal change or an atmospheric pressure change based on the determined acceleration state.

8. The electronic device according to claim 6, wherein

the controller is configured to change a period in which the controller determines that the change in the atmospheric pressure signal detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor results from an altitudinal change based on an amplitude of the acceleration signal detected by the acceleration sensor.

9. The electronic device according to claim 6, wherein

the controller is configured to determine that the change in the atmospheric pressure signal detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor in a first period results from an altitudinal change when it is determined that the acceleration sensor has detected an acceleration signal having an amplitude larger than a first value.

10. The electronic device according to claim 6, wherein

the controller is configured to determine that the change in the atmospheric pressure signal detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor results from an altitudinal change when it is determined that the acceleration sensor is detecting an acceleration signal having an amplitude larger than a second value.

11. The electronic device according to claim 6, wherein

the controller is configured to determine that the change in the atmospheric pressure signal detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor in a first period results from an altitudinal change when it is determined that the acceleration sensor has detected an acceleration signal having an amplitude larger than a first value,

the controller is configured to determine that the change in the atmospheric pressure signal detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor results from an altitudinal change when it is determined that the acceleration sensor is detecting an acceleration signal having an amplitude larger than a second value, and

the first value is larger than the second value.

14. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein

the controller is configured to:

determine a resting state or a type of a moving state based on the acceleration value detected by the acceleration sensor;

calculate the amount of activity based on the determination result and the atmospheric pressure value detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor; and

change a cycle at which the atmospheric pressure sensor detects the atmospheric pressure value based on the determined type of the moving state.

15. The electronic device according to claim 14, wherein

the controller is configured to stop driving of the atmospheric pressure sensor when it is determined that a user of the electronic device is in the resting state.

16. The electronic device according to claim 14, wherein

the controller is configured to stop an operation of allowing the atmospheric pressure sensor to detect the atmospheric pressure value when it is determined that a user of the electronic device is in the resting state.

17. The electronic device according to claim 14, wherein

the controller is configured to:

calculate an average moving velocity after determining the type of the moving state; and

change a cycle at which the atmospheric pressure sensor detects the atmospheric pressure value based on the type of the moving state and the average moving velocity.

18. The electronic device according to claim 14, wherein

the controller is configured to determine a state in which a user is walking, a state in which a user is traveling, and a state in which a user is moving while riding a moving vehicle as the type of the moving state.

19. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein

the controller is configured to:

count the number of steps based on the acceleration value detected by the acceleration sensor; and

mitigate a condition for counting the number of steps when it is determined that a variation in the atmospheric pressure value detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor in relation to the counted number of steps is larger than a predetermined value.

20. The electronic device according to claim 19, wherein

the controller is configured to mitigate the condition for counting the number of steps when it is determined that the variation in the atmospheric pressure value detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor in relation to the counted number of steps is larger than the predetermined value as compared to when it is determined that the variation in the atmospheric pressure value in relation to the number of steps is equal to or smaller than the predetermined value.

21. The electronic device according to claim 19, wherein

the controller is configured to mitigate a condition for counting the number of steps when it is determined based on the atmospheric pressure value detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor that the user is moving on a road having a predetermined gradient or more.

22. The electronic device according to claim 19, wherein

the controller is configured to mitigate a condition for starting counting the number of steps when it is determined that a variation in the atmospheric pressure value detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor in relation to the number of steps is larger than a predetermined value.

23. The electronic device according to claim 19, wherein

the controller is configured to:

set a cycle of the acceleration value detected by the acceleration sensor to a first cycle when it is determined that a variation in the atmospheric pressure value detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor in relation to the number of steps is equal to or smaller than a predetermined value; and

start counting the number of steps when the number of times the amplitude of the acceleration value detected based on the first cycle successively exceeds a first threshold exceeds a first number of times, and

the controller is further configured to;

set the cycle of the acceleration value detected by the acceleration sensor to a second cycle shorter than the first cycle when it is determined that the variation in the atmospheric pressure value detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor in relation to the number of steps is larger than the predetermined value; and

start counting the number of steps when the number of times the amplitude of the acceleration value detected based on the second cycle successively exceeds a second threshold smaller than the first threshold exceeds a second number of times smaller than the first number of times.

24. The electronic device according to claim 23, wherein

the controller is configured to:

add the first number of times to the counted number of steps at the start of the counting of the number of steps when the number of times exceeds the first number of times; and

add the second number of times to the counted number of steps at the start of the counting of the number of steps when the number of times exceeds the second number of times.

25. The electronic device according to claim 19, further comprising:

a storage, wherein

the controller is configured to;

store the atmospheric pressure value detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor in the storage together with a period when there is the period in which it was not possible to count the number of steps based on the acceleration value detected by the acceleration sensor;

estimate the number of steps in the period in which it was not possible to count the number of steps, stored in the storage based on the atmospheric pressure value stored in the storage; and

add the estimated number of steps to the counted number of steps.

26. The electronic device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a storage, wherein

the controller is configured to;

estimate, when there is a period in which it was not possible to count the number of steps based on the acceleration value detected by the acceleration sensor, the number of steps in the period in which it was not possible to count the number of steps, stored in the storage based on the atmospheric pressure value detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor and the period; and

add the estimated number of steps to the counted number of steps.

28. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein

the controller is configured to:

estimate, when there is a period in which it was not possible to count the number of steps based on the acceleration value detected by the acceleration sensor, the number of steps in the period in which it was not possible to count the number of steps, stored in the storage based on the atmospheric pressure value detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor and the period; and

add the estimated number of steps to the counted number of steps.

2. A control method comprising:

detecting an acceleration value using an acceleration sensor;

detecting an atmospheric pressure value using an atmospheric pressure sensor; and

calculating an amount of activity or a number of steps based on the detected acceleration value and the detected atmospheric pressure value.

13. The control method according to claim 2, wherein

the calculating includes determining whether a change in an atmospheric pressure signal detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor results from an altitudinal change or an atmospheric pressure change based on an acceleration signal detected by the acceleration sensor.

3. A computer program product having computer instructions, stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, for enabling a computer of an electronic device executing the computer instructions to perform operations comprising:

detecting an acceleration value using an acceleration sensor;

detecting an atmospheric pressure value using an atmospheric pressure sensor; and

calculating an amount of activity or a number of steps based on the detected acceleration value and the detected atmospheric pressure value.

12. The computer program product according to claim 3, wherein

the calculating includes determining whether a change in an atmospheric pressure signal detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor results from an altitudinal change or an atmospheric pressure change based on an acceleration signal detected by the acceleration sensor.

27. A system comprising:

an atmospheric pressure sensor configured to detect an atmospheric pressure value;

an acceleration sensor configured to detect an acceleration value; and

a controller configured to count a number of steps based on the acceleration value detected by the acceleration sensor, wherein

the controller is configured to mitigate a condition for counting the number of steps when it is determined based on the atmospheric pressure value detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor that a variation in the atmospheric pressure value in relation to the number of steps is larger than a predetermined value.