Adjustable athletic training system

• US 5,430,435 A
• Filed: 12/22/1993
• Issued: 07/04/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/1992
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Ultimate Balance Inc.
• Original Assignee: RHYS Resources
• Inventors: Thomas, A. Rhys, Hoch, David J.
• Primary Examiner(s): SWANN III, GLEN R
• Application Number:
  US08/172,118
• Time in Patent Office: 559 Days
• Field of Search: 340/573, 340/689, 273/29 A, 273/460, 273/DIG. 17, 434/247
• US Class Current: 340/573.7
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1121 Determining geometric values, e.g. centre of rotation or angular range of movement
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 69/3608 Attachments on the body, e.g. for measuring, aligning, restraining A63B69/0059, A63B69/3673 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 69/38 for tennis A63B61/006, A63B69/0073 and A63B69/0097 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 273/17 Head mounted

Abstract

An athletic training system includes a position processor which can be mounted on the head of an athlete by means of, for example, a head band. The position processor includes a sensor in the form of two tilt sensors mounted at right angles to each other. The direction of tilt is sampled by a microprocessor as output voltages from the sensors for further processing. Software of the microprocessor processes the sensed directions by filtering and hysterisis algorithms in order to eliminate rapid changes of state of the switches of the sensor due to sporadic movement caused by the motion of the athlete. The positional information is conveyed to the athlete as a pattern of lights and tones. Proper and improper head positions are indicated for a plurality of directions of tilt. The training system is user controllable by means of rotary switches to adjust, among other things, the level of sensitivity of the system. The system can also self-center by adjusting all sampled directions by a sampled reference value.

Claims

1. An apparatus, for indicating the position of a body part, comprising:

a position sensor for sensing a direction and magnitude of tilt, said position sensor including a first tilt sensor mounted at right angles to a second tilt sensor, said first tilt sensor producing a first output voltage and said second tilt sensor producing a second output voltage, said first and second output voltages proportional to the direction and magnitude of tilt of said first and second tilt sensors;

means for mounting said sensor on the body part;

means, coupled to said position sensor, for sampling said first and second output voltages as digital values;

means for converting said digital values to an angular position;

means for counting the length of time said position sensor is positioned at a particular angular position;

means, responsive to said means for counting, for signalling said particular angular position.

2. The apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said first and second tilt sensors are accelerometers.

3. The apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said first and second tilt sensors include a fluid-filled glass tube and an infra-red detector.

4. The apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said means for counting includes a microprocessor.

5. The apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said means for signalling includes a visual unit and an audio unit.

6. The apparatus as in claim 5 wherein said visual unit includes five light emitting diodes, and said audio unit includes a speaker.

7. The apparatus as in claim 1 including means for storing a particular set of digital values as reference values, said reference values associated with a reference position, and means for adjusting subsequently sampled digital values by said reference values.

8. An apparatus, for training an athlete, comprising;

means, mounted on the athlete, for sensing directions and magnitudes of tilt as a plurality of pairs of voltage values;

means for converting each pair of voltage values to a pair of digital values;

means for selecting a particular pair of digital values as reference values;

means for adjusting each subsequently sampled pair of digital values by said reference values to generate an adjusted pair of digital values;

means for converting said adjusted pair of digital values to a direction of tilt signal and a magnitude of tilt signal.

9. The apparatus as in claim 8 wherein said means for sensing includes a pair of tilt sensors mounted at a right angle to each other.

10. The apparatus as in claim 8 wherein said means for adjusting includes a microprocessor.

11. The apparatus as in claim 10 wherein said microprocessor includes means for filtering said direction of tilt signal by a digital hysterisis algorithm.

12. The apparatus as in claim 8 further including a visual unit and an audio unit for indicating said direction of tilt signal and said magnitude of tilt signal.

13. A method for sensing the position of a body part, comprising the steps of:

sensing a reference direction and magnitude of tilt by a tilt sensor mounted on the body part;

sensing an arbitrary direction and magnitude of tilt by said tilt sensor;

adjusting said arbitrary direction and magnitude of tilt by said reference direction and magnitude of tilt to generate a normalized direction and magnitude of tilt;

signaling said normalized direction and magnitude of tilt.

14. The method as in claim 13 wherein said sensor produces a pair of voltage signals proportional to the direction and magnitude of tilt of said sensor, and further including the step of converting said pair of voltages to a pair of digital values.

15. The method as in claim 13 further including the steps of determining the length of time said sensor senses said normalized direction of tilt, setting a high threshold time, and signaling said normalized direction and magnitude of tilt if the length of time said sensor senses said normalized direction of tilt exceeds said high threshold time.

16. The method as in claim 13 further including the step selecting a preferred direction of tilt, and signaling said normalized direction and magnitude of tilt if said sensor is approximately tilted in said preferred direction of tilt.

17. The method as in claim 13 further including the step of selecting a threshold magnitude of tilt, and signaling said normalized direction and magnitude of tilt if said normalized magnitude of tilt exceeds said threshold magnitude of tilt.