Gait activity monitor
First Claim
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1. A monitor for determining the step activity of a wearer comprising:
- a housing having a communication surface, said communication surface being selected of a material and opacity to permit transmission of infrared radiation, said housing having a support surface that is shaped and contoured to mate with an ankle of the wearer, said housing including a strap, fixed to the exterior of said housing, for releasably mounting the monitor to the ankle of the wearer;
an electronic accelerometer for providing an acceleration signal indicative of the acceleration of said housing;
a step determination unit coupled to receive the acceleration signal, said step determination unit including a memory device for recording a minimum acceleration data unit, a maximum acceleration data unit, and a minimum time unit, said step determination unit comparing the stored minimum acceleration data unit and the minimum time unit with the received acceleration signal for determining when the wearer of the monitor has taken a step and said step determination unit providing a step signal to indicate that the user has taken a step when the received acceleration signal is both greater than the stored minimum acceleration data unit, and less than the maximum acceleration data unit for the minimum time unit;
processor memory for storing data relating to the step activity of the wearer and for storing step activity data including a time interval data unit indicating the length of a measurement interval and a step rate data unit indicating the amount of time that the step signal will be ignored after a step is counted;
a data processor for determining the step activity of the wearer, said data processor being coupled to said step determination unit and said processor memory, said data processor including a first timer for counting consecutive measurement time intervals wherein each measurement time interval is equal to the time specified by the time interval data unit stored in said processor memory, said data processor including a second timer for counting a step rate time interval wherein each step rate time interval is equal to the time specified by the step rate data unit stored in said processor memory, said data processor being responsive to said first timer and the step signal for storing a plurality of step count data units in said processor memory wherein each step count data unit represents the number of steps made during the measurement time interval, said data processor being responsive to said second timer to count only one step during each step rate time interval;
a monitor interface, including a monitor transceiver, for transmitting and receiving infrared radiation, said monitor interface being constructed for converting received infrared radiation to electronic signals and for converting electronic signals to infrared radiation, said monitor interface being coupled to exchange electronic signals with said data processor, said electronic accelerometer, said step determination unit, said processor memory, and said data processor each being mounted in said housing with said transceiver being mounted proximate to said communication surface;
an interface module for receiving and transmitting infrared radiation to and from said monitor interface, including an interface transceiver, said interface module being constructed to convert received infrared radiation to electronic signals and to convert electronic signals to infrared radiation; and
a system processor coupled to exchange electronic signals with said interface module, said system processor including a user interface and being responsive to user input for establishing communication with said data processor by way of said interface module and said monitor interface, said system processor being constructed to respond to user input to provide the time interval data unit and the step rate data unit to said data processor for storage in said processor memory, said system processor being further responsive to user input for providing the minimum acceleration data unit, and the minimum time unit to said data processor for storage in said memory device of said step determination unit, said data processor being responsive to control signals received from said system processor to provide the plurality of step count data units to said system processor.
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Abstract
A monitor records the gait activity of a wearer. The monitor is constructed to determine and record the number of steps taken by a wearer during selected intervals. The monitor includes an optical transmitter receiver to permit the monitor to be optically coupled to a stand-alone computer for transmitting data therebetween. The monitor can be programmed by the stand-alone computer to change the duration of the selected time interval period. Similarly, the gait activity data stored by the monitor can be downloaded to the stand-alone computer for analyzing the data and generating selected reports.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. A monitor for determining the step activity of a wearer comprising:
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a housing having a communication surface, said communication surface being selected of a material and opacity to permit transmission of infrared radiation, said housing having a support surface that is shaped and contoured to mate with an ankle of the wearer, said housing including a strap, fixed to the exterior of said housing, for releasably mounting the monitor to the ankle of the wearer; an electronic accelerometer for providing an acceleration signal indicative of the acceleration of said housing; a step determination unit coupled to receive the acceleration signal, said step determination unit including a memory device for recording a minimum acceleration data unit, a maximum acceleration data unit, and a minimum time unit, said step determination unit comparing the stored minimum acceleration data unit and the minimum time unit with the received acceleration signal for determining when the wearer of the monitor has taken a step and said step determination unit providing a step signal to indicate that the user has taken a step when the received acceleration signal is both greater than the stored minimum acceleration data unit, and less than the maximum acceleration data unit for the minimum time unit; processor memory for storing data relating to the step activity of the wearer and for storing step activity data including a time interval data unit indicating the length of a measurement interval and a step rate data unit indicating the amount of time that the step signal will be ignored after a step is counted; a data processor for determining the step activity of the wearer, said data processor being coupled to said step determination unit and said processor memory, said data processor including a first timer for counting consecutive measurement time intervals wherein each measurement time interval is equal to the time specified by the time interval data unit stored in said processor memory, said data processor including a second timer for counting a step rate time interval wherein each step rate time interval is equal to the time specified by the step rate data unit stored in said processor memory, said data processor being responsive to said first timer and the step signal for storing a plurality of step count data units in said processor memory wherein each step count data unit represents the number of steps made during the measurement time interval, said data processor being responsive to said second timer to count only one step during each step rate time interval; a monitor interface, including a monitor transceiver, for transmitting and receiving infrared radiation, said monitor interface being constructed for converting received infrared radiation to electronic signals and for converting electronic signals to infrared radiation, said monitor interface being coupled to exchange electronic signals with said data processor, said electronic accelerometer, said step determination unit, said processor memory, and said data processor each being mounted in said housing with said transceiver being mounted proximate to said communication surface; an interface module for receiving and transmitting infrared radiation to and from said monitor interface, including an interface transceiver, said interface module being constructed to convert received infrared radiation to electronic signals and to convert electronic signals to infrared radiation; and a system processor coupled to exchange electronic signals with said interface module, said system processor including a user interface and being responsive to user input for establishing communication with said data processor by way of said interface module and said monitor interface, said system processor being constructed to respond to user input to provide the time interval data unit and the step rate data unit to said data processor for storage in said processor memory, said system processor being further responsive to user input for providing the minimum acceleration data unit, and the minimum time unit to said data processor for storage in said memory device of said step determination unit, said data processor being responsive to control signals received from said system processor to provide the plurality of step count data units to said system processor.
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2. A monitor for determining the step activity of a wearer comprising:
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an electronic accelerometer for providing an acceleration signal having a magnitude indicative of the acceleration of an ankle of a wearer; a step determination unit coupled to receive the acceleration signal, said step determination unit including a memory device for recording step determination data including a minimum acceptable magnitude of the acceleration signal and a minimum acceptable duration of the acceleration signal above the minimum acceptable magnitude, said step determination unit comparing the received acceleration signal with the minimum acceptable magnitude and the minimum acceptable duration and determining that the wearer of the monitor has taken a step when the magnitude of the acceleration signal is maintained for a period exceeding the minimum acceptable duration and then providing a step signal to indicate that the user has taken a step; processor memory for storing a time interval data unit indicating the length of a measurement interval; and a data processor for determining the step activity of the wearer, said data processor being coupled to said step determination unit and said processor memory, said data processor including a step timer for counting measurement time intervals wherein each measurement time interval is equal to the time specified by the time interval data unit stored in said processor memory, said data processor being responsive to said timer and the step signal to store a plurality of step count data units in said processor memory wherein each step count data unit represents the number of steps made during the measurement time interval. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4)
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5. A monitor for recording selected motion activity including back, arm, shoulder, hip, or leg motion of a wearer comprising:
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sensor means for sensing movement of the monitor relative to the environment of the wearer, said sensor means being constructed to provide a movement signal having a magnitude for a duration that is indicative of the sensed movement; movement selection means responsive to the movement signal for determining when the wearer of the monitor has performed a selected motion by comparing the magnitude and the duration of the movement signal with a predetermined magnitude and duration and providing a motion signal to indicate that the user has performed the selected motion when the magnitude and the duration of the movement and signal exceeds the predetermined magnitude for the predetermined duration; processor memory means for storing a time interval data unit indicating the length of a measurement interval; and data processor means responsive to said movement selection means and said processor memory means for recording the movement activity of the wearer, said data processor means including timer means for counting measurement time intervals wherein each measurement time interval is equal to the time specified by the time interval unit stored in said processor memory means, said data processor means being responsive to said timer means and the motion signal to store a plurality of selected movement data units in said processor memory means wherein each selected movement data unit represents the number of selected movements made during the measurement time interval. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8)
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9. A monitor for recording motion activity including back, arm, shoulder, hip, or leg motion of a user comprising:
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sensor means for sensing movement of the monitor relative to the environment of the wearer, said sensor means being constructed to provide a movement signal indicative of the sensed movement; memory means for storing data related to the motion activity and for storing a time interval data unit indicating the length of a measurement interval; data processing means responsive to the movement signal and the stored time interval data unit for providing a plurality of motion count data units wherein each motion count data unit is indicative of the number of movements that occur during consecutive measurement intervals, said data processing means being coupled to said memory means for storing said plurality of motion count data units in said memory means; system processing means for interfacing said monitor with a user to receive said plurality of motion count data units and to provide said time interval data unit to said memory means; and data transceiver means for electrically interfacing said system processing means with said data processing means, wherein said data transceiver means further comprises infrared transceiver means for transmitting data in the form of infrared signals between said system processing means and said data processing means.
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10. A method for monitoring the step activity of a user comprising the steps of:
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(a) monitoring a signal caused by movement of the user'"'"'s ankle and when the signal caused by the movement is detected, determining whether the detected movement is a step by comparing the signal'"'"'s magnitude for some duration with predetermined valuer and, if the movement is not a step, continuing to monitor the user'"'"'s ankle and, if the movement is a step, performing step (b); (b) ignoring the signal caused by movement of the user'"'"'s ankle for a time period indicative of a maximum step rate to be monitored and repeating step (a); (c) repeating steps (a) and (b) for a plurality of consecutive step count intervals to determine a respective plurality of step count data units wherein each of plurality of step count data units is indicative of the total number of steps taken during the respective one of the plurality of consecutive step count intervals; and (d) storing the plurality of step count data units. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
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Specification