System and method for measuring movement of objects
First Claim
1. A system for measuring the speed of a person, said system comprising:
- a plurality of accelerometers and rotational sensors disposed in the shoe of said person, said accelerometers configured so as to provide acceleration signals corresponding to accelerations associated with the movement of said shoe as said person takes a step, said rotational sensors configured so as to provide angular signals corresponding to the angle of said shoe about an axis of a three dimensional translational coordinate;
a calculator coupled to said accelerometers and said rotational sensors configured so as to receive said acceleration signals and said angular signals, said calculator adapted to measure the distance traversed during each step and the speed of said person.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A device that measures the distance traveled, speed, and height jumped of a person while running or walking. Accelerometers and rotational sensors are placed in the sole of one shoe along with an electronic circuit that performs mathematical calculations to determine the distance and height of each step. A radio frequency transmitter sends the distance and height information to a wristwatch or other central receiving unit. A radio frequency receiver in the wristwatch or other unit is coupled to a microprocessor that calculates an output speed based upon step-distance and elapsed time, and the distance traveled of the runner from the sum of all previous step distances. The output of the microprocessor is coupled to a display that shows the distance traveled, speed, or height jumped of the runner or walker.
669 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A system for measuring the speed of a person, said system comprising:
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a plurality of accelerometers and rotational sensors disposed in the shoe of said person, said accelerometers configured so as to provide acceleration signals corresponding to accelerations associated with the movement of said shoe as said person takes a step, said rotational sensors configured so as to provide angular signals corresponding to the angle of said shoe about an axis of a three dimensional translational coordinate; a calculator coupled to said accelerometers and said rotational sensors configured so as to receive said acceleration signals and said angular signals, said calculator adapted to measure the distance traversed during each step and the speed of said person. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A system for measuring the speed of a runner, said system comprising:
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an accelerometer unit disposed in a shoe of said runner, said accelerometer unit containing a plurality of accelerometers configured to measure the acceleration associated with the movement of said shoe along a translational coordinate defined by the movement of said shoe, said accelerometers further configured to generate acceleration signals corresponding to said measured accelerations; a rotational sensor unit disposed in said shoe, said rotational sensor unit containing a plurality of rotational sensors configured so as to provide angular signals corresponding to the angle of rotation of said shoe about each one of said translational coordinates; a first calculator unit coupled to said accelerometer unit and said rotational sensor unit configured so as to receive said acceleration signals and said angular signals, said calculator adapted to measure the instantaneous accelerations of said shoe with respect to a reference coordinate defined by said shoe while in contact with a surface; a second calculator unit coupled to said first calculator unit configured so as to receive said instantaneous accelerations, said second calculator adapted to measure the length of each step and the height jumped by said person. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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15. The system in accordance with claim 14 wherein said first calculator derives said γ
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x and γ
y angles in accordance with
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">γ
.sub.x =Sin.sup.-1 (Ax/g)
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">γ
.sub.y =Sin.sup.-1 (Ay/g)wherein Ax is the extent of acceleration along the X axis of said translational coordinate and Ay is the extent of gravity along the Y axis of said translational coordinate at the beginning of each step.
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x and γ
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16. The system in accordance with claim 15, wherein said accelerometers are configured to be calibrated when said user'"'"'s shoe is resting on a surface.
- 17. The system in accordance with claim 16, wherein said second calculator derives the length of each step L and the height H jumped during each step in accordance with
- space="preserve" listing-type="equation">Lx=∫
∫
ax(t)dt.sup.2
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">Ly=∫
∫
ay(t)dt.sup.2
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">Lz=∫
∫
az(t)dt.sup.2 ##EQU2##
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">H=max(Lz)where Lx, Ly and Lz are respectively the length of each step along the reference frame coordinates. - space="preserve" listing-type="equation">Lx=∫
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18. A method for measuring the distance traveled by a runner comprising the steps of:
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measuring the acceleration associated with the movement of a shoe of said runner along a translational coordinate defined by the movement of said shoe; measuring the angle of rotation of said shoe about each one of said translational coordinates; calculating instantaneous accelerations of said shoe with respect to a reference coordinate defined by said shoe while in contact with a surface; and calculating the length of each step and the height jumped by said person in accordance with said calculated instantaneous accelerations. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification