System and method for measuring movement of objects
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A system for measuring a speed and distance of an object, said system comprising:
- a plurality of accelerometers and rotational sensors disposed in said object said accelerometers configured so as to provide acceleration signals corresponding to accelerations associated with a movement of said object during a plurality of measurement cycles, said rotational sensors configured so as to provide angular signals corresponding to an angle of said object about an axis of a three dimensional translational coordinate; and
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 a distance traversed and the speed of said object during each of said measurement cycles, wherein each measurement cycle begins when said object has a constant velocity.
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Abstract
A device that measures the distance traveled, speed, and height jumped of a moving object or a person while running or walking. Accelerometers and rotational sensors are placed in the object or in the sole of one shoe, or in a wrist watch or the waist of the user, along with an electronic circuit that performs mathematical calculations to determine the distance and height. A microprocessor calculates an output speed based upon step-distance and elapsed time, and the distance traveled from the sum of all previous steps. The output of the microprocessor is coupled to a display that shows the distance traveled, speed, or height jumped.
469 Citations
35 Claims
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1. A system for measuring a speed and distance of an object, said system comprising:
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a plurality of accelerometers and rotational sensors disposed in said object said accelerometers configured so as to provide acceleration signals corresponding to accelerations associated with a movement of said object during a plurality of measurement cycles, said rotational sensors configured so as to provide angular signals corresponding to an angle of said object about an axis of a three dimensional translational coordinate; and 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 a distance traversed and the speed of said object during each of said measurement cycles, wherein each measurement cycle begins when said object has a constant velocity. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 31)
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8. A system for measuring a speed and distance of an object over a plurality of measurement cycles, said system comprising:
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an accelerometer unit disposed in said object, said accelerometer unit containing a plurality of accelerometers configured to measure acceleration associated with a movement of said object along a translational coordinate defined by the movement of said object, said accelerometers further configured to generate acceleration signals corresponding to said measured accelerations; a rotational sensor unit disposed in said object, said rotational sensor unit containing a plurality of rotational sensors configured so as to provide angular signals corresponding to an angle of rotation of said object 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 instantaneous accelerations of said object with respect to a reference coordinate defined by said object at the initiation of each one of said measurement cycles wherein each of said measurement cycles initiates when velocity of said object is constant; a second calculator unit coupled to said first calculator unit configured so as to receive said instantaneous accelerations, said second calculator adapted to measure a length traveled during each one of said cycles and a height jumped by said object. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 32)
- 12. The system in accordance with claim 11, wherein said first calculator derives acceleration signals along said reference coordinate system in accordance with
- space="preserve" listing-type="equation">ax=AxC.sub.1 -AyC.sub.2 +AzC.sub.3 -A.sup.0.sub.x
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">ay=AxC.sub.4 +AyC.sub.5 -AzC.sub.6 -A.sup.0.sub.y
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">az=-AxC.sub.7 +AyC.sub.8 +AzC.sub.9 -A.sup.0.sub.zwhere C1 -C9 are transformation coefficients and ax is acceleration along an x axis of said reference coordinate, ay is acceleration along a y axis of said reference coordinate, az is acceleration along a z axis of said reference coordinate.
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13. The system in accordance with claim 12, wherein said accelerometers are configured to be calibrated at the beginning of each cycle.
- 14. The system in accordance with claim 12, wherein said second calculator derives a length of each step L and a height H jumped during each step in accordance with
- space="preserve" listing-type="equation">Lx=∫
∫
ax(t)dt.sup.2 +TV.sup.0.sub.x
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">Ly=∫
∫
ay(t)dt.sup.2 +TV.sup.0.sub.y
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">Lz=∫
∫
az(t)dt.sup.2 +TV.sup.0.sub.z ##EQU3##
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">H=max(Lz)·
gwhere V0x, V0y and V0z are values of velocity at the initiation of a cycle and T is a time of the cycle and where Lx, Ly and Lz are respectively a length of the object measured along the reference frame coordinates, during each cycle and g is a unit vector aligned in the direction of gravity. - space="preserve" listing-type="equation">Lx=∫
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15. A method for measuring a distance traveled by an object over a plurality of measurement cycles comprising the steps of:
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measuring an acceleration associated with a movement of said object along a translational coordinate defined by the movement of said object; measuring an angle of rotation of said object about each one of said translational coordinates; calculating instantaneous accelerations of said object with respect to a reference coordinate defined by said object at the beginning of each one of said cycles, wherein each one of said measurement cycles begin when velocity of said object is constant; and calculating a length traveled by said object and a height jumped by said object in accordance with said calculated instantaneous accelerations. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 33)
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19. A system for measuring over a plurality of measurement cycles a range of motion of a medical device over a distance traveled by a user, said system comprising:
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an accelerometer unit disposed in said medical device, said accelerometer unit containing a plurality of accelerometers configured to measure the an acceleration associated with a movement of said medical device along a translational coordinate defined by the movement of said medical device, said accelerometers further configured to generate acceleration signals corresponding to said measured accelerations; a rotational sensor unit disposed in said medical device, said rotational sensor unit containing a plurality of rotational sensors configured so as to provide angular signals corresponding to an angle of rotation of said medical device 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 instantaneous accelerations of said medical device with respect to a reference coordinate defined by said medical device at the initiation of each one of said plurality of measurement cycles, wherein each measurement cycle initiates when said device has a constant velocity; and a second calculator unit coupled to said first calculator unit configured so as to receive said instantaneous accelerations, said second calculator adapted to measure a range of motion traveled during each one of said cycles by said medical device. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 34)
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22. A method for measuring over a plurality of measurement cycles a range of motion of a medical device over a distance traveled by a user, comprising the steps of;
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measuring an acceleration associated with a movement of said medical device along a translational coordinate defined by the movement of said medical device; measuring an angle of rotation of said medical device about each one of said translational coordinates; calculating instantaneous accelerations of said medical device with respect to a reference coordinate defined by said medical device at the beginning of each one of said plurality of measurement cycles, wherein each measurement cycle begins when said device has a constant velocity; and calculating the range of motion traveled by said medical device in accordance with said calculated instantaneous accelerations.
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23. A system for detecting and measuring over a plurality of measurement cycles a distance and a height traversed by a ball, said system comprising;
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an accelerometer unit disposed in said ball, said accelerometer unit containing a plurality of accelerometers configured to measure an acceleration associated with a movement of said ball along a translational coordinate defined by the movement of said ball, said accelerometers further configured to generate acceleration signals corresponding to said measured accelerations; a rotational sensor unit disposed in said ball, said rotational sensor unit containing a plurality of rotational sensors configured so as to provide angular signals corresponding to an angle of rotation of said ball 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 instantaneous accelerations of said ball with respect to a reference coordinate defined by said ball at the initiation of each one of a plurality of measurement cycles, wherein each of said measurement cycles initiates when velocity of said ball is constant; and a second calculator unit coupled to said first calculator unit configured so as to receive said instantaneous accelerations, said second calculator adapted to measure a length and height traversed by said ball during each one of said cycles. - View Dependent Claims (24, 35)
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25. A system for monitoring the movement of a group of moving objects over a plurality of measurement cycles, said system comprising:
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an accelerometer unit disposed in each one of said objects of said group, said accelerometer unit containing a plurality of accelerometers configured to measure an acceleration associated with movement of said group along a translational coordinate defined by the movement of said group, said accelerometers further configured to generate acceleration signals corresponding to said measured accelerations; a rotational sensor unit disposed in each one of said objects of said group, said rotational sensor unit containing a plurality of rotational sensors configured so as to provide angular signals corresponding to an angle of rotation of said group 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 instantaneous accelerations of each one of said objects of said group with respect to a reference coordinate defined by a corresponding object of said group at the initiation of each one of a plurality of measurement cycles, wherein each measurement cycle for each object in said group initiates when said object has a constant velocity; and a second calculator unit coupled to said first calculator unit configured so as to receive said instantaneous accelerations, said second calculator adapted to measure a range of motion traveled during each one of said cycles by each one of said objects of said group. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27)
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28. A system of navigation comprising:
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an accelerometer unit disposed on a user, said accelerometer unit containing a plurality of accelerometers configured to measure an acceleration associated with a movement of said user along a translational coordinate defined by the movement of said user, said accelerometers further configured to generate acceleration signals corresponding to said measured accelerations; a rotational sensor unit disposed on said user, said rotational sensor unit containing a plurality of rotational sensors configured so as to provide angular signals corresponding to an angle of rotation of said user 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 instantaneous accelerations of said user with respect to a reference coordinate defined by said user at the initiation of each one of a plurality of measurement cycles, wherein each measurement cycle initiates when said user has a constant velocity; and a second calculator unit coupled to said first calculator unit configured so as to receive said instantaneous accelerations, said second calculator adapted to track a location of the movement of the user in relation to the reference coordinate. - View Dependent Claims (29)
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30. A method of navigation, comprising the steps of:
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measuring an acceleration associated with a movement of a user along a translational coordinate defined by the movement of said user; measuring an angle of rotation of said user about each one of said translational coordinates; calculating instantaneous accelerations of said user with respect to a reference coordinate defined by said user at the beginning of each one of a plurality of measurement cycles, wherein each of said measurement cycles being when said user has a constant velocity; and tracking the location of movement of said user in accordance with said calculated instantaneous accelerations.
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Specification