Sports performance computer system and method
First Claim
1. A system for determining kinematic measurements along a course traveled by a person, comprising:
- means for attaching the system to the person, said system having means for receiving signals from a set of global positioning satellites which are subject to selective availability errors purposefully introduced into the signals, said signal receiving means being capable of receiving signals at each point of a plurality of points along the course from a sub-set of said global positioning satellites;
means for processing the signals received at each point to determine an earth-centered-earth-fixed (ECEF) fix of each point in x, y, and z planes relative to the earth'"'"'s center, wherein any selective availability errors in the ECEF fixes processed from signals received from the same sub-set of satellites at successive points along the course are effectively canceled out by calculation of relative kinematic measurements for the successive points;
means for determining when the signals received at a current one of the plurality of points is received from a different sub-set of satellites than the sub-set of satellites from which signals are received at an immediately preceding point, wherein a jump error may be introduced in the fix for the current point as compared to the fix for the preceding point when they are obtained from different sub-sets of satellites;
means for correcting the lump error in the ECEF fix at the current point at which the determining means determines that signals are first received from the different subset of satellites; and
means for calculating relative kinematic measurements for segments between the ECEF fixes of each pair of sequentially adjacent points with any jump error between fixes being corrected by said jump error correcting means.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system, a signal bearing medium embodying a program of machine-readable instructions, and a method employing Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites to determine the current pace, the distance traveled and speed of a person, for example a runner, are disclosed. A GPS receiver for receiving signals from GPS satellites is attached to the person. A processor processes the signals received at a plurality of points from sub-sets of GPS satellites to determine the Earth Centered Earth Fixed (ECEF) fix in the x, y, and z planes relative to the center of the earth of each point. The processor detects when the signals are received from a different sub-set of satellites and corrects for the resulting fix error. The processor calculates the relative distance of the segment between the ECEF fixes of each pair of sequentially adjacent points, and adds together the distances of the segments to determine the distance of the path traveled by the person, which is defined by the points. Errors associated with determining position relative to navigational references such as latitude and longitude are not incurred because relative ECEF fixes are used to determine the distance rather than latitude and longitude fixes. Also, "Selective Availability" error, which is an error introduced into GPS signals by the U.S. military that limits the accuracy of GPS fixes relative to navigational references, does not degrade the accuracy of the distance calculations because the relative distance between the points is used to determine the distance traveled, rather than the distance of the points from navigational references. The processor calculates the elapsed time between selective points, and determines the average speed or pace of the person between selective points and current speed in minutes/mile. A storage device stores data structures representing the ECEF fixes of selective points, and data structures representing relative times that GPS signals are received at selective points. A signal-bearing medium tangibly embodying a program of for performing the above method that are executable by a digital processing device.
408 Citations
44 Claims
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1. A system for determining kinematic measurements along a course traveled by a person, comprising:
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means for attaching the system to the person, said system having means for receiving signals from a set of global positioning satellites which are subject to selective availability errors purposefully introduced into the signals, said signal receiving means being capable of receiving signals at each point of a plurality of points along the course from a sub-set of said global positioning satellites; means for processing the signals received at each point to determine an earth-centered-earth-fixed (ECEF) fix of each point in x, y, and z planes relative to the earth'"'"'s center, wherein any selective availability errors in the ECEF fixes processed from signals received from the same sub-set of satellites at successive points along the course are effectively canceled out by calculation of relative kinematic measurements for the successive points; means for determining when the signals received at a current one of the plurality of points is received from a different sub-set of satellites than the sub-set of satellites from which signals are received at an immediately preceding point, wherein a jump error may be introduced in the fix for the current point as compared to the fix for the preceding point when they are obtained from different sub-sets of satellites; means for correcting the lump error in the ECEF fix at the current point at which the determining means determines that signals are first received from the different subset of satellites; and means for calculating relative kinematic measurements for segments between the ECEF fixes of each pair of sequentially adjacent points with any jump error between fixes being corrected by said jump error correcting means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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9. The system recited in clam 1 further comprising means for detecting the person'"'"'s directional changes of travel.
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19. An apparatus for determining temporal distance measurements along a course traveled by a person, comprising:
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a receiver configured for attachment to the person for receiving signals from a set of global positioning satellites which are subject to selective availability errors purposefully introduced into the signals, said receiver being capable of receiving signals at each point of a plurality of points along the course from a sub-set of said global positioning satellites; and a processor communicatively coupled to the receiver, the processor being configured with means for; processing the satellite signals received at a plurality of points from sub-sets of satellites to determine an earth-centered-earth-fixed (ECEF) fix in x, y, and z planes relative to earth'"'"'s center of each point where signals are received; determining when the signals received at a point are received from a different sub-set of satellites than the sub-set of satellites from which signals were received at the immediately preceding point; correcting for a jump error that may be introduced in the ECEF fix of each point at which the signals are first received from the different sub-set of satellites; calculating a distance of each segment between ECEF fixes of each pair of sequentially adjacent points where the signals from the sub-sets of satellites are received, whereby selective availability errors in the signals are cancelled out by calculating the relative distance between ECEF fixes of sequentially adjacent points; and adding together each of the distances of the segments to determine a total distance of a path defined by the points. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A signal bearing medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing device to perform a method for determining kinematic measurements along a course traveled by a person, the method comprising:
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processing satellite data signals received at a plurality of points from sub-sets of satellites to determine an earth-centered-earth-fixed (ECEF) fix in x, y, and z planes relative to earth'"'"'s center of each point where signals are received, wherein the satellite data signals received are subject to selective availability errors purposefully introduced into the signals; determining when the signals received at a point are received from a different sub-set of satellites than the sub-set of satellites from which signals were received at the immediately preceding point; correcting for a jump error that may be introduced in the ECEF fix of each point at which the signals are first received from the different sub-set of satellites; calculating a distance of each segment between ECEF fixes of each pair of sequentially adjacent points where the signals from the sub-sets of satellites are received, whereby any selective availability errors in the signals are cancelled out by calculating the relative distance between ECEF fixes of sequentially adjacent points; and adding together each of the distances of the segments to determine a total distance of a path defined by the points. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A method for determining kinematic measurements along a course traveled by a person, comprising:
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attaching a global positioning system (GPS) receiver to the person for receiving signals from GPS satellites, wherein the satellite signals received are subject to selective availability errors purposefully introduced into the signals; receiving at each of a plurality of points alone the course signals from a sub-set of GPS satellites at the GPS receiver; processing the signals received at each point to determine an earth-centered-earth-fixed (ECEF) fix of each point in x, y, and z planes relative to earth'"'"'s center; determining when the signals received at a point are received from a different sub-set of satellites than a sub-set of satellites from which signals were received at the immediately preceding point; correcting for a lump error that may be introduced in the ECEF fix of each point at which the signals are first received from the different sub-set of satellites; calculating a distance of each segment between ECEF fixes of each pair of sequentially adjacent points, whereby any selective availability errors in the signals are cancelled out by calculating the relative distance between ECEF fixes of sequentially adjacent points; and adding together the distances of the segments to determine a total distance of a path defined by the points. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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Specification