Pedometer

• US 6,473,483 B2
• Filed: 01/19/2001
• Issued: 10/29/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Nathan Pyles
• Original Assignee: Nathan Pyles
• Inventors: Pyles, Nathan
• Primary Examiner(s): RUBIN, MARGARET R
• Application Number:
  US09/766,893
• Publication Number:
  US 20010022828A1
• Time in Patent Office: 648 Days
• Field of Search: 377/27, 412/2, 412/7
• US Class Current: 377/24
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 22/006 Pedometers
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 25/00 Manufacturing, calibrating, cleaning, or repairing instruments or devices referred to in the other groups of this subclass testing, calibrating or compensating compasses G01C17/38

Abstract

The pedometer having improved accuracy by being calibrated to actual user stride lengths and stride rates, and being recalibrated as necessary based on subsequent actual stride rates and lengths. The pedometer can also interact with a heart monitoring device.

Claims

1. A pedometer comprising:

a data processor programmed to create an initial calibration table of initial stride rates and lengths to be compared to an actual stride rate for deriving a corresponding actual stride length;

obtain a recalibration stride rate over a known distance traveled;

determine a calculated distance traveled using the initial calibration table and the recalibration stride rate;

compare the calculated distance traveled with the known distance traveled to determine the difference, if any, between the two; and

replace an initial stride length with a revised stride length that is a function of the initial stride length and the recalibration stride length.

2. The pedometer of claim 1, and further comprising:

a strap connected to the pedometer for releasably securing the pedometer to a user; and

a heart rate monitor connected to the strap.

3. The pedometer of claim 1, wherein the data processor is further programmed to calculate each initial stride length as an average of the stride lengths calculated during each calibration run.

4. The pedometer of claim 1, wherein the data processor is further programmed to calculate each stride rate as a function of the average stride rate calculated during each calibration run.

5. The pedometer of claim 1, wherein the data processor is further programmed to calculate an initial stride rate as a function of the average stride rate from a plurality of calibration runs, and to recalibrate a stride rate as a function of the difference between the initial stride rate and the subsequent stride rate.

6. The pedometer of claim 1, wherein the data processor is further programmed to recalibrate the range of initial stride rates as a function of a subsequent known stride rate in an algorithm.

7. The pedometer of claim 1, wherein the data processor is programmed to create the initial calibration table from one or more of the following user characteristics:

a) height;

or

b) gender.

8. A pedometer data processor programmed to:

create an initial recalibration table of initial stride rates and lengths for comparison with an actual stride rate for deriving a corresponding actual stride length and distance traveled;

calculate a recalibration stride length corresponding to a known stride rate over a known distance traveled;

determine a calculated distance traveled using the initial calibration table and the known stride rate;

compare the calculated distance traveled with the known distance traveled to determine a difference between the two; and

adjust the initial calibration table with a revised stride length that is a function of the initial stride length and the known stride length.

9. The pedometer of claim 8, wherein the data processor is further programmed to replace an initial stride length will be replaced with a recalibrated stride length only when the difference between the calculated distance traveled and the actual distance traveled is greater than two (2) percent.

10. The pedometer data processor of claim 8, wherein the data processor is further programmed to:

calculate each initial stride rate as an average of all stride rates measured during a corresponding calibration run.

11. The pedometer data processor of claim 8, wherein the data processor is further programmed to:

calculate each initial stride length as an average of all stride lengths calculated during a corresponding calibration run.

12. The pedometer data processor of claim 8, wherein the data processor is further programmed to:

calculate the recalibration stride rate as an average of all stride rates calculated during recalibration.

13. The pedometer data processor of claim 8, wherein the data processor is further programmed to:

calculate the actual stride length as an average of all stride lengths calculated during recalibration.

14. The pedometer data processor of claim 8, wherein the data processor is further programmed to:

compare the known stride rate with an initial stride rate of equal value and replacing the corresponding initial stride length with a recalibration stride length when the corresponding initial stride length varies by more than a predetermined amount from the actual stride length.

15. The pedometer data processor of claim 8, wherein the data processor is further programmed to:

create the initial calibration table to comprise sequentially increasing first, second, and third initial stride rates and corresponding sequentially increasing first, second, and third initial stride lengths, wherein the actual stride rate is equal to the second stride rate, the first stride rate is 0.05 steps per second less than the second stride rate and the third stride rate is 0.5 steps per second greater than the second stride rate;

replace the second stride length with the actual stride length;

calculate the stride length recalibration percentage based on the percentage difference between the actual stride length and the second stride length;

replace the first stride length with a stride length that is equal to the first stride length increased by the stride length recalibration percentage; and

replace the third stride length with the stride length that is equal to the third stride length increased by the stride length recalibration percentage.

16. The pedometer data processor of claim 8, wherein the initial calibration table is created from one or more of the following user characteristics:

a) height;

or

b) gender.

17. A pedometer comprising:

a step counter;

a transmitter in communication with the step counter to generate a step count signal corresponding to each step and transmit the step count signal;

a receiver mountable on a user body portion to receive the step count signal transmitted from the transmitter and calculate a distance from a number of steps counted by the step counter; and

a data processor programmed to calculate a distance traveled by multiplying a number of steps counted by a stride length that varies according to a rate at which steps are taken, and further programmed to derive an actual stride length from a range of stride lengths calculated from a range of corresponding stride rates, the range of stride rates and stride lengths being derived from predetermined empirical data.

18. The pedometer of claim 17, wherein the empirical data is derived from one or more of the following characteristics:

a) height;

or

b) gender.

19. The pedometer of claim 17, wherein the empirical data shows a stride length rate of change of between 1.5 and 2.0 centimeters for each 0.05 change in steps per second.