Portable GPS velosity/distance meter

• US 6,532,432 B1
• Filed: 10/20/1999
• Issued: 03/11/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Morita Digital LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Instruments Incorporated (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: Nagatsuma, Hideaki, Sakumoto, Kazumi, Odagiri, Hiroshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoff, Marc S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): TSAI, CAROL S W
• Application Number:
  US09/421,594
• Time in Patent Office: 1,238 Days
• Field of Search: 702/92-95, 702/142, 702/143, 702/149, 702/150, 702/152, 702/178, 702/183, 702/187, 702/188, 702/FOR.123, 702/FOR.124, 702/FOR.134, 702/FOR.135, 702/FOR.143, 702/FOR.144, 702/FOR.150, 702/FOR.151, 702/FOR.154, 702/FOR.170, 734/88, 731/78.R, 701/1, 701/207, 701/208, 701/213, 340/988, 340/990, 340/995, 340/825.34, 342/357, 342/352, 482/8
• US Class Current: 702/149
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 22/02 by conversion into electric waveforms and subsequent integration, e.g. using tachometer generator G01C22/002, G01C22/004, G01C22/006 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 3/50 for measuring linear speed G01P3/56 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/19 Sporting applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/34 Power consumption
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/52 Determining velocity

Abstract

To provide a portable GPS velocity/distance meter which may seek a suitable movement velocity by removing an affect of arm swing, save power consumption of a device, and to grip a movement condition of a carrier at a remote position, it is composed of a GPS signal receiving portion for measuring the movement velocity from a Doppler frequency, a microcomputer, an input section for setting a control condition or the like and calculation of various data including positional interval data of the GPS signal receiving section, a display section for displaying the movement velocity or the like and a transmit-receive section. Then, the microcomputer is provided with a control unit for controlling the GPS signal receiving section to intermittently perform the positional operation on the basis of the positional measurement interval and a velocity averaging unit for averaging the movement velocity.

Claims

1. A portable GPS velocity/distance meter comprising:

a GPS signal receiving section for receiving a GPS signal from a GPS satellite and outputting positional data including movement velocity data of a carrier of the GPS signal receiving section;

a microcomputer having a memory section for controlling the GPS signal receiving section and conducting calculations based on the positional data output by the GPS receiving section in accordance with a stored program;

an input section connected to the microcomputer for setting measurement conditions including a predetermined time interval between consecutive GPS signal receiving operations of the GPS signal receiving section; and

a display for displaying at least one of a movement velocity and a movement distance of the carrier of the GPS signal receiving section under control of the microcomputer;

wherein the microcomputer includes control means for controlling the GPS signal receiving section to intermittently receive the GPS signal and output the positional data at the predetermined time intervals and velocity averaging means for obtaining an average movement velocity of the carrier by averaging consecutive movement velocity data values.

4. A portable GPS velocity/distance meter according to claim 1;

where the GPS receiving section, the microcomputer, the input section and the display are accommodated in a housing configured in the form of a wristwatch.

6. A portable GPS velocity/distance meter according to claim 1;

wherein the microcomputer comprises a microprocessor for performing calculations and outputting control signals in accordance with the stored program, a read-only memory for storing the program, a random-access memory for storing data generated by the microprocessor during execution of the stored program and a clock generating section for generating an operational clock signal for driving the microprocessor.

7. A portable GPS velocity/distance meter according to claim 6;

wherein the random-access memory includes a positional data memory section for storing the positional data including the velocity data output by the GPS receiving section, a movement velocity memory section for storing velocity data calculated by the microprocessor, a movement distance memory section for storing movement distance data values calculated by the microprocessor, a movement time memory section for storing elapsed movement time and a parameter memory section for storing parameters set by the input section or calculated by the microprocessor.

8. A portable GPS velocity/distance meter according to claim 1;

wherein the GPS signal receiving section comprises a signal receiving antenna and a signal receiving circuit.

9. A portable GPS velocity/distance meter according to claim 8;

wherein the signal receiving circuit comprises a band amplifying circuit for amplifying the GPS signal received by the antenna, a downconverter for converting an output signal of the band amplifying circuit into an intermediate signal, an analog/digital converting circuit for converting an analog signal output by the downconverter into a digital signal, and a message decoding circuit for decoding a message contained in the GPS signal.

10. A portable GPS velocity/distance meter according to claim 9;

wherein the GPS signal receiving section has means for receiving a spectral diffused frequency PSK modulated GPS signal in terms of a pseudo noise signal having navigation data including a C/A code for identifying the satellite, satellite orbital information and time information.

11. A portable GPS velocity/distance meter according to claim 10;

wherein the message decoding circuit reverse diffuses the C/A code contained in an output of the analog/digital converting circuit and outputs digital navigation data.

12. A portable GPS velocity/distance meter according to claim 11;

wherein digital navigation data output by the message decoding circuit is temporarily stored in the memory section and velocity data determined on the basis of a Doppler frequency of the GPS signal is output from the message decoding circuit and temporarily stored in the memory section.

13. A portable GPS velocity/distance meter according to claim 1;

wherein the input section includes means for setting a start input and a stop input command for the portable GPS velocity/distance meter, and for setting parameters including constant distance, constant time, destination distance and lap distance.

14. A portable GPS velocity/distance meter according to claim 13;

wherein the input section further includes means for converting a constant distance unit to a predetermined time unit.

15. A portable GPS velocity/distance meter according to claim 1;

wherein the microcomputer includes means for varying the predetermined time interval set by the input section based on an average velocity of the carrier.

2. A portable GPS velocity/distance meter comprising:

a GPS signal receiving section for receiving a GPS signal from a GPS satellite and outputting positional data including movement velocity data of a carrier of the GPS signal receiving section;

a microcomputer having a memory section for controlling the GPS signal receiving section and conducting calculations in accordance with a stored program;

an input section connected to the microcomputer for setting measurement conditions including a predetermined time interval between consecutive GPS signal receiving operations of the GPS signal receiving section; and

a display for displaying at least one of a movement velocity and a movement distance of the carrier of the GPS signal receiving section under control of the microcomputer; and

a transmit-receive section for connecting a remote supervising device and the microcomputer with each other in a wireless manner;

wherein the microcomputer includes control means for controlling the GPS signal receiving section to intermittently receive the GPS signal and output the positional data at the predetermined time intervals and velocity averaging means for obtaining an average movement velocity of the carrier by averaging consecutive movement velocity data values; and

the transmit-receive section includes means for transmitting data including at least one of a velocity and a movement distance of the carrier as calculated by the microcomputer to the remote supervising device.

3. A portable GPS velocity/distance meter according to claim 2;

wherein the transmit-receive section further comprises means for receiving a change command signal for changing calculation control conditions from the remote supervising device; and

the microcomputer includes means for changing calculation control conditions in accordance with the change command signal.

5. A portable GPS velocity/distance meter according to claim 2;

wherein the GPS receiving section, the microcomputer, the input section, the display and the transmit-receive section are accommodated in a housing configured in the form of a wristwatch.

16. A portable GPS velocity/distance meter comprising:

a GPS signal receiving section for receiving a GPS signal from a GPS satellite and outputting positional data including movement velocity of a carrier of the GPS signal receiving section;

a microcomputer having a memory section for controlling the GPS signal receiving section and calculating an average movement velocity of the carrier throughout a given movement distance or movement time by averaging a predetermined number of contiguous movement velocity data values output by the GPS signal receiving section; and

a display for displaying movement velocity and movement distance of the carrier under control of the microcomputer.

17. A portable GPS velocity/distance meter according to claim 16;

wherein the microcomputer includes means for controlling the GPS receiving section to receive the GPS signal intermittently at predetermined time intervals.

18. A portable GPS velocity/distance meter according to claim 17;

further comprising an input section connected to the microcomputer for setting measurement conditions including the predetermined time intervals between consecutive GPS signal receiving operations of the GPS signal receiving section.

19. A portable GPS velocity/distance meter according to claim 18;

wherein the microcomputer includes means for setting the predetermined time intervals based on an average velocity of the carrier.

20. A portable GPS velocity/distance meter according to claim 16;

further comprising a transmit-receive section for connecting a remote supervising device and the microcomputer with each other in a wireless manner and transmitting data including at least one of the velocity of the carrier and a movement distance of the carrier as calculated by the microcomputer to the remote supervising device.