Method and apparatus for monitoring human activity pattern

• US 7,450,002 B2
• Filed: 01/17/2006
• Issued: 11/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Shin, Kun-soo, Hwang, Jin-sang, Hwang, Hyun-tai, Han, Wan-taek, Choi, Ji-hyun
• Primary Examiner(s): PHAM, TOAN NGOC
• Application Number:
  US11/332,586
• Publication Number:
  US 20060161079A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,029 Days
• Field of Search: 340/539.11, 340/573.1, 340/539.12, 340/539.13, 340/539.15, 340/539.26, 340/573.4, 340/686.1, 340/689, 600587-595
• US Class Current: 340/539.11
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1117 Fall detection
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4866 Evaluating metabolism A61B5/083 takes precedence

Abstract

A method and apparatus for monitoring a human activity pattern irrespective of the wearing position of the sensor unit by a user and a direction of the sensor unit are provided. The method for monitoring an inertia movement signal according to a movement of a user using a sensor unit attached to the user; detecting a direction of the sensor unit from the inertia movement signal; detecting a wearing location of the sensor unit by using acceleration and direction; determining the activity pattern of the user from inertia sensors; and delivering physical activity data corresponding to at least one caloric consumption, number of steps, and movement distance.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring an activity pattern comprising:

sensing an inertia movement signal according to a movement of a user using a sensor unit attached to the user;

detecting a direction of the sensor unit from the inertia movement signal;

detecting a wearing location of the sensor unit, by using the inertia movement signal and the direction; and

determining the activity pattern of the user from the inertia movement signal by reflecting the wearing location.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the direction is detected from a DC component of the inertia movement signal by obtaining a roll angle and a pitch angle of the sensor unit with respect to a planar surface of the sensor unit.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the inertia movement signal is compensated for the direction by multiplying an AC component of the inertia movement signal by a rotational transform matrix defined as the pitch angle and the roll angle.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the sensor unit comprises a tilt sensor and the roll angle and the pitch angle are detected by the tilt sensor.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the sensor unit comprises a terrestrial magnetism sensor, and the direction is detected by further obtaining a yaw angle swept by the terrestrial magnetism sensor from a reference line on a planar surface.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the sensor unit further includes a gyroscope and the direction is detected by further obtaining an integration of angular speed in a horizontal plane.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the wearing location comprises:

by using the direction, transforming the inertia movement signal output from the sensor unit into an inertia movement signal in space fixed coordinates; and

obtaining the wearing location of the sensor unit from differences between signal patterns of the transformed inertia movement signal according to locations of the sensor unit.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the activity pattern comprises:

extracting dynamic parameters of inertia movement at a predetermined sensor unit location; and

determining the activity pattern from a distribution of the values of extracted dynamic parameters.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

analyzing the activity pattern according to the determined activity pattern.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

if the activity pattern is determined to be walking or running, detecting a second wearing location of the sensor unit; and

if the second detected wearing location is changed from a previous wearing location, analyzing again the activity pattern at the second detected wearing location.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein in analyzing the activity pattern, at least one of a caloric consumption during the activity, a number of steps, and a moving distance is measured by using the inertia movement signal.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the caloric consumption is measured by obtaining a vector magnitude of an integrated acceleration signal and regression coefficients of caloric consumption contain physical information including at least one of a height, a sex, an age, and a weight of the user.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the number of steps is counted when a gravity direction component of the inertia movement signal is equal to or greater than a threshold, and the threshold is adjusted in proportion to a changing range of the gravity direction component.

14. An apparatus for monitoring an activity pattern comprising:

a sensor unit attached to a user, which senses an inertia movement signal according to a movement of the user; and

a data processing unit which detects a direction of the sensor unit by using the inertia movement signal, and which detects a wearing location of the sensor unit by using the inertia movement signal and the direction, and which determines the activity pattern of the user from the inertia movement signal by reflecting the wearing location.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the sensor unit further comprises:

at least one of a terrestrial magnetism sensor and a gyroscope, which detect a direction directed by terrestrial magnetism on a planar surface,

wherein the data processing unit detects the wearing location of the sensor unit by using a direction further including the direction detected by the terrestrial magnetism sensor or the gyroscope, and the inertia movement signal.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the data processing unit measures at least one of a caloric consumption, a number of steps, and a moving distance according to the determined activity pattern.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising:

a mobile terminal carried by the user and displaying the determined and measured results output from the data processing unit, wherein the sensor unit and the data processing unit are embedded in the mobile terminal.