Athletic-wear having integral measuring sensors

• US 8,253,586 B1
• Filed: 04/24/2009
• Issued: 08/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mayfonk Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Mayfonk Art, Inc.
• Inventors: Matak, Martin
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Dharti
• Application Number:
  US12/429,246
• Time in Patent Office: 1,222 Days
• Field of Search: 340/870
• US Class Current: 340/870.07
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6807 Footwear
• CPC Class Codes: G01L 5/0095 measuring work or mechanical power
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/75 by polling or interrogating the sub-stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom

Abstract

A performance measuring system integrated with an article of clothing, the system has a computing unit for coordinating, processing and transmission of sensor data connected to a bus and an antenna. A sensor for measuring performance characteristics is connected to the bus; the bus facilitates transmission and reception of control and data values between the computing unit and the sensor. Also, an antenna is connected to the computing unit for communicating with other computing devices and transmission of sensor data. The other computing devices display the sensor data to a user or forward the sensor data onto another communication media such as the internet or interactive television. A social networking system sharing athletic statistics using a webservice, a personal processing unit connectible to the webservice, and a computing unit having an activity program for at least one sensor. This system has an activity update service integrally associated with the webservice.

Claims

1. A performance measuring system comprising:

a computing unit means for coordinating, processing and the transmission of sensor data, wherein said computing unit means is connected to an antenna means;

a sensor means for measuring performance characteristics connected to the bus means;

a bus means for facilitating transmission and reception of sensor data between the computing unit means and the sensor means;

a detection conditioning means for conditioning into a distance measurement an electrical signal corresponding to the time delay, wherein said distance measurement is formatted in real time to be useable by a display device;

an antenna means connected to the computing unit means for communicating with other electronic devices and transmission of said distance measurement; and

wherein said performance measuring system is integrated with an article of clothing.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor data comprises movement sensor data and said sensor means comprises one or more discrete sensors configured to gather movement sensor data concerning one or more physical movements of said article of clothing.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the sensor means comprises at least one sensor configured to gather movement sensor data concerning vertical displacement of said article of clothing.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the sensor data additionally comprises vitals sensor data and said sensor means additionally comprises one or more sensors configured to gather vitals sensor data concerning one or more vital signs of a user wearing said article of clothing.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the sensor data additionally comprises ambient sensor data and said sensor means additionally comprises one or more sensors configured to gather ambient sensor data concerning one or more ambient conditions in the area surrounding said article of clothing.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a display means integrally attached to the article of clothing for displaying said distance measurement of a user wearing said article of clothing.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein said time intervals comprise 1, 5, 10, and 20 seconds.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a power plug in socket means for connecting to a wall outlet.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising a battery receiving means for acceptance of one or more batteries.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the system comprises a single physical module which houses the sensor means, the computing means, the bus means, the antenna means, and a power means.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the system comprises two discrete physical modules, wherein a first physical module houses the computing means, the bus means, the antenna means, and a power means and a second physical module houses the sensor means.

12. A method for sensing and measuring athletic performance data comprising the steps of:

providing an article of clothing with an integrated performance measuring device, wherein said performance measuring device comprises;

a computing unit, one or more sensor devices, a communication device, and a power supply, wherein the computing unit is configured to communicate electronic data with the one or more sensor devices and the communication device;

initializing by said computing unit at least one sensor device and the computing unit, wherein said step of initializing comprises providing for the provision of electrical power;

causing the transmission of sensor data in registers of the one or more sensors to said computing unit;

processing by said computing unit said sensor data, wherein the step of processing comprises conditioning into a distance measurement an electrical signal corresponding to the time delay embedded in said sensor data in real time, tracking said distance measurement for one or more discrete time intervals as period data, causing the sensor data in the registers of the sensors to be cleared, and formatting said distance measurement in real time to be useable by a display device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the performance measuring device additionally comprises a display device and further comprising the step of refreshing the display device such that it provides a visual output representing said distance measurement.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein said time intervals comprise 1, 5, 10, and 20 seconds.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of initialization additionally comprises selectively enabling a peak detection sensor data value.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of initialization additionally comprises selectively enabling an integration circuit configured to integrate the sensor data.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the one or more sensor devices comprise at least one discrete sensor configured to capture measurements concerning one or more physical movements of said article of clothing.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the one or more sensor devices comprise at least one sensor configured to capture measurements concerning vertical displacement of said article of clothing.

19. A performance measuring device adapted to sense, measure and display athletic performance data in real time, comprising:

a power supply means for providing on-board battery backed power and regulated voltages for operation;

a pulse timing means for measuring time delay from between pulse transmission and reception;

a transmitter means for setting an operational frequency and emitting an ultrasonic beam;

a pulse filtering means for conditioning a timing pulse from said pulse timing means as an acceptable input to said transmitter means;

a detection conditioning means for conditioning into a distance measurement a voltage signal corresponding to the time delay; and

a distance readout means for providing an input for a display device.

20. The performance measuring device of claim 19, additionally comprising a peak detection means for holding the highest distance measurement.