Hang timer for determining time of flight of an object

• US 20060167623A1
• Filed: 08/18/2005
• Published: 07/27/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Drop Zone (UK) Limited
• Original Assignee: Drop Zone (UK) Limited
• Inventors: Alexander, Jeffrey Michael
• Granted Patent: US 7,379,842 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/207
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2024/0025 Tracking the path or location of one or more users, e.g. players of a game
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2069/185 for ski-jumping
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/40 Acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/836 Sensors arranged on the body of the user
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 24/0021 Tracking a path or terminating locations
• CPC Class Codes: G04F 8/08 Means used apart from the time-piece for starting or stopping same

Abstract

The invention disclosed herein relates to systems and methods for detecting, calculating, and displaying the time-of-flight or hang-time of a moving and jumping object such as a skier or snowboarder by using at least one accelerometer secured within a small wearable device. In one embodiment, the inventive device comprises: a static acceleration detection means for detecting the static acceleration of the object over at least first, second, and-third periods of time as the object respectively moves, jumps in at least first, second, and third trajectories, and lands at least first, second, and third times along the surface thereby defining at least respective first, second, and third time-of-flight events; a calculating means for determining the approximate time-of-flight of the object during the first, second, and third time-of-flight events; and a display means for displaying in a readable format the approximate time-of-flights associated with the first, second, and third time-of-flight events.

Claims

1. A device, comprising:

a housing;

at least one accelerometer disposed within the housing, the at least one accelerometer being configured to detect a static acceleration of said device during a time-of-flight event, and being further configured to provide an accelerometer output electrical signal indicative of the static acceleration of the device during the time-of-flight event; and

a microprocessor in electrical communication with the at least one accelerometer, the microprocessor being configured to calculate an approximate time-of-flight of the device during the time-of-flight event from the accelerometer output electrical signal, the microprocessor being further configured to provide a microprocessor output electrical signal indicative of the calculated time-of-flight of the object during the time-of-flight event.

2. The device of claim 1, further comprising a display screen in electrical communication with the microprocessor, the display screen being configured to display the approximate time-of-flight associated with the time-of-flight event.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the housing encloses in an essentially liquid-tight manner the at least one accelerometer and the microprocessor, and wherein the display screen is on a face of the housing.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one accelerometer comprises a tri-axis accelerometer configured to detect a first, second, and third static acceleration component of the device along three mutually perpendicular axes, and wherein the static acceleration of the device over the period of time is equal to the vector sum of the first, second and third static acceleration components.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one accelerometer comprises a first and second dual axis accelerometer configured to detect a first, second, and third static acceleration component of the device along three mutually perpendicular axes, and wherein the static acceleration of the device over the period of time is equal to the vector sum of the first, second and third static, acceleration components.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the microprocessor is further configured to calculate a cumulative time-of-flight based on the time-of-flight and an additional time-of-flight.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the microprocessor is further configured to calculate a greatest time-of-flight selected from the time-of-flight and an additional time-of-flight.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the microprocessor is further configured to calculate an average time-of-flight of the time-of-flight and an additional time-of-flight.

9. The device of claim 1, further comprising a memory component in electrical communication with the microprocessor, the memory component being configured to store at least one value that corresponds to the approximate time-of-flight associated with the time-of-flight event.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein the housing is configured to be worn by at least one of a skier, a snowboarder, a skater, a biker, and a jumper.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the housing includes a latching mechanism that is designed to latch the device to a wearer and designed to be easily removable from the wearer.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein the latching mechanism has a securing mechanism designed to ensure that the wearer is latched to the device during the time-of-flight event.

13. A device for determining the hang-time of an object, comprising:

an accelerometer, wherein the accelerometer is configured to measure a first static acceleration and a second static acceleration; and

a computing device, wherein the computing device is configured to determine a first change in magnitude from the first static acceleration to the second static acceleration, wherein the first change in magnitude corresponds to a take-off event of the object, and wherein the computing device determines a following second change in magnitude from the second static acceleration back to the first static acceleration, wherein the second change in magnitude corresponds to a landing event of the object, and wherein a current time-of-flight corresponds to a time between the first change in magnitude, during the take-off event, and the second change in magnitude, during the landing event.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the first change in magnitude and the second change in magnitude range between about 0 g and about 1 g.

15. The device of claim 13, wherein the device is designed to be located near the center of mass of the object.

16. The device of claim 13, wherein the device is located on an apparatus allowing the object to perform the take-off event and the landing event.

17. The device of claim 13, wherein the computing device is configured to determine a subsequent time-of-flight, and wherein the computing device is further configured to determine a cumulative time-of-flight based on the current time-of-flight and the subsequent time-of-flight.

18. The device of claim 13, wherein the computing device is configured to determine a subsequent time-of-flight, and wherein the computing device is further configured to determine an average time-of-flight based on the current time-of-flight and the subsequent time-of-flight.

19. The device of claim 13, wherein the computing device is configured to determine a subsequent time-of-flight, and wherein the computing device is further configured to determine a greatest time-of-flight based on the current time-of-flight and the subsequent time-of-flight.

20. The device of claim 13, wherein the computing device is configured to determine a subsequent time-of-flight, and wherein the computing device is further configured to determine a history of the current time-of-flight and the subsequent time-of-flight.

21. The device of claim 13, wherein the device operates in at least one of (a) hang-timer mode, wherein the device has at least a sensitivity indicator for filtering out vibrational noises accompanying the first static acceleration and the second static acceleration, (b) temperature mode, wherein the device has at least a temperature indicator, (c) clock mode, wherein the device has at least a clock, (d) stopwatch mode, wherein the device has at least a stopwatch, and (e) set mode, wherein the device parameters are set.

22. The device of claim 13, further comprising a housing enclosing the accelerometer and the computing device, wherein the housing provides a display for displaying the current time-of-flight and a mechanism for removably attaching the device to the object.

23. The device of claim 22, wherein the device housing provides a mechanism for binding the device to the object such that the take-off event and the landing event occur substantially similarly for both the device and the object.

24. A method for determining approximate time-of-flights of an individual who moves, jumps, and lands a plurality of times along a surface, the individual having a first static acceleration when the individual is on the surface, and a second static acceleration when the individual is off of the surface, the method comprising:

securing a device housing to the individual at or near a center of mass of said individual;

detecting, by use of at least one accelerometer secured within said housing, the first and second static acceleration of the individual over a first period of time as the individual moves, jumps in a first trajectory, and lands for a first time along the surface thereby defining a first time-of-flight event; and

calculating from the detected first and second static acceleration over the first period of time the approximate time-of-flight of the individual during the first time-of-flight event, wherein the time-of-flight begins when the first static acceleration changes to the second static acceleration and ends when the second static acceleration changes back to the first static acceleration, wherein the first and second static acceleration are separated in magnitude a predetermined unit of gravity.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the predetermined unit of gravity is about 1 g.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising detecting a third and fourth static acceleration of the individual over a second period of time as the individual moves, jumps in a second trajectory, and lands for a second time along the surface thereby defining a second time-of-flight event;

calculating from the detected third and fourth static acceleration over the second period of time the approximate time-of-flight of the individual during the second time-of-flight event;

comparing the calculated approximate time-of-flights of the individual over the first and second period of times, and determining at least one of (i) the cumulative time-of-flight over the first and second period of times, (ii) the greater time-of-flight selected between the first and second time-of-flight events, (iii) the average time-of-flight over the first and second period of times; and

displaying on a display screen at least one of (i) a first numeric value representative of the cumulative time-of-flight, (ii) a second numeric value representative of the greater time-of-flight, and (iii) a third numeric value representative of the average time-of-flight.

27. The method of claim 24, placing the housing near the center of mass of the individual.

28. The device of claim 24, providing the housing with a mechanism for binding the housing to the individual such that the housing and the individual jump substantially similarly.

29. A computer readable medium bearing computer executable instructions, for determining a time-of-flight of an object, comprising:

measuring a first static acceleration and a second static acceleration using an accelerometer; and

computing a first change in magnitude from the first static acceleration to the second static acceleration, wherein the first change in magnitude corresponds to a take-off event of the object, and computing a following second change in magnitude from the second static acceleration back to the first static acceleration, wherein the second change in magnitude corresponds to a landing event of the object, further wherein the time-of-flight corresponds to a time between the first change in magnitude, during the take-off event, and the second change in magnitude, during the landing event.

30. The computer readable medium according to claim 29, wherein at least one of the measuring and the computing is performed in a cellular device.

31. The computer readable medium according to claim 29, wherein at least one of the measuring and the computing is performed in an MP3 device.