MULTI-SENSOR DATA COLLECTION and/or PROCESSING

• US 20080234935A1
• Filed: 03/24/2008
• Published: 09/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Wolf, Thomas G., Sheynblat, Leonid, Hodisan, Alexander
• Granted Patent: US 8,718,938 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/216
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0209 adapted for power saving
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0024 for multiple sensor units attached to the patient, e.g. using a body or personal area network
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/021 Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/024 Detecting, measuring or recording pulse rate or heart rate A61B5/0205, A61B5/021 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6898 Portable consumer electronic devices, e.g. music players, telephones, tablet computers
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 19/02 Rotary gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/188 for accumulated errors, e.g. by coupling inertial systems with absolute positioning systems
• CPC Class Codes: G05F 1/70 Regulating power factor; Regulating reactive current or power
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3206 Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3287 by switching off individual functional units in the computer system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1637 Sensing arrangement for detection of housing movement or orientation, e.g. for controlling scrolling or cursor movement on the display of an handheld computer
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to the control and utilization of multiple sensors within a device. For an example, motion of a device may be detected in response to receipt of a signal from a first sensor disposed in the device, and a power state of a second sensor also disposed in the device may be changed in response to detected motion.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

detecting motion of a device in response to receipt of a signal from a first sensor disposed in said device; and

changing a power state of a second sensor, also disposed in said device, in response to said detecting said motion.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said detecting motion comprises detecting motion of said device in response to receipt of a signal from an accelerometer disposed in said device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said changing the power state of the second sensor comprises changing the power state of a gyroscope disposed in said device in response to said detecting said motion.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said changing a power state of the second sensor comprises changing the power state of the second sensor from a sleep mode to a normal operational mode.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said changing a power state of the second sensor comprises powering down the second sensor.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

changing a power state of the first sensor in response to receipt of the signal from the first sensor.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein said changing the power state of the first sensor comprises changing the power state of the first sensor from a low-power mode to a normal operational mode.

8. A method, comprising:

storing measurement data from one or more sensors in a buffer within a mobile station, wherein the mobile station comprises the one or more sensors; and

time-stamping the stored measurement data with time information derived from a satellite positioning system.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said time-stamping the stored measurement data comprises time-stamping the stored measurement data with time information derived from a global positioning system.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein said time-stamping the stored measurement data comprises time-stamping the stored measurement data with time information derived from a Galileo satellite positioning system.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising receiving the time information derived from the satellite positioning system from an external processor.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising combining the stored measurement data with other time-stamped data in order to perform a measurement operation.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said combining the stored measurement data with other time-stamped data comprises combining the stored measurement data with time-stamped data from a satellite positioning system in order to perform a navigational operation.

14. A method, comprising:

establishing a starting position for a mobile station;

detecting a change in position of the mobile station with respect to said starting position using sensor data from an accelerometer and/or a gyroscope, said accelerometer and/or gyroscope being disposed in the mobile station; and

determining whether the mobile station has exited or entered a specified region based, at least in part, on said detected change.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said detecting a change in position of the mobile station comprises detecting a direction and a distance traveled for the mobile station.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the specified region is defined as a circle with a specified radius.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the specified radius comprises a programmable value.

18. A mobile station, comprising:

an accelerometer integrated into a multi-sensor measurement processor unit;

a geomagnetic sensor positioned externally to the multi-sensor measurement processor unit and coupled to the multi-sensor measurement processor unit, wherein the multi-sensor processor unit is adapted to detect motion based, at least in part, on sensor data from the accelerometer and the geomagnetic sensor.

19. The mobile station of claim 18, wherein the multi-sensor processing unit is further adapted to compensate said geomagnetic sensor based, at least in part, on sensor data from the accelerometer.

20. The mobile station of claim 19, wherein the sensor data from the accelerometer comprises roll and pitch measurement data.

21. The mobile station of claim 20, further comprising a gyroscope coupled to the multi-sensor measurement processing unit, wherein the multi-sensor measurement processing unit is further adapted to calibrate the gyroscope based, at least in part, on measurement data from the geomagnetic sensor.

22. A method, comprising:

measuring change in position of a mobile station using one or more sensors integrated into the mobile station;

measuring change in position of the mobile station using information from a satellite positioning system;

calculating an error value representing a difference between the measurements obtained by the one or more sensors and the measurements obtained using the satellite positioning system; and

calibrating the one or more sensors based at least in part on the error value.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein said measuring change in position using one or more sensors comprises measuring a direction and/or distance traveled by said mobile station.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein said measuring change in position using information from the satellite positioning system comprises measuring direction and/or distance traveled by said mobile station.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein said information from the satellite positioning system comprises information from a global positioning system.

26. The method of claim 22, wherein said information from the satellite positioning system comprises information from a Galileo satellite positioning system.

27. A multi-sensor measurement processing unit, comprising:

a processor;

one or more sensors coupled to the processor; and

a wireless interface unit coupled to the processor, wherein the wireless interface unit is adapted to receive measurement information from an external sensor via a wireless interconnect and wherein said processor is further adapted to estimate one or more navigational states based on said measurement information.

28. The multi-sensor measurement processing unit of claim 27, wherein the wireless interface unit is adapted to receive measurement information from an external biomedical sensor.

29. The multi-sensor measurement processing unit of claim 28, wherein the biomedical sensor comprises a heart rate monitor.

30. The multi-sensor measurement processing unit of claim 28, wherein the biomedical sensor comprises a blood pressure monitor.

31. The multi-sensor measurement processing unit of claim 27, wherein the wireless interconnect comprises an interconnect implemented substantially according to a Bluetooth standard.

32. The multi-sensor measurement processing unit of claim 27, wherein the wireless interconnect comprises an interconnect implemented substantially according to a near field communication standard.

33. The multi-sensor measurement processing unit of claim 27, wherein the wireless interface unit is adapted to receive measurement information from an external processor.