Shoe Wear-Out Sensor, Body-Bar Sensing System, Unitless Activity Assessment and Associated Methods

• US 20090267783A1
• Filed: 10/18/2006
• Published: 10/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/18/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Vock, Curtis A., Youngs, Perry
• Granted Patent: US 7,911,339 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/669
• CPC Class Codes: A43B 1/0036 with fluorescent or phosphorescent parts
• CPC Class Codes: A43B 3/34 with electrical or electronic arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: A43B 3/50 with sound or music sources
• CPC Class Codes: A43B 7/00 Footwear with health or hygienic arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: A43D 1/00 Foot or last measuring devices; Measuring devices for shoe parts
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2033/008 sport articles (balls, skis, rackets)
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2033/0086 clothes; hosiery
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/00 Investigating or analysing materials by specific methods not covered by groups G01N1/00 - G01N31/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/182 Level alarms, e.g. alarms responsive to variables exceeding a threshold
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 7/00 Signalling systems according to more than one of groups G08B3/00 - G08B6/00; Personal calling systems according to more than one of groups G08B3/00 - G08B6/00

Abstract

A shoe wear out sensor (100,210,310) includes at least one detector (104,312) for sensing a physical metric that changes as a sole of a shoe wears out, a processor (102) configured to process the physical metric over time to determine if the shoe is worn out, and an alarm (106) for informing a user of the shoe when the sole is worn out. A body bar sensing system (500) includes a housing (502) with at least one detector (506) for sensing a physical metric that indicates a repetition movement of the housing when attached to the body bar, a processor (504) for processing the physical metric over time to determine repetitions thereof, and a display (508,512) for informing a user of the repetitions. A system assesses activity and displays a unitless activity value. A detector senses activity of a user. A processor reads sensed activity data from the detector. A display displays the unitless activity value. An enclosure houses the detector and the processor. The processor periodically reads the sensed activity data from the detector and processes the data to generate an activity number, the number being used to generate the unitless activity value based upon a maximum number and a display range.

Claims

1. A shoe wear out sensor, comprising:

at least one detector for sensing a physical metric that changes as a shoe wears out;

a processor configured to process the physical metric, over time, to determine if the shoe is worn out; and

an alarm for informing a user of the shoe when the sole is worn out.

2. The sensor of claim 1, the detector comprising at least one of a force sensing resistor and an accelerometer.

4. The sensor of claim 2, the processor configured to process acceleration from the detector and then to compare processed acceleration against similar data of a new shoe.

5. The sensor of claim 4, the similar data comprising an initialization procedure wherein the shoe sole monitored by the sensor is evaluated prior to initial use by the user.

6. The sensor of claim 1, the alarm comprising at least one of an LED visible to a user of the shoe and a speaker which emits sound indicating that the shoe sole is worn out.

8. The sensor of claim 1, further comprising a battery for powering the processor and alarm.

9. The sensor of claim 1, the detector comprising at least one accelerometer, the physical metric comprising power spectral density of acceleration measured by the accelerometer.

3. (canceled)

7. (canceled)

10. A system for determining the end of a shoe'"'"'s life, comprising:

at least one detector for sensing use of the shoe;

a processor configured to measure the use of the shoe and to determine if the shoe is worn out; and

an alarm for informing a user of the shoe when the shoe is worn out.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor measures shoe usage based upon activity detected by the detector.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the detector comprises an accelerometer.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the detector comprises a piezoelectric foil.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the piezoelectric foil generates electricity to power the system when the shoe is in use.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the detector comprises a piezoelectric foil to generate electricity to power the system and an accelerometer.

18. The system of claim 10, the alarm comprising at least one of an LED visible to a user of the shoe and an audible device for emitting a sound to indicating that the shoe is worn out.

21. The system of claim 10, wherein the use of the shoe is determined based upon at least one of detecting weight of the user using the shoe and the duration the shoe is used, assessed weight of the user using the shoe and the duration the shoe is used, the duration the user wears the shoe during activity, and the number of steps taken by the shoe.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the processor determines the end of the shoe'"'"'s life based upon the accumulated use of the shoe and the manufacturer expected life.

13-14. -14. (canceled)

19-20. -20. (canceled)

22. (canceled)

24-25. -25. (canceled)

26. A body bar sensing system, comprising:

a housing having at least one detector for sensing a physical metric that indicates repeated movement of the housing when attached to the body bar;

a processor configured to process the physical metric, over time, to determine repetitions thereof; and

a display for informing a user of the repetitions.

27. The system of claim 26, further comprising a wireless transmitter with the housing and a watch, with a wireless receiver, remote from the housing, wherein the user views repetition information at the watch.

28. The system of claim 26, further comprising a wireless transmitter with the housing and one of a MP3 player and cell phone, with a wireless receiver, remote from the housing, wherein the user views repetition information at the MP3 player or cell phone.

29. (canceled)

30. A system for assessing activity and displaying a unitless activity value, comprising:

a detector for sensing activity of a user;

a processor for processing sensed activity data from the detector;

a display for displaying the unitless activity value; and

an enclosure for housing the detector and the processor;

wherein the processor periodically reads the sensed activity data from the detector and processes the data to generate an activity number, the number being used to generate the unitless activity value based upon a maximum number and a display range.

32. The system of claim 30, further comprising a button wherein a user of the system may press the button indicate start of an activity period.

34. The system of claim 30, wherein the processor detects the start of an activity period automatically.

36. The system of claim 30, further comprising a wireless transmitter for transmitting the unitless activity value to the display, the display being remote from the enclosure.

31. (canceled)

33. (canceled)

35. (canceled)

37. (canceled)

38. A method of assessing activity unitlessly, comprising:

detecting motion of a user;

processing detected motion, over time, to determine an activity value;

ratioing the activity value to a maximum activity value;

and reporting a scaled unitless activity value to the user based upon the ratio and a scale.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein detecting comprises using at least accelerometer.

40. The method of claim 38, wherein processing comprises determining power spectral density over a frequency range.

41. The method of claim 38, wherein the maximum activity value corresponds to predetermined activity value of a professional athlete.

42-43. -43. (canceled)