Circuits, systems, and methods for monitoring and reporting foot impact, foot placement, shoe life, and other running/walking characteristics

• US 20110140897A1
• Filed: 02/16/2011
• Published: 06/16/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bryce Benjamin Purks, Connor Kent Purks, David Kent Purks, Deborah Rhea Purks, Kory Patrick Purks
• Original Assignee: Bryce Benjamin Purks, Connor Kent Purks, David Kent Purks, Deborah Rhea Purks, Kory Patrick Purks
• Inventors: Purks, Deborah Rhea, Purks, Kory Patrick, Purks, David Kent, Purks, Connor Kent, Purks, Bryce Benjamin
• Granted Patent: US 8,581,731 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/573.1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1038 Measuring plantar pressure during gait
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/22 Ergometry; Measuring muscular strength or the force of a muscular blow exercising apparatus A63B21/00 ; measuring of work or force in general G01L
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7405 using sound

Abstract

Various embodiments of the present invention provide an electronic virtual running/walking coach that notifies a person as to how hard the person'"'"'s feet have been impacting a surface, notifies the person as to whether the person'"'"'s feet are impacting a surface at a proper relative distance from the body and/or at a proper side-to-side angle, and/or notifies the person as to how much cushioning life remains in a pair of shoes. When the notifications are provided to the person during the running/walking activity, the person can respond by taking immediate actions to adjust the foot placement relative to the body and/or adjust the level of foot impact to an acceptable level by varying the speed, step distance, and/or posture while running/walking and/or by selecting among different available surfaces on which to run/walk. A person may also more accurately determine when a particular pair of shoes should be replaced because they no longer provide a sufficient level of cushioning to compensate for the levels of foot impact that are occurring.

Claims

1. A foot impact monitoring system comprising:

an impact measurement circuit configured to measure impact from a foot repetitively striking a surface while a person is walking/running; and

an impact alert circuit that is configured to respond to the measured impact by generating for the person an indication of how much impact occurred from the foot striking the surface.

2. The foot impact monitoring system of claim 1, wherein:

the impact measurement circuit comprises an accelerometer configured to measure impact from the foot striking the surface while the person is walking/running.

3. The foot impact monitoring system of claim 1, wherein:

the impact measurement circuit comprises a force transducer configured to measure force from the foot striking the surface while the person is walking/running.

4. The foot impact monitoring system of claim 1, wherein:

the impact alert circuit is configured to generate an indication for the person of a peak magnitude of the measured impact.

5. The foot impact monitoring system of claim 1, wherein:

the impact alert circuit is further configured to regulate a background sound component in response to a measured level of the impact, and to combine the background sound component with a music component generated by a music player to generate a combined signal that is played to the person to audibly indicate to the person how much impact occurred from the foot striking the surface.

6. The foot impact monitoring system of claim 5, wherein:

the impact alert circuit is further configured to generate a baseline threshold level in response to an average of measurements of the levels of impact, and to respond to a presently measured level of the impact exceeding the baseline threshold level by causing the background sound component signal to be audible within the combined signal played through the music player to the person to provide an audible warning to the person when the level of impact from the foot striking the surface has become excessive.

7. The foot impact monitoring system of claim 6, wherein:

the impact alert circuit is further configured to;

increase loudness of the background sound component relative to the music component of the combined signal being played to the person in response to a presently measured level of the impact exceeding the baseline threshold level by an increased amount to audibly indicate to the person when the level of impact from the foot striking the surface has increased; and

decrease loudness of the background sound component relative the music component of the combined signal being played to the person in response to a presently measured level of the impact exceeding the baseline threshold level by a decreased amount to audibly indicate to the person when the level of impact from the foot striking the surface has decreased.

8. The foot impact monitoring system of claim 1, further comprising:

a sound generation device that is configured to generate sound to the person,

wherein the impact alert circuit is further configured to;

generate a baseline threshold level in response to an average of measurements of the levels of impact; and

respond to a presently measured level of the impact exceeding the baseline threshold level by causing the sound generation device to generate a foot impact warning sound to the person.

9. The foot impact monitoring system of claim 8, wherein:

the impact alert circuit is further configured to;

increase loudness and/or modify a defined tone characteristic of the foot impact warning sound generated by the sound generation device in response to a presently measured level of the impact exceeding the baseline threshold level by an increased amount to audibly indicate to the person when the level of impact from the foot striking the surface has increased; and

decrease loudness and/or oppositely modify the defined tone characteristic of the foot impact warning sound generated by the sound generation device in response to a presently measured level of the impact exceeding the baseline threshold level by a decreased amount to audibly indicate to the person when the level of impact from the foot striking the surface has decreased.

10. The foot impact monitoring system of claim 1, further comprising:

a display device configured to display indicia to the person,

wherein the impact alert circuit is further configured to;

generate a baseline threshold level in response to an average of measurements of the levels of impact; and

respond to a presently measured level of the impact exceeding the baseline threshold level by causing the display device to display a foot impact warning indicia to the person.

11. The foot impact monitoring system of claim 10, wherein:

the impact alert circuit is further configured to cause the display device to modify the foot impact warning indicia to indicate when a presently measured level of the impact is exceeding the baseline threshold level by a greater amount, and to indicate when a presently measured level of the impact is exceeding the baseline threshold level by a lesser amount to provide visual guidance to the person of the level of impact from the foot striking the surface.

12. The foot impact monitoring system of claim 1, further comprising:

a display device configured to display indicia to the person,

wherein the impact alert circuit is further configured to;

generate a record of the measured levels of impact; and

communicate the record of the measured levels of impact to the display device,

wherein the display device is configured to graph the measured levels of impact from the record relative to an elapsed time of the activity, a speed at which the person was walking/running, and/or a distance that the person walked/ran.

13. The foot impact monitoring system of claim 1, wherein:

the impact alert circuit is configured to inform the person of a rate of change of a peak pulse of the measured impact.

14. The foot impact monitoring system of claim 13, wherein the impact alert circuit is further configured to:

generate a baseline threshold level in response to an average of rate of change of the peak pulse of the measured impact; and

respond to a presently measured rate of change of the peak pulse of the measured impact exceeding the baseline threshold level by generating an audible warning through a sound generation device and/or a visual warning through a display device.

15. The foot impact monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the impact alert circuit is further configured to:

generate an accumulated impact metric in response to the measured impact; and

communicate the accumulated impact metric to a display device for display to the person.

16. The foot impact monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the impact alert circuit is further configured to:

monitor the measured impact while the person is walking/running over the life of at least one of the person'"'"'s shoes; and

generate an indication of when the shoe has become worn-out in response to how much the monitored impact measurements change over the life of the shoe.

17. The foot impact monitoring system of claim 16, wherein the impact alert circuit is further configured to:

respond to a calibration signal from a person by generating a baseline threshold level in response to an average of measurements of the levels of impact; and

generate an indication of when the shoe has become worn-out in response to how much the monitored acceleration measurements change relative to the baseline threshold level.

18. The foot impact monitoring system of claim 17, wherein the impact alert circuit is further configured to:

generate the baseline threshold level in response to an average of measurements of the levels of impact over more than one minute; and

generate an indication of when the shoe has become worn-out in response to how much a present average of the monitored impact measurements over at least one minute changed relative to the baseline threshold level.

19. The foot impact monitoring system of claim 16, wherein the impact alert circuit is further configured to:

respond to a calibration signal from a person by generating a baseline threshold level in response to an average of a rate of change of measurements of the levels of impact; and

generate an indication of when the shoe has become worn-out in response to a comparison of a rate of change of a present measurement of the level of impact to the baseline threshold level.

20. The foot impact monitoring system of claim 1, wherein:

the impact measurement circuit is configured to be mounted on a heel portion of the person'"'"'s shoe to increase sensitivity of the impact measurement from the foot striking the surface while the person is walking/running, and

the impact alert circuit comprises a wrist watch.

21. The foot impact monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the impact alert circuit is further configured to:

determine from characteristics of the measured impact when the person is placing the foot excessively forward when striking the surface and resulting in excessive undesirable slowing forces exerted on the foot and retarding forward movement of the person; and

generate an audible/visual warning to the person that an improper foot placement condition exists responsive to the determination that the person is placing the foot excessively forward when striking the surface.

22. The foot impact monitoring system of claim 21, wherein:

the impact alert circuit is further configured to determine that the person is placing the foot excessively forward when striking the surface in response to determining from the measured impact when acceleration greater than a defined threshold occurs in a direction opposite to a forward direction of movement of the person.

23. The foot impact monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the impact alert circuit is further configured to:

determine from characteristics of the measured impact when the person is placing the foot with overpronation or supination when striking the surface and resulting in undesirable rotational forces exerted on the foot; and

generate an audible/visual warning to the person that an improper foot placement condition exists responsive to the determination that the person is placing the foot with overpronation or underpronation when striking the surface.