Activity monitor

• US 8,342,045 B2
• Filed: 03/11/2002
• Issued: 01/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: University of Strathclyde
• Original Assignee: University of Strathclyde
• Inventors: Maxwell, Douglas James, Granat, Malcolm Howard, Barbenel, Joseph Cyril
• Primary Examiner(s): Rogers, David A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Frank, Rodney T
• Application Number:
  US10/471,490
• Publication Number:
  US 20040112151A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,949 Days
• Field of Search: 738/654, 738/632.1, 335/11, 335/12
• US Class Current: 73/865.4
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1116 Determining posture transitions
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1123 Discriminating type of movement, e.g. walking or running A61B5/1116, A61B5/112 take precedence
• 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 5/6828 Leg
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7264 Classification of physiological signals or data, e.g. using neural networks, statistical classifiers, expert systems or fuzzy systems neural networks per se G06N3/00; expert systems per se G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems

Abstract

A method of recording data relating to the posture of a subject and assessing the data so as to categorize said data into activities, including sitting, walking and standing. The method comprises sensing the movement of the thigh by use of a single sensor; recording the movement of the thigh; and processing the data so as to classify the data into discrete ones of said activities.

Claims

1. A system for recording and processing data relating to the activities of a subject, the system comprising:

an accelerometer adapted to be maintained in a single location about a thigh of a subject and operable to generate inclination and motion sensitive data that reflects the inclination and motion of the thigh;

recording means for recording the inclination and motion sensitive data from the accelerometer; and

a processor for processing the recorded inclination and motion sensitive data so as to classify activities into discrete ones of sitting, walking and standing activities, based on the inclination and motion sensitive data, wherein the processor is programmed to calculate an estimate of the calorific expenditure of the subject for a specified period.