Information processing method, apparatus, and program

• US 9,226,713 B2
• Filed: 09/07/2011
• Issued: 01/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Hara, Masahiro, Maeda, Kazuho, Yaginuma, Yoshinori
• Primary Examiner(s): Hwang, Timothy H
• Application Number:
  US13/226,549
• Publication Number:
  US 20120065915A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,581 Days
• Field of Search: 702/141, 702/160, 702/169
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1121 Determining geometric values, e.g. centre of rotation or angular range of movement
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7221 Determining signal validity, reliability or quality A61B5/7207 and A61B5/7217 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 1/122 Determining position of centre of gravity
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 7/00 Measuring speed by integrating acceleration measuring travelled distance by double integration of acceleration G01C21/16
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/30 relating to physical therapies or activities, e.g. physiotherapy, acupressure or exercising
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/60 for the operation of medical equipment or devices

Abstract

A method executed by a computer includes applying a correction to an acceleration value of an object at an interval; calculating an initial speed of the object by assigning the corrected acceleration value in a period to a third relational expression that is obtained by transforming a first relational expression and a second relational expression so as to obtain an initial speed from the acceleration in the period and the interval, where the first relational expression is to obtain an object position from acceleration and an initial speed, and the second relational expression represents force applied to the object due to fluctuation of the center of gravity of the object as a motion equation of a spring model; and calculating coordinate values over a horizontal plane that indicates a center of gravity of the object by assigning the corrected acceleration value and the initial speed to the first relational expression.

Claims

1. An information processing method executed by a computer including a processor, the information processing method comprising:

receiving, by the processor, an acceleration value that is measured by an acceleration sensor, of an object at a sampling interval, the acceleration sensor being provided by a mobile terminal including the processor that is configured to be attached to an object movable in three dimensions;

applying, by the processor, a correction to the received acceleration value and storing the corrected acceleration value in a storage device;

calculating, by the processor, a variable K by inputting the received acceleration values of a period to a predetermined expression;

obtaining, by the processor, a second relational expression by transforming a first relational expression using the variable K, the first relational expression defining relationships among a position of the object, the corrected acceleration values of the period, and an initial speed of the object;

calculating, by the processor, the initial speed of the object by inputting the corrected acceleration values of the period to the second relational expression so as to obtain the initial speed when the object is not standing still at a start of measurements of the acceleration values from the corrected acceleration values in the period and the sampling interval, and storing the calculated initial speed in the storage device;

calculating, by the processor, coordinate values over a horizontal plane that indicates a center of gravity of the object by inputting the corrected acceleration values and the calculated initial speed to the first relational expression and storing the calculated coordinate values in the storage device; and

estimating, by the processor, a physical condition of the object by analyzing fluctuation in a center of gravity of the object obtained from the calculated coordinate values stored in the storage device, so as to detect a change in the physical condition of the object.

2. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the object is a user, the method further comprising:

outputting a physical condition change notification representing information on the changed physical condition.

3. The information processing method according to claim 2, wherein the estimating the physical condition of the user further comprises:

dividing the horizontal plane into regions with an angle by a straight line that passes through a center point among plural points over the horizontal plane that are represented by the calculated coordinate values;

identifying, for each of the regions, a first point where a distance from the center point is substantially a maximum and which is represented by the calculated coordinate values, converting the calculated coordinate values of the first point into coordinate values in which the center point is used as a reference point, and storing the converted coordinate values in the storage device; and

identifying a user physical-condition candidate that is calculated from the calculated coordinate values of the first point and a second point by analyzing a state database that stores coordinate values of a second point in each of the regions corresponding to each of the physical-condition state candidates and that a distance from the user physical-condition candidate to all of the regions is a substantially minimum.

4. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the object is a user, and the correction comprises:

transforming a template stored in a template storage unit storing the template that indicates a standard acceleration value while the user is walking so that the template is aligned with a gait cycle and an amplification of acceleration identified by the acceleration value measured during a period in which the user is assumed to be walking; and

subtracting the standard acceleration value during the walking from the acceleration value measured during the period in which the user is assumed to be walking by using the transformed template.

5. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein

the variable K is calculated according to the predetermined expression (where “

i”

indicates a sample number)

6. The information processing method according to claim 1, further comprising:

measuring the acceleration values at the sampling interval Δ

t by the acceleration sensor and sequentially storing the measured acceleration values in a measurement result storage unit;

calculating the initial speed, wherein the number of samplings in the period is N, by;

reading corrected acceleration values “

a_i”

(where i is an integer from 0 to N−

1) of the number of N accelerations generated in the period to be processed from the data storage unit;

calculating the variable K in the period to be processed by assigning the number of N corrected acceleration values “

a_i”

that are read to the predetermined expression

7. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium that stores a program for causing a computer to execute a process comprising:

receiving an acceleration value that is measured by an acceleration sensor at a sampling interval, the acceleration sensor being provided by a mobile terminal configured to be attached to an object movable in three dimensions;

correcting the received acceleration value and storing the corrected acceleration value in a storage device;

calculating a variable K by inputting the received acceleration values of a period to a predetermined expression;

obtaining a second relational expression by transforming a first relational expression using the variable K, the first relational expression defining relationships among a position of the object, the corrected acceleration values of the period, and an initial speed of the object;

calculating an initial speed of the object by inputting the corrected acceleration value of the period to the second relational expression so as to obtain the initial speed when the object is not standing still at a start of measurements of the acceleration values from the corrected acceleration values in the period and the sampling interval, and storing the calculated initial speed in the storage device;

calculating coordinate values over a horizontal plane that indicates a center of gravity of the object by inputting the corrected acceleration values and the calculated initial speed to the first relational expression and storing the calculated coordinate values in the storage device, and

estimating a physical condition of the object by analyzing fluctuation in a center of gravity of the object obtained from the calculated coordinate values stored in the storage device, so as to detect a change in the physical condition of the object.

8. An information processing apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, wherein

the processor is configured;

to receive an acceleration value that is measured by an acceleration sensor at a sampling interval, the acceleration sensor provided by a mobile terminal including the processor and configured to be attached to an object movable in three dimensions;

to apply a correction to the received acceleration value and to store the corrected acceleration value in the memory;

to calculate a variable K by inputting the received acceleration values of a period to a predetermined expression;

to obtain a second relational expression by transforming a first relational expression using the variable K, the first relational expression defining relationships among a position of the object, the corrected acceleration values of the period, and an initial speed of the object;

to calculate an initial speed of the object by inputting the corrected acceleration values of the period to the second relational expression so as to obtain the initial speed when the object is not standing still at a start of measurements of the acceleration values from the corrected acceleration values and the sampling interval, and store the calculated initial speed in the memory;

to calculate coordinate values over a horizontal plane that indicates the center of gravity of the object by inputting the corrected acceleration value stored in the memory and the initial speed stored in the storage device to the first relational expression and store the calculated coordinate values in the memory; and

to estimate a physical condition of the object by analyzing fluctuation in a center of gravity of the object obtained from the calculated coordinate values stored in the storage device, so as to detect change in the physical condition of the object.

9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein

the acceleration sensor measures the acceleration of the object at the sampling interval and sequentially stores the acceleration of the object in the storage device, and

wherein the processor reads the acceleration values of the object measured in the period from the storage device and applies the correction.

10. The information processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the object is a user, and

the processor is further configured:

to divide the horizontal plane into regions with an angle respectively by a straight line that passes through a center point among plural points over the horizontal plane represented by the calculated coordinate values stored;

to identify, for each of the regions, a first point where a distance from the center point is substantially a maximum and which is represented by the calculated coordinate values;

to convert the calculated coordinate values of the first point into coordinate values in which the center point is used as a reference point;

to store the converted coordinate values in the memory; and

to identify a user physical-condition candidate that is calculated from the calculated coordinate values of the first point and a second point by analyzing a state database that stores coordinate values of the second point in each of the regions corresponding to each of the user physical-condition candidates and that a distance from the user physical-condition candidate to all of the regions is substantially minimum.