JPH11347020A - Consumed calorie calculating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To precisely calculate calories consumed by a user in getting exercise. SOLUTION: This consumed calorie calculating device 11 consists of a height detecting part 12, a walking detecting part 13, a walking judging part 14, a consumed calorie calculating part 15, and a consumed calorie output part 16. The height detecting part 12 has an ultrasonic wave sensor consisting of an ultrasonic transmitter 17 and an ultrasonic receiver 18. So the height detecting part 12 detects the change of height above the ground by measuring the period of time for the ultrasonic waves transmitted from the ultrasonic transmitter 17 and reflected on the walking ground to reach the ultrasonic receiver 18 again. And the consumed calorie calculating device 11 can judge the walking condition of the user (e.g. walking up/down the steps or on a slope) by measuring the height above the ground, so consumed calories according to the exercise got by the user can be accurately obtained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a calorie expenditure calculating device configured to accurately calculate calories consumed by a subject exercising.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a portable calorie expenditure calculation device for measuring and displaying calories consumed by a person who exercises,
There is a so-called calorimeter. This type of device is composed of, for example, a step counting device using a mechanical contact or an acceleration sensor, and has a compact structure that is portable so as to be attached to the waist of a person to be measured. And
The step counting device is driven by a built-in battery, detects the impact between the heel of the subject's foot and the ground that occurs during walking with mechanical contacts or an acceleration sensor, and converts the signal into a digital signal. Measure the number of steps.

[0003] In the calorie expenditure calculating device for measuring the number of steps as described above, the coefficient value of the calorie consumption corresponding to the biological conditions such as the weight, height, age, and gender of the subject is measured by the step number measuring device. By multiplying the number of steps taken, the calorie consumption relative to the exercise amount of the subject is predicted.

[0004]

However, in the conventional calorie expenditure calculating device, the calorie consumption when the subject is walking on a normal flat ground is compared with the calorie consumption when going up and down stairs. The calorie consumption is very different. For example, when walking down stairs, walk on level ground (80 m
/ Min), and it is said to consume about 3 times more calories when going up the stairs.

However, in the conventional apparatus, the calorie consumption is calculated only from the number of steps, and the calorie consumption is calculated with the same coefficient value as that of walking on flat ground even when climbing up and down stairs or walking on a slope. There is a problem that the output value has a large error with respect to the actual calorie consumption. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a calorie consumption calculating device that solves the above-mentioned problem.

[0006]

The present invention has the following features to solve the above-mentioned problems. The present invention provides a step count sensor that detects the number of steps of a person to be measured, a calorie consumption calculating unit that calculates calorie consumption from biological conditions of the person to be measured and the number of steps detected by the step number sensor, and a calculation by the calorie consumption calculating unit. A calorie expenditure calculation device having a storage means for storing the calculated calculation result, a transmitter for transmitting a signal toward the walking surface of the subject, and receiving a reflected wave of the signal transmitted from the transmitter. Receiving means, calculating means for calculating a change in ground height based on a phase difference between a transmission signal from the transmitter and a receiving signal received by the receiver, and ascending and descending based on a calculation result by the calculating means. Determining means for determining an operation.

Therefore, according to the present invention, a change in ground clearance is calculated based on the phase difference between the transmission signal from the transmitter and the reception signal received by the receiver, and the elevating operation is performed based on the calculation result. For this determination, the calorie consumption according to the actual exercise state can be accurately obtained even when the user performs an ascending / descending operation, such as going up and down stairs or going up and down a hill.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining an embodiment of the calorie consumption calculating device according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a view showing a mounted state of the calorie consumption calculating device. As shown in FIG. 1, the calorie consumption calculating device 11 generally includes a ground height detecting unit 12 and a walking detecting unit 13.
, A walking determination unit 14, a consumed calorie calculation unit 15, and a consumed calorie output unit 16. Further, the calorie consumption calculating device 11 has a portable configuration in which the above devices are stored in a compact case.

For this reason, as shown in FIG. 2, the calorie consumption calculating device 11 is used in a state where the calorie consumption calculating device 11 is fixed to the waist position of the subject H by a belt or the like. At this time, the calorie consumption calculating device 11 is attached to the subject H so as to be able to detect a shock due to walking, a vertical movement due to ascending and descending a stair, etc., following the movement of the subject H. You.

The ground height detecting unit 12 transmits signals such as light, sound, and radio waves from the mounting position of the subject H toward the walking surface.
The propagation time until these are reflected and received on the ground as a walking surface, a floor surface, a stair, or the like is measured. In the present embodiment, the ground height detector 12 includes an ultrasonic transmitter 17 for transmitting ultrasonic waves and an ultrasonic receiver 18 for receiving ultrasonic waves reflected on the ground. And the ultrasonic transmitter 17
The distance is obtained from the phase difference between the transmission time at which the ultrasonic wave is transmitted from and the reception time at which the ultrasonic wave reflected by the ultrasonic receiver 18 is received, and the change in the ground height of the calorie consumption calculating device 11 is detected.

The walking detecting section 13 is a walking detecting means including an acceleration sensor for detecting a change in acceleration generated when the subject H walks or an electrostatic detecting sensor for detecting a change in static electricity. Each time H advances one step, it outputs a detection signal. Therefore, the number of steps can be measured by counting the signals output from the walking detection unit 13.

The walking determining section 14 is a walking determining means for determining the walking state of the subject H, and determines whether the current state is up / down stairs or walking on level ground based on a signal obtained from the ground height detecting section 12. . The calorie consumption calculating unit 15 calculates the subject H
Is the calorie consumption calculating means for calculating the calorie consumption according to the walking state of the user. That is, the calorie consumption calculating unit 15 measures the interval of the number of steps from the signal obtained from the walking detecting unit 13 and determines the walking state signal obtained from the walking determining unit 14 to calculate the calorie consumption.

The calorie consumption output unit 16 is an output means for outputting the calorie consumption calculated by the calorie consumption calculator 15, and displays the calculated calorie consumption of the person to be measured H, and calculates by radio waves, optical signals, and the like. The measured calorie consumption of the subject H is output to the external device. Here, a method of measuring the ground height using the ground height detection unit 12 will be described.

FIG. 3 shows a ground height detector 12 for measuring the ground height.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the ground height detection unit 12 includes a pulse generation circuit 19, an amplifier circuit 20, an ultrasonic sensor 21, and a filter circuit 22.
And a time difference measurement circuit 23. The ultrasonic sensor 21 is obtained by integrally combining an ultrasonic transmitter 17 and an ultrasonic receiver 18.

The pulse generation circuit 19 generates several square waves (pulses) periodically (for example, every 10 msec).
A pulse signal is output to the amplifier circuit 20 and the time difference measurement circuit 23. The time difference measurement circuit 23 starts time measurement from the moment when the transmission signal B generated from the pulse generation circuit 19 is input. Further, the amplifier circuit 20 transmits the transmission signal B to the air, amplifies the reflected signal to a voltage suitable for receiving the reflected wave, converts the electric signal into sound (ultrasonic wave) by the ultrasonic sensor 21 and transmits the electric signal. Ultrasonic sensor 2
The one ultrasonic transmitter 17 is attached so as to transmit an ultrasonic wave toward a walking surface at a front position where the person to be measured steps forward. Therefore, the ultrasonic waves transmitted from the ultrasonic transmitter 17 of the ultrasonic sensor 21 are reflected on the ground or on the instep of the subject, and reach the ultrasonic receiver 18 of the ultrasonic sensor 21 again.

When the ultrasonic wave receiver 18 receives the reflected wave, the receiving section vibrates in response to the sound, converts the sound into an electric signal, and inputs the electric signal to the filter circuit 22. Further, the filter circuit 22 removes noise components from the received sound signal, and inputs the received signal C to the time difference measurement circuit 23. The time difference measurement circuit 23 ends the time measurement when the reception signal C is received.

The distance X from the instep of the foot to the ground is expressed by the following equation (1) using the time T measured by the time difference measuring circuit 23 and the sound speed c. X = 0.5 cT (1) The ground clearance X calculated by the equation (1) is output to the walking determination unit 14 as a ground clearance signal D.

Here, ultrasonic waves are used as a means for measuring the distance X from the calorie consumption calculating device 11 to the ground, but light or radio waves may be used instead of the ultrasonic waves. Next, a method of determining the walking state of the subject to which the calorie expenditure calculation device 11 is attached will be described. FIG. 4 (A)-
(C) is a diagram showing the subject's walking state classified into stair climbing, walking on flat ground, and descending stairs.

The walking state of the subject H is generally shown in FIG.
4C, "Stair climbing" to walk on the flat ground 26 shown in FIG. 4B, and "Stair descending" to go down the stairs 27 shown in FIG. 4C. You can think. 5A to 5C are waveform diagrams of the ground height signal D obtained from the ground height detection unit 12 corresponding to each walking state of the subject H. 6A to 6C are waveform diagrams of an HPF passing signal E obtained by applying a high-pass filter (HPF) to a signal D corresponding to each walking state of the subject H.

In FIGS. 4A to 4C, the subject H wearing the calorie expenditure calculating device 11 is walking from left to right. 5 (A) to 5 (C) and FIG. 6 (A)
To (C) and the HPF passing signal E shown in FIG.
And the broken line connected by the broken line corresponds to the position where the subject H has passed. In the concept of walking on flat ground shown in FIG. 4B, the distance X from the calorie expenditure calculating device 11 attached near the waist of the subject H to the ground hardly changes, and the ground height signal D is shown in FIG. It shows a substantially constant value as shown in B).

In the state of climbing the stairs shown in FIG. 4A, the distance X from the calorie expenditure calculating device 11 to the stairs becomes short at the moment when the subject H crosses the stairs one step higher. , The ground height signal D falls substantially vertically as shown in FIG. Thereafter, the knee of the subject H gradually extends, and the distance X between the ground height detection unit 12 and the ground increases, so that
The ground height signal D returns to the same level as when walking on level ground as shown in FIG.

Next, in the state of descending the stairs shown in FIG. 4C, contrary to the state of climbing the stairs described above, the ground height signal D is reversed.
5C is gradually lowered as shown in FIG. 5C and returns to vertical. That is, in the state of descending the stairs, the knee of the subject H gradually bends and the ground height signal D decreases until the person descends the stairs one step, almost in reverse to the state of the ascending the stairs. Thereafter, at the moment when the subject H crosses the stairs 27, the ground height signal D rises almost vertically, and returns to the same level as when walking on level ground.

Then, when descending the next stairs, a cycle in which the ground height signal D gradually decreases, rises vertically again, and returns to the same level as when walking on level ground, as in the above-described operation, is repeated. Next, a control operation of the walking determination unit 14 will be described. FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the walking determination unit 14.

As shown in FIG. 7, the walking determination unit 14
Comprises a high-pass filter (HPF) 28, a first comparator 29, and a second comparator 30. The first comparator 29 receives the HPF passing signal E from the high-pass filter (HPF) 28 and the voltage threshold Vt1, and compares the two signals. Also, the second comparator 30
Receives the HPF pass signal E from the high-pass filter (HPF) 28 and the voltage threshold Vt2, and compares the two signals.

The ground height signal D is supplied to a high-pass filter (HP
F) HPF shown in FIGS. 6 (A) to 6 (C)
The passing signal E is output. Further, the HPF passing signal E is compared by two comparators 29 and 30 with voltage thresholds Vt1 and Vt2. When the ground height signal D becomes equal to or higher than Vt1, the first comparator 2
The stair climbing signal F output from 9 goes high. Further, the stairs descending signal G output from the second comparator 30 is at L level.

As described above, when the stair rising signal F output from the first comparator 29 is at the H level, the second comparator 3
When the stairs descending signal G output from 0 is at the L level, the calorie expenditure calculating unit 16 recognizes that the measurement subject H is walking up the stairs. When the HPF passing signal E is lower than Vt1 and higher than Vt2, the signals G and H output from the two comparators 29 and 30 are both at the L level, and the calorie consumption calculation indicates that the walking state is a flat ground walking state. It is recognized by the unit 16.

When the HPF passing signal E is less than Vt2, the stair climbing signal F becomes L level, the stair descending signal H becomes H level, and the walking state is the stair descending state. It is recognized at 16. The walking determination unit 14 calculates the difference between the ground clearance signals using a microcomputer or an AD converter, and calculates the threshold values Vt1 and Vt.
It is needless to say that the walking state may be determined by comparing with the ground height of one staircase instead of 2.

Next, the calculation process executed by the consumed calorie calculation unit 15 will be described. FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a calculation process executed by the consumed calorie calculation unit 15. As shown in FIG. 8, the calorie consumption calculating unit 15 performs step S1.
In step (hereinafter, “step” is omitted), the counter is incremented by one by a timer, and the walking time of the subject H is measured from the interval (cycle) at which a signal is input from the walking detecting unit 13.

In the next step S2, the timing at which the signal from the walking detecting section 13 is input is detected.
When the signal from 3 is input, the process proceeds to S3. In the next S3, the walking time measured in S1 is stored in the memory. Subsequently, in step S4, the counter is reset, and preparations are made to measure the walking time again. In the next S5, the number of the stair climbing F signal and the stair descending signal G obtained by the interrupt processing during one step is stored in the memory.

Subsequently, in step S6, these are examined, and if the stair rising signal F is input once as an H level signal during one step, and if the stair descending signal G is not input as an H level signal, the signal is received. It is determined that the walking state of the measurer H is going up the stairs. When the stairs descending signal G is input once as an H level signal and the stairs ascent signal G is not input once as an H level signal, it is determined that the walking state of the subject H is the stairs descending. I do.

If none of the above applies, it is determined that the subject H is walking on level ground. Based on this determination, a coefficient RMR (Resting Metabolic Ra) for calculating the calorie consumption corresponding to the walking state is obtained from the exercise state-RMR selection table 31 shown in FIG.
te (resting metabolic rate)). For example, when the walking state of the subject H is ascending the stairs, the exercise state −RM
“RMR = 7.0” is selected from the R table 31. If the walking state is down stairs, “RMR = 3.
Select "0".

Further, when the walking state of the subject H is walking on level ground, a walking pace represented by the following equation is calculated.
The RMR corresponding to this is selected. Walking pace = 60 / walking time (2) Next, in S7, the calorie consumption is calculated by the following equation. Calorie consumption = (RMR + 1.2) × walking time × weight × basal metabolism (3) In the above formula (3), the weight and basal metabolism of the subject H are set in advance by the subject H itself. Is a constant.

Then, in the next S8, the total calorie consumption per day is calculated by adding the calorie consumption calculated by the above equation (3) to the calorie consumption per day. Thereafter, the flow returns to S1 again, and the processing after S1 is repeated. As described above, the calorie consumption calculating device 11 can determine the walking state of the subject H by measuring the ground height using the ground height detection unit 12, and can determine the walking state of the subject H (the flat ground). The calorie consumption according to walking, climbing stairs, descending stairs) can be accurately obtained.

In the above embodiment, the ground height detector 1
As an example, the case where an ultrasonic sensor was used for 2 was described.
Other sensors (for example, sensors that measure distance using light, radio waves, or the like) and the like can be used as the ground height detection unit 12. Also, in the above embodiment, climbing the stairs,
Although the case where the ascending / descending operation of the subject H due to descending the stairs is determined has been described, it is needless to say that the climbing and descending of the slope can be determined in the same manner as described above.

[0035]

As described above, according to the present invention, a change in ground clearance is calculated based on the phase difference between the transmission signal from the transmitter and the reception signal received by the receiver, and based on the calculation result, Therefore, the calorie consumption according to the actual exercise state can be accurately obtained even when the user performs an ascending / descending operation such as going up and down stairs or going up and down a hill.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a calorie consumption calculating device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a mounted state of a calorie consumption calculating device.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a ground height detection unit 12 that measures the ground height.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the walking state of the person to be measured classified into climbing stairs, walking on level ground, and descending stairs.

FIG. 5 is a waveform diagram of a ground height signal D obtained from the ground height detection unit 12 corresponding to each walking state of the subject H.

FIG. 6 is a waveform diagram of an HPF passing signal E obtained by applying a high-pass filter (HPF) to a signal D corresponding to each walking state of the person H to be measured.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a walking determination unit 14.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a calculation process executed by a consumed calorie calculation unit 15;

FIG. 9 is a diagram schematically showing an exercise state-RMR selection table in which coefficients RMR for calorie consumption calculation corresponding to a walking state are registered.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 11 calorie consumption calculating device 12 ground height detecting unit 13 walking detecting unit 14 walking determining unit 15 caloric consumption calculating unit 16 calorie consumption output unit 17 ultrasonic transmitter 18 ultrasonic receiver 19 pulse generating circuit 20 amplifier circuit 21 ultrasonic sensor 22 Filter circuit 23 Time difference measurement circuit 28 High pass filter (HPF) 29 First comparator 30 Second comparator

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A step count sensor for detecting the number of steps of a person to be measured, a calorie consumption calculator for calculating calorie consumption from biological conditions of the person to be measured and the number of steps detected by the step sensor, and a calorie consumption calculator. A calorie expenditure calculating device comprising: a calculation unit configured to store a calculation result of the calculation; and a transmitter that transmits a signal toward the walking surface of the subject, and a reflected wave of the signal transmitted from the transmitter. A receiver for receiving, a calculating means for calculating a change in ground clearance based on a phase difference between a transmission signal from the transmitter and a reception signal received by the receiver, based on a calculation result by the calculating means A calorie expenditure calculation device comprising: a determination unit that determines a lifting operation.