CN115127582A

CN115127582A - Step counting method, step counting system and computer readable storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN115127582A
Application number: CN202210806612.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王永芳
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2022-07-11
Filing date: 2022-07-11
Publication date: 2022-09-30
Also published as: WO2023005857A1

Abstract

The invention name is as follows: the technical field of step counting methods, step counting systems and computer readable storage media are as follows: the present invention relates to the field of electronic communications, and in particular, to a step counting method, a step counting device, and a computer-readable storage medium. A step counting method comprises the steps that an electrode which is in contact with or coupled with the skin of a human body obtains an electric signal caused by the capacitance change of the human body when the human body lifts and drops feet; the signal processing circuit electrically connected with the electrodes processes the electric signals and outputs signal streams recorded with the foot lifting information and the foot falling information of the human body to the central control unit; the central control unit electrically connected with the signal processing circuit analyzes the received signal flow, counts the foot lifting information and the foot falling information of the human body recorded in the signal flow, and calculates the step number information. The step number is measured by acquiring the change of the electrode electric signal caused by the change of the capacitance of the human body, so that the precision of step number measurement is improved, the probability of missing measurement or error measurement is reduced, and the user experience is improved.

Description

Step counting method, step counting system and computer readable storage medium

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of electronic communications, and in particular, to a step counting method, a step counting device, and a computer readable storage medium.

Background

Today, everyone is very concerned about health. The number of steps of walking is recorded through an intelligent bracelet, an intelligent watch, a pedometer or a mobile phone, and the method is a habit of many people. Through measuring and calculating the step number, the energy consumption can be estimated, and the aim of health tracking is fulfilled. However, currently, wearable intelligent devices with a step counting function measure and calculate the step count through data acquired by an inertial sensor, and due to the complexity of human motion, the accuracy of the step count measurement and calculation result based on the inertial sensor is limited. In essence, the inertial sensor senses the motion of the wearing part of the sensor, for example, the smart watch senses the motion of the wrist instead of the leg of the human body. For example, when a person sits in an automobile, the step number misjudgment of the intelligent device can be caused by the jolt of the automobile. For another example, if the wearer of the bracelet puts his or her hand into the trousers pocket, the number of steps taken is difficult to detect.

The current wearable intelligent equipment with the step counting function measures and calculates the step number through an inertial sensor, the precision of the measurement and calculation result is limited, missing measurement or error measurement often occurs in the step number measurement and calculation based on the inertial sensor due to the complexity of human motion, and the step number identification and calculation also occupy a large amount of hardware resources.

For example, Chinese patent No. ZL201710301811.9, wearable pedometer System and Chinese patent No: 201080005632.7 entitled "method and system for generating physiological signals using cloth capacitive sensor" describes a method for calculating the number of steps by using parasitic capacitance generated by relative motion between silk fabric and human body, but these methods need to depend on special clothing materials, etc., and thus have certain limitations.

Disclosure of Invention

The following is a summary of the subject matter described in detail herein. This summary is not intended to limit the scope of the claims.

One of the objectives of the present invention is to provide a method for accurately counting steps, so as to overcome the disadvantage of low accuracy of the conventional step counting method based on an inertial sensor.

The second purpose of the invention is to provide a step counting system with low power consumption, low cost and small volume based on the method, the system can be embedded into intelligent equipment with step counting function in the current market, such as a smart watch, a sports bracelet and a smart phone, and the step counting system is different from an inertial sensor.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a simple step-counting algorithm based on the method and system. The algorithm can be implemented by simple computer instructions, and compared with the traditional step counting algorithm based on the inertial sensor, the algorithm is simple, easy to implement and consumes less energy.

The embodiment of the invention provides a step counting method, a step counting system and a step counting algorithm, which are used for counting the steps by acquiring an electric signal on an electrode which is in contact with or coupled with a human body due to the capacitance change of the human body, so that the precision of step counting is improved, the probability of missing measurement or error measurement is reduced, and the use experience of a user is improved.

The principle of the invention is that the human body is a good conductor, and a certain amount of charges are distributed on the skin of the body surface, so that an electric field is formed between the human body and the ground, the electric field can be expressed by a plurality of physical quantities, such as skin potential, electrostatic field of the human body, capacitance of the human body and the like, and the physical principle behind the expression is based on the electrical relationship between the human body and the surrounding environment of the human body, which is caused by the characteristics of the good conductor of the human body. The physical principle of the system is described by a human body capacitor. The human body capacitance essentially refers to the capacitance formed between the human body and ground. When a human body moves relative to the ground, such as lifting a foot, the distance between the human body and the ground changes, resulting in the change of the capacitance of the human body. When the capacitance of the human body changes, namely the electrostatic field between the human body and the ground changes, the charges distributed on the skin of the human body flow or are redistributed on the human body. The human body movement is deduced by directly or indirectly detecting the human body capacitance change caused by the human body movement, such as the change of electrical signals of body surface current, voltage, frequency and the like caused by the human body capacitance change, so that accurate step counting is realized. The leg movements of lifting and lowering feet have a large influence on the capacitance of the human body. Other non-leg movements, such as arm movements, may also change the body capacitance, but to a lesser extent than lifting and lowering the feet.

In a first aspect, the present invention provides a step counting method, including: acquiring an electric signal caused by capacitance change generated when a human body lifts and drops feet by an electrode contacted with or coupled with the skin of the human body; a signal processing circuit which is electrically connected with the electrodes and has high input impedance provides bias voltage for the electrodes, performs signal processing on the electric signals, and outputs a signal stream in which the information of the lifting and falling feet of the human body is recorded to a central control unit; the central control unit electrically connected with the signal processing circuit analyzes the received signal flow, counts the foot lifting information and the foot falling information of the human body recorded in the signal flow, and calculates the step number information.

The electrode contacted or coupled with the human skin is electrically connected with the input end of the signal processing circuit. When the capacitance of the human body changes, a changing current appears on the electrodes that are in contact with or coupled to the skin of the human body. The current is a conduction current when the electrode is in contact with the skin and a displacement current when the electrode is coupled to the skin.

The "signal processing circuit" has an input impedance higher than 1 kilo-ohm and provides a bias voltage to the "electrodes".

The signal processing circuit comprises a filter circuit, a single-ended input signal amplifying circuit and an analog-to-digital conversion circuit.

And the central control unit obtains step number signals by comparing the collected original data or the change rate of the original data with a preset threshold value and carries out statistics.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a step counting system, including: at least one electrode in contact with or coupled to human skin; and the input end of the signal processing circuit is electrically connected with the electrode and provides bias voltage for the electrode, so that the electrode stores charges, and the charge flowing signal can be represented as a change signal of the voltage. At the same time, the signal processing circuit has an input impedance higher than 1 kiloohm. The signal processing circuit is used for carrying out signal processing on the electric signals on the electrodes and outputting signal streams recorded with the foot lifting and falling information of the human body; the central control unit is electrically connected with the output end of the signal processing circuit, analyzes the signal flow received from the signal processing circuit, counts the foot lifting and foot falling information of the human body recorded in the signal flow, and calculates step information, wherein when the human body lifts the foot or the foot falls, the capacitance of the human body changes, a conduction current or a displacement current is generated on the electrode which is in contact with or coupled with the skin of the human body, and the current is received by the central control unit after being processed by the signal processing circuit and calculates the step information according to the processed signal characteristics.

The system is characterized in that a charge change signal on an electrode caused by the capacitance change of a human body is processed by a circuit and converted into a readable voltage signal, and the step number information is analyzed from the voltage signal. Alternatively, the step number information may be analyzed from the signals obtained by performing circuit processing on the charge change signals on the electrodes caused by the capacitance change of the human body and converting the charge change signals into other electrical signals with measurable frequency and the like.

The term "electrode in contact or coupling with human skin" is intended to mean any charge-storing conductor of any shape, size, material that acts as an electrode, either in direct contact with the skin, connecting the human skin to the signal processing circuitry via the electrode, or coupling with the skin, i.e., with a non-conductor in between to isolate the skin from the electrode, forming a coupling capacitance. In the former case, a conduction current (conduction current) is formed at the skin-electrode connection when the leg moves. In the latter case, when the leg moves, a displacement current (displacement current) is formed at the electrode. The current signal is simultaneously represented as a voltage signal under the action of the bias voltage. By performing circuit processing, such as filtering and amplifying, on the voltage signal, the central control unit can obtain a continuous analog signal caused by leg movement. Further through analog-digital conversion, the central control unit can obtain continuous digital signals caused by leg movement.

The electrodes may be separate in the smart device, conductors placed inside or on the surface of the device, or conductors external to the smart device to facilitate connection, such as conductors placed in a wristband; or any conductor with charge storage capability integrated into the smart device, such as a separate conductive layer on a circuit board.

Preferably, in the signal processing circuit, the electrode voltage signal is amplified by an operational amplifier, the amplified voltage signal is subjected to general analog-to-digital conversion, such as 8-bit analog-to-digital conversion, and the central control unit obtains a digital signal stream of the leg movement.

Optionally, in the signal processing circuit, by placing a high-precision analog-to-digital converter, such as a 24-bit high-precision ADC, the converted voltage signal is amplified without an amplifier circuit, and the central control unit can obtain a digital signal stream of the leg movement.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a step counting algorithm for the step counting method according to the first aspect and the step counting system according to the second aspect. The movements of the lifting and lowering feet appear as a signal stream with spikes in the signal obtained by the central control unit. Step number information can be obtained by counting the peak signals.

Specifically, by acquiring an electric signal on an electrode which is in contact with or coupled with a human body due to a change in capacitance of the human body; and performing signal processing on the electric signal to obtain first step data, acquiring a new electric signal once again when the first step data meets a preset condition, performing signal processing on the new electric signal to obtain second step data, and similarly confirming that the second step data meets the preset condition. And then obtaining the step number information according to the first step number data and the second step number data.

It should be noted that the first step number data and the second step number data include, but are not limited to, one or more of the following data: a single raw data, a set of raw data, a single raw data rate of change, a set of raw data rates of change, a rate of change of a single raw data rate of change, a rate of change of a set of raw data rates of change.

Optionally, the preset condition is a threshold value based on the original data.

Optionally, the preset condition may also be a threshold based on a rate of change of the original data, or a threshold based on a rate of change of the original data.

In a fourth aspect, the present invention further provides a computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to execute the step-counting algorithm according to the third aspect.

As a result of embodiments of the present invention, the "electrode in contact with or coupled to the skin of the human body" is placed near the skin, or in contact with or coupled to the skin, and the "circuit signal processing unit" is embedded in a smart device, such as a smart watch or a sports bracelet, either in a discrete (discrete) form or in an integrated (integrated) form, so that the smart device has a high-precision step number detection function based on the capacitance of the human body. It should be noted that, due to the conductive property of the human body, the accurate step counting method and system based on the human body capacitance step counting method include the electrodes and the circuit signal processing unit, the placement position of the electrode and the circuit signal processing unit can be any part close to the body, and the placement position of the electrode and the circuit signal processing unit does not influence the step number detection result, such as the wrist position, the pocket position and the like.

Compared with the prior art, the invention has obvious advantages and beneficial effects. First, the embodiments of the present invention have the characteristics of low cost, low power consumption and small size, and can be directly embedded into an intelligent device requiring a step counting function at present or further integrated into an ASIC. And compared with the step counting function based on the inertial sensor in the existing intelligent equipment, the step counting method can provide higher step counting accuracy. The reason for this is that the method essentially records the number of cycles of leg movement, i.e. the number of times of raising and lowering the foot, through the change of the capacitance of the human body, which corresponds to the information of the number of steps of the smart device wearer. The method based on the inertial sensor essentially records the periodic movement of the wearing part of the intelligent device, such as the step number information shown by a smart watch, and is actually the periodic movement information of the wrist, and cannot completely represent the periodic movement information of the leg.

Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.

[ description of the drawings ]

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the present invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the example serve to explain the principles of the invention and do not constitute a limitation thereof.

FIG. 1 shows a (show schema) body capacitance, body electrostatic field model;

FIG. 2 shows the electrostatic field between the surface of the foot and the ground after the human body lifts and falls;

FIG. 3 illustrates the basic information flow of an implementation of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a step counter according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a connection scheme provided by one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram of a signal processing module provided by one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram of a signal processing module provided by one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a signal diagram of a step counting method provided by one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is yet another signal diagram of a step counting method provided by one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a system architecture platform for performing a step-counting method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a basic flow diagram of a step-counting algorithm provided by one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a partial flow diagram of a step-counting algorithm provided by one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a partial flow diagram of a step-counting algorithm provided by one embodiment of the present invention;

[ detailed description ] A

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, the present invention is described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention.

In the description of the present invention, the meaning of a plurality of means is one or more, the meaning of a plurality of means is two or more, and larger, smaller, larger, etc. are understood as excluding the number, and larger, smaller, inner, etc. are understood as including the number. If the first and second are described for the purpose of distinguishing technical features, they are not to be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated or implicitly indicating the precedence of the technical features indicated.

In the description of the present invention, unless otherwise explicitly limited, terms such as arrangement, installation, connection and the like should be understood in a broad sense, and those skilled in the art can reasonably determine the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention in combination with the specific contents of the technical solutions.

Aiming at the problem that the conventional step counting device or wearable intelligent equipment with a step counting function is easy to miss or miss, the embodiment of the invention provides a step counting method, a step counting device, a corresponding step counting algorithm and a computer readable storage medium. When a human body performs leg lifting or foot falling, the distance between the human body and the ground is changed, so that the capacitance of the human body is changed. By acquiring an electric signal on an electrode brought into contact with or coupled to a human body caused by a change in capacitance of the human body, the electric signal serves as a raw signal for detecting information on the number of steps. The electric signal is processed, the central control unit obtains a signal flow carrying step number information, and the step number information is obtained from the signal flow through analysis.

The embodiments of the present invention will be further explained with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1 shows the physical concept of the capacitance of the human body, i.e. the electrostatic field between the human body and the surrounding environment. Since the human body itself is a good conductor, it has the ability to store charge. The environment around the human body is also charged. An electric field is formed between the human body and the surrounding environment. We use the body capacitance to shape the electric field. The human body capacitance is a physical characteristic of the human body, and the formation of the human body capacitance is independent of clothes.

Fig. 2 shows the electrostatic field between the surface of the foot and the ground after the human body lifts and falls. As the distance between the foot surface and the ground surface changes, the electric field between the two will also change. In other words, the actions of raising and lowering the foot cause the change in the capacitance of the human body. The invention utilizes the phenomenon of human body capacitance change caused by the actions of lifting and lowering feet to carry out accurate step number sensing and calculation.

FIG. 3 shows two basic steps implemented by an embodiment of the present invention:

the method comprises the following steps: when the human body lifts and falls, the detection circuit directly or indirectly detects the change of the human body capacitance. The detection circuit may also detect, directly or indirectly, changes in other physical parameters caused by changes in the capacitance of the body, such as changes in the charge on electrodes in contact with or coupled to the body. This step involves electrodes in contact with or coupled to the human body, and signal processing circuitry.

Step two: the central control unit carries out numerical analysis on the signals sampled by the detection circuit to obtain step information. This step involves a central control unit.

Optionally, the signal processing Circuit and the central control unit are Integrated to be a dedicated Integrated Circuit (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) chip, and the chip integrates the signal processing Circuit and the controller.

The above two steps generally illustrate the basic steps of the method and the hardware modules involved. The following disclosure will show the implementation and implementation effects of the method and hardware system in specific embodiments.

Fig. 4 shows an embodiment of a system architecture for implementing the method of the present invention. In this embodiment, the step counting system 400 includes an electrode 410, a signal processing circuit 420 and a central control unit 430, the electrode 410 is electrically connected to the signal processing circuit 420, the signal processing circuit 420 is electrically connected to the central control unit 430, the electrode 410 is used for acquiring an electrical signal caused by capacitance change of a human body, and when the electrode 410 is in direct contact with the human body, the electrical signal caused by capacitance change of the human body is a conduction current signal; when the electrode 410 is coupled to the human body, the electric signal caused by the capacitance change of the human body is a displacement current signal. The signal processing circuit 420 provides a stable bias voltage to the electrode 410 and has an input impedance higher than 1 kilo-ohm. Because the capacitance of the human body is only about 100 picofarads, the change of the capacitance of the human body caused by the walking of the human body is very weak. In order to be able to sense the weak changes in the human body capacitance, the step counting system converts the sensing of the weak changes in the human body capacitance into sensing of the extremely weak flow of charge at the electrodes caused by the human body capacitance. The signal processing circuit 420 performs signal processing on the electric signal on the electrode 410 and transmits the processed signal to the central control unit 430. The central control unit 430 analyzes the signal by a step counting algorithm to obtain step information.

The signal processing circuit includes: the device comprises a filter circuit module, an amplifying circuit module and an analog-digital conversion circuit module.

Preferably, the amplifying circuit module is composed of a single-ended input operational amplifier.

The electrodes of the described embodiments are in direct contact with or indirectly coupled to the human body, and when a foot-lifting or foot-dropping action occurs to the human body, a change occurs in the capacitance of the human body, which causes a flow of electric charges in the human body, and also appears as a flow of electric charges at the electrodes.

The signal processing circuit of the embodiment supplies a bias voltage to the electrodes and has an input impedance higher than 1 kilo-ohm. At this time, the flow of the electric charge on the electrode can be reflected by the change in the voltage on the electrode. The signal processing circuit performs signal processing on the voltage signal to obtain a signal flow when the human body lifts or falls.

It should be noted that, by placing a capacitor between the electrode and the signal processing circuit, the amplitude of the electrode voltage signal change and the response time can be adjusted, and the accuracy of step number detection is further improved.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a connection mode provided by an embodiment of the present invention, in this embodiment, as shown in a case a in fig. 5, an electrode 501 disposed in a smart wearable device 500 is in direct contact with a skin 503, and an electrical signal on the electrode caused by a capacitance change of a human body is a conduction current signal; as shown in case B of fig. 12, the electrode 501 is coupled to the skin 503, that is, the medium 502 is sandwiched between the electrode 501 and the skin 503, and the electrical signal on the electrode caused by the human body capacitance telephone is a displacement current signal.

It should be noted that the medium 502 is a low conductivity medium, including but not limited to air, fabric or rubber based wrist band.

Note that, as shown in fig. 5, the material, size, placement position, and the like of the electrode 501 are not limited. Preferably, the electrode 501 is a piece of conductor inside or on the surface of the smart wearable device 500.

Preferably, the electrode 501 is a sheet of conductor external to the smart wearable device, such as a sheet of conductor embedded in a wrist band.

As shown in fig. 6, fig. 6 is a circuit diagram of a signal processing module according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, a general analog-to-digital conversion module is used, and an amplification circuit unit is composed of a single-ended input operational amplifier OP1 and an operational amplifier OP 2. The resistor network formed by the resistor R2, the resistor R3 and the resistor R4 provides a bias voltage for the electrode and is combined with the OP1, so that the signal processing module has an input impedance higher than one thousand ohms. Providing a stable bias voltage can provide a potential for the electrodes to have a flowable charge and a readable voltage. The resistor R1 and the capacitor C1, and the resistor R7 and the capacitor C2 are low-pass filter networks. The circuit design can reduce the cost and the power consumption of the signal processing circuit and reduce the volume of a signal processing circuit module. The circuit uses an operational amplifier to amplify weak voltage change caused by charge change at the electrode, and the voltage change of the output end caused by the charge change at the electrode can be detected by the output end by using a common analog-to-digital conversion module.

Fig. 7 is a circuit diagram of a signal processing module according to another embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, a general analog-to-digital conversion module is used, and an amplifying circuit unit is composed of a single-ended input operational amplifier OP 1. The resistor network formed by the resistors R5, R6 and R7 provides a bias voltage for the electrodes and enables the signal processing module to have an input impedance higher than one thousand ohms. R3, C2, R4 and C3 are low-pass filter circuits. R1, R2, C1 and OP1 are amplifying circuits, wherein C1 ensures the bias characteristic of the output voltage. This embodiment further reduces circuit power consumption and cost.

Fig. 8 and 9 show the circuit shown in fig. 7 as a signal processing circuit, and the device with the step counting system shown in fig. 4 as a core is worn on the wrist of a human body in a wearable manner, and when the electrodes are in contact with the skin, the detected motion signals of lifting and falling feet are detected. When a user lifts or falls a foot, the capacitance of the human body changes instantly due to the change of the distance between the human body and the ground. The change appears at the electrodes as a momentary transfer of charge, i.e. a charging and discharging process at the electrodes, and at the output of the signal processing circuit appears as spikes in the voltage signal in different directions. When walking at a slow speed, the

spikes

801a, 801b, and 801c are voltage spikes obtained by the central control unit when the user raises his/her foot, and the

spikes

802a, 802b, and 802c are voltage spikes obtained by the central control unit when the user falls his/her foot. That is, each time the foot leaves the ground, or falls back to the ground, the detected voltage signal has a transient spike and then falls back to a stable voltage state. The amplitude of the spike, the time required for the spike to fall back to a stable voltage state, the amplitude of the stable voltage, and the like depend on the values of some discrete components in the signal processing circuit. When the human body walks at a fast walking speed and the electrodes are in contact with the skin, the voltage signals are collected as shown in fig. 8, and each peak signal represents a foot lifting or dropping action. The peak signal 902 is a peak voltage signal obtained by the central control unit when the foot is lifted, and the peak signal 901 is a peak voltage signal obtained by the central control unit when the foot is dropped. Because the time interval between the lifting and the falling of the two pins is short, the voltage at the output end of the signal processing module does not completely fall back to the vicinity of the bias voltage, and then the next peak signal appears. The frequency of the spikes represents the frequency of foot lifts and feet drops.

Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of a system architecture platform for performing a step counting method according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 10.

The system architecture platform 1000 of the present invention includes one or more processors 1010 and memories 1020, and one processor 1010 and one memory 1020 are illustrated in fig. 10 as an example.

The processor 1010 and the memory 1020 may be connected by a bus or other means, such as the bus connection shown in FIG. 10.

The memory 1020, which is a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, may be used to store non-transitory software programs as well as non-transitory computer executable programs. Further, the memory 1020 may include high speed random access memory, and may also include non-transitory memory, such as at least one magnetic disk storage device, flash memory device, or other non-transitory solid state storage device. In some embodiments, memory 1020 may optionally include memory 1020 located remotely from processor 1010, which may be connected to system architecture platform 1000 via a network. Examples of such networks include, but are not limited to, the internet, intranets, local area networks, mobile communication networks, and combinations thereof.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the device architecture shown in fig. 10 does not constitute a limitation of system architecture platform 1000, and may include more or fewer components than shown, or some components in combination, or a different arrangement of components.

As shown in fig. 11, fig. 11 is a flowchart of a basic algorithm of a step counting method according to an embodiment of the present invention, and the step counting algorithm according to the embodiment of the present invention includes, but is not limited to, step S1100, step S1110, and step S1120.

Step S1100, the central control unit acquires first step data from output original data of the signal processing circuit;

step S1110, acquiring second step data under the condition that the first step data meet preset conditions; otherwise, acquiring new first step data;

step S1120, when the second step data meets the preset condition, obtaining step information according to the first step data and the second step data.

In this embodiment, when a human body performs a leg lifting motion or a foot dropping motion, a distance between the human body and the ground changes, which results in a change in capacitance of the human body, and an electrical signal on an electrode, which is in contact with or coupled to the human body and is caused by the change in capacitance of the human body, is acquired and then subjected to signal processing, so as to obtain first step number data, and when the first step number data meets a preset condition, a new electrical signal is acquired again and then subjected to signal processing, so as to obtain second step number data, and it is also necessary to determine whether the second step number data meets the preset condition. And then obtaining the step number information according to the first step number data and the second step number data. And (4) judging whether the step number original data meet the preset conditions or not, and screening the data obtained under the condition that the human body does not lift legs or does not fall feet.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment, the first step number data and the second step number data include, but are not limited to, one or more of the following data: a single raw data, a set of raw data, a single raw data rate of change, a set of raw data rates of change, a rate of change of a single raw data rate of change, a rate of change of a set of raw data rates of change.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment, the preset condition includes, but is not limited to, one or more of the following: is greater than the threshold value, is less than the threshold value, is greater than or equal to the threshold value, and is less than or equal to the threshold value.

As shown in fig. 12, fig. 12 is a partial algorithm flowchart of the step counting method provided in this embodiment, and the step counting algorithm in the embodiment of the present invention includes, but is not limited to, step S1200, step S1210, step S1220, step S1230, and step 1240.

Step S1200, judging whether the first step data meets a preset condition;

step S1210, when the result shows that the first step data is larger than a first preset threshold value or smaller than a second preset threshold value;

step S1220, reserving the first step number data and acquiring the second step number data;

step S1230, when the result shows that the second step data is smaller than the third preset threshold or larger than the fourth preset threshold;

in step S1240, it is determined that a foot raising or lowering operation has occurred.

It should be noted that the preset thresholds may be equal.

As shown in fig. 13, fig. 13 is a partial algorithm flowchart of the step counting method provided in this embodiment, and the step counting method according to this embodiment includes, but is not limited to, step S1300, step S1310, and step S1320.

Step S1300, the central control unit checks whether the first step data meets a preset condition;

step S1310, when the first step number data is less than or equal to a first preset threshold and greater than or equal to a second preset threshold;

step S1320, discarding the first step number data and acquiring new first step number data;

Furthermore, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores computer-executable instructions, which are executed by a processor or a controller, for example, by a processor in the above controller embodiment, and can enable the processor to execute the step counting method in the above embodiment, for example, execute the above-described method steps 1100 to S1120 in fig. 11, method steps S1200 and S1240 in fig. 12, and method steps S1300 to S1320 in fig. 13.

It will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that all or some of the steps, systems, and methods disclosed above may be implemented as software, firmware, hardware, or suitable combinations thereof. Some or all of the physical components may be implemented as software executed by a processor, such as a central processing unit, digital signal processor, or microprocessor, or as hardware, or as an integrated circuit, such as an application specific integrated circuit. Such software may be distributed on computer readable media, which may include computer storage media (or non-transitory media) and communication media (or transitory media). The term computer storage media includes volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data, as is well known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, Digital Versatile Disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can accessed by a computer. In addition, communication media typically embodies computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media as known to those skilled in the art.

While the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and various other changes, omissions and deviations in the form and detail thereof may be made without departing from the scope of this invention.

Claims

1. A step counting method, comprising:

acquiring an electric signal caused by human body capacitance change generated when a human body lifts and drops feet by an electrode contacted with or coupled with human body skin;

the signal processing circuit electrically connected with the electrodes is used for processing the electric signals and outputting a signal stream recorded with the foot lifting information and the foot falling information of the human body to the central control unit;

the central control unit electrically connected with the signal processing circuit analyzes the received signal flow, counts the foot lifting information and foot falling information of the human body recorded in the signal flow, and calculates the step information

2. The step counting method of claim 1, wherein the signal processing circuit provides a bias voltage to the electrodes, the input of the signal processing circuit having an input impedance greater than 1 kilo-ohm.

3. The step counting method of claim 2, wherein the bias voltage acts as a charge source to provide charge to the electrodes.

4. The step counting method according to claim 1, wherein the human body capacitance refers to a capacitance relationship between a human body and an environment, which can also be referred to as an electric field relationship between the human body and the environment.

5. The step counting method according to claim 1, wherein the step count information is acquired by:

the central control unit obtains an electric signal on an electrode which is processed by the signal processing circuit and is in contact with or coupled with a human body due to capacitance change of the human body to obtain first step number data, when the first step number data meet a preset condition, the central control unit obtains second step number data, the second step number data are required to be confirmed to meet the preset condition, and then step number information is obtained according to the first step number data and the second step number data.

6. A step counting method according to claim 5, wherein the first step count data and the second step count data include, but are not limited to, one or more of the following: a single raw data, a set of raw data, a rate of change of a single raw data, a rate of change of a set of raw data, a rate of change of a single raw data rate of change, a rate of change of a set of raw data rates of change.

7. The step counting method according to claim 5, wherein the predetermined condition is a threshold value based on the original data, the rate of change of the original data, and the rate of change of the original data.

8. A body capacitance based step counting system comprising:

at least one electrode in contact with or coupled to human skin;

the signal processing circuit is electrically connected with the electrode, performs signal processing on the electric signal on the electrode and outputs a signal stream recorded with the foot lifting information and the foot falling information of the human body;

a central control unit electrically connected with the signal processing circuit, analyzing the electric signal received from the signal processing circuit, counting the foot lifting information and the foot falling information of the human body recorded in the electric signal, and calculating the step number information,

when a human body lifts or falls, the capacitance of the human body changes, a conduction current or a displacement current is generated on an electrode which is in contact with or coupled with the skin of the human body, the conduction current or the displacement current is processed by a signal processing circuit, received by a central control unit and used for calculating step information according to the processed signal characteristics, wherein the signal processing circuit comprises a filter circuit, a single-ended input signal amplifying circuit and an analog-to-digital conversion circuit.

9. The pedometer system of claim 8, wherein the signal processing circuit contains a single-ended input operational amplifier and provides a bias voltage to the electrodes, the input of the signal processing circuit having an input impedance greater than 1 kilo-ohm.

10. The step counting system of claim 8, wherein the signal processing circuit includes, but is not limited to, one or more of a signal filtering circuit, a signal amplifying circuit, an analog-to-digital conversion circuit.

11. The pedometer system of claim 8, wherein the analog or digital signal output by the signal processing circuit carries information on the number of steps, and the central control unit detects and counts the spikes of the central control unit to obtain the number of steps.

12. The step counting system of claim 8, wherein all or part of the components and modules in the step counting system are integrated within a single chip.

13. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to perform the step counting method of any one of claims 1, 4, 5, 6, 7.