JP2011083552A - Physical activity measuring instrument - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a physical activity measuring instrument allowing a user to intuitively recognize the amount of exercise performed by the user and to easily set a desired value as a target value of the moving speed. <P>SOLUTION: The activity meter includes; an acceleration sensor 1 for detecting the body movement of the user's body; an arithmetic processing part 2 for finding various activity amounts from the result of detection by the acceleration sensor 1; an input operation part 4 for the user to input various set values; and a display part 5 for displaying the result of arithmetic operation of the activity amounts. A target speed setting function 25 of the arithmetic processing part 2 sets a speed obtained by multiplying an average moving speed when the user usually moves by a ratio input by the user using the input operation part 4 as a target moving speed. A walking speed computing function 23 of the arithmetic processing part 2 finds the moving speed by integrating the detected value of the acceleration input by the acceleration sensor 1, and a clocking function 26 clocks the brisk walking time when the moving speed is the target moving speed or higher. A control function 27 of the arithmetic processing part 2 displays the result of clocking of the brisk walking time and the target moving speed in the display part 5. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a physical activity measuring apparatus.

  In recent years, an increasing number of people enjoy walking due to the growing health boom. For those who walk to maintain their health, it is important to know how much physical activity the person has performed (walking). Traditionally, pedometers have been used to measure steps and walking distance. Was.

  Recently, some people walk to prevent metabolic syndrome and prevent it. For these users, instead of simply measuring the number of steps, measure the amount of physical activity (exercise intensity, etc.) Something that encourages walking beyond strength has been provided.

  In addition, an exercise amount measuring apparatus that obtains and displays calorie consumption by exercise and the daily activity intensity of exercise based on a detection signal of an acceleration sensor that detects body movement of a living body has also been provided (see, for example, Patent Document 1). . In addition, some conventional activity meters display how much physical activity the user has performed in units of exercise (Ex). The exercise is a unit representing the amount of physical activity, and is obtained by multiplying the intensity (met) of physical activity by the time (hour) of physical activity. In addition, mets (METbolic: equivalent equivalent) is a unit used in the American Sports Medicine Association to express how many times the intensity of physical activity corresponds to rest.

JP-A-8-126632

  However, in the above exercise amount measuring device and activity meter, the amount of physical activity performed by the user is displayed in units that are not familiar to general users, such as daily activity intensity (exercise intensity) and exercise, There was a problem that it was difficult to intuitively understand how much exercise I did. In addition, since 23Ex exercise is recommended as a physical activity amount for health promotion per week, the activity meter that displays the amount of physical exercise in units of exercise (Ex) has a target value of activity amount. It is fixed at 23Ex per week, which is unsatisfactory for users who want to challenge higher goals.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and its purpose is to intuitively grasp the amount of exercise performed by itself and easily set the target value of the moving speed to a desired value. It is to provide a physical activity measuring device that can be set.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 is a body motion detecting means for detecting a body motion of a body at a predetermined measurement cycle, and a movement for calculating a moving speed based on a detection result of the body motion detecting means. Speed calculation means, target setting means for setting the speed obtained by multiplying the average movement speed during normal movement by the magnification input by the user using the input means as the target movement speed, and the movement speed obtained by the calculation means And a display means for displaying the fast walking time measured by the time measuring means together with the target moving speed.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the time measuring means also measures the total movement time during which the user is moving, and the display means displays the total movement time together with the fast walking time. .

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the user sets the target moving speed by inputting the magnification with respect to the average moving speed during normal movement using the input means, it is easy to understand as the target of the exercise. There is an effect that a target can be set and a desired value suitable for each user can be set as a target value. Moreover, the time measuring means keeps track of the fast walking time when the moving speed is equal to or higher than the target moving speed, and the time of the fast walking time is displayed on the display means together with the target moving speed. There is also an effect that can be grasped.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the total travel time is displayed on the display means in addition to the fast walk time, it is possible to easily grasp how fast the walk time is out of the total travel time.

It is a block diagram of the active mass meter of Embodiment 1. 4A is a front view, FIG. 4B is a right side view, FIG. 3C is a rear view, FIG. 4D is a top view, and FIG. (A) is the external appearance perspective view which looked at the same from the front, (b) is the external appearance perspective view which looked at the same from the back. It is a front view in the state where all the liquid crystal displays same as the above were displayed. It is explanatory drawing of a setting screen same as the above. (A)-(e) is explanatory drawing of the screen which displays a measurement result same as the above. It is explanatory drawing of the screen which displays a top 3 measurement result same as the above. (A)-(c) is explanatory drawing of the display screen of an area measurement same as the above.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the technical idea of the present invention is applied to an activity meter that measures the amount of activity of physical activity will be described with reference to the drawings.

  As will be described later, the activity meter of the present embodiment is small enough to be worn by the user on the waist and includes a circuit as shown in FIG.

  This activity meter includes a triaxial acceleration sensor 1, an arithmetic processing unit 2 composed of a microcomputer, an A / D conversion unit 3, and an input operation unit 4 as body motion detection means for detecting body motion of a user's body. And the display part 5, the memory | storage part 6, and a battery power supply part (not shown).

  The acceleration sensor 1 is, for example, a triaxial acceleration sensor that outputs triaxial accelerations perpendicular to each other in an analog format. As such an acceleration sensor 1, an acceleration sensor using a micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) having a small size and low power consumption can be used. The acceleration sensor 1 may be a piezoresistive acceleration sensor, a capacitance acceleration sensor, or the like. As the triaxial acceleration sensor, a sensor that can output a triaxial acceleration value by combining a biaxial acceleration sensor and a monoaxial acceleration sensor may be used. It is also possible to use one that can output a three-axis acceleration value.

  The A / D conversion unit 3 samples the output of the acceleration sensor 1 at a predetermined measurement cycle, converts it into a digital acceleration value, and outputs it to the arithmetic processing unit 2. Such an A / D conversion unit 3 can employ a conventionally known one, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted.

  The arithmetic processing unit 2 includes an exercise index calculating function 21, a step count measuring function 22, a walking speed calculating function 23, a walking distance calculating function 24, a target speed setting function 25, a time measuring function 26, a display unit 5 and an input. A control function 27 that performs input / output control of the operation unit 4 and read / write control of the storage unit 6 is provided. The arithmetic processing unit 2 is constituted by, for example, a microcomputer, and the above-described motion index calculating function 21, step count measuring function 22, walking speed calculating function 23, walking distance calculating function 24, target speed setting function 25, timing function 26 and control. The function 27 is realized by an arithmetic function of the arithmetic processing unit 2.

  The exercise index calculation function 21 detects the exercise intensity (METs <metabolic equivalents>) represented by the ratio of oxygen intake relative to rest as an index of the ratio corresponding to the exercise intensity at rest by the acceleration sensor 1 and A Calculation is performed from the acceleration value converted into a digital signal by the / D conversion unit 3. This exercise intensity is obtained by a relational expression between the output of the acceleration sensor 1 due to body movement and the oxygen intake when the body movement is changed. The method for calculating the exercise intensity is the same as that of the activity meter described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-204446. Further, the exercise index calculation function 21 calculates the amount of physical activity (unit: exercise) by calculating the product (METs · hour) of the calculation result of the exercise intensity and the duration of the exercise when the exercise intensity is obtained. At the same time, energy consumption is calculated using the following simple conversion formula described in “Exercise Guidelines 2006 for Health Promotion—Exercise Guide 2006” of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

Energy consumption (kcal) = 1.05 x exercise x body weight (kg)
Further, the step count measuring function 22 counts the number of steps based on, for example, the vertical acceleration cycle detected by the acceleration sensor 1. Note that the step count measuring function 22 may obtain the number of steps by converting the exercise intensity calculated by the exercise index calculating function 21 into the number of steps.

  The walking speed calculation function 23 calculates a moving speed by, for example, integrating a composite value of two-axis accelerations along the horizontal direction among acceleration values converted into digital signals by the A / D conversion unit 3. .

  The walking distance calculation function 24 calculates the walking distance by multiplying the number of steps counted by the number-of-steps counting function 22 by a preset step length of the user.

  The target speed setting function 25 is a value (V × a) obtained by multiplying the normal walking movement speed V input by the user using the input operation unit 4 and the magnification a input using the input operation unit 4. Is stored in the storage unit 6 as the target moving speed.

  The timekeeping function 26 measures the fast walking time in which the moving speed calculated by the walking speed calculating function 23 is equal to or higher than the target moving speed set by the target speed setting function 25 and stores the timekeeping result in the storage unit 6. In addition, the time measuring function 26 measures the total moving time when the moving speed obtained by the walking speed calculating function 23 is equal to or greater than a threshold value that is a boundary value between stopping and moving, and the time measurement result is stored in the storage unit 6. And the time of moving at a speed slower than the target moving speed can be calculated from the difference between the total moving time and the fast walking time.

  The control function 27 switches and displays exercise index values (exercise intensity and exercise), the number of steps, the walking speed, the walking distance, and the like to be displayed on the display unit 5 in real time according to the display switching operation by the input operation unit 4. Data of calculation results, time data at the time of generating each data, data of exercise time, and data such as personal attributes set by operating the operation buttons 4a to 4d of the input operation unit 4 are stored in the storage unit 6. Then, the stored data is read out. Further, in the control function 27, the top three records of the amount of exercise performed by the user in the past are stored in the storage unit 6 together with time data, or the measurement result (the number of steps) recorded in response to the operation of the input operation unit 4 is recorded. , Walking speed and walking distance) are stored in the storage unit 6 (so-called split function). Further, the control function 27 can cause the display unit 5 to display a setting screen or the like, and the display content can be switched by the user switching the input operation unit 4.

  The circuit of the activity meter described above is housed in the main body 10 as shown in FIGS. The main body 10 of the active mass meter has a substantially square shape when viewed from the front, and is formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape having a thickness dimension smaller than the upper, lower, left, and right dimensions. In the following description, the vertical and horizontal directions are defined in the direction shown in FIG. 2A, and the left side in FIG.

  A display unit 5 made of a liquid crystal display is exposed on the front surface of the main body 10, and two operation buttons 4 a to 4 d of the input operation unit 4 are provided in the recesses 11, 11 provided on the left and right side surfaces of the main body 10. It is open to the public.

  On the back surface of the main body 10, a holder 12 for attaching the main body 10 to a user's clothes is provided. The holding tool 12 protrudes rearward from the left and right sides of the upper part of the back surface of the main body 10, has a U-shaped support piece 13, 13 having a front end side bent downward and a front end bent backward. 13, the U-shaped connecting piece 14 that connects the distal ends of the connecting pieces 13 integrally, the pressing piece 15 that extends obliquely upward from the central portion in the left-right direction of the connecting piece 14, and the support pieces 13 and 13. And a pressing lever 16 that is rotatably attached to the motor.

  A central piece (a piece parallel to the back surface of the main body 10) of the support pieces 13, 13 is disposed with a predetermined gap between the central piece and the back surface of the main body 10.

  The connecting piece 14 is bent obliquely so that the distance from the back surface of the main body 10 increases toward the lower side, so that clothes can be easily inserted between the holder 12 and the main body 10.

  The pressing piece 15 has elasticity and is inclined obliquely so that the distance from the main body 10 becomes shorter toward the distal end side, and the clothes are sandwiched between the pressing piece 15 and the main body 10.

  The pressing lever 30 is rotatably attached to the support piece 13 by the shaft 17 inserted through the shaft hole provided on one end side being supported by the bearing portion 18 provided on the support piece 13. . In the state shown in FIG. 2 (b), the pressing lever 30 is shifted slightly rearward (right side in FIG. 2 (b)) from the front / rear direction center (the left / right center in FIG. 2 (b)) at the lower end. Since it is pivotally supported by the shaft 17 at this position, in the state where the pressing lever 30 is tilted upward (the state of FIG. 2B), the pressing lever 30 is compared to the state where the pressing lever 30 is tilted downward. As a result, the holding piece 15 is pressed against the main body 10 side, and the gap between the holding piece 15 and the main body 10 is narrowed. Therefore, when the main body 10 is attached to the clothes, the clothes are placed between the back surface of the main body 10 and the pressing piece 15 in a state where the pressing lever 30 is lowered and the gap between the pressing piece 15 and the main body 10 is widened. When inserted, clothes are clamped between the back surface of the main body 10 by the pressing piece 15. When the pressing force of the pressing piece 15 is likely to come off from the clothes, when the pressing lever 30 is tilted upward, the pressing piece 15 is pressed against the main body 10 at the corner of the lower end of the pressing lever 30, and the pressing piece 15 and the main body Since the clothes are firmly held between the main body 10 and the main body 10, the main body 10 can be prevented from falling off.

  Thus, when the user wears the activity meter of this embodiment while wearing it on clothes, the activity amount can be measured based on the user's body movement (exercise and daily activities).

  Next, how to use the activity meter will be described. When the battery is attached to the activity meter, the arithmetic processing unit 2 starts operating in the initial setting mode. In the initial setting mode, the control function 27 of the arithmetic processing unit 2 sequentially displays setting screens for setting the height, weight, age, sex, stride, and current time (year, month, day) on the screen of the display unit 5. Let In each setting screen, when the user presses the operation button 4c that is the upper cursor button and the operation button 4d that is the lower cursor button to input a desired numerical value, and then presses the operation button 4b that is the setting button, The control function 27 stores the value input by the input operation unit 4 in the storage unit 6.

  When the initial setting is completed, the arithmetic processing unit 2 starts to operate in the measurement mode, and the motion index calculating function 21, the step count measuring function 22, the walking speed calculating function 23, and the walking distance calculating function 24 of the arithmetic processing unit 2 are included in the acceleration sensor 1. Based on the sensor input from, the motion index (exercise intensity and exercise), the number of steps, the walking speed, and the walking distance are calculated, and the control function 27 displays the calculation result on the display unit 5. The arithmetic processing unit 2 compares the target moving speed set by the target speed setting function 25 with the walking speed obtained by the walking speed calculating function 23, and the measurement result of the walking speed is equal to or higher than the target moving speed. The time measuring function 26 measures the fast walking time. The time counting function 26 also counts the total movement time when the walking speed obtained by the walking speed calculation function 23 is equal to or greater than a threshold value that is a boundary value between stopping and moving. In addition, the control function 27 of the arithmetic processing unit 22 stores in the storage unit 6 an exercise record in which the walking speed is the top three of the exercises performed by the user in the past, such as the exercise date and time, the walking distance, and the number of steps. The calculation result is also stored in the storage unit 6.

  Here, when the user presses the operation button 4b, which is a setting button, for a predetermined time (for example, 2 seconds) or longer during the operation in the measurement mode, the operation mode of the arithmetic processing unit 2 is switched to the fast walking challenge function setting mode. The fast-walking challenge function means a function for measuring and displaying a time during which walking can be performed at a speed equal to or higher than a target movement speed set to be several times the average movement speed during normal movement. When the setting mode of the fast-walking challenge function is switched, the control function 27 of the arithmetic processing unit 2 displays the setting screen shown in FIG. On this setting screen, the user adjusts the average moving speed of normal walking to the desired value by pressing the operation button 4c that is the up cursor button and the operation button 4d that is the down cursor button, and then the operation that is the setting button When the button 4b is pressed, the control function 27 causes the storage unit 6 to store the average moving speed input by the input operation unit 4. When the setting of the average movement speed is completed, the magnification for obtaining the target movement speed is set. When the user presses the operation button 4c that is the up cursor button and the operation button 4d that is the down cursor button to set the desired value, and then presses the operation button 4b that is the setting button, the control function 27 is The magnification input by the input operation unit 4 is stored in the storage unit 6 and the setting of the average moving speed and the magnification is completed. Then, the target speed setting function 24 sets the target moving speed using the average moving speed and the magnification stored in the storage unit 6. Even after the fast-walking challenge function is set once, if the operation button 4b, which is a setting button, is pressed for a predetermined time or longer, the mode is switched to the fast-walking challenge function setting mode, and the average moving speed and magnification can be set. .

  In the measurement mode, the arithmetic processing unit 2 calculates the motion index (exercise intensity and exercise), the number of steps, the walking speed, and the walking distance based on the sensor input taken from the acceleration sensor 1 at a predetermined measurement interval. The calculation result is displayed on the display unit 5. 6A to 6E are examples of screens displayed on the display unit 5.

  FIG. 6A shows a normal display screen on which the current date, walking speed, walking distance, and number of steps are displayed.

  When the operation button 4c, which is a display switching button, is operated once while the normal display screen is displayed, the control function 27 of the arithmetic processing unit 2 displays the fast-walking challenge function display screen shown in FIG. 6B. Is displayed on the display unit 5. In this screen, the current date, the setting of the average moving speed and the magnification, the time A when walking at a speed higher than the target moving speed, and the time B moving at a speed less than the target moving speed are displayed. In the control function 27, instead of the time B traveled at a speed less than the target travel speed, the total travel time that is the sum of the time A and the time B may be displayed on the display unit 5, It is possible to easily grasp how fast the fast walking time is.

  When the operation button 4c, which is a display switching button, is operated once while the fast-walking challenge function screen is displayed, the control function 27 of the arithmetic processing unit 2 performs section measurement as shown in FIG. 6C. Is read from the storage unit 6 and displayed on the display unit 5. On this screen, the distance of the section where the section measurement was performed, and the walking time and the number of steps taken to walk this section are displayed.

  Further, when the operation button 4c, which is a display switching button, is operated once while the section measurement screen is displayed, the control function 27 of the arithmetic processing unit 2 displays the screen of FIG. 6D on the display unit 5. In this screen, the amount of activity (exercise) on the day, the total amount of activity (exercise) for 7 days, and calorie consumption (energy consumption) are displayed.

  When the operation button 4c, which is a display switching button, is operated once in a state where the calorie consumption and the activity amount are displayed on the display unit 5, the control function 27 of the arithmetic processing unit 2 is shown in FIG. A screen is displayed on the display unit 5, and exercise intensity (METs) and the current time are displayed on this screen.

  Further, when the operation button 4d that is a recording display button is pressed for a predetermined time (for example, 2 seconds) or more while the screen of any one of FIGS. The control function 27 causes the display unit 5 to sequentially display the top three records stored in the storage unit 6 (for example, the top three records in the order of fast walking speed). FIG. 7 is an example of a screen that displays the record of the first place (No. 1). The record of walking speed, walking distance, number of steps and the date of exercise are displayed, and the top three records are displayed every time the operation button 4d is pressed. Displayed in order.

  Next, the section measurement function for measuring the motion in a desired section will be described with reference to FIGS. When the user presses the operation button 4a that is the start button while the activity meter is operating in the measurement mode, the arithmetic processing unit 2 is switched from the normal measurement mode to the section measurement mode, and the display screen of the display unit 5 is The screen is switched to the section measurement display screen as shown in FIG. When the user presses the operation button 4a, which is the start button, in the state of switching to the section measurement display screen, the arithmetic processing unit 2 starts section measurement, performs normal measurement processing, and performs measurement in the target measurement section. Measure walking distance, walking time and number of steps. During the section measurement, the control function 27 of the arithmetic processing unit 2 blinks the characters “section” displayed on the display unit 5 as shown in FIG. 8B, indicating that the section is being measured. Inform. Then, when the user operates the operation button 4a again during the section measurement, the arithmetic processing unit 2 ends the section measurement process based on the operation input from the input operation unit 4, and the walking distance, the walking time, and the number of steps in the section. Is displayed on the display unit 5 (see FIG. 8C). When the user operates the operation button 4d while the screen 8 (c) is displayed, the arithmetic processing unit 2 resets the display of the measurement result based on the operation input from the input operation unit 4, and the display unit 5 displays the screen of FIG. Here, if the user operates the operation button 4d again, the section measurement is started again, and if the other operation button is operated or no operation input is made for a certain period of time, the arithmetic processing unit 2 ends the section measurement function. Returning to the normal measurement mode, the screen of FIG.

  As described above, in the activity meter of the present embodiment, the arithmetic processing unit 2 has a fast-walking challenge function, and the average movement when the user normally moves using the predetermined operation buttons 4a to 4d. Since the target moving speed is set by inputting a magnification with respect to the speed, it is possible to set an easily understandable target as an exercise target. In addition, the clocking function 26 counts the fast walking time when the moving speed is equal to or higher than the target moving speed, and the timed fast walking time is displayed on the display unit 5 together with the target moving speed. It can be grasped intuitively.

  Furthermore, the time measuring function 26 measures the total traveling time in addition to the fast walking time, and the control function 27 of the arithmetic processing unit 2 displays both the fast walking time and the total traveling time on the display unit 5. , It is possible to easily grasp how much of the total travel time is fast walking time.

1 Acceleration sensor (body motion detection means)
2 Arithmetic processing section 4 Input operation section (input means)
5 Display section (display means)
21 motion index calculation function 22 step count function 23 walking speed calculation function (moving speed calculation means)
24 Walking distance calculation function 25 Target speed setting function (target setting means)
26 Timekeeping function (timekeeping means)
27 Control functions

Claims (2)

  A body motion detecting means for detecting body motion of a body, a moving speed calculating means for calculating a moving speed based on a detection result of the body motion detecting means, and a user using an input means for an average moving speed during normal movement The target setting means for setting the speed obtained by multiplying the input magnification as the target moving speed, the time measuring means for measuring the fast walking time when the moving speed obtained by the calculating means is equal to or higher than the target moving speed, and the time measuring means A physical activity measuring apparatus comprising: display means for displaying the time taken for fast walking together with a target moving speed.   2. The physical activity measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the time measuring unit also measures a total moving time during which the user is moving, and the display unit displays the total moving time together with the fast walking time.

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