JP3098759B2 - Pedometer - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a pedometer.

[Prior Art] In a conventional pedometer of this type, a signal from a step sensor is generally input to an arithmetic control circuit formed of a microcomputer or the like, and arithmetic processing is performed to count the number of steps.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, human walking motions are various, and merely counting waist swings and the like detects motions other than walking such as waist swings, and causes errors. There is a problem that the step count accuracy is deteriorated. In addition, the dead zone as a countermeasure is conventionally fixed to a certain constant (running / walking is a different constant for each), so that the dead zone is not optimal due to walking speed, pitch, etc., and accuracy is deteriorated. Was.

The present invention has been provided in view of the above points,
An object of the present invention is to improve the discrimination accuracy of the number of steps and provide a more accurate pedometer.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention measures means for pulsing a signal from a sensor, measures a pulse width output from this means, compares this pulse width with a predetermined width set in advance, If the pulse width is determined to be valid or not and the pulse width is determined to be valid, the pulse width is provided with a control unit that adds a dead zone time, and the control unit determines the signal interval time of the pulse signal at a certain stage from the sensor. Sampling is performed for a predetermined interval, a value obtained by multiplying an average signal interval in the sampling interval by a constant less than 1 is set as a dead zone time, and sampling is performed continuously for a predetermined interval in a series of walking operations. n-
1) Using the dead zone time determined in the section, (n +
The 1) -th is to perform sampling using the dead zone time determined at the n-th.

[Operation] Then, the pulse width is measured, and the pulse width is compared with a preset predetermined width to determine whether the pulse width is valid. The accuracy of the next and subsequent stages is improved by selecting a specific pulse width. In addition, the dead zone time is sampled, and a signal obtained by multiplying the average signal interval in this sampling interval by a constant less than 1 is set as a dead zone time, thereby performing an optimum dead zone process.
By sampling every predetermined section and updating the dead zone time, optimal dead zone processing is always performed to improve accuracy.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a pedometer, wherein the output from a sensor 1 made of piezoelectric ceramic or the like is amplified by an amplifier 2 and converted into a pulse by a pulse converter 3. The pulse signal is input to an arithmetic and control circuit 4 composed of a microcomputer. The pulse signal is added with a dead zone time as described later, the number of steps is calculated, and displayed on the display unit 6. Reference numeral 5 denotes an operation unit.
The sensor 1 converts the movement of the human body into a voltage and
After being output as shown in FIG. 4A and amplified, it is converted into a pulse by the comparator of the pulse converter 3 as shown in FIG.

Next, the operation of the basic operation of the present embodiment is performed. FIG. 1A shows an input signal corresponding to FIG.
Is the time width of the input signal, and the pulse width of the input signal is compared with a predetermined width set in advance by the arithmetic and control circuit 4 constituting the control means. That is, the minimum passing pulse width Tmin
And the maximum passing pulse width Tmax, and if the pulse width t of the input signal is in the range of Tmin <t <Tmax, it is determined that the input signal is valid. Otherwise, it is determined to be invalid (input signals at both ends in FIG. 1 (a)). In this case, the number of steps is not recognized and ignored, and the next pulse is waited for. When it is determined that the input signal is valid, a dead zone time is added as shown by the hatched portion in FIG. 1 (b).

A specific method for adding the dead zone time will be described. That is, the dead zone time is added to the pulse that has passed through the above processing, but the dead zone time is conventionally added to the input signal (input pulse) shown in FIG. 2 (a) by the method shown in FIG. 2 (b). I was That is, as shown in FIG. 2 (b), in the related art, a predetermined time after the fall of the input pulse is set as the dead zone time Tmask. Therefore, when a relatively long input pulse comes, this dead zone time Tmask is used.
However, there is a problem that the error occurs over the next input pulse and a miscount occurs. However, in the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2 (c), the measured input pulse width t is subtracted from the predetermined time T, that is, T−t = Tmask is calculated,
This Tmask is defined as the dead zone time. Therefore, even if a relatively long pulse is input, the dead zone time Tmask is shortened accordingly, and the input pulse can be counted without covering the next input pulse.

FIG. 5 shows a flow chart of the present embodiment. In the initial state, the pedometer has an initial dead zone time Tmask ₁ as a dead zone time.
Is set. Then, as described above, the input pulse is input, the presence or absence of walking is determined, and a predetermined walking section is sampled and an average walking pitch is calculated as described later. Based on this average pitch, a new dead zone is calculated. Time Tm
ask ₂ is calculated.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a walking determination routine of the walking determination of FIG. In the initial value, the pre-count is set to 0, the dead zone time is set to the initial dead zone time Tmask _1, and when an input pulse is input, the pulse width is measured as described above, and a signal is accepted due to the presence of the dead zone time Tmask. Here, the presence / absence of continuation of the input pulse (N ₁ time) is determined (walking determination). If the input pulse is completed in less than N ₁ times, the signal of the input pulse is ignored instead of the number of steps. I do. Here, there is no input pulse during the stop determination Tstop.

Then, _once N as the sampling interval (N ₁ +1) walk -
(N ₁ + Ns) Measure the walking time between steps and calculate the average walking pitch. FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of the sampling routine in this case. As shown in FIG. 7, if the sampling end count N ₂ or more, and to stop the timer, and calculates the average walking pitch. A new dead zone time Tmask ₂ is calculated based on the average walking pitch.

Tmask = average walking pitch × α Here, α is a constant obtained by experiment, for example, 0.7 is used. As shown in FIG. 8, this dead zone time Tmask ₂ is used as the dead zone time of the next Ns section, and sampling is repeated. Further, the dead zone time is obtained by replacing the dead zone time by calculating the dead zone time Tmask ₂ , and the next sampling is continued. That is, a dead zone time Tmask is obtained by sampling in a certain section, and the obtained Tmask is set as a dead zone time of the next sampling section. In FIG. 8, Tmask ₁ obtained in the sampling section 1 is set as a dead zone time in the next sampling section 2, and Tmask ₂ obtained in the sampling section 2 is set as a dead zone time in the next sampling section 3.

Here, when this series of walking ends (when it is determined to stop), the dead zone time Tmask ₂ is reset, returned to the initially set Tmask ₁ (initial setting dead zone time), and the process is repeated again from the walking determination. The waveform shown in FIG.
The pulse waveform after dead zone processing is shown.

Incidentally, as in the present invention shown in FIG. 9, the sampling, after walking determining the N _1, performed only once between Ns step, to calculate a new dead zone time. The calculated dead zone time is set as a dead zone time during a subsequent series of walking operations. After the walking is stopped, the dead zone time is returned to the initially set dead zone time, and sampling is performed again. By performing in this manner, accurate measurement can always be performed even if the user changes and the use environment greatly differs.

Although the sensor uses piezoelectric ceramics, a conventional pendulum type sensor may be used.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the present invention measures means for pulsing a signal from a sensor, measures a pulse width output from this means, compares this pulse width with a predetermined width set in advance, If the pulse width is determined to be valid or not and the pulse width is determined to be valid, the pulse width is provided with a control unit that adds a dead zone time, and the control unit determines the signal interval time of the pulse signal at a certain stage from the sensor. Sampling is performed for a predetermined interval, a value obtained by multiplying an average signal interval in the sampling interval by a constant less than 1 is set as a dead zone time, and sampling is performed continuously for a predetermined interval in a series of walking operations. Since sampling is performed using the dead zone time determined in the (n-1) th section and using the dead zone time determined in the (n + 1) th section, the pulse width is measured. By comparing this pulse width with a predetermined width set in advance and determining whether the pulse width is valid or not, it is selected as a pulse width peculiar to the walking pulse width as preprocessing, and the accuracy of the next and subsequent stages is determined. Can be improved, a complicated circuit such as a filter can be reduced, and the dead zone time is sampled.
By setting a value obtained by multiplying a constant less than the dead zone time as the dead zone time, the optimum dead zone processing can be performed, and further, by sampling every predetermined section and updating the dead zone time, the optimum dead zone processing is always performed. To improve the accuracy, and therefore, the condition of the road surface, type of shoes, physical condition at that time,
Accuracy can be improved also in the case of a change in pitch and switching between running and walking.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 is an operation waveform diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an operation waveform diagram of the above embodiment, FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the pedometer of the embodiment, and FIG.
FIG. 5 is an operational waveform diagram of the above, FIG. 5 is an overall flowchart of the above, FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a walking determination routine of the above, and FIG.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the sampling routine of the above, FIG. 8 is an explanatory view of the operation of the above, and FIG. 9 is an explanatory view of the operation of another embodiment of the above. 1 is a sensor.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A pedometer for counting the number of steps in response to a signal from a sensor, means for pulsating the signal from the sensor, measuring a pulse width output from the means, and setting the pulse width to a preset value. Compared with the specified width,
If the pulse width is determined to be valid or not and the pulse width is determined to be valid, the pulse width is provided with a control unit that adds a dead zone time, and the control unit determines the signal interval time of the pulse signal at a certain stage from the sensor. Sampling is performed for a predetermined interval, a value obtained by multiplying an average signal interval in the sampling interval by a constant less than 1 is set as a dead zone time, and sampling is performed continuously for a predetermined interval in a series of walking operations. A pedometer characterized in that sampling is performed using the dead zone time determined in the (n-1) th section, and sampling is performed using the dead zone time determined in the (n + 1) th section.