JPH0953957A - Method and system for analyzing daily life activity - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To grasp daily life activity objectively and accurately by estimating the content of activity using a time series data of positional and time information utilizing GPS, map information and space function information. SOLUTION: The system comprises a portable unit 1 including a GPS receiving section 10 and a memory section 11, and an analyzer 2 including a computer 20. Positioning information (latitude, longitude, altitude, time) detected at the receiving section 10 is stored as a time series data in the memory section 11 and taken into the computer 20 for the purpose of analysis. The activity is analyzed by plotting the time series data on a map and, if necessary, matching operation for the space function and the activity track on the map is performed. At the moment of time when the track of user is determined, the content of activity is estimated based on the function of each space, the moving speed of user, the information of presence/absence of GPS signal, individual trend of activity, etc. The results of analysis are processed for appropriate terms and outputted.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for analyzing daily activities, which can be used for grasping the activities of users in their daily lives, for epidemiological research and for improving lifestyle. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there are pedometers and exercise calorimeters as devices that can be used for analyzing daily activities. The former uses a pendulum type sensor to detect and count walking motions from vibrations that occur during walking and running of the human body, and the latter uses an acceleration sensor such as piezoceramics to count changes in acceleration during exercise. Is detected as an analog output, the calorie consumption is calculated by detecting not only the number of steps but also the exercise intensity. In the former, it is not possible to know the amount of exercise because it is counted as one step regardless of the magnitude of the shaking of the sensor that is applied during exercise such as walking or jogging, but in the latter, the strength of exercise is determined by the acceleration sensor. It can be used to analyze daily living behavior rather than a pedometer to measure.

[0003]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] By the way, from an epidemiological point of view such as disease prevention and health promotion, a survey for grasping the relationship between many human lifestyles and certain diseases and aging phenomena, such as food intake and health. The relationship between, and the relationship between exercise and health are being clarified. However, conventional epidemiological surveys often grasp lifestyles such as food intake and behavior patterns in the form of questionnaires. The method of questionnaire survey has a great advantage as a comparatively simple survey format, such as answering questions or surveying by the questioner, but on the other hand, since it is a private matter, Even in a survey of volunteers who fully understand their purpose, there are often problems with their objectivity, and when targeting the elderly, there are many concerns that their judgment and memory may deteriorate.

[0004] On the other hand, in order to live a healthy lifelong without getting sick, "health design" considering the genetic constitution and environment is important, and in this respect, for the optimization of lifestyle and health management after illness. It is very useful to be able to objectively grasp daily activities. However, the current understanding of patients' lifestyles by doctors and counselors is based on the subjectivity of patient declarations, which suggests that lifestyle improvement advice was really appropriate. It is difficult to check if improvements have been made, and life guidance, which should be consistent with the treatment, has only the weight of reference opinions.

From this point of view, there is a demand for a device that can objectively and accurately grasp daily activities, and the above-mentioned pedometer and calorie burner cannot meet the above demands. Can not. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-25
Japanese Patent No. 8723 discloses that not only the moving speed and the moving time but also the moving means can be estimated by analyzing the output information of the acceleration sensor. Although it is possible, more detailed action contents may be required, and there is a problem in reliability of the estimation result of the transportation means.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method for analyzing daily living behavior that enables an objective and accurate grasp of the daily living behavior of a user and its method. To provide the equipment.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The method of analyzing daily activities according to the present invention, however, provides time-series data including position information and time information acquired by GPS, and an area corresponding to the position in the position information. The feature is that the user's action content is estimated from the map information and the spatial function information.

The everyday life behavior analyzing apparatus according to the present invention further comprises a positioning means, which is a GPS receiver, time series data of position information and time information acquired by the positioning means, map information stored in advance, and It is characterized in that it comprises an analyzing means for estimating the action content of the user from the spatial function information. At this time, the positioning means may be configured as a portable device independent of the analysis means together with the storage means for storing the time series data, and the analysis means may be provided with a reading means for reading the time series data from the storage means. Further, the mobile device is provided with the positioning means and a transmission section for wirelessly transmitting the time series data, and the analysis means side is provided with a reception section for receiving the time series data transmitted from the transmission section and transmitting the time series data to the analysis means. It may be good.

It is desirable that the time-series data be discrete data at intervals of about 1 minute. It is also desirable to use an acceleration sensor in combination with GPS to refer to acceleration data during analysis, or to use a walking sensor in combination with output data thereof. GPS (Grobal Position) here
ing System) is a global positioning system developed by the U.S. Department of Defense and is a satellite navigation system capable of positioning independently and continuously in any region of the earth, whether by sea or land, By obtaining the pseudo distance from the orbiting GPS satellites and calculating the true distance by correcting the value, when the reception from at least three GPS satellites is possible, When the latitude and longitude can be received from at least four GPS satellites, the altitude can be obtained in addition to the latitude and longitude.
The time can be obtained from the time information included in the GPS signal, and the moving speed and the traveling direction of the moving body can be obtained from the processing of the position information and the time information. The time information in the time series data is not limited to that acquired from GPS.

According to the present invention, the action locus obtained from the time series data of the position information and the time information obtained by the GPS is plotted on the map information prepared in advance and compared with the spatial function information stored in the map information. By doing so, the content of daily activities of the user is estimated. The spatial function information here is whether the position indicated by the position information is a road or passage, a park or a plaza, a public transportation station or a bus stop, or a commercial facility such as a department store. In addition to spatial information such as whether it is a parking lot or a facility such as a school or hospital, the function in each space, that is, movement for roads, movement for parks and plazas, or tennis, baseball, jogging, gateball, etc. Exercise, train and bus transportation for stations and stops, shopping and workplace for commercial facilities, car transportation for parking, study and club activities or workplaces for schools, hospital visits and workplaces for hospitals, etc. It includes corresponding functions, and the analysis means consisting of a computer can detect GPS signals depending on whether you are outdoors, indoors or in a car. And no, movement speed, action preferences of the user, while also refer to such behavior time zone, to estimate the action content of the user.

An example of this estimation work is shown in FIG. Analysis of activities of daily living begins by plotting time series data measured by GPS on map information. The behavior of the part where the time series data is recorded relatively regularly,
It is estimated from the function of the space on the map and the moving speed. That is, if it is found that the vehicle is moving at a certain speed on the road, the behavioral form such as walking, jogging, moving by bicycle, etc. is estimated based on the speed of the movement. In addition to the traveling speed, it is possible to input information such as the user's normal walking speed, preferences such as frequent use of bicycles or early morning jogging as a daily routine, behavior patterns, etc., and also consider these data. If so, more accurate estimation can be performed.

In a park or outdoor sports facility, it can be presumed that exercise has been performed, but regarding this exercise, by taking into consideration the action pattern peculiar to each exercise,
It is also possible to estimate the type of exercise. For example, with regard to the movement of roads in a park, walking speed, jogging, and cycling can be estimated based on the speed, and in a park square, the area that moves around during competition (soccer, baseball, tennis, gate pole, different fields used, etc. ), Difference in speed of movement (difference in speed of movement between soccer and tennis and gate poles), difference in movement pattern and preference of user, it is possible to specify the type of exercise.

When the time series data for which the GPS signal could not be received is missing, the behavior is estimated from the map information immediately before the start of the missing and the map information immediately after the end of the missing. For example, time series data is missing near a railway station,
If time-series data resumes near the station of another railway, it is estimated that the train has moved. Such an estimate can be made from a location such as a bus stop or an airport even when moving by other transportation means such as a bus or an airplane. It goes without saying that more accurate estimation can be made by taking into consideration the appropriate travel time required for transportation. If time-series data is missing near a department store or a shopping center and the time-series data restarts from that vicinity, it is presumed that shopping is being performed.

When data is lost due to indoor activities, an accelerometer and a walking sensor are used in combination to improve the accuracy of estimating the activity of the missing part. Regarding indoor activities, it depends on the purpose of the survey and the required accuracy, but in many cases it is sufficient to be able to separate the activities depending on whether they are moving or resting. If the signal indicates that they are moving, it is counted as walking. You can do it like this. However, if the space where the GPS signal is interrupted is an indoor sports facility such as a gymnasium or a pool, it is highly estimated that the action is exercise based on the user's preference and spatial function, and the output of the acceleration sensor used in combination. It is possible. Further, the number of steps and the acceleration signal during walking can be constantly measured to be used as an auxiliary in estimating the number of steps and the moving distance. It should be noted that when the time-series data is missing for a short period of time, it is considered to be the influence of a building such as a high-rise building or the passage of a tunnel, so it is preferable to ignore it.

The estimated action contents are, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, for each item such as walking, jogging, and exercise.
By separating the activity time into one day, one week, and one power month, it is possible to analyze the daily activity behavior of the user, and by looking at the spread of the moving space and the frequency, aspects such as the sociality of the user Can be estimated to some extent. In addition, by separating the estimated action time for each item such as walking, jogging, and exercise into one day, one week, and one month, the daily activity behavior of the user can be analyzed, and the expansion of the movement space, By looking at the frequency, aspects such as the sociality of the user can be determined to some extent. In addition, by analyzing the trajectory of the action using a method such as chaos analysis, it is possible to use it for grasping the characteristics of the user.

When plotting an action trajectory on a map, there may be a case where a physically impossible event such as a movement through a building occurs depending on the positioning accuracy. In this case, it is necessary to match the action and the space from the moving speed or direction to the appropriate space on the map. This is done by superimposing a series of movements on the map information and making the most appropriate route the actual trajectory.

The position information may be detected using the GPS at regular intervals, for example, every one minute, or may be detected according to the moving speed. In the latter case, of course, the moving speed is short when it is fast and long when it is slow. This makes it possible to achieve both high precision and energy saving. The detection signal from the GPS may be used for detection of the moving speed for determining the detection or the calculation interval. However, when an acceleration sensor or a walking sensor is used in combination, it may be determined from the acceleration signal or the number of steps per unit time. it can.

The moving distance can be obtained from the detected longitude, latitude, and altitude between the two points, and the moving speed can be obtained from this moving distance and time. By moving the detected distance between two points together, the moving distance of the target section can be measured. Further, in the case of walking, even if there is no means for detecting the number of steps, if the step is known, the approximate number of steps can be obtained by dividing the moving distance by the step. The stride can be predicted from the height from a formula such as (height-100) cm, but since there are individual differences, the actual value may be input.

By the way, the analysis unit which needs to perform a large amount of calculation at high speed does not need to be carried by the user, and a storage means or a transmission means is provided on the GPS receiver side carried by the user. The analysis unit may be provided with a reading unit or a receiving unit for reading the time series data from the storage unit so that the time series data can be received. As the storage unit at this time, a cassette tape or In addition to storage media such as floppy disks, ICs
Non-volatile memory such as cards is advantageous in terms of downsizing,
It is not limited to these. As the wireless transmission means, an existing communication system such as a mobile phone may be used in addition to ordinary wireless communication.

In any case, when estimating daily activities of the user by referring to map information and spatial function information based on time-series data of position information and time information by GPS,
It can be used to objectively and quantitatively understand daily activities, and can be used in research fields that require analysis of human activities such as public health, epidemiology, psychology, and sociology. For example, it can be used as a tool for conducting a longitudinal study or a cross-sectional study that seeks a lifestyle suitable for preventing adult diseases and preventing aging. Similarly, it can be used as a tool for quantitative behavioral understanding and motivation when doctors and counselors advise clients.

[0021]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described. A block diagram of FIG.
It is possible to refer to the portable device 1 including the receiving unit 10 and the storage unit 11, and the user's personal information (home position, work position, exercise preference, etc.) input in addition to the map information including the spatial function information. Analysis device 2 consisting of a computer 20 capable
It is composed of.

The positioning information (latitude, longitude, altitude, time) detected by the GPS receiving section 10 is stored in the storage section 11 as time series data, and the stored data is taken into the computer 20 for analysis. As described above, the action analysis plots time-series data on the map, and if necessary, performs a matching operation of the spatial function on the map and the action trajectory.
When the user's trajectory is determined, the action content is estimated by the above-mentioned method based on the information on the function of each space on the map, the moving speed of the user, the presence / absence of GPS signals, the individual's action preference, and the like. . Then, the analysis result is processed into appropriate items according to the needs of the user and output.

By such an analysis, in addition to the lifestyle such as the amount of exercise of the user and the presence or absence of exercise habits, it is possible to estimate items such as behavioral circle and sociality. In addition, by longitudinally comparing the average walking speed and the speed during jogging, items such as aging degree can be estimated without performing a special functional test, and the effects of aging and disease on walking, etc. It is also possible to quantitatively grasp.

The one shown in FIG. 4 is one in which an acceleration detector 12 is provided on the side of the portable device 1 and time-series data stored in the storage means 11 is added with acceleration information in addition to position information. Also refers to acceleration information when analyzing the time series data. Instead of always storing the position information and the acceleration information, the latitude, the longitude, and the time are stored outdoors based on the signals mainly detected by the GPS receiving unit 11, and the GPS is stored.
Acceleration detector 1 in places where signals cannot be received, mainly indoors
The signal detected in 2 may be stored so that the action in the place where the GPS signal cannot be received can be estimated from the acceleration information.

In FIG. 5, instead of the storage means 11, a wireless transmission unit 13 is provided on the portable device 1 side, and the analysis device 2 side receives the time series data transmitted from the transmission unit 13. A section 22 is provided. The positioning information (latitude, longitude, altitude, time) detected by the GPS receiving unit 10 is wirelessly transmitted as time-series data from the transmitting unit 13, and the receiving unit 2
2 is taken into the computer 20 for analysis,
If necessary, it is stored in the memory of the computer 20.

[0026]

As described above, in the present invention, the GPS
Since the behavior content is estimated using the time series data of location information and time information using GPS, map information and spatial function information, daily life behavior can be grasped objectively and accurately. Especially, since objective quantitative information can be obtained, it is possible to obtain appropriate information for grasping and improving epidemiological investigation such as aging and disease prevention research and lifestyle. Further, the estimation of the moving means at the time of movement can be performed with high accuracy by referring to the map information and the spatial function information.

The GPS receiver and the storage means are portable devices independent of the analysis unit, which makes them highly portable, and time-series data is wirelessly transmitted to the portable devices. When the transmission unit is provided, it is possible to process a large amount of time-series data of daily living activities without being bothered by the storage capacity of the storage unit. Furthermore, by making the time-series data discrete data at intervals of about 1 minute, it is possible to increase the analysis processing speed while maintaining high analysis accuracy.

If an acceleration sensor or a walking sensor is used in addition to the GPS receiver, it is possible to improve the accuracy of estimating the behavior especially in a place where GPS signals cannot be received.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart in an example of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an example of an output example of the analysis result of the above.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the same.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of another example of the above.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of another example of the above.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Portable device 2 Analysis device 10 GPS receiving part 11 Storage part 20 Computer

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. Estimating a user's action content from time-series data including position information and time information acquired by GPS, and map information and spatial function information of an area corresponding to the position in the position information. A method for analyzing daily activities, characterized by. 2. The method for analyzing daily living behavior according to claim 1, wherein discrete data having an interval of about 1 minute is used as the time series data. 3. The method for analyzing daily living behavior according to claim 1, wherein acceleration information obtained from an acceleration sensor is used together. 4. A user's action content is determined from a positioning means which is a GPS receiver, time series data of position information and time information acquired by the positioning means, and map information and spatial function information held in advance. An apparatus for analyzing daily activities, comprising an estimating means for estimating. 5. The positioning means is a portable device independent of the analysis means together with the storage means for storing the time-series data, and the analysis means has a reading means for reading the time-series data from the storage means. The analysis device for daily life behavior according to claim 4, wherein 6. The positioning means is a portable device that is independent of the analyzing means together with a transmitting section that wirelessly transmits the time series data, and the analyzing means receives the time series data transmitted from the transmitting section. The analysis device for daily activities according to claim 4, further comprising a receiving unit for sending to the analyzing means. 7. The time series data is discrete data with an interval of about 1 minute, and the time series data is 4 or 5 or 6.
The described daily life behavior analysis device. 8. A sensor for detecting an acceleration or a walking motion is provided, and the analyzing means estimates the user's action content by referring to the information obtained from the sensor. Alternatively, the daily life action analysis device according to 5 or 6 is provided.