Mobile speedometer system and associated methods
View Patent ↗The invention detects loft time and/or speed of a vehicle and/or person during activities of moving and jumping. A loft sensor detects leaving the ground and returning to the ground. A microprocessor subsystem converts the sensed information to determine a loft time. A display shows the recorded loft time to a user of the system. A speed sensor can detect speed for selective display to the user, and height may also be determined during airtime.
1. A method for determining one or both of speed and distance traveled of a sportsman during motion, comprising the steps of:
sensing acceleration of the sportsman during the motion;
processing the acceleration to determine airtime of the sportsman;
processing data representative of the acceleration and airtime to determine at least one of speed and distance traveled; and
generating timing information via a clock attached to the sportsman to provide timing signals used in determining at least one of the speed and distance traveled.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of processing data representative of the acceleration comprises compensating the acceleration for gravitational forces.
3. The method of claim 1 , the step of sensing acceleration comprising utilizing one or more accelerometers attached with the sportsman.
4. The method of claim 1 , the step of sensing acceleration comprising sensing a first acceleration in a first axis and sensing a second acceleration in a second axis.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the steps of processing the acceleration and proccesing data comprise utilizing a processor attached to the sportsman.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of preprocessing and filtering the acceleration through electronics attached to the sportsman.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of processing data representative of the acceleration through state machine logic attached to the sportsman.
8. The method of determining speed of a human-powered sporting vehicle, comprising the steps of:
attaching a sensor to the vehicle;
sensing a multi-frequency spectrum of information with the sensor;
correlating the multi-frequency spectrum of information to stored information in the sensor to determine the speed, the multi-frequency spectrum of information comprising one or both of acceleration and sound data associated with movement of human-powered vehicle over a surface, the stored information comprising one or both of reference acceleration and sound data associated with movement of the human-powered vehicle over the surface; and
processing The multi-frequency spectrum of information through a state machine of the sensor.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the vehicle is selected from the group of ski, snowboard, and bicycle.
10. A method for determining loft time of a sportsman moving over a surface, comprising the steps of:
sensing a multi-frequency spectrum of information associated with movement of the sportsman on the surface;
processing the multi-frequency spectrum of information to detect a first condition indicative of the sportsman leaving the surface, and a second condition indicative of the sportsman returning to the surface;
determining the loft time based upon an elapsed time between the first and second conditions; and
processing the multi-frequency spectrum of information through a state machine attached with the sportsman.
11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising the step of displaying one or more successive records of loft time information to the sportsman.
12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the step of sensing comprises sensing acceleration of the sportsman during the movement.
13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the step of sensing comprises sensing sound data generated by the of the sportsman on the surface.
14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising the step of determining height jumped by the moving sportsman during the loft time.
15. The method of claim 10 , further comprising the step of determining distance traveled by the sportsman during the loft time.
16. A method for determining non-motorized vehicle speed along a surface, the non-motorized vehicle of the type which is ridden along the surface by a user, comprising the steps of:
monitoring a pitch of the non-motorized vehicle caused by the motion of the non-motorized vehicle relative to the surface;
correlating the pitch to a speed; and
informing the user of the speed.
17. The method according to claim 16 , further comprising the step of utilizing a microphone to determine the pitch.
18. The method according to claim 17 , further comprising correlating the pitch to a particular surface over which the non-motorized vehicle moves.