Activity monitoring systems and methods
View Patent ↗An activity monitor, comprises housing for attachment to a person; at least one accelerometer disposed within the housing; and a processor disposed within the housing, for processing signals from the accelerometer to assess activity of the person. A method assesses activity of a person, including: sensing acceleration at a first location on the person; processing the acceleration, over time, to assess activity of the person; and wirelessly communicating information indicative of the activity to a second location.
1. A sensor assembly for quantifying the motion of a user, comprising a processor operative to:
receive a detected spectrum of information describing motion of the sensor;
identify a portion of the spectrum between a first transition from a first comparatively smooth region to a first comparatively erratic region, and a second transition from a second comparatively erratic region to a second comparatively smooth region;
identify a duration associated with the identified portion of the spectrum; and determine a quantified characteristic of the user's motion associated with the identified duration.
2. The sensor assembly of claim 1 , wherein the spectrum comprises a vibrational spectrum.
3. The sensor assembly of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further operative to:
identify a first transition in the spectrum;
identify a second transition in the spectrum; and
identify the duration between the identified first and second transitions.
4. The sensor assembly of claim 3 , wherein the processor is further operative to:
apply a boundary condition to the spectrum; and
identify a first transition in the spectrum that satisfies the applied boundary condition.
5. The sensor assembly of claim 4 , wherein the boundary condition comprises a minimum duration.
6. The sensor assembly of claim 4 , wherein the boundary condition comprises a maximum duration.
7. The sensor assembly of claim 1 , further comprising at least one of an accelerometer, a piezoelectric element, a pressure sensor, a voltage-resistance sensor, and a Doppler shift sensor.
8. The sensor assembly of claim 1 , wherein the quantified characteristic comprises speed.
9. A method for measuring the movement of a user, comprising:
receiving a spectrum of signals varying over time;
processing the received spectrum to identify a portion of the spectrum between a first transition from a first comparatively smooth region to a first comparatively erratic region, and a second transition from a second comparatively erratic region to a second comparatively smooth region in the spectrum;
determining a duration lapsed between the identified two transitions; and
quantifying the movement of the user based on the determined duration.
10. A method for measuring the movement of a user, comprising:
receiving a spectrum of signals varying over time;
processing the received spectrum to identify two transitions in the spectrum, wherein processing further comprises:
identifying a first transition from a first comparatively smooth region to a first comparatively erratic region; and
identifying a second transition from a second comparatively erratic region to a second comparatively smooth region;
determining a duration lapsed between the identified two transitions; and
quantifying the movement of the user based on the determined duration.
11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
applying at least one boundary condition to the received spectrum; and
verifying that the identified two transitions satisfy at least one boundary condition.
12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
adjusting the applied at least one boundary condition to optimize the processing for the individual user.
13. The method of claim 9 , wherein quantifying further comprises determining the speed of the user's movement.
14. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
applying a filter to the received spectrum.
15. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
transmitting at least one of the determined duration and the quantified movement to an electronic device for display to the user.
16. An electronic device operative to provide a quantified measure of a user's movement to a user, comprising:
communications circuitry operative to receive a vibration spectrum associated with a user's movement; and
a processor operative to:
identify a portion of the vibration spectrum between a first transition from a first comparatively smooth region to a first comparatively erratic region, and a second transition from a second comparatively erratic region to a second comparatively smooth region;
identify a characteristic duration of the portion of the vibration spectrum;
determine a quantified measure of the user's movement based on the identified characteristic duration; and
provide the determined quantified measure to the user.
17. The electronic device of claim 16 , wherein the processor is further operative to:
direct a display to display the determined quantified measure.
18. The electronic device of claim 16 , wherein the quantified measure comprises the user's speed.
19. The electronic device of claim 16 , wherein the communications circuitry is operative to receive the vibration spectrum from a sensor coupled to the user's shoes.