WIRELESS IN-SHOE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY MONITORING DONGLE

1 . A wireless in-shoe physical activity monitoring apparatus comprises:

a left shoe sensor system for use within a left shoe of a pair of shoes; and

a right shoe sensor system for use within a right shoe of the pair of shoes, wherein each of the left and right shoe sensor systems includes:

a plurality of pressure sensing elements distributed in a pattern having a shape corresponding to an outline a human foot on an insole insert;

a first accelerometer;

a dongle that attaches to an exterior of a left shoe or a right shoe, the dongle includes:

a power source circuit to provide a supply voltage for the respective shoe sensor system;

a clock circuit to generate a clock signal, wherein a sampling signal is derived from the clock signal;

a processing module operable to:

sample, in accordance with the sampling signal, data from the plurality of pressure sensing element to produce foot force data; and

sample, in accordance with the sampling signal, data from the first accelerometer to produce three-dimensional foot data;

memory operably coupled to the processing module; and

a wireless communication transceiver operably coupled to the processing module and is operable to transmit as outbound radio frequency (RF) signals regarding the foot force data and the foot three-dimensional data;

a plurality of sensor communication links for coupling the plurality of pressure sensing elements to the processing module of the dongle; and

a first accelerometer communication link for coupling the first accelerometer to the processing module of the dongle.

2 . The wireless in-shoe physical activity monitoring apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the pattern in which the plurality of pressure sensing element is distributed in comprises:

a first pressure sensing element in a lateral heel position;

a second pressure sensing element in a medial heel position;

a third pressure sensing element in a lateral ball of foot position;

a fourth pressure sensing element in a lateral toe position;

a fifth pressure sensing element in a medial ball of foot position; and

a sixth pressure sensing element in a medial toe position.

3 . The wireless in-shoe physical activity monitoring apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the pattern further comprises:

a seventh pressure sensing element in a mid-ball of foot position; and

an eighth pressure sensing element in a mid-toe position.

4 . The wireless in-shoe physical activity monitoring apparatus of claim 1 further comprises:

the left shoe sensor system including:

the plurality of pressure sensing elements mounted on to or within an insole of the left shoe; and

the first accelerometer and the control circuit on circuit board that is positioned within a midsole of the left shoe, wherein the first accelerometer communication link is one or more traces on the circuit board;

the right shoe sensor system including:

the plurality of pressure sensing elements mounted on to or within an insole of the right shoe; and

the first accelerometer and the control circuit on circuit board that is positioned within a midsole of the right shoe, wherein the first accelerometer communication link is one or more traces on the circuit board.

5 . The wireless in-shoe physical activity monitoring apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the circuit board comprises one or more of:

a single layer printed circuit board (PCB);

a multiple layer PCB;

a rigid PCB;

a flexible PCB;

a high frequency PCB; and

an aluminum-backed PCB.

6 . The wireless in-shoe physical activity monitoring apparatus of claim 1 further comprises:

the left shoe sensor system including:

the plurality of pressure sensing elements mounted on to or within an insole of the left shoe; and

the first accelerometer is on a first circuit board and positioned in a first location in a midsole of the left shoe; and

the control circuit is on a second circuit board that is positioned in a second location of the midsole of the left shoe, wherein the first accelerometer communication link is one or more a wired communication link and a wireless communication link;

the right shoe sensor system including:

the plurality of pressure sensing elements mounted on to or within an insole of the right shoe;

the first accelerometer is on a first circuit board and positioned in a first location in a midsole of the right shoe; and

the control circuit is on a second circuit board that is positioned in a second location of the midsole of the right shoe, wherein the first accelerometer communication link is one or more a wired communication link and a wireless communication link.

7 . The wireless in-shoe physical activity monitoring apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a sensor communication link of the plurality of sensor communication links comprises one or more of:

a wired communication link;

a wired communication path in accordance with a wired communication protocol;

an inductive communication path in accordance with a near field communication (NFC) communication protocol;

a light communication base in accordance with a light-based communication protocol; and

a radio frequency (RF) communication path in accordance with a wireless communication protocol.

8 . The wireless in-shoe physical activity monitoring apparatus of claim 1 further comprises:

a second accelerometer to provide second x-y-z coordinates at a sample rate based on the sampling signal, wherein the first accelerometer provides first x-y-z coordinates at the sample rate, and wherein the processing module is further operable to process the first and second x-y-z coordinates to produce foot orientation data.

9 . The wireless in-shoe physical activity monitoring apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the power source circuit comprises one or more of:

a battery-powered power supply;

a battery charger with a wired connection to the battery-powered power supply for charging the battery;

a battery charger with a wireless connection to the battery-powered power supply for charging the battery; and

a radio frequency (RF) power harvesting circuit.

10 . The wireless in-shoe physical activity monitoring apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing module is further operable to:

correlate the foot force data and the foot three-dimensional data to produce correlated foot data, wherein the wireless communication transceiver transmits the correlated foot data within the outbound RF signals.

11 . The wireless in-shoe physical activity monitoring apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the processing is further operable to:

correlate the foot force data and the foot three-dimensional data to produce correlated foot data; and

process the correlated foot data to determine one or more of: distance traveled during a time period, stride length data, time duration, fatigue indication, injury prevention indicators, elevation tracking for the time period, running optimization, and rotational sport optimization.

12 . The wireless in-shoe physical activity monitoring apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing is further operable to:

adjust the processing of the correlated foot data based on known nature of a physical activity, wherein the adjusting of the processing includes one or more of:

adjusting rate of the sampling signal;

using physical activity general movement data to enhance correlation of the foot force data and the foot three-dimensional data;

using the physical activity general movement data to further determine the one or more of: the distance traveled during a time period, the stride length data, the time duration, the fatigue indication, the injury prevention indicators, the elevation tracking for the time period, the running optimization, and the rotational sport optimization; and

using previous data of a wearer to determine the one or more of: the distance traveled during a time period, the stride length data, the time duration, the fatigue indication, the injury prevention indicators, the elevation tracking for the time period, the running optimization, and the rotational sport optimization.

13 . The wireless in-shoe physical activity monitoring apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the clock signal further functions to:

generate a first sampling clock having a first sampling rate for use with sampling the data from the first accelerometer; and

generate a second sampling clock having a second sampling rate for use with sampling the data from the plurality of pressure sensing elements, wherein the first and second sampling clocks are synchronized.

14 . The wireless in-shoe physical activity monitoring apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the clock signal further functions to:

generate a first sampling clock having a first sampling rate for use with sampling the data from the first accelerometer; and

generate a plurality of second sampling clocks, each of the second sampling clocks have a second sampling rate and, from second sampling clock to second sampling clock, the second sampling clocks are offset in time, wherein the plurality of second sampling clocks is used with sampling the data from the plurality of pressure sensing elements, wherein the first sampling clock and the plurality of second sampling clocks are synchronized.

15 . The wireless in-shoe physical activity monitoring apparatus of claim 1 further comprises:

a biometric sensor operably coupled to the processing module, wherein the biometric sensor generates biometric indicators regarding one or more of heart rate, moisture level, respiration, and temperature;

the processing module is further operable to:

sample, in accordance with the sampling signal, the biometric indicators to produce biometric data; and

the wireless communication transceiver operably to transmit the outbound RF signals to further include the biometric data.

16 . The wireless in-shoe physical activity monitoring apparatus of claim 1 further comprises:

a gyroscope to generate pitch, yaw, and roll coordinates;

the processing module is further operable to:

sample, in accordance with the sampling signal, the pitch, yaw, and roll coordinates to produce pitch, yaw, and roll data; and

the wireless communication transceiver operably to transmit the outbound RF signals to further include the pitch, yaw, and roll data.