US5724265A — System and method for measuring movement of objec…

Claim 1

Independent Claim 116 words

A system for measuring the speed of a person, said system comprising: a plurality of accelerometers and rotational sensors disposed in the shoe of said person, said accelerometers configured so as to provide acceleration signals corresponding to accelerations associated with the movement of said shoe as said person takes a step, said rotational sensors configured so as to provide angular signals corresponding to the angle of said shoe about an axis of a three dimensional translational coordinate; a calculator coupled to said accelerometers and said rotational sensors configured so as to receive said acceleration signals and said angular signals, said calculator adapted to measure the distance traversed during each step and the speed of said person.

Claim 2

Independent Claim 116 words

A system for measuring the speed of a person, said system comprising: a plurality of accelerometers and rotational sensors disposed in the shoe of said person, said accelerometers configured so as to provide acceleration signals corresponding to accelerations associated with the movement of said shoe as said person takes a step, said rotational sensors configured so as to provide angular signals corresponding to the angle of said shoe about an axis of a three dimensional translational coordinate; a calculator coupled to said accelerometers and said rotational sensors configured so as to receive said acceleration signals and said angular signals, said calculator adapted to measure the distance traversed during each step and the speed of said person.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 31 words

The system in accordance with claim 1 further comprising a foot contact sensor adapted to generate an indication signal when a foot of the user is in contact with the surface.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 18 words

The system in accordance with claim 2, wherein said calculator further measures the height jumped during each step.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 38 words

The system in accordance with claim 3 further comprising a transmitter configured so as to receive length and height signals from said calculator, said transmitter further configured to transmit said length and height signals to a remote location.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 24 words

The system in accordance with claim 4 wherein said accelerometers are configured to be calibrated when said user's shoe is resting on a surface.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 60 words

The system in accordance with claim 4 wherein said remote location comprises: a receiver adapted to receive said transmitted length and height signals; a processor coupled to said receiver, said processor configured so as to calculate the total length traversed by said user and generate a corresponding output distance signal, said processor further adapted to generate a height jumped signal.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 27 words

The system in accordance with claim 6, wherein said processor further calculates the instantaneous and average speed of said user and generates a corresponding output speed signal.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 69 words

The system in accordance with claim 7, wherein said processor includes a timer means for producing output time signals representing the date, time of day and the time elapsed from a predetermined time, said output time signal being selectively provided to a display means, said display means further comprising means for displaying said date, said time of day and said elapsed time in accordance with said output time signals.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 33 words

The system in accordance with claim 8 wherein said processor further comprises means for timing a running elapsed time and generating a signal representing the time elapsed from the beginning of the run.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 38 words

The system in accordance with claim 9 wherein said output speed signal, said running elapsed time signal, said output distance signal and said height jumped signal are stored for a virtually indefinite period of time and selectively displayed.

Claim 12

Independent Claim 196 words

A system for measuring the speed of a runner, said system comprising: an accelerometer unit disposed in a shoe of said runner, said accelerometer unit containing a plurality of accelerometers configured to measure the acceleration associated with the movement of said shoe along a translational coordinate defined by the movement of said shoe, said accelerometers further configured to generate acceleration signals corresponding to said measured accelerations; a rotational sensor unit disposed in said shoe, said rotational sensor unit containing a plurality of rotational sensors configured so as to provide angular signals corresponding to the angle of rotation of said shoe about each one of said translational coordinates; a first calculator unit coupled to said accelerometer unit and said rotational sensor unit configured so as to receive said acceleration signals and said angular signals, said calculator adapted to measure the instantaneous accelerations of said shoe with respect to a reference coordinate defined by said shoe while in contact with a surface; a second calculator unit coupled to said first calculator unit configured so as to receive said instantaneous accelerations, said second calculator adapted to measure the length of each step and the height jumped by said person.

Claim 13

Independent Claim 196 words

A system for measuring the speed of a runner, said system comprising: an accelerometer unit disposed in a shoe of said runner, said accelerometer unit containing a plurality of accelerometers configured to measure the acceleration associated with the movement of said shoe along a translational coordinate defined by the movement of said shoe, said accelerometers further configured to generate acceleration signals corresponding to said measured accelerations; a rotational sensor unit disposed in said shoe, said rotational sensor unit containing a plurality of rotational sensors configured so as to provide angular signals corresponding to the angle of rotation of said shoe about each one of said translational coordinates; a first calculator unit coupled to said accelerometer unit and said rotational sensor unit configured so as to receive said acceleration signals and said angular signals, said calculator adapted to measure the instantaneous accelerations of said shoe with respect to a reference coordinate defined by said shoe while in contact with a surface; a second calculator unit coupled to said first calculator unit configured so as to receive said instantaneous accelerations, said second calculator adapted to measure the length of each step and the height jumped by said person.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 38 words

The system in accordance with claim 11, wherein said accelerometer unit contains three accelerometers each configured to measure accelerations A x , A y , and A z along X,Y, and Z coordinates of said translational coordinate system.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 48 words

The system in accordance with claim 12, wherein said rotational sensor unit contains three rotational sensors each configured to measure angular signals θx, θy and θz corresponding to the angle of rotation of said shoe about the respective X, Y, and Z axis of said translational coordinate system.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 119 words

The system in accordance with claim 13, wherein said first calculator derives acceleration signals along said reference coordinate system in accordance with ax= Cos θ.sub.x Cos θ.sub.y Cos θ.sub.z -Sin θ.sub.x Sin θ.sub.z !Ax- Sin θ.sub.x Cos θ.sub.y Cos θ.sub.z +Cos θ.sub.x sin θ.sub.z !Ay+Sin θ.sub.y Cos θ.sub.x Az ay= Cos θ.sub.x Cos θ.sub.y Sin θ.sub.z +Sin θ.sub.x Cos θ.sub.z !Ax- Sin θ.sub.x Cos θ Sin θ.sub.z -Cos θ.sub.x Cos θ.sub.z !Ay+Sin θ.sub.z Az az=-cos θ.sub.x Sin θ.sub.y Ax-Sin θ.sub.x Sin θ.sub.y Ay+Cos θ.sub.y Az wherein ax is acceleration along the x axis of said reference coordinate, ay is acceleration along the y axis of said reference coordinate, az is acceleration along the z axis of said reference coordinate.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 64 words

The system in accordance with claim 14 wherein said first calculator derives said γ x and γ y angles in accordance with γ.sub.x =Sin.sup.-1 (Ax/g) γ.sub.y =Sin.sup.-1 (Ay/g) wherein Ax is the extent of acceleration along the X axis of said translational coordinate and Ay is the extent of gravity along the Y axis of said translational coordinate at the beginning of each step.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 24 words

The system in accordance with claim 15, wherein said accelerometers are configured to be calibrated when said user's shoe is resting on a surface.

Claim 19

Dependent Claim 51 words

The system in accordance with claim 16, wherein said second calculator derives the length of each step L and the height H jumped during each step in accordance with Lx=∫∫ax(t)dt.sup.2 Ly=∫∫ay(t)dt.sup.2 Lz=∫∫az(t)dt.sup.2 ##EQU2## H=max(Lz) where Lx, Ly and Lz are respectively the length of each step along the reference frame coordinates.

Claim 20

Independent Claim 96 words

A method for measuring the distance traveled by a runner comprising the steps of: measuring the acceleration associated with the movement of a shoe of said runner along a translational coordinate defined by the movement of said shoe; measuring the angle of rotation of said shoe about each one of said translational coordinates; calculating instantaneous accelerations of said shoe with respect to a reference coordinate defined by said shoe while in contact with a surface; and calculating the length of each step and the height jumped by said person in accordance with said calculated instantaneous accelerations.

Claim 21

Independent Claim 96 words

A method for measuring the distance traveled by a runner comprising the steps of: measuring the acceleration associated with the movement of a shoe of said runner along a translational coordinate defined by the movement of said shoe; measuring the angle of rotation of said shoe about each one of said translational coordinates; calculating instantaneous accelerations of said shoe with respect to a reference coordinate defined by said shoe while in contact with a surface; and calculating the length of each step and the height jumped by said person in accordance with said calculated instantaneous accelerations.

Claim 22

Dependent Claim 26 words

The method in accordance with claim 18 further comprising the step of generating an indication signal when said shoe of said runner contacts the running surface.

Claim 23

Dependent Claim 23 words

The method in accordance with claim 19, further comprising the step of repeating said measuring and calculating steps upon detecting said indication signal.

Claim 24

Dependent Claim 26 words

The method in accordance with claim 20, further comprising the step of accumulating each calculated step length to measure the total distance traveled by said runner.

Claim 25

Dependent Claim 21 words

The method in accordance with claim 21, further comprising the step of calculating the instantaneous and average speed of said runner.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	2001-03-02	2001-09-01	2002-03-03	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	2005-03-02	2005-09-01	2006-03-03	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	2009-03-02	2009-09-01	2010-03-03	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

System and method for measuring movement of objects

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