(12) United States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 7,204,145 B2

Transcription

1 UOO B2 (12) United tate Patent (10) Patent No.: U 7,204,145 B2 Heink et al. (45) Date of Patent: Apr. 17, 2007 (54) ACTIVITY MONITORING (58) Field of Claification earch... 73/510, 73/514.34, 865.1, 865.3, 1.01; 235/116; (75) Inventor: Carten Heink, Eindhoven (NL); Peter Tjin joe Kong Tang, ee application file for complete earch hitory. Eindhoven (NL) (56) Reference Cited (73) Aignee: Koninklijke Philip Electronic, N.V., U.. PATENT DOCUMENT Eindhoven (NL) 5,573,013 A * 1 1/1996 Conlan ,595 (*) Notice: ubject to any diclaimer, the term of thi 6,122,960 A * 9/2000 Hutching et al.... T3,493 patent i extended or adjuted under 35 6, B1* 3/2001 Depeuringe et al /573.1 U..C. 154(b) by 72 day. 6,280,409 B1* 8/2001 tone et al f67 6,478,736 B1 * 1 1/2002 Mault / / A1* 8, 2002 Mault et al ,573.1 (21) Appl. No.: 10/537, / A1* 8, 2002 Bimbach et all TOOf / A1 12/2003 Mault /25.16 (22) PCT Filed: Nov. 21, , O A1* 11, 2006 O'Connor et al , (86). PCT No.: PCT/BO3/O334 FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENT EP O A1 1, (c)(1), WO WOO A2 7, 2001 (2), (4) Date: Jun. 7, 2005 WO WOO A3 7, 2001 (87) PCT Pub. No.: WO2004/ WO WO A2 * 7, 2001 WO WOO A2 11/2001 WO WO A2 * 11, 2001 PCT Pub. Date: Jun. 24, 2004 k cited by examiner (65) Prior Publication Data Primary Examiner Hezron William U 2006/O A1 Jul 13, 2006 Aitant Examiner amir M. hah (30) Foreign Application Priority Data (57) ABTRACT Dec. 10, 2002 (EP) An activity monitor i provided that correct for the effect of motion external to the entity being monitored. For (51) Int. Cl. example, the activity monitor can overcome the effect of GOIP3/04 ( ) vehicular travel. (52) U.. Cl /510; 73/1.01; 73/514.34; 73/ /865.3: 235/116; 600/595 9 Claim, 4 Drawing heet RECEIVE DATA IGNAL FROMMOONENOR (ax,ay,az) DETECWEHICLEMOTION EFFECT OR RECEIVE MANUAINPUT APPLY CORRECTION AGORTHM (where neceary) TOREMEAUREMEN

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3 U.. Patent Apr. 17, 2007 heet 2 of 4 U 7,204,145 B2 FIG.2

4 U.. Patent Apr. 17, 2007 heet 3 of 4 U 7,204,145 B2 RECEIVE DATA IGNAL FROMMOTION ENOR (ax,ay,az) DETECT VEHICLE MOTION EFFECT OR RECEIVE MANUAL INPUT APPLY CORRECTION ALGORTHM (Where neceary) TORE MEAUREMENT FIG.3

5 U.. Patent Apr. 17, 2007 heet 4 of 4 U 7,204,145 B O Travel button I uer activated ACC ACC ACC time time time FIG. 5 From meaurement unit Buffer I ignal proceing pattern recognition ignal rejection-travel mode FIG. 6 29

6 1. ACTIVITY MONITORING The preent invention relate to activity monitoring, and in particular, but not excluively to, activity monitoring of a human being. The phyical activity of a human being i an important determinant of it health. The amount of daily phyical activity i conidered to be a central factor in the etiology, prevention and treatment of variou dieae. Information about peronal phyical activity can ait the individual in maintaining or improving hi or her functional health tatu and quality of life. A known ytem for monitoring human activity i decribed in the article "A Triaxial Accelerometer and Portable Data Proceing Unit for the Aement of Daily Phyical Activity, by Bouten et al., IEEE Tranaction on Biomedical Engineering, Vol. 44, No. 3, March According to the known ytem a triaxial accelerometer compoed of three orthogonally mounted uniaxial piezore itive accelerometer i ued to meaure acceleration cov ering the amplitude and frequency range of human body acceleration. An individual wear the triaxial accelerometer over a certain period of time. A data proceing unit i attached to the triaxial accelerometer and programmed to determine the time integral of the moduli of accelerometer output from the three orthogonal meaurement direction. Thee time integral are ummed up and the output i tored in a memory that can be read out by a computer. The output of the triaxial accelerometer bear ome relation to energy expenditure due to phyical activity and provide a uch a meaure for the latter. The known ytem allow for meaurement of human body acceleration in three direction. Uing tate of the art technique in the field of integrated circuit technology the accelerometer can be built mall and lightweight allowing it to be worn for everal day or even longer without impoing a burden to the individual wearing it. However, the known ytem ha the coniderable draw back that "external motion factor, uch a travelling in a vehicle, are recorded in addition to the direct motion of the individual or object. In the cae of a human individual only the direct motion i uually of interet, ince it i the phyical activity of the individual that i important. It i therefore deirable to provide an activity monitor that can overcome thee diadvantage. According to one apect of the preent invention, there i provided an activity monitor compriing a meaurement unit including a plurality of motion enor operable to produce repective enor ignal indicative of motion experienced thereby, and a proceor operable to receive the enor ignal from the meaurement unit and to proce the ignal in accordance with a predetermined method, wherein the proceor i operable to apply a correction calculation to the enor ignal, in order to remove external motion effect from the enor ignal. FIG. 1 how a block diagram chematically howing the component of a ytem embodying one apect of the preent invention; FIG. 2 chematically how the orthogonal poition of three accelerometer; FIG. 3 how a flow diagram of the tep of a method embodying another apect of the preent invention; FIG. 4 illutrate a device embodying the preent inven tion; FIG. 5 illutrate motion enor output; and FIG. 6 illutrate part of a ytem embodying the preent invention. U 7,204,145 B FIG. 1 illutrate an activity monitor 1 embodying one apect of the preent invention. The activity monitor 1 comprie a meaurement unit 11, a proceor 12, and a memory unit 13. The meaurement unit 11 i operable to produce data ignal indicative of the motion of the activity monitor 1, and to upply thoe data ignal to the proceor 12. The proceor 12 i operable to proce the data ignal output from the meaurement unit 11, and i able to tore the data ignal, or the reult of the proceing, in the memory unit 13. Data can be tranferred between the proceor 12 and the memory unit 13. The proceor 12 i alo able to be connected to an external hot ytem 2, which can be a peronal computer (PC) or other appropriate ytem. The external hot ytem 2 can be ued to perform additional proceing of the data held in the activity monitor 1. In ue, the activity monitor 1 i attached to the object to be monitored. For purpoe of illutration in the following it i aumed that the object i a human individual, although it i clearly poible to apply uch an activity monitor for any object. The activity monitor i attached to the individual or object for a certain time period. The meaurement unit comprie three accelerometer which are arranged in mutually orthogonal direction. The accelerometer output data ignal, which are indicative of the repective acceleration experienced by the accelerom eter. The three accelerometer are arranged orthogonal to one another in a conventional manner. On an individual, thee direction are formed antero poterior, medio-lateral and vertical, that are denoted a x, y and Z, repectively. The accelerometer comprie trip of piezo-electric material that i uni-axial and erial bimorph. The trip are fixed at one end thereof. The piezo-electric accelerometer act a damped ma pring ytem, wherein the piezo-electric trip act a pring and damper. Movement of the trip due to move ment of the individual generate an electric charge leading to a meaurement of a data ignal. In cae of human move ment the frequency of the data ignal lie in the range of Hz. The amplitude of the data ignal lie between -12 g and +12 g. Thee number are dicued in more detail in the article mentioned earlier. uitable piezo-electric mate rial to meaure uch data ignal are known to a peron killed in the art. FIG. 2 illutrate the orthogonal output of the three accelerometer of the meaurement unit 11. The output are termed a a, and a repectively. In the preent invention, the external' effect of for example, vehicle travel, are compenated for. FIG. 3 illutrate a method embodying the preent inven tion, and at tep A ignal are received from the motion enor by the proceor 12. At tep B, the proceor determine whether the input enor ignal exhibit charac teritic which are indicative of vehicle, or other external motion. Alternatively the proceor can receive a manual intervention from the uer of the device, for example in the form of a button activated on the device. Where the manual button i activated, or where the proceor detect external vehicle motion, a correction algorithm i applied to the enor ignal it tep C, in order to remove the effect of the vehicle' motion, tep D, the corrected ignal can then be tored in the memory 13. FIG. 4 illutrate one device embodying the preent invention. The device 20 include a diplay area 21, for diplaying information indicative of the motion of the device. The device 20 i alo provided with variou control button 22. In one embodiment of the preent invention, the device 20 i alo provided with a uer activated travel button

7 3 23, which i ued to indicate to the device that the uer i ubject to external motion effect. FIG. 5 illutrate the poible variation over time of output from the motion enor of the meaurement unit 11. ignal related to travelling in a vehicle, for example, are generally moother and le haky than ignal aociated with an individual phyical activity. In addition, external effect often alo have periodic vibration, and o it i poible to detect uch ignal and to witch to a mode in which the external effect are cancelled. Thi i illutrated in FIG. 6, in which the proceor include a buffer or ignal proceing or pattern recognition unit 26 which upplie activity ignal 27 to a counter 28. The proceor alo provide a ignal rejection ignal 29 to the counter in thoe circumtance when external motion effect are detected. It will be appreciated that in the above decription, the term external motion effect' relate to effect on the motion detector which are not directly attributable to the wearer of the activity monitor. Thee effect can be produced by, for example, vehicle elevator and the like. The preent invention erve to remove erroneou meaurement which are caued by uch external motion effect. It will be readily appreciated that the accelerometer are merely preferred motion enor, and that any appropriate motion enor could be ued in an embodiment of the preent invention and achieve the advantage of the preent invention. It i emphaied that the term comprie' or compri ing i ued in thi pecification to pecify the preence of tated feature, integer, tep or component, but doe not preclude the addition of one or more further feature, integer, tep or component, or group thereof. The invention claimed i: 1. An activity monitor for attachment to an entity, the monitor compriing: a meaurement unit including a plurality of motion en or operable to produce repective enor ignal indicative of motion experienced thereby; and a proceor operable to: receive the enor ignal from the meaurement unit; proce the enor ignal in accordance with a predeter mined method; receive an input from a uer indicating preence of external motion effect on the entity to which the monitor i attached; in repone to the input, apply a correction calculation to the enor ignal to form corrected ignal, in order to remove the external motion effect from the enor ignal; and tore the corrected ignal. U 7,204,145 B The activity monitor a claimed in claim 1, wherein the external motion effect are caued by vehicular travel. 3. The activity monitor a claimed in claim 1, wherein the proceor i operable to detect preence of the external motion effect and to apply the correction calculation upon detection of the external motion effect. 4. A method of monitoring activity of an entity uing a plurality of motion enor which are operable to produce repective enor ignal indicative of motion experienced thereby, the method compriing the act of receiving the enor ignal; proceing the ignal in accordance with a predetermined method; receiving an input from a uer indicating preence of external motion effect on the entity: in repone to the input, applying a correction calculation to the enor ignal to form corrected ignal in order to remove the external motion effect from the enor ignal; and toring the corrected ignal. 5. The method a claimed in claim 4, wherein the external motion effect are caued by vehicular travel. 6. The method a claimed in claim 4, compriing moni toring the external motion effect and applying the correc tion calculation upon detection of the external motion effect. 7. A monitor for attachment to an entity, the monitor compriing: mean for generating enor ignal indicative of motion of the entity; mean for proceing the enor ignal in accordance with a predetermined method; mean for receiving an input from a uer indicating preence of external motion effect on the entity; correction mean for applying a correction calculation to the enor ignal to form corrected ignal in repone to the input, in order to remove the external motion effect from the enor ignal; and mean for toring the corrected ignal. 8. The monitor of claim 7, wherein the external motion effect are caued by vehicular travel. 9. The activity monitor of claim 7, further compriing detection mean for detecting preence of the external motion effect; wherein the correction mean i operable to apply the correction calculation upon detection of the exter nal motion effect by the detection mean.