CN112334067A

CN112334067A - Method for providing a method for determining the number of steps of a person

Info

Publication number: CN112334067A
Application number: CN201980039863.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: J·迈尔; K·维克隆德
Original assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
Current assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
Priority date: 2018-06-14
Filing date: 2019-04-11
Publication date: 2021-02-05
Also published as: DE102018209504A1; WO2019238292A1

Abstract

A method for providing a method for determining the number of steps of a person, the method comprising the steps of: determining sensor data from at least two sensor devices, the sensor devices having different types of sensors; The motion state of the person is obtained from the sensor data; the method for obtaining the number of steps is selected from at least two methods for counting steps based on the obtained motion state of the person.

Description

Method for providing a method for determining the number of steps of a person

Technical Field

The invention relates to a method for providing a method for determining the number of steps of a person.

The invention also relates to a device for determining the number of steps of a person.

Background

Known methods for determining the number of steps of a person (also referred to simply as pedometers) use motion sensors, such as acceleration sensors or gyroscopes, in order to determine the movement of the person in general, and more precisely to determine from the measured data whether the person has taken a step. For the evaluation of the sensor data, different algorithms and methods are known, which analyze the sensor signals, depending on the application. Then, whether a step exists is found based on this analysis. Depending on the position on or at the person where these sensors are arranged, i.e. in which surroundings these sensors are used, the accuracy of the step finding may vary. For example, an acceleration sensor provides more accurate data for detecting steps when it is secured to a person's head than when it is secured to the person's arm.

Disclosure of Invention

In one embodiment, the invention provides a method for providing a method for determining a number of steps of a person, comprising the following steps: evaluating sensor data from at least two sensor devices, the at least two sensor devices having different types of sensors; determining the movement state of the person by evaluating the determined sensor data; the method for determining the number of steps is selected from at least two methods for counting steps on the basis of the determined movement state of the person.

In another embodiment, the invention provides an apparatus for determining the number of steps of a person, the apparatus comprising: at least two sensor devices for determining sensor data, the at least two sensor devices having different types of sensors; a computing unit for determining a movement state of the person from the analyzed sensor data, and for selecting a determination method for the number of steps from at least two methods for counting steps on the basis of the determined movement state of the person.

One of the advantages thus achieved is: this can significantly increase the accuracy in the case of determining the number of steps, since the different methods for determining the steps can be appropriately selected for different situations or external conditions. In this regard, the number of undetected steps or the number of steps that are erroneously detected is reduced. Another advantage is a simple and cost-effective implementation.

Additional features, advantages, and other embodiments of the invention are described below or are disclosed below.

According to one advantageous embodiment, the sensor data are provided in the form of acceleration data and gyroscope data. This has the advantage that sensor data are provided in a cost-effective and reliable manner, on the basis of which the state of motion of the person can be ascertained and thus a suitable method for ascertaining the number of steps can be selected.

According to a further advantageous embodiment, one or more characteristic variables are provided as a result of the evaluation of the sensor data. The method of determining the number of steps can be selected in a simple and reliable manner on the basis of one or more characteristic variables. At the same time, the result can also be displayed in an easily understandable form to a person or the like on the basis of the characteristic variables.

According to a further advantageous embodiment, the one or more characteristic variables comprise at least one of the following variables: mean, variance, and mean passing Rate (Rate von) of the obtained sensor data

) Periodic, extreme (especially maximum). This enables an efficient and fast calculation or provision of the characteristic variable. The mean pass rate is generally understood to be the frequency at which the signal passes through the mean value of the signal.

According to a further advantageous embodiment, the determined sensor data are evaluated separately for at least two spatial directions, in particular for all three spatial directions. Therefore, the reliability of the selection of the step number obtaining method is further improved.

According to a further advantageous embodiment, the movement state is provided as a function of at least two, in particular at least four, different predeterminable states. The movement state of the device can thus be described in a sufficiently accurate and at the same time efficient manner, by means of which the method of finding the number of steps can then be selected.

According to a further advantageous development, a first of the at least two methods for step counting comprises determining a maximum value in the gyroscope data, and a second of the at least two methods for step counting comprises filtering the acceleration data by means of a start/Release Filter (attach/Release-Filter) and comparing it with a threshold value. An enable/release filter is understood to be a smoothing filter for data or signals, which smoothes the data/signals depending on their changes or quantities derived from the data/signals. This makes it possible to provide a simple and efficient method for counting steps, in which an increase in acceleration can be reliably detected by means of the start/release filter, in particular even in the presence of noise.

According to one advantageous embodiment of the device, a first of the sensor devices comprises at least one acceleration sensor and a second of the sensor devices comprises at least one gyroscope. This has the advantage that a cost-effective, suitable sensor device is provided, so that the number of steps of the person can be reliably ascertained from the sensor data of the sensor device.

According to a further advantageous development of the device, the calculation unit is designed to calculate the number of steps of the person on the basis of the selected method and the ascertained sensor data. Thus, not only can a suitable method for determining the number of steps be selected and provided directly, but the number of steps can likewise be determined from the sensor data. This avoids a separate determination with a high step overhead.

Further important features and advantages of the invention emerge from the dependent claims, the figures and the associated drawing description with the aid of the figures.

It is to be understood that the features mentioned above and those yet to be explained further below can be used not only in the respectively stated combination but also in other combinations or alone without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Preferred embodiments and implementations of the present invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and further explained in the following description, wherein like reference numerals indicate identical or similar or functionally identical components or elements.

Drawings

The figures show:

FIG. 1 illustrates an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates sensor data for different sensors according to an embodiment of the invention;

fig. 3 shows the steps of a method according to an embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 shows an apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention.

The device 1 is shown in detail in fig. 1. The device 1 comprises two sensors in the form of an acceleration sensor 2 and a gyroscope 3. The two sensors 2, 3 provide the computing unit 50 with corresponding measurement data. The computing unit 50 here comprises, on the input side, a filter device 4 which filters the data obtained from the sensors 2, 3 by means of respective individual low-pass filters 4a, 4 b. The high-frequency signals evaluated as noise are filtered out by means of low-pass filters 4a, 4b, while the low-frequency signals based on steps can be passed through the filters. Thereby, the reliability of the detection step is improved.

One or more parameters are determined from the filtered data by a parameter determining unit 5, for example, a mean value, a variance, a periodicity or a detection maximum in at least one part of the filtered sensor data. These characteristic variables are then determined independently for each of the three spatial directions (i.e. along the x, y and z axes), in particular individually for the data of the acceleration sensor 2 and the data of the gyroscope 3. Further, other sensors may be arranged, and data is supplied to the calculation unit 50 similarly to the data of the acceleration sensor 2 and the gyroscope 3.

The determined characteristic variable or characteristic variables are then transmitted to the motion state unit 6 of the computation unit 50, which determines the current motion state of the person on the basis of the calculated characteristic variable or characteristic variables. The different motion states, here indicated with four

reference numerals

100, 101, 102, 103, are predefined and stored in the motion state unit 6. In addition to the decision as to which movement state the person is in, the movement state unit 6 also provides corresponding data for the subsequent selection of the determination method for the number of steps, and/or the movement state unit can additionally provide information for identifying a step that is misidentified (in particular on the basis of a cycle analysis).

In particular, the movement state unit 6 is not only designed to determine the movement state in general (for example "walking" or "running" in the narrow sense), but also to determine the specific posture or specific behavior of the person during walking or running. This includes, for example, the motion state "listen to the audio output of the mobile phone" or "look at the screen of the mobile phone during walking" etc. In this case, the information is used, in particular, not only for selecting a specific step-counting method, but also for other components, such as a navigation system or for activity recognition of persons.

To decide which motion state is present, a tree structure may be used. For this purpose, in particular, certain characteristic variables can be used in order to decide which branch of the "decision tree" to follow. The decision can be made, for example, by means of binary logic on the basis of a comparison with a threshold value.

In the embodiment of fig. 1, four states are stored in the motion state unit 6. Specifically, these states are:

a) "stationary", i.e. no significant movement is detected.

b) The "arm movement" of a person, either during running or walking. In particular, the gyroscope data is used to determine the step.

c) "No arm movement". In this case, the number of steps is determined using, in particular, the data of the acceleration sensor.

d) "unknown motion". On the one hand, this state is determined for the purpose of initializing the device or in the case of an unclear or insufficient sensor data evaluation process.

Thus, no step is taken in state a). The state d) is always used when the movement of the person cannot be classified into one of the stored states. Therefore, the steps of false positives can be reduced. Depending on the application, steps may or may not be taken in state d).

If the movement state is determined by the movement state unit 6, this information is transmitted to the determination method selection unit 8 of the navigation unit 7. The determination method selection unit 8 selects a corresponding method 20, 21 on the basis of the determined movement state depending on the different methods 20, 21 of determining the number of steps, which method is then used to determine the number of steps by means of the pedometer 10. The orientation information 9 and the steps taken by the pedometer 10 are transmitted to a pedestrian-coupled navigation system 11 of the navigation unit 7, by means of which the position of the pedestrian can be tracked.

Specifically, as described above, the step of the person can be found based on the data of the gyroscope 3. For example, during regular walking or running, the arms of the respective person may swing back and forth. This oscillation results in a clear and reliable gyroscope signal: each swing of the arm may correspond to a step. This can be identified in the sensor data of the gyroscope from the corresponding maximum/peak or reversal point/extremum, on the basis of which the number of steps can then be determined.

Alternatively, the steps can also be determined based on the acceleration values of the acceleration sensor 2 in the case where the arm of the person is not free to swing, for example when the person is carrying a bag or using a telephone.

The first case, i.e. the data of walking or running with arm movements, is shown in the following fig. 2, in which the respective sensor values of the gyroscope and the acceleration sensor are plotted over time.

FIG. 2 illustrates sensor data for different sensors according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In fig. 2, the upper half shows the amplitude/intensity of the acceleration signal generated by the acceleration sensor 2 during walking of the person, while the lower half of fig. 2 shows the change over time of the amplitude/intensity of the gyroscope signal during walking for the z-axis, which is oriented perpendicular to the plane of the arm movement of the person. It can be seen in fig. 2 that the signal of the gyroscope 3 has a more clear or definite course of change with respect to the reversal point than the signal of the acceleration sensor. From the analysis of the maxima/peaks or reversal points in the amplitude of the gyroscope signals, the steps can be calculated particularly simply and reliably.

Fig. 3 shows the steps of a method according to an embodiment of the invention.

In fig. 3, a method for providing a method for determining the number of steps of a person is shown.

In a first step S1, sensor data are determined from at least two sensor devices 2, 3, which have different types of sensors.

In a second step S2, the movement state of the person is determined by evaluating the determined sensor data.

In a third step S3, a step number determination method is selected from at least two methods for counting steps on the basis of the determined movement state of the person.

In summary, at least one embodiment of the invention has at least one of the following advantages:

-high precision;

-simply number of steps;

-simple implementation;

-high energy efficiency, low resource consumption;

high reliability.

Although the present invention has been described in terms of preferred embodiments, it is not limited thereto but may be modified in various ways.

Claims

1. A method for providing a method of determining a number of steps for a person, the method comprising the steps of:

evaluating (S1) sensor data from at least two sensor devices (2, 3) having different types of sensors;

determining (S2) a movement state of the person by analyzing the determined sensor data;

selecting (S3) an evaluation method for the number of steps from at least two methods (20, 21) for counting steps on the basis of the evaluated movement state of the person.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor data is provided in the form of acceleration sensor data and gyroscope data.

3. Method according to one of claims 1 to 2, wherein one or more characteristic quantities (5) are provided as a result of the analytical processing of the sensor data.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein said one or more characteristic quantities (5) comprise at least one of the following quantities: mean, variance, mean passage rate, periodicity, extrema, in particular maxima of the determined sensor data.

5. Method according to one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the ascertained sensor data are evaluated separately for at least two spatial directions, in particular for all three spatial directions.

6. Method according to one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the movement state (6) is provided according to at least two, in particular at least four, different predeterminable states (100, 101, 102, 103).

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein a first method (20) of the at least two methods (20, 21) for counting steps comprises finding a maximum in gyroscope data, and a second method (21) of the at least two methods (20, 21) for counting steps comprises filtering acceleration data by means of a start/release filter and comparing it with a threshold value.

8. An apparatus (1) for finding a number of steps of a person, the apparatus comprising:

at least two sensor devices (2, 3) for determining sensor data, the at least two sensor devices having different types of sensors;

a computing unit (50) for determining a movement state of the person from the analyzed sensor data and for selecting (8) a method for determining the number of steps from at least two methods for counting steps on the basis of the determined movement state (6) of the person.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein a first one (2) of the sensor devices comprises at least one acceleration sensor and a second one (3) of the sensor devices comprises at least one gyroscope.

10. The device according to any one of claims 8 to 9, wherein the calculation unit (50) is configured for calculating the step number (10) based on the selected method (20, 21) and based on the ascertained sensor data.