Patent Application
20150343262
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for detecting sports biomechanical information, in particular to the apparatus and method for detecting a stepping position in an exercise.
To maintain good health and keep fit, working out at leisure time becomes a trend, and many people achieve the training effect by using and operating fitness equipments. As science and technology advance, a fitness equipment with 3D image capturing system is introduced, and such fitness equipment captures 3D images of a user during exercise, and analyzes and compares the image to obtain the calorie burned out by the user while operating the fitness equipment, and the information is provided as a reference for the user to plan the amount of exercise and check the exercise achievement.
However, the user has to attach a sensing pad for capturing the 3D images onto the user's body or wear a sensing sportswear for the use of the aforementioned equipment, and thus causing inconvenience to the exercise. On the other hand, such equipment used for analyzing the user's exercise conditions is expensive, and thus not suitable for a general public use.
In view of the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art, it is a primary objective of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for detecting sports biomechanical information, wherein various types of sensors are used for sensing a change of the current position of the sports equipment that produces a motion by stepping, and the Inverse Kinematicsof human body is used to compute the user's sport biomechanical information.
To achieve the aforementioned objective, the present invention provides an apparatus for detecting sports biomechanical information, comprising: a base frame, having a rotating shaft and a rotating device installed thereon, wherein the rotating device is coupled to a transmission mechanism, and the transmission mechanism includes a stepping portion for producing a motion by stepping on the stepping portion, and the transmission mechanism drives the rotating device to rotate the rotating shaft, while the stepping portion is dragged by the transmission mechanism to move and form a track of the corresponding rotating device; and the rotating shaft includes a turntable mounted thereon and rotated synchronously with the rotating shaft; a first sensing device, having a plurality of equidistant first sensing portions disposed on the turntable and around the rotating shaft, each rotating and moving with the turntable, and the first sensing device further having a first sensor installed on the base frame, for sensing each first sensing portion and respectively generating a first signal when the first sensor senses each first sensing portion; a second sensing device, having a second sensing portion disposed on the turntable, and the second sensing portion rotating and moving with the turntable, and the second sensing device further having a second sensor installed on the base frame, for sensing the second sensing portion and generating a second signal when the second sensor senses the second sensing portion; and a pressure sensor, installed at the stepping portion, for sensing a stepping pressure exerted on the stepping portion to generate a third signal.
Wherein, the transmission mechanism includes a crank and a stepping rod, and the crank is installed and coupled to the rotating shaft, and the other end of the crank is pivotally installed at the stepping rod, and the stepping portion is disposed on the stepping rod.
Wherein, the first sensing portion includes a plurality of teeth disposed at the periphery of the turntable and arranged equidistantly with a spacing apart from one another; and the first sensor includes a transmitter and a receiver, and the transmitter and the receiver are installed on both sides of the turntable respectively.
In another preferred embodiment of the first sensing device, the first sensing portion is a block magnet, and the first sensor is a Hall sensor.
The rotating device further includes a third sensing device installed thereon, and the third sensing device has a third sensor installed on the base frame for sensing the first sensing portion and respectively generating a fourth signal in each sensing, and the third sensor is installed at a position such that the difference between the phase angle of the fourth signal and the phase angle of the first signal is equal to 90 degrees.
In addition, the present invention further provides a method for detecting sports biomechanical information, for computing limbs loading information of a human body movement during the process of a user stepping on a stepping machine, wherein the stepping machine comprises a rotating device coupled to a transmission mechanism, and the transmission mechanism has a stepping portion for producing a motion when the user steps on the stepping portion, and the transmission mechanism drives the rotating device to rotate, while the stepping portion is being dragged by the transmission mechanism to move and form a track corresponding to the rotating device; and the rotating device has a coaxial and synchronously rotating turntable; and the method comprising the steps of: using a first sensing device to sense a plurality of first sensing portions installed on the turntable one by one to generate a first signal, wherein the first sensing portions are disposed around the axis of the turntable, arranged equidistantly from one another, and rotated together with the turntable; using a second sensing device to sense a second sensing portion installed on the turntable to generate a second signal, wherein the second sensing portion rotates with the turntable; using a pressure sensor to sense a stepping pressure exerted onto the stepping portion to generate a third signal, wherein the pressure sensor is installed at the stepping portion; using a computing module to receive the first signal and the second signal and compute the quantity of first signals received after receiving the second signal in order to convert and compute the current position of the stepping portion; and computing the limbs loading information of the human body movement during the stepping process with the computing module by the current position of the stepping portion and the third signal.
In the aforementioned method, the computing module includes inertia data of each limb of a human body, and the human limb includes a thigh and a leg, and the computed limbs loading information includes a force and a torque.
The present invention will become clearer in light of the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment of this invention described in connection with the drawings. It is intended that the embodiments and drawings disclosed herein are to be considered illustrative rather than restrictive.
a to 3c are schematic views of different tracks formed by the pedal of an apparatus for detecting sport biomechanical information of the present invention;
With reference to
In the aforementioned structure, the present invention comprises a sensing device for detecting the position of the pedal 43 immediately as shown in
Further, the second sensing device 6 includes a second sensing portion disposed on the turntable 31 and rotated together with the turntable 31 to move along a circular track. In this preferred embodiment, the second sensing portion is one of the teeth 61 on the turntable 31, wherein the tooth 61 has a height greater than other teeth 51. In addition, the second sensing device 6 has a second sensor 62 installed at a fixed position on the base frame, and the tooth 61 will pass through the second sensor 62 once when the turntable 31 is rotated for one round, so that the second sensor 62 can sense the tooth 61 and generate a second signal. In this preferred embodiment, the tooth 61 can be detected by the second sensor 62 through different conventional methods to generate a second signal. It is noteworthy to mention that there is a height difference between the tooth 61 and other teeth 51, so that the second sensor 62 will not sense the tooth 51 or generate any unnecessary sensing signal.
After the first signal and the second signal sensed by the first sensing device 5 and the second sensing device 6 are computed, the position of the pedal 43 can be obtained. More specifically, each position on the track of the turntable 31 is corresponsive to one fixed position of the track of the pedal 43, so that as long as an angular displacement of the rotation of a certain positioning point on the turntable 31 is detected, the current position of the pedal 43 can be converted and computed. In actual motions, as the turntable 31 is rotated, the tooth 61 is sensed by the second sensor 62 once for every round of the rotation of the turntable 31, so as to generate a second signal, and then a computing/processing unit will show that the turntable 31 has completed a rotating stroke once whenever a second signal is received. In the meantime, as the turntable 31 is rotated, a first signal will be generated for every fixed angle under the effect of the first sensor 52. In summation, the quantity of the first signals received after receiving the second signal can be used for computing the position to where the turntable 31 is rotate, in order to convert and compute the current position of the pedal 43. After the current position of the pedal 43 is obtained, the current positions of the user's leg and foot as well as the corresponding stepping posture can be estimated.
In this preferred embodiment, a pressure sensor (not shown in the figure) is installed in the pedal 43 for sensing a stepping pressure exerted onto the pedal 43 to generate a third signal. With the aforementioned technology of detecting the current position of the pedal 43, the first signal, second signal and third signal can be compiled to compute the force applied by the user to each position of the pedal 43.
With reference to
In the foregoing two preferred embodiments of the present invention, the turntable 31 further comprises a third sensing device, and the third sensing device includes a third sensor 8 installed on the base frame for sensing the first sensing portion and generating a fourth signal for each sensing, wherein the third sensor 8 is installed at a position where the difference between the phase angle of the fourth signal and the phase angle of the first signal is equal to 90 degrees. When the user pedals the pedals in a forward or reverse direction, the turntable 31 and the first sensing portion disposed on the turntable 31 will rotate in the forward or reverse direction accordingly. Since the first sensing portion passes through the first sensor 52 and the third sensor 8 to generate the first signal and the fourth signal, the sequence of the received first signal and the received fourth signal can be used for determining the rotating direction of the turntable 31. The information of the current position of the pedal together with the information of the rotating direction can be used to obtain more useful computing information.
The present invention further provides a method for detecting sports biomechanical information, for computing limbs loading information of a human body movement during the process of a user stepping on a stepping machine, wherein the stepping machine comprises a rotating device coupled to a transmission mechanism, and the transmission mechanism has a stepping portion for producing a movement when the user steps on the stepping portion, and the transmission mechanism drives the rotating device to rotate, while the stepping portion is being dragged by the transmission mechanism to move and form a track corresponding to the rotating device; and the rotating device has a coaxial and synchronously rotating turntable. The method as shown in
Use a first sensing device to sense a plurality of first sensing portions installed on the turntable one by one to generate a first signal respectively, wherein the first sensing portions are disposed around the axis of the turntable, arranged equidistantly from one another, and rotated together with the turntable.
Use a second sensing device to sense a second sensing portion installed on the turntable to generate a second signal, wherein the second sensing portion rotates with the turntable.
Use a pressure sensor to sense a stepping pressure exerted onto the stepping portion to generate a third signal, wherein the pressure sensor is installed at the stepping portion.
Use a computing module to receive the first signal and the second signal and compute the quantity of first signals received after receiving the second signal in order to convert and compute the current position of the stepping portion.
Finally, computing the limbs loading information of the human body movement during the stepping process with the computing module by the current position of the stepping portion and the third signal.
In addition, this method further comprises the step of using a third sensing device to sense a rotation direction of the rotating device.
In the aforementioned method, when a user steps on the stepping portion to drive the rotating device to rotate, the stepping portion will form a track, and the rotating stroke of the rotating device will be corresponsive to the track of the stepping portion, so that an angular displacement of the rotation of the turntable can be detected and used to calculate the current position of the stepping portion. The first sensing portions are disposed around the axis of the turntable, arranged equidistantly from one another, and rotated together with the turntable, so that the first sensing portions passing through the first sensing device will be detected one by one to generate multiple first signals continuously. Accordingly, the appearance of each first signal represents the angular displacement which the turntable rotates. On the other hand, the second sensing portion is also rotated together with the turntable and will be detected by the second sensing device to generate the second signal when passing through the second sensing device. A single second signal is generated in one whole stroke of the turntable so as to be used as a reference for calculation. The current position of the stepping portion is calculated with the quantity of first signals received after the second signal is received, wherein the quantity of first signals is used to calculate the sum of the angular displacement of the turntable.
This method further adds a third sensing device installed at a position having a phase angle with a difference of 90 degrees from the phase angle of the signal wave of the aforementioned first sensing device, and the signal wave is analyzed to determine the rotating direction of the turntable.
After the current position of the stepping portion and the stepping pressure exerted by the user onto the stepping portion are obtained, the computing module use this information as the boundary conditions together with the inertia data of each limb such as the length, centroid, and weight of a thigh or a leg, and human body inverse kinematics is used as a basis for computing the limbs loading information of a human body motion. Wherein, the limbs of the human body motion includes a thigh and a leg and the computation principle and formula adopted by the computing module of the present invention for computing the information such as the force and torque imposed on joints of the aforementioned limbs are disclosed in R.O.C. Pat. No. 201118627 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,246,555, and thus will not be repeated here.
In summation of the description above, the present invention improves over the prior art, and is thus duly filed for patent application. While the invention has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention set forth in the claims.
