Electronic device, control program, control method, and system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016101319-A1
Application number	US-201414891672-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 16, 2014
Priority date	May 17, 2013
Publication date	Apr 14, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An electronic device includes an acceleration sensor configured to detect an acceleration value, an atmospheric pressure sensor configured to detect an atmospheric pressure value, and a controller. The controller is configured to calculate the amount of activity or the number of steps based on the acceleration value detected by the acceleration sensor and the atmospheric pressure value detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor.

First claim

1 . An electronic device comprising:
an acceleration sensor configured to detect an acceleration value; an atmospheric pressure sensor configured to detect an atmospheric pressure value; and a controller configured to calculate an amount of activity or a number of steps based on the acceleration value detected by the acceleration sensor and the atmospheric pressure value detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor.

2 . A control method comprising:
detecting an acceleration value using an acceleration sensor; detecting an atmospheric pressure value using an atmospheric pressure sensor; and calculating an amount of activity or a number of steps based on the detected acceleration value and the detected atmospheric pressure value.

3 . A computer program product having computer instructions, stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, for enabling a computer of an electronic device executing the computer instructions to perform operations comprising:
detecting an acceleration value using an acceleration sensor; detecting an atmospheric pressure value using an atmospheric pressure sensor; and calculating an amount of activity or a number of steps based on the detected acceleration value and the detected atmospheric pressure value.

4 . The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller is configured to obtain the amount of activity based on the acceleration value and a difference in the atmospheric pressure values at a start and an end of movement.

5 . The electronic device according to claim 4 , wherein
the controller is configured to obtain the amount of activity without based on the atmospheric pressure value when it is determined based on the acceleration value that a user of the electronic device moves by a bicycle and a type of the bicycle is set to a power-assisted bicycle.

6 . The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller is configured to determine whether a change in an atmospheric pressure signal detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor results from an altitudinal change or an atmospheric pressure change based on an acceleration signal detected by the acceleration sensor.

7 . The electronic device according to claim 6 , wherein
the controller is configured to: determine an acceleration state based on the acceleration signal detected by the acceleration sensor; and determine whether the change in the atmospheric pressure signal results from an altitudinal change or an atmospheric pressure change based on the determined acceleration state.

8 . The electronic device according to claim 6 , wherein
the controller is configured to change a period in which the controller determines that the change in the atmospheric pressure signal detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor results from an altitudinal change based on an amplitude of the acceleration signal detected by the acceleration sensor.

9 . The electronic device according to claim 6 , wherein
the controller is configured to determine that the change in the atmospheric pressure signal detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor in a first period results from an altitudinal change when it is determined that the acceleration sensor has detected an acceleration signal having an amplitude larger than a first value.

10 . The electronic device according to claim 6 , wherein
the controller is configured to determine that the change in the atmospheric pressure signal detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor results from an altitudinal change when it is determined that the acceleration sensor is detecting an acceleration signal having an amplitude larger than a second value.

11 . The electronic device according to claim 6 , wherein
the controller is configured to determine that the change in the atmospheric pressure signal detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor in a first period results from an altitudinal change when it is determined that the acceleration sensor has detected an acceleration signal having an amplitude larger than a first value, the controller is configured to determine that the change in the atmospheric pressure signal detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor results from an altitudinal change when it is determined that the acceleration sensor is detecting an acceleration signal having an amplitude larger than a second value, and the first value is larger than the second value.

12 . The computer program product according to claim 3 , wherein
the calculating includes determining whether a change in an atmospheric pressure signal detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor results from an altitudinal change or an atmospheric pressure change based on an acceleration signal detected by the acceleration sensor.

13 . The control method according to claim 2 , wherein
the calculating includes determining whether a change in an atmospheric pressure signal detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor results from an altitudinal change or an atmospheric pressure change based on an acceleration signal detected by the acceleration sensor.

14 . The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller is configured to: determine a resting state or a type of a moving state based on the acceleration value detected by the acceleration sensor; calculate the amount of activity based on the determination result and the atmospheric pressure value detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor; and change a cycle at which the atmospheric pressure sensor detects the atmospheric pressure value based on the determined type of the moving state.

15 . The electronic device according to claim 14 , wherein
the controller is configured to stop driving of the atmospheric pressure sensor when it is determined that a user of the electronic device is in the resting state.

16 . The electronic device according to claim 14 , wherein
the controller is configured to stop an operation of allowing the atmospheric pressure sensor to detect the atmospheric pressure value when it is determined that a user of the electronic device is in the resting state.

17 . The electronic device according to claim 14 , wherein
the controller is configured to: calculate an average moving velocity after determining the type of the moving state; and change a cycle at which the atmospheric pressure sensor detects the atmospheric pressure value based on the type of the moving state and the average moving velocity.

18 . The electronic device according to claim 14 , wherein
the controller is configured to determine a state in which a user is walking, a state in which a user is traveling, and a state in which a user is moving while riding a moving vehicle as the type of the moving state.

19 . The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller is configured to: count the number of steps based on the acceleration value detected by the acceleration sensor; and mitigate a condition for counting the number of steps when it is determined that a variation in the atmospheric pressure value detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor in relation to the counted number of steps is larger than a predetermined value.

20 . The electronic device according to claim 19 , wherein
the controller is configured to mitigate the condition for counting the number of steps when it is determined that the variation in the atmospheric pressure value detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor in relation to the counted number of steps is larger than the predetermined value a

Assignees

• Kyocera Corp

Inventors

• Tanabe Shigeki
• Morita Hideki

Classifications

• A63B2220/40

  Acceleration · CPC title

• A63B24/0062 Primary

  Monitoring athletic performances, e.g. for determining the work of a user on an exercise apparatus, the completed jogging or cycling distance · CPC title

• A63B2220/74

  Atmospheric pressure · CPC title

• G01C22/006

  Pedometers · CPC title

• A61B5/1118 Primary

  Determining activity level · CPC title