Wearable sports monitoring equipment and method for characterizing sports performances or sportspersons

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016143579-A1
Application number	US-201514941736-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 16, 2015
Priority date	Nov 19, 2014
Publication date	May 26, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

The invention concerns wearable electronic devices, systems and methods for sports performance monitoring. In one embodiment, the invention provides a device comprising a heartbeat sensor for providing a heartbeat signal, a motion sensor for providing a motion signal and processing means adapted to calculate at least one performance parameter depicting said sports performance and/or the person using temporal characteristics of periodic features of the heartbeat signal compared with temporal characteristics of periodic features in the motion signal. The invention allows for utilization of an existing relation between cadence and heart rate for characterizing the performance or the person in a novel way.

First claim

1 . Wearable electronic equipment for monitoring a sports performance of a person, comprising:
a heartbeat sensor for providing a heartbeat signal in response to heartbeat of the person, a motion sensor for providing a motion signal in response to movement of the person, and a processing means adapted to calculate at least one performance parameter depicting said sports performance and/or the person based on temporal characteristics of periodic features of the heartbeat signal compared with temporal characteristics of periodic features of the motion signal.

2 . The wearable electronic equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the processing means is further adapted to:
calculate at least one correlation factor dependent on the temporal characteristics of periodic features of the heartbeat signal compared with the temporal characteristics of periodic features in the motion signal, and using said correlation factor, calculate said at least one performance parameter.

3 . The wearable electronic equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the processing means is further adapted to calculate at least a parameter depicting intensity of the performance, strain of the performance, fatigue of the person, fitness level of the person or a combination thereof as said at least one performance parameter.

4 . The wearable electronic equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the processing means is further adapted to calculate at least the estimated anaerobic heart rate threshold level of the person, the present deviation from anaerobic heart rate threshold level, the ratio of cadence and heart rate as an index, fitness index, fatigue index, energy consumption or a combination thereof as said at least one performance parameter.

5 . The wearable electronic equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the processing means is further adapted to calculate at least a maximum speed and/or step length of the person at-in an aerobic ranges as said at least one performance parameter.

6 . The wearable electronic equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the processing means is further adapted to determine the heart rate of said person using the heartbeat signal and a frequency of periodic features of the motion signal, and wherein the performance parameter is dependent on the difference between the heart rate and frequency of the periodic features of the motion signal.

7 . The wearable electronic equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the processing means is further adapted to:
detect individual heartbeats from the heartbeat signal and to associate first time stamps with the individual heartbeats, and detect periodic movements of the person relating to the sports performance from the motion signal and to associate second time stamps with the periodic movements, and to utilize said time stamps for calculating the performance parameter.

8 . The wearable electronic equipment according to claim 7 , wherein the processing means is further adapted to detect and/or estimate, using said first and second time stamps, a heartbeat frequency at which the temporal difference between the individual heart beats and temporally related individual movements remains essentially constant over a plurality of periods of the signals.

9 . The wearable electronic equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the processing means is further adapted to calculate a Fourier transformation of the heartbeat and motion signals and to compare the frequency characteristics of the signals in the frequency domain, in order to calculate the performance parameter.

10 . The wearable electronic equipment according to claim 1 , wherein said at least one performance parameter comprises at least;
the anaerobic heart rate threshold level of the person determined by detecting or estimating the heart rate level at which the periodicities of the heart rate and the motion are equal, the deviation from said anaerobic heart rate threshold level determined from the difference between a current heart rate level and the anaerobic heart rate threshold level, an index number proportional to the ratio of cadence and heart rate, determined based on the motion signal and heartbeat signal, respectively, a derivative of said parameters, or a combination thereof.

11 . The wearable electronic equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the processing means is further adapted to:
compute, using the heartbeat signal and motion signal, a time delay parameter depicting the delay between a response in the heartbeat signal to intensity changes in the performance, and a response in the motion signal to intensity changes in the performance, and compute said at least one performance parameter using the magnitude of said time delay parameter and/or by observing changes in the time delay parameter during the performance.

12 . The wearable electronic equipment according to claim 11 , wherein the processing means is further adapted to determine a first value of said time delay parameter when the person is at rest and a second value of said time delay parameter during a performance, and to compute said at least one performance parameter using a mathematical function dependent on said first value and said second value.

13 . The wearable electronic equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the processing means is further adapted to:
read a predetermined time delay parameter depicting the delay between a response in the heartbeat signal to intensity changes in the performance and a response in the motion signal to intensity changes in the performance and/or a behavior model of such a time delay parameter, and compute said at least one performance parameter using the heartbeat signal, the motion signal and the time delay parameter.

14 . The wearable electronic equipment according to claim 1 , further comprising a position sensor for determining the speed of the person, and wherein said processing means is further adapted to utilize said speed for calculating said performance parameter.

15 . The wearable electronic equipment according to claim 1 , further comprising a means for determining an average step length of the person and wherein said processing means is further adapted to utilize said average step length when calculating the performance parameter.

16 . The wearable electronic equipment according to claim 15 , wherein said means for determining an average step length is configured to at least:
read a step length as a user-input parameter from a memory unit of the equipment, determine a step length based on the motion signal, or determine the average step length based on the combination of the periodicity of the motion signal and speed data obtained using a position sensor.

17 . The wearable electronic equipment according to claim 1 , further comprising an electric heart rate module integral with or functionally connectable with a heart rate belt or a smart garment having integral heart rate measurement electrodes so as to form said heartbeat sensor, said electronic heart rate module including said motion sensor.

18 . The wearable electronic equipment according to claim 17 , wherein the electric heart rate module further comprises said processing means.

19 . The wearable electronic equipment according to claim 1 , further comprising a wristop computer or mobile phone capable of wireless communication with an electric heart rate module for receiving at least said heartbeat signal, motion signal or data processed in such a heart rate module.

20 . The wearable electronic equipment according t

Assignees

• Suunto Oy

Inventors

• Martikka Mikko
• Nieminen Heikki
• Pernu Kimmo
• Ojanen Olli-Pekka
• Lindman Erik

Classifications

• A61B5/4866

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• A61B2562/0219

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• A61B5/0205

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• A61B5/6898

  Portable consumer electronic devices, e.g. music players, telephones, tablet computers · CPC title

• A61B5/486 Primary

  Biofeedback (using electroencephalography [EEG] A61B5/375) · CPC title