Body movement tracking

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018153444-A1
Application number	US-201615369614-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 5, 2016
Priority date	Dec 5, 2016
Publication date	Jun 7, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

Disclosed methods, systems, and storage media may track body movements and movement trajectories using internal measurement units (IMUs), where a first IMU may be attached to a first wrist of a user, a second IMU may be attached to a second wrist of the user, and a third IMU may be attached to a torso of the user. Upper body movements may be derived from sensor data produced by the three IMUs. IMUs are typically not used to detect fine levels of body movements and/or movement trajectory because most IMUs accumulate errors due to large amounts of measurement noise. Embodiments provide arm and torso movement models to which the sensor data is applied in order to derive the body movements and/or movement trajectory. Additionally, estimation errors may be mitigated using a hidden Markov Model (HMM) filter. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

First claim

1 . An apparatus comprising:
an acceleration engine (AE) to determine, in a global coordinate system (GCS), a right wrist acceleration based on first sensor data, a left wrist acceleration based on second sensor data, and a torso acceleration based on third sensor data; an orientation engine (OE) to determine, in the GCS, a right wrist orientation based on the first sensor data, a left wrist orientation based on the second sensor data, and a torso orientation based on the third sensor data; a relative motion engine (RME) to determine a relative acceleration of a right elbow (RARE) based on the right wrist acceleration, the right wrist orientation, the torso acceleration, and the torso orientation, or a relative acceleration of a left elbow (RALE) based on the left wrist acceleration, the left wrist orientation, the torso acceleration, and the torso orientation; and a hidden Markov Model filter (HMMF) to determine a relative position of the right elbow (RPRE) or a relative position of the left elbow (RPLE) based on the RARE and the RALE.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the AE is to:
determine the right wrist acceleration in the GCS based on a reverse rotation of the acceleration component of the first sensor data and removal of a gravitational component from the acceleration component of the first sensor data; determine the left wrist acceleration in the GCS based on a reverse rotation of the acceleration component of the second sensor data and removal of a gravitational component from the acceleration component of the second sensor data; and determine the acceleration of the torso in the GCS based on a reverse rotation of the acceleration component of the third sensor data and removal of a gravitational component from the acceleration component of the third sensor data.

3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the AE is to:
determine a right forearm acceleration based on the right wrist acceleration and a right forearm length; determine a right elbow acceleration based on the right forearm acceleration; determine a left forearm acceleration based on the left wrist acceleration and a left forearm length; and determine a left elbow acceleration based on the left forearm acceleration.

4 . The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the RME is further to:
determine based on the right elbow acceleration in the GCS, the right elbow orientation in the GCS, the torso acceleration in the GCS, and the torso orientation in the GCS, a relative right elbow acceleration in a torso coordinate system (TCS), a relative right elbow velocity in the TCS, and a relative right elbow location in the TCS; and determine, based on the left elbow acceleration in the GCS, the left elbow orientation in the GCS, the torso acceleration in the GCS, and the torso orientation in the GCS, a relative left elbow acceleration in the TCS, a relative left elbow velocity in the TCS, and a relative left elbow location in the TCS.

5 . The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein:
the relative right elbow acceleration is an acceleration of the right elbow that is relative to the torso, the relative right elbow velocity is a velocity of the right elbow relative to the torso, and the relative right elbow location is a location of the right elbow relative to the torso; and the relative left elbow acceleration is an acceleration of the left elbow that is relative to the torso, the relative left elbow velocity is a velocity of the left elbow relative to the torso, and the relative left elbow location is a location of the left elbow relative to the torso.

6 . The apparatus of claim 4 , further comprising:
a relative position engine (RPE) to:
identify a right elbow search space and a left elbow search space based on an elbow model;
determine a relative right elbow state (RRES) based on the right wrist acceleration and the right forearm acceleration, wherein the RRES corresponds to a point within the right elbow search space; and
determine a relative left elbow state (RLES) based on the left wrist acceleration and the left elbow acceleration, wherein the RLES corresponds to a point within the left elbow search space.

7 . The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
communications circuitry to obtain the first sensor data from a first inertial measurement unit (IMU), obtain the second sensor data from a second IMU, and obtain the third sensor data from a third IMU, wherein each of the first IMU, the second IMU, and the third IMU include a corresponding microelectromechanical system (MEMS) accelerometer, a MEMS gyroscope, and a MEMS magnetometer, and wherein the first IMU is coupled with the right wrist, the second IMU is coupled with the left wrist, and the third IMU is coupled with the torso.

8 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is implemented in a wearable computer device, a smartphone, a tablet personal computer (PC), a head-up display (HUD) device, a laptop PC, a desktop PC, or a server computer.

9 . One or more computer-readable media including instructions, which when executed by a computer device, causes the computer device to:
determine, in a global coordinate system (GCS), a right wrist acceleration and right wrist orientation based on first sensor data, a left wrist acceleration and left wrist orientation based on second sensor data, and a torso acceleration and torso orientation based on third sensor data; determine a relative acceleration of a right elbow (RARE) based on the right wrist acceleration, the right wrist orientation, the torso acceleration, and the torso orientation, and a relative acceleration of a left elbow (RALE) based on the left wrist acceleration, the left wrist orientation, the torso acceleration, and the torso orientation; determine a relative position of the right elbow (RPRE) or a relative position of the left elbow (RPLE) based on the RARE and the RALE; and control transmission of information to an application server, wherein the information is representative of a right arm position and orientation based on the RPRE and a left arm position and orientation based on the RPLE.

10 . The one or more computer-readable media of claim 9 , wherein execution of the instructions cause the computer device to:
determine the right wrist acceleration in the GCS based on a reverse rotation of the acceleration component of the first sensor data and removal of a gravitational component from the acceleration component of the first sensor data; determine the left wrist acceleration in the GCS based on a reverse rotation of the acceleration component of the second sensor data and removal of a gravitational component from the acceleration component of the second sensor data; and determine the acceleration of the torso in the GCS based on a reverse rotation of the acceleration component of the third sensor data and removal of a gravitational component from the acceleration component of the third sensor data.

11 . The one or more computer-readable media of claim 9 , wherein execution of the instructions cause the computer device to:
determine a right forearm acceleration based on the right wrist acceleration and a right forearm length; determine a right elbow acceleration based on the right forearm acceleration; determine a left forearm acceleration based on the left wrist acceleration and a left forearm length; and determine a left elbow acceleration based on the left forearm acceleration.

12 . The one or more computer-readable media of claim 11 , wherein execution of the instructions cause the computer device to:
determine based on the right elbow acceleration in the GCS, the right elbow orientation in the GCS, the torso acceleration in the GCS, and the torso

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Yang Xue
• Shen Sheng
• Choudhury Romit Roy

Classifications

• G16H40/67

  for remote operation · CPC title

• A61B5/742

  using visual displays (displays for heart-related electrical signals, e.g. ECG, A61B5/339) · CPC title

• A61B5/0022

  Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet · CPC title

• A61B5/725

  using specific filters therefor, e.g. Kalman or adaptive filters (specific diagnostics methods using using bioelectric or biomagnetic signals A61B5/316) · CPC title

• A61B5/1112 Primary

  Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS · CPC title