Activity training system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019076716-A1
Application number	US-201715702470-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 12, 2017
Priority date	Sep 12, 2017
Publication date	Mar 14, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing an activity training system are provided herein. A footbed system for activity instruction includes a support material; a microcontroller embedded in the support material; a plurality of haptic vibrators coupled to the microcontroller, the haptic vibrators disposed in the support material and configured to provide haptic feedback via a foot of a user; wherein the microcontroller is to: receive force sensor readings from a plurality of force sensors of a remote footbed system, the force sensor readings caused by a user of the remote footbed system changing their body position; and activate a subset of the plurality of haptic vibrators to provide haptic feedback, the haptic feedback corresponding to locations of the force sensor readings in the remote footbed system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A footbed system for activity instruction, the system comprising:
a support material; a microcontroller embedded in the support material; a plurality of force sensors coupled to the microcontroller, the force sensors disposed in the support material and configured to detect force applied via a foot of a user; wherein the microcontroller is to:
obtain force sensor readings from the plurality of force sensors;
and
transmit the force sensor readings to a remote footbed system, the remote footbed system configured to receive the force sensor readings from the footbed system and provide haptic feedback to a user of the remote footbed system, the haptic feedback corresponding to locations of the force sensor readings in the footbed system.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the microcontroller is to:
receive sensor information from the remote footbed system; and activate haptic vibrators on the footbed system to alert the user of the footbed system of the sensor information from the remote footbed system.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the sensor information indicates that the user of the remote footbed system collided with an object, fell, or is in distress.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the microcontroller is to:
receive a distress signal from the remote footbed system; and activate haptic vibrators on the footbed system to alert the user of the footbed system of the distress signal from the remote footbed system.

5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein to activate the haptic vibrators, the microcontroller is to:
activate all haptic vibrators in the footbed system.

6 . A method of providing activity instruction, the method comprising:
obtaining, at a microcontroller, force sensor readings from a plurality of force sensors coupled to the microcontroller, the force sensors disposed in a support material of a footbed system, and configured to detect force applied via a foot of a user using the footbed system; and transmitting the force sensor readings to a remote footbed system, the remote footbed system configured to receive the force sensor readings from the footbed system and provide haptic feedback to a user of the remote footbed system, the haptic feedback corresponding to locations of the force sensor readings in the footbed system.

7 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
receiving sensor information from the remote footbed system; and activating haptic vibrators on the footbed system to alert the user of the footbed system of the sensor information from the remote footbed system.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the sensor information indicates that the user of the remote footbed system collided with an object, fell, or is in distress.

9 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
receiving a distress signal from the remote footbed system; and activating haptic vibrators on the footbed system to alert the user o the footbed system of the distress signal from the remote footbed system.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein activating the haptic vibrators comprises activating all haptic vibrators in the footbed system.

11 . footbed system for ctivity instruction, the system comprising:
a support material; a microcontroller embedded in the support material; a plurality of haptic vibrators coupled to the microcontroller, the haptic vibrators disposed in the support material and configured to provide haptic feedback via a foot of a user; wherein the microcontroller is to:
receive force sensor readings from a plurality of force sensors of a remote footbed system, the force sensor readings caused by a user of the remote footbed system changing their body position; and
activate a subset of the plurality of haptic vibrators to provide haptic feedback, the haptic feedback corresponding to locations of the force sensor readings in the remote footbed system.

12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein to activate the subset of the plurality of haptic vibrators to provide haptic feedback, the microcontroller is to:
determine that the user of the footbed system is approaching a corresponding position where the user of the remote footbed system changed their body position; and activate the subset of the plurality of haptic vibrators to assist the user of the footbed system to match the change in body position of the user of the remote footbed system.

13 . The system of claim 11 , wherein to activate the subset of the plurality of haptic vibrators to provide haptic feedback, the microcontroller is to:
activate the subset of the plurality of haptic vibrators using a lead time to allow the user of the footbed system to anticipate the change in the body position of the user of the remote footbed system.

14 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the lead time comprises a human reaction time component and an electronic transmission time component.

15 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the microcontroller is to:
determine that the user of the footbed system has fallen; and transmit a distress call.

16 . The system of claim 15 , wherein to determine that the user of the footbed system has fallen, the microcontroller is to:
access accelerometer or pyrometer data to determine a change in acceleration or a change in orientation that indicates that the user of the footbed system has fallen.

17 . The system of claim 15 , wherein to transmit the distress call, the microcontroller is to transmit the distress call to the remote footbed system.

18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein to transmit the distress call, the microcontroller is to transmit the distress call to an emergency response system.

19 . A method of providing activity instruction, the method comprising:
receiving force sensor readings from a plurality of force sensors of a remote footbed system, the force sensor readings caused by a user of the remote footbed system changing their body position; and activating a subset of the plurality of haptic vibrators to provide haptic feedback, the haptic vibrators disposed in a support material of a footbed system and configured to provide haptic feedback via a foot of a user; the haptic feedback corresponding to locations of the force sensor readings in the remote footbed system.

20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein activating the subset of the plurality of haptic vibrators to provide haptic feedback comprises:
activating the subset of the plurality of haptic vibrators using a lead time to allow the user of the footbed system to anticipate the change in the body position of the user of the remote footbed system.

21 . At least one non-transitory machine-readable medium including instructions for providing activity instruction, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform the operations comprising:
receiving force sensor readings from a plurality of force sensors of a remote footbed system, the force sensor readings caused by a user of the remote footbed system changing their body position; and activating a subset of the plurality of haptic vibrators to provide haptic feedback, the haptic vibrators disposed in a support material of a footbed system and configured to provide haptic feedback via a foot of a user; the haptic feedback corresponding to locations of the force sensor readings in the remote footbed system.

22 . The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 21 , further comprising:
determining a geographic location of the footbed system.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Chiou Wei Han
• Lin Yung Hsuan

Classifications

• G08B21/0446

  worn on the body to detect changes of posture, e.g. a fall, inclination, acceleration, gait · CPC title

• G08B25/016

  Personal emergency signalling and security systems (emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12) · CPC title

• A63B2220/836

  Sensors arranged on the body of the user · CPC title

• G08B25/10

  using wireless transmission systems {(G08B25/009 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• A63B24/0062

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