Speed measuring device for moving bodies

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9678204-B2
Application number	US-201214360446-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 21, 2012
Priority date	Nov 25, 2011
Publication date	Jun 13, 2017
Grant date	Jun 13, 2017

Abstract

A speed measuring device has an antenna with directionality that transmits a transmission wave toward the moving body based on a transmission signal supplied from a Doppler sensor, and receives a reflected wave reflected by the moving body to generate and supply to the Doppler sensor a reception signal. An imaginary line extending along a direction in which a gain of the antenna is maximized is defined as an imaginary axis that indicates an orientation direction of the antenna. An antenna supporting unit is provided on a housing and supports the antenna so an inclination of the imaginary axis can be altered. A display is provided on an upper surface of the housing with a flat display surface of a rectangular shape facing upward and displays various display contents including the movement speed of the moving body on the display surface.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A speed measuring device for a moving body, comprising:
an antenna having directionality that transmits a transmission wave toward the moving body based on a supplied transmission signal and generates a reception signal by receiving a reflected wave reflected by the moving body, the moving body including a first moving body and a second moving body launched by being struck by the first moving body;
a Doppler sensor that supplies the transmission signal to the antenna and generates a Doppler signal having a Doppler frequency based on the reception signal;
a measurement processing unit that calculates a movement speed of the moving body based on the Doppler signal, the measurement processing unit comprising:
an accumulation module that samples the Doppler signal with a predetermined sampling period and accumulates the signal by converting the signal into an intermediate data made to correspond to the Doppler frequency; and
a calculation module that detects a boundary point where a rapid change in the movement speed of the moving body is generated based on the accumulated intermediate data and finds a first speed data as a maximum speed of the movement speed in a first period before the boundary point and a second speed data as an average speed of the movement speed in a second period after the boundary point;

a display that displays display content including the calculated movement speed, displays the first speed data as a first movement speed of when the first moving object strikes the second moving object, and displays the second speed data as a second movement speed of when the second moving body is launched;
a housing that holds at least the display; and
an antenna supporting unit provided on the housing that supports the antenna so that an inclination of an imaginary axis can be altered when an imaginary line extending along a direction where a gain of the antenna is maximized is defined as the imaginary axis that indicates an orientation direction of the antenna.

2. The speed measuring device for a moving body according to claim 1 , wherein
the display has a flat display surface, and
support of the antenna by the antenna supporting unit is configured so that, when an angle the imaginary axis forms with an imaginary plane parallel to the display surface is defined as an antenna angle θ, the antenna angle θ changes within a predetermined range.

3. The speed measuring device for a moving body according to claim 2 , wherein
the predetermined range is ±90 degrees.

4. The speed measuring device for a moving body according to claim 2 , wherein
the antenna supporting unit is provided with a click mechanism that holds the antenna at a predetermined plurality of antenna angles θ.

5. The speed measuring device for a moving body according to claim 2 , wherein
an angle display is provided on the antenna supporting unit to indicate on which of the predetermined plurality of antenna angles θ the antenna is positioned.

6. The speed measuring device for a moving body according to claim 1 , wherein
the calculation module comprises:
a decision module that decides whether the movement speed of the moving body rapidly decreased by deciding whether the intermediate data accumulated in the accumulation module increased or decreased a numeric value N times (N is a natural number greater than or equal to 2) consecutively over time;
a period setting module that, when a decision result by the decision module is positive, defines as the boundary point a time point when the intermediate data increased or decreased the numeric value N times consecutively, and that sets a period from a sampling time point of a leading data of the intermediate data to the boundary point as the first period and a period from the boundary point to a sampling time point of a final data of the intermediate data as the second period; and
a speed calculation module that performs a first calculation operation that finds the first speed data based on a minimum value or a maximum value of the intermediate data in the first period, and performs a second calculation operation that finds the second speed data based on an average value of the intermediate data in the second period.

7. The speed measuring device for a moving body according to claim 1 , wherein
the calculation module comprises:
a decision module that decides whether the movement speed of the moving body rapidly decreased by deciding whether an absolute value of a change amount per unit time of the intermediate data accumulated in the accumulation module exceeded a predetermined threshold;
a period setting module that, when a decision result by the decision module is positive, defines as the boundary point a time point when the change amount per unit time of the intermediate data exceeded the threshold, and that sets a period from a sampling time point of a leading data of the intermediate data to the boundary point as the first period and a period from the boundary point to a sampling time point of a final data of the intermediate data as the second period; and
a speed calculation module that performs a first calculation operation that finds the first speed data based on a minimum value or a maximum value of the intermediate data in the first period, and performs a second calculation operation that finds the second speed data based on an average value of the intermediate data in the second period.

8. The speed measuring device for a moving body according to claim 6 , wherein
the second calculation operation by the speed calculation module is performed on the intermediate data corresponding to data between a predetermined upper limit value and lower limit value in the second period,
the upper limit value is a value that multiplies the intermediate data corresponding to the first speed data by a predetermined first coefficient, and
the lower limit value is a value that multiplies the intermediate data corresponding to the first speed data by a predetermined second coefficient, which is a value less than the first coefficient.

9. The speed measuring device for a moving body according to claim 6 , wherein
the speed calculation module, when the decision result by the decision module is negative, performs a third calculation operation that finds a third speed data as a maximum speed based on a minimum value or a maximum value of all of the intermediate data accumulated in the accumulation module.

10. The speed measuring device for a moving body according to claim 6 , wherein
the speed calculation module, when the decision result by the decision module is negative, performs a fourth calculation operation that finds a fourth speed data as an average speed based on an average value of all of the intermediate data accumulated in the accumulation module.

11. The speed measuring device for a moving body according to claim 1 , wherein,
if an angle that a movement trajectory forms with the imaginary axis when the movement trajectory of the first moving body is projected on an imaginary plane, which includes the imaginary axis and extends in a vertical direction, in a state where the imaginary axis is matched to the movement direction of the second moving body is defined as a deviation angle φ,
a movement speed correction unit is provided for performing a corrective calculation of the first movement speed based on the designated deviation angle φ to resolve an error included in the first movement speed calculated by the measurement processing unit.

12. The speed measuring device for a moving body according to claim 11 , wherein
an antenna angle detection unit that detects the antenna angle θ is provided, and
the corr

Assignees

• Saegusa Hiroshi
• Kitazaki Tsuyoshi
• Yokohama Rubber Co Ltd

Inventors

• Saegusa Hiroshi
• Kitazaki Tsuyoshi

Classifications

• H01Q3/04

  for varying one co-ordinate of the orientation · CPC title

• H01Q1/242

  specially adapted for hand-held use · CPC title

• G01S13/583 Primary

  using transmission of continuous unmodulated waves, amplitude-, frequency-, or phase-modulated waves and based upon the Doppler effect resulting from movement of targets · CPC title

• G01S7/04

  Display arrangements · CPC title

• A63B60/46 Primary

  Measurement devices associated with golf clubs, bats, rackets or the like for measuring physical parameters relating to sporting activity, e.g. baseball bats with impact indicators or bracelets for measuring the golf swing · CPC title