Body-Attached Microphone for Activity Classification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for activity recognition in mobile devices, such as classifying user motion, face challenges with high power consumption and limited accuracy when using accelerometer sensors and external microphones.
Innovation Solution
The use of body-attached microphones to capture internal sound vibrations, which improves accuracy and reduces power consumption by distinguishing activities that do not generate distinct external sounds and is less susceptible to ambient noise.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If accelerometer sensors and external microphones are used for activity recognition, then device functionality is provided, but power consumption is high and accuracy is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the microphone from its traditional external position and places it inside the user's body (e.g., in the ear canal or attached to the skin). This extraction allows the system to capture internal body vibrations directly, improving activity recognition accuracy while reducing the need for high-power external sensors and processing
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces the user's body as an intermediary medium between the sound source and the microphone. By capturing vibrations transmitted through body tissues, the system obtains more accurate activity information with lower power consumption compared to using external microphones that must compete with ambient noise
2Measurement precision
If external microphones are used to capture ambient sounds, then activity detection is possible, but accuracy is limited due to ambient noise interference
Solution Approach 1:
The microphone is extracted from the external environment and placed inside the body, removing it from the harmful ambient noise field. This allows clean capture of internal vibrations without contamination from external sounds
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts the body's own tissues into a beneficial transmission medium. The body tissues that could potentially dampen sounds become instead a direct transmission path for vibration signals, providing clear activity information free from ambient noise interference
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enhances the accuracy of activity classification and reduces power consumption by utilizing internal sound waves, effectively addressing the limitations of existing technologies.
Implementation Method 1
body attached microphones to capture sound of vibrations transported through the user's body
Implementation Method 2
detect motion of the terminal and thereby the motion and activity of the user
Data Source
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Figure 3~4
AI summary
The present invention relates to a method and device for classifying an activity of an object, the method comprising: receiving a sound signal from a sensor, determining type of sound based on said sound signal, and determining said activity based on said type of sound.