Wearable Motion Sensor Module for Remote Athletic Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing fitness monitoring devices are not portable, heavy, lack battery and processing power, and provide inaccurate or insufficient performance feedback for athletic activities, hindering individuals' ability to assess their performance and improve strategies.
Innovation Solution
A sensor module physically coupled to an object during athletic activity, capable of detecting movement, determining activation movements, identifying athletic motions, and wirelessly transmitting data for activity metrics, using acceleration and magnetic field sensors to monitor spatial orientation and provide insightful feedback.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If existing fitness monitoring devices are made portable, then ease of operation is improved, but weight and battery power are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the monitoring function into two separate components: a lightweight sensor module worn by the athlete and a separate processing/display system. This segmentation allows the wearable portion to remain light and portable while the heavier processing components can be located elsewhere, resolving the contradiction between portability and weight.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical fitness monitoring systems with electronic sensors and wireless communication. This substitution enables portable operation by eliminating heavy mechanical components while maintaining monitoring capabilities through electronic sensing and digital data transmission.
2Measurement precision
If sensor capabilities are increased to provide accurate performance feedback, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity and processing power requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts complex processing functions from the wearable sensor module and relocates them to an external system. The sensor module itself remains simple, containing only sensing elements and minimal processing, while sophisticated analysis and feedback generation are performed externally, thus achieving high measurement precision without increasing wearable device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary processing layer between the simple sensors and the final performance feedback. This intermediary handles the complex data analysis, pattern recognition, and feedback generation, allowing the wearable device to maintain simplicity while still delivering accurate and insightful performance information.
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
Enables real-time and post-activity monitoring of athletic performance, providing accurate and actionable feedback for improving future performances and selecting training regimens.
Implementation Method 1
capable of detecting movement, determining activation movements, identifying athletic motions, and wirelessly transmitting data for activity metrics, using acceleration and magnetic field sensors to monitor spatial orientation
Implementation Method 2
using acceleration and magnetic field sensors to monitor spatial orientation and provide insightful feedback
Data Source
AI summary
Athletic activity monitoring methods and systems are disclosed. In one embodiment, a sensor module is physically coupled to an object during an athletic activity conducted by a user. An athletic activity monitoring method for use with the sensor module includes detecting movement of the object; determining an initial spatial orientation of the object; and determining a change in the spatial orientation of the object. The method further includes wirelessly transmitting data relating to the change in spatial orientation to a computer, where the computer is remotely located from the user during the athletic activity; wirelessly receiving activity metric data from the remote computer, where the activity metric data is based on the transmitted data relating to the change in spatial orientation; and providing an output to the user that conveys an activity metric.