US20080119330A1 - Intelligent vehicle meter - Google Patents

Abstract

An intelligent vehicle meter includes an associative processing unit and a signal processing unit connecting to various modules to process related signals. Through a measurement module and an accelerometer module physiological conditions of an exerciser and exercise intensity can be obtained to generate a control signal to be sent to a control module. Hence a corresponding control measure can be made immediately by the control module according to exerciser's conditions to actively change use intensity of the exercise equipment to enable the exerciser to do exercise under the optimal condition to protect the health and safety of the exerciser.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
• The present invention relates to an exercise auxiliary apparatus and particularly to an exercise auxiliary apparatus that actively changes use intensity of an exercise equipment by measuring the physiological conditions and exercise intensity of exercisers.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
• People doing exercise on moving exercise equipment such as bicycles often are prone to over stress the body due to not fully understand their physiological conditions and the intensity of the exercise. It could be harmful to the health of the exerciser. Moreover, outdoor exercises often encounter a wide variety of environments, such as uphill or downhill terrains. The exerciser who overstresses his/her body could be not able to take proper measures or contingent actions in response to the environments and expose to additional risks of exercise.
• U.S. Pat. No. 6,945,940 discloses a contact type pulse measurement device to measure the physiological conditions of an exerciser to keep the exercisers informed of their physiological conditions. However, if the exerciser does not properly change the use intensity of the moving exercise equipment according to his/her physiological conditions and exercise intensity the efficacy of the exercise diminishes. The benefit of the exercise decreases.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
• Therefore the primary object of the present invention is to provide a means to enable people to change use intensity of exercise equipment according to their physiological conditions and exercise intensity.
• Another object of the invention is to provide a means that not only can change use intensity of exercise equipment also is portable and can be carried by an exerciser as a pedometer.
• The present invention provides an intelligent vehicle meter to be installed on a moving exercise equipment. It has a measurement module to measure the physiological conditions of an exerciser, and an accelerometer module to measure acceleration and perform conversion to get alterations of total mechanical energy, thereby to derive the exercise intensity of the exerciser. Then through processing of an associative processing unit and a signal processing unit, use intensity of the exercise equipment can be changed through a control module according to the physiological conditions and exercise intensity. The intelligent vehicle meter of the invention also can be detached to become portable and be carried by the exerciser to count the number of walking steps through change of acceleration.
• The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
• FIG. 1 is a system block diagram of the invention.
• FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the invention adopted on an exercise equipment.
• FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the invention installed on handlebars.
• FIG. 4 is a system block diagram of the accelerometer module of the invention.
• FIG. 5 is a system block diagram of the control module of the invention.
• FIG. 6 is a system block diagram of the measurement module of the invention.
• FIG. 7 is a schematic view of the invention in another use condition.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
• Please refer toFIGS. 1,2 and3 for an embodiment of the invention that takes a bicycle as an example for anexerciser equipment90. Theintelligent vehicle meter10 of the invention aims to be installed onhandlebars91 of theexercise equipment90. It includes anexternal input device60, anassociative processing unit15, asignal processing unit20, ameasurement module30, anaccelerometer module40, acontrol module50 and adisplay device70. Theassociative processing unit15 receives input signals from theexternal input device60. Thesignal processing unit20 receives processing signals from theassociative processing unit15 and sends a feedback signal to theassociative processing unit15, thereby physical data of an exerciser and setting of system parameters can be entered through theexternal input device60. Thedisplay device70 is connected to thesignal processing unit20 to display the present system conditions and parameter setting to be used by the exerciser for reference and setting purpose.
• Themeasurement module30 aims to measure the physiological conditions of the exerciser and transmits to theassociative processing unit15. Theaccelerometer module40 aims to measure acceleration. Thesignal processing unit20 aims to send parameter signals to theaccelerometer module40 to alter the sensibility of theaccelerometer module40. Also referring toFIG. 4, theaccelerometer module40 measures the acceleration of three axes (X, Y and Z axes) through a 3-axisaccelerate sensor41, then by performing one time integration and two-time integration of time through an integrator a 3-axis velocity42aand a 3-axis position43acan be derived. Next, by performing addition in the vector direction aspeed42band aposition vector43bcan be obtained. With thespeed42band mass (exerciser's physical data and the system parameters that have been entered) known,kinetic energy45 can be derived through a kineticenergy calculation device44. Similarly, with theposition vector43b, mass and gravity constant known,potential energy47 can be derived through a potentialenergy calculation device46. Finally, by adding thekinetic energy45 and thepotential energy47, totalmechanical energy48 can be obtained. Without taking into account of energy loss caused by friction, increasing or decreasing amount of the totalmechanical energy48 at a unit time represents the exercise intensity bearable by the exerciser. But as theexercise equipment90 is inevitably subject to the impact of friction, an exerciseintensity assessing element49 has to be used to do assessment and correction to estimate the exercise intensity bearable by the exerciser. Hence a desired exercise intensity for the exerciser can be converted from the totalmechanical energy48 and sent to theassociative processing unit15.
• Referring toFIGS. 2,3 and5, thecontrol module50 aims to changeuse intensity55 of theexercise equipment90. Thecontrol module50 is an automatic shifting system to automatically change the shift position of the bicycle. The automatic shifting system includes an automaticshift control device51, a bicyclepower shifting device52 and a shift positioneddetection device53. The automaticshift control device51 receives a control signal from thesignal processing unit20 and outputs a shifting signal to the bicyclepower shifting device52 to change speed. The shift positioneddetection53 aims to monitor change of the bicycle shift position and feed back a detection signal to the automaticshift control device51 to correct the shifting signal.
• The invention may also include an electronicbicycle motor device54 to output power to drive the bicycle. The electronicbicycle motor device54 receives a control signal from the automaticshift control device51 and a shift position signal from the bicyclepower shifting device52 to change output power.
• As previously discussed, thesignal processing unit20 receives exerciser's physiological conditions and exercise intensity transmitted from theassociative processing unit15 to set the system parameters and generate a control signal sending to thecontrol module50 to actively change theuse intensity55 of theexercise equipment90. In the event that exerciser's physiological conditions are abnormal (such as heartbeat becomes faster) or exercise intensity increases (such as on a uphill journey), the shift position can be automatically changed to a higher gear ratio through the automaticshift control device51, or a power output can be delivered through the electronicbicycle motor device54 to alleviate the burden of the exerciser. Anexternal control device80 may also be included to transmit an external control signal to thecontrol module50 to change theuse intensity55 of theexercise equipment90 to increase use flexibility for the exerciser.
• Also referring toFIGS. 3 and 6, themeasurement module30 of the invention may adopt a contact type pulse measurement device that includes a bio-potential sensor33, abio-signal measurement unit34, a negative feedback difference commonmode signal unit341 and a buffer/balanced circuit342. It also has afirst detection electrode31aand asecond detection electrode31bdirectly mounted onto thehandlebars91 of theexercise equipment90 to be grasped by the hands of the exerciser to detect the bio-potential difference. Moreover, thefirst detection electrode31aand thesecond detection electrode31bare connected to the bio-potential sensor33 through aconductive wire32 to get the heartbeat of the exerciser.
• Thefirst detection electrode31aand thesecond detection electrode31bare sensors aiming to measure the bio-potential difference of the exerciser. They may be installed at different location according to different products.FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of theintelligent vehicle meter10 of the invention detached from theexercise equipment90 to be carried by the exerciser. Theaccelerometer module40 can measure the acceleration of exerciser's body. Through alteration of the acceleration the number of the walking steps of the exerciser can be converted and derived. In addition, theintelligent vehicle meter10 may also include an external hanging means11 to be latched on a belt, waist band, pocket or the like so that it may be easily carried on exerciser's body. Thefirst detection electrode31aand thesecond detection electrode31bmay also be connected to other detection electrodes or be directly connected to exerciser's hands to get the bio-potential difference to measure the heartbeat.

Claims (8)

1. An intelligent vehicle meter mounted by an exerciser onto a moving exercise equipment which has an external input device and an associative processing unit which receives input signals from the external input device, comprising a signal processing unit, a display device, a measurement module, an accelerometer module and a control module;

wherein the signal processing unit receives processing signals from the associative processing unit and sends a feedback signal to the associative processing unit, the external input device receives entering of exerciser's physical data and setting of system parameters, the display device is connected to the signal processing unit to display system conditions and parameter setting, the measurement module measures physiological conditions of the exerciser and transmits to the associative processing unit, the accelerometer module measures acceleration and derives speed and a position vector through integration calculations to get kinetic energy and potential energy to obtain alterations of total mechanical energy, and convert to exercise intensity of the exerciser and send to the associative processing unit, the control module changes use intensity of the exercise equipment, and the signal processing unit receives the physiological conditions and the use intensity of the exerciser from the associative processing unit to generate a control signal which is sent to the control module to actively change the use intensity of the exercise equipment.

2. The intelligent vehicle meter ofclaim 1, wherein the intelligent vehicle meter is detachable from the exercise equipment and portable to be carried by the exerciser so that that the accelerometer module is allowed to measure the acceleration of the exerciser and get the number of walking steps taken by the exerciser by converting alterations of the acceleration.

3. The intelligent vehicle meter ofclaim 2 further having an external hanging means.

4. The intelligent vehicle meter ofclaim 3 further having a first detection electrode and a second detection electrode.

5. The intelligent vehicle meter ofclaim 1 further having an external control device to transmit an external control signal to the control module to change the use intensity of the exercise equipment.

6. The intelligent vehicle meter ofclaim 1, wherein the measurement module is a contact type pulse measurement device.

7. The intelligent vehicle meter ofclaim 1, wherein the exercise equipment is a bicycle and the control module is an automatic shifting system which includes an automatic shift control device, a bicycle power shifting device and a shift positioned detection device; the automatic shift control device receiving a control signal from the signal processing unit and outputting a shifting signal to the bicycle power shifting device to change speed, the shift positioned detection device monitoring change of the bicycle shift position and feeding back a detection signal to the automatic shift control device to correct the shifting signal.

8. The intelligent vehicle meter ofclaim 7 further including an electronic bicycle motor device which outputs power to drive the bicycle and receives another control signal from the automatic shift control device and a shift position signal from the bicycle power shifting device to change output power.

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