JPH055628A - Pedometer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To stably and highly accurately count the number of steps by converting a shock generated by walking or running into a voltage and counting the number of changing times of the voltage exceeding a set value. CONSTITUTION:A piezo-electric element 2 converts a shock transmitted from a case 1 into a voltage and a counter circuit 3 which is operated by means of electric power supplied from a power source 5 counts changes in the voltage. The counted number of voltage changing times is electrically displayed on a displaying section 4. When the case 1 receives one shock, the element 2 fixed to the case 1 also receives the shock and the shock is converted into a voltage. The (+)-side variation of the voltage is read and counted as one time. Since the element 2 can react even to a slight shock, micromotions may occur even in a still stage or a plurality of waves may be produced by one time of shock. Therefore, when the lower limit of the voltage is fixed required and the time for counting one time of shock is set irrespective of the number of the lower limit exceeding times, a accurate count value can be obtained.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pedometer counting method for counting the number of steps / runs.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIG. 5, a conventional method for counting the number of steps / running is a support shaft having one end rotatably supported on a fulcrum 10 and a weight 11 and a contact 14 mounted on the other end. 1
A spring 13 that expands and contracts is fixed to 2, and when the portion of the weight 11 moves up and down due to vibration, the contact 14 comes into contact with or separates from the opposing contact 15. Every time the contact point 14 and the contact point 15 come into contact with each other, the electric circuit section 16 is electrically connected, and the number of steps / runs is counted by the number of times of contact. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the magnet 17 mounted on the support shaft moves up and down due to the vibration, and moves toward and away from the reed switch 18 facing the magnet. At this time, the number of steps / runs was counted by the number of times the electric circuit section 16 was conducted.

[0003]

However, according to the conventional method, it is difficult to widely follow from a slight vibration when walking slowly to a large vibration when running.
At present, those with an adjustment function are also used, but since counting does not stabilize unless it is regular vibration, when actually worn and used, the number counted and the actual number of steps are Accuracy described in the instruction manual (eg ± 5
%), There is a problem that the accuracy itself is not good because it may not fall within the range.

[0004]

A pedometer according to the present invention is a pedometer that counts the number of steps / runs.
The running number is counted by a piezoelectric element that converts vibration into a voltage and a counter circuit that counts a voltage change of the piezoelectric element due to the vibration.

[0005]

[Function] The vibration generated by walking / running is converted into a voltage using a piezoelectric element, and the number of steps / running is counted by counting the number of times the voltage due to the vibration changes to a set value or more within a fixed time by a counter circuit. ..

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an embodiment of a pedometer according to the present invention, in which 1 is a case, 2 is a piezoelectric element for converting the vibration from the case 1 into a voltage, and 3 is a piezoelectric element generated by the vibration. A counter circuit 4 for counting voltage changes, a display unit for electrically displaying the number of times of voltage changes counted by the counter circuit 3, and a power source 5 for operating the counter circuits 3 and 4.

When the case 1 is subjected to one-time vibration, the piezoelectric element 2 fixed to the case 1 also vibrates, and a vibration-converted voltage is generated as shown in FIG. The amount of change in the + side of the generated voltage is read and counted as once. However, it is necessary to determine the lower limit of the voltage because the piezoelectric element generates a voltage in response to a slight vibration even in a stationary state. For example, as shown in FIG.
When set to V, the number of voltage changes exceeding this set value is counted.

Also, the converted voltage does not appear cleanly,
When there are a plurality of waves as shown in FIG. 3, the generation time of the voltage converted by the vibration is very short.
Within a fixed time of 10 ms (millisecond), 0.
It suffices to provide a counter circuit that counts once, no matter how many times it exceeds 01V. In general, a person cannot walk or run more than once within a time of several tens of ms, so that accurate counting can be performed if the time is set to about 10 ms to several tens of ms. The voltage and time can be set depending on the type, shape, and fixing method of the piezoelectric element, and the piezoelectric element can be fixed anywhere in the case where vibration can be transmitted.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing another embodiment of the present invention, in which only the piezoelectric element 2 is fixed to the case 6 and the other counter circuit, the display section and the power source are put together to the main body section 7. The case can be attached to other parts of the body (for example, hands, arms, etc.) by storing it and connecting it by wiring as a separate body, so the number of steps / runs can be counted by the number of times the hand or arm is shaken. be able to. In addition, by providing the counter circuit with a notification function (for example, voice, alarm, whistle, etc.), the pace at which the user actually walks or runs at a pace set to 100 to 110 steps per minute. You can check whether it is fast or slow without stopping.

[0010]

As described above, according to the present invention, as a counting method for a pedometer, a piezoelectric element for converting vibration into a voltage and a counter circuit for counting a change in the converted voltage are used to obtain a constant value. By counting the number of times the voltage due to vibration changes more than the set value in time, it is possible to measure the number of steps / runs stably and with high accuracy, which is a major drawback of conventional pedometers and unstable accuracy. It is possible to obtain the great effect of eliminating the problem. In the present invention, the example used for counting the number of steps / running when walking or running was described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the range of application such as counting the number of vibrations and using as a metronome is not limited to this. large.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an embodiment of a pedometer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a change in voltage generated by one vibration.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing changes in voltage when a plurality of vibrations occur.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing another embodiment of the pedometer according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a pedometer in a conventional example.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a pedometer in another conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 6 ・ ・ ・ Case 2 ・ ・ ・ Piezoelectric element 3 ・ ・ ・ Counter circuit 4 ・ ・ ・ Display section 5 ・ ・ ・ Power supply 7 ・ ・ ・ Main body section 10 ・ ・ ・ Support point 11 ・ ・ ・ Weight 12 ・ ・ ・Support shaft 13 ... Spring 14, 15 ... Contact point 16 ... Electric circuit part 17 ... Magnet 18 ... Reed switch

Claims (1)

Claim: What is claimed is: 1. A pedometer for counting the number of steps / runs, comprising: a piezoelectric element for converting the counting of the steps / runs into a voltage; A pedometer, which is performed by a counter circuit that counts the voltage change of the element.