US 10,646,139 B2Granted

Body movement tracking

AssigneeIntel Corporation

InventorsXue Yang, Sheng Shen, Romit Roy Choudhury

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Abstract

Disclosed methods, systems, and storage media may track body movements and movement trajectories using internal measurement units (IMUs), where a first IMU may be attached to a first wrist of a user, a second IMU may be attached to a second wrist of the user, and a third IMU may be attached to a torso of the user. Upper body movements may be derived from sensor data produced by the three IMUs. IMUs are typically not used to detect fine levels of body movements and/or movement trajectory because most IMUs accumulate errors due to large amounts of measurement noise. Embodiments provide arm and torso movement models to which the sensor data is applied in order to derive the body movements and/or movement trajectory. Additionally, estimation errors may be mitigated using a hidden Markov Model (HMM) filter. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

Claims25

Dependent claims

An apparatus comprising:

an acceleration engine (AE) arranged to determine, in a global coordinate system (GCS), a right wrist acceleration based on first sensor data, a left wrist acceleration based on second sensor data, and a torso acceleration based on third sensor data;
an orientation engine (OE) arranged to determine, in the GCS, a right wrist orientation based on the first sensor data, a left wrist orientation based on the second sensor data, and a torso orientation based on the third sensor data;
a relative motion engine (RME) arranged to;
determine a relative acceleration of a right elbow (RARE) based on the right wrist acceleration, the right wrist orientation, the torso acceleration, and the torso orientation, the RARE being acceleration of the right elbow relative to an acceleration of the torso, and
determine a relative acceleration of a left elbow (RALE) based on the left wrist acceleration, the left wrist orientation, the torso acceleration, and the torso orientation, the RALE being acceleration of the left elbow relative to the acceleration of the torso;
and
a hidden Markov Model filter (HMMF) arranged to determine a relative position of the right elbow (RPRE) based on the determined RARE and a relative position of the left elbow (RPLE) based on the determined RALE.

4 more elements

One or more non-transitory computer-readable media (NTCRM) comprising instructions, wherein execution of the instructions by one or more processors is to cause a computer device to:

determine, in a global coordinate system (GCS), a right wrist acceleration and right wrist orientation based on first sensor data, a left wrist acceleration and left wrist orientation based on second sensor data, and a torso acceleration and torso orientation based on third sensor data;
determine a relative acceleration of a right elbow (RARE) based on the right wrist acceleration, the right wrist orientation, the torso acceleration, and the torso orientation, and a relative acceleration of a left elbow (RALE) based on the left wrist acceleration, the left wrist orientation, the torso acceleration, and the torso orientation;
determine a relative position of the right elbow (RPRE) and a relative position of the left elbow (RPLE) based on the RARE and the RALE, respectively;
and
control transmission of information to an application server, wherein the information is representative of a right arm position and orientation based on the RPRE and a left arm position and orientation based on the RPLE.

2 more elements

A method for tracking biomechanical motions, the method comprising:

determining, by a computer device, a right wrist acceleration and orientation based on first sensor data, a left wrist acceleration and orientation based on second sensor data, and a torso acceleration and orientation based on third sensor data;
determining, by a computer device, the right wrist acceleration, the left wrist acceleration, and the torso acceleration in a global coordinate system (GCS);
determining, by the computer device, a relative acceleration of a right elbow (RARE) based on the right wrist and the torso's acceleration and orientation, and a relative acceleration of a left elbow (RALE) based on the left wrist and the torso's acceleration and orientation;
determining, by the computer device, a relative position of the right elbow (RPRE) based on the RARE and a relative position of the left elbow (RPLE) based on the RALE;
generating, by the computer device, display content based on the RPRE, the RPLE, and the torso orientation, wherein the display content includes a right arm position and orientation based on the RPRE, a left arm position and orientation based on the RPLE, and faces a direction based on the torso orientation;
and
providing, by the computer device, the display content to a display device for display.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/369,614Filed 5 Dec 2016
Published: US 2018/0153444 A17 Jun 2018
Granted: 12 May 2020
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification10 codes

A61B 5/1112
Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor or mobility of a limb: global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
A61B 5/6824
Specially adapted to be attached to a specific body part: arm or wrist
A61B 5/0022
Characterised by features of the telemetry system: monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
A61B 5/1116
Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor or mobility of a limb: determining posture transitions