# US 11,122,364 B1 · Footsteps tracking method and system thereof

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- Number: US 11,122,364 B1
- Document ID: US11122364B1
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B1
- Application number: 17/007,408
- Filed: 2020-08-31
- Granted: 2021-09-14
- Earliest claimed: 2020-08-31
- Assignees: Nanning Fugui Precision Industrial Co., Ltd.
- Applicants: Nanning Fugui Precision Industrial Co., Ltd.
- Inventors: Chih-Feng Hsieh
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11122364B1

## CPC

- H04R 1/406: {microphones}
- H04R 3/005: {for combining the signals of two or more microphones (specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407)}
- H04R 2430/21: Direction finding using differential microphone array [DMA]
- H04R: LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; ELECTRIC HEARING AIDS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS (producing sounds with frequency not determined by supply frequency G10K)

## Abstract

A footsteps tracking method, including the steps of: receiving a first sound signal of a user's first footstep; calculating a first position of the first footstep according to relative position relationship of at least three microphones in the microphone array and time differences of sound arrival of the first sound signal received by the three microphones respectively; receiving a second sound signal of a second footstep of the user, wherein an audio frequency of the second sound signal is the same as an audio frequency of the first sound signal; and calculating a second position of the second footstep according to the first position, a time difference between receiving the first sound signal and the second sound signal, receiving angles between the first sound signal and a pair of the three microphones, and receiving angles between the second sound signal and the pair of the three microphones.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A footsteps tracking method, comprising the steps of:
receiving, by a microphone array, a first sound signal corresponding to a user's first footstep;
calculating, by a processing module, a first position corresponding to the first footstep according to relative position relationship of at least three microphones in the microphone array and time differences of sound arrival of the first sound signal received by the three microphones respectively;
receiving, by the microphone array, a second sound signal corresponding to a second footstep of the user, wherein an audio frequency of the second sound signal is the same as an audio frequency of the first sound signal; and
calculating, by the processing module, a second position corresponding to the second footstep according to the first position, a time difference between receiving the first sound signal and the second sound signal, receiving angles between the first sound signal and a pair of the three microphones, and receiving angles between the second sound signal and the pair of the three microphones.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The footsteps tracking method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second position is equal to the first position when a difference between the receiving angles corresponding to the first sound signal and the receiving angles corresponding to the second sound signal is equal to 0 or less than a predetermined value.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The footsteps tracking method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:
selecting, by the processing module, different steps according to the time difference between receiving the first sound signal and the second sound signal.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The footsteps tracking method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the microphone array has five microphones and is a regular pentagon, and a distance between every two adjacent microphones is 20 mm.

### Claim 5

A footsteps tracking system, comprising:
a microphone array, composed of at least three microphones, for receiving a first sound signal corresponding to a user's first footstep and a second sound signal corresponding to the user's second footsteps, wherein the audio frequency of the second sound signal sound signal is the same as the audio frequency of the first sound signal; and
a processing module for calculating a first position corresponding to the first footstep according to relative position relationship of at least three microphones in the microphone array and time differences of sound arrival of the first sound signal received by the three microphones respectively, and calculating a second position corresponding to the second footstep according to the first position, a time difference between receiving the first sound signal and the second sound signal, receiving angles between the first sound signal and a pair of the three microphones and receiving angles between the second sound signal and the pair of the three microphones.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The footsteps tracking system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the second position is equal to the first position when a difference between the receiving angles corresponding to the first sound signal and the receiving angles corresponding to the second sound signal is equal to 0 or less than a predetermined value.

### Claim 7 (depends on 5)

The footsteps tracking system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the processing module further select different steps according to the time difference between receiving the first sound signal and the second sound signal.

### Claim 8 (depends on 5)

The footsteps tracking system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the microphone array has five microphones and is a regular pentagon, and a distance between every two adjacent microphones is 20 mm.