Traveling direction measuring apparatus and traveling direction measuring method

A traveling direction measuring apparatus including 3-axes acceleration detecting means for detecting acceleration, and acceleration data acquiring means for obtaining 3-axes acceleration data repeatedly by a number of prescribed times or more, said 3-axes acceleration data varies with walking of a pedestrian, said traveling direction measuring apparatus comprising:

• frequency component calculating means for calculating, when the pedestrian is walking with holding and swinging said traveling direction measuring apparatus, norms of individual acceleration data obtained by said acceleration data acquiring means, and for calculating frequency components varying during one step of the acceleration norm data sets calculated, and frequency components corresponding to duration of one step of the acceleration data sets obtained by said acceleration data acquiring means;
• second gravity acceleration calculating means for calculating, when the pedestrian is walking with holding and swinging said traveling direction measuring apparatus, gravity acceleration seen from a coordinate system associated with said traveling direction measuring apparatus at the time when the swing is at a lowest point based on a frequency component corresponding to duration of one step of the acceleration norm data sets calculated by individual acceleration data obtained by said acceleration data acquiring means, and frequency component corresponding to duration of one step of the acceleration data sets obtained by said acceleration data acquiring means;
• frequency component calculating means for calculating frequency components corresponding to duration of two steps of the acceleration data sets projected on a plane perpendicular to the gravity acceleration calculated by said second gravity acceleration calculating means;
• and
• second moving direction estimating means for estimating from the frequency component corresponding to the duration of two steps the moving direction of the pedestrian seen from a terminal coordinate system associated with said traveling direction measuring apparatus at the time when the swing is at the lowest point.

A traveling direction measuring method in a traveling direction measuring apparatus including 3-axes acceleration detecting means for detecting acceleration, and acceleration data acquiring means for obtaining 3-axes acceleration data repeatedly by a number of prescribed times or more, said 3-axes acceleration data varies with walking of a pedestrian, said traveling direction measuring method comprising:

• a first gravity acceleration calculating step of calculating, when the pedestrian is walking with holding said traveling direction measuring apparatus in a generally fixed attitude, gravity acceleration by averaging acceleration data sets during several steps obtained by said acceleration data acquiring means;
• a frequency component calculating step of calculating frequency components corresponding to duration of one step of the acceleration data sets projected on a plane perpendicular to the gravity acceleration calculated at the first gravity acceleration calculating step;
• a first moving direction estimating step of estimating a moving direction of the pedestrian seen from a terminal coordinate system associated with said traveling direction measuring apparatus according to the frequency components;
• a 3-axes geomagnetism detecting step of detecting geomagnetism;
• a geomagnetism data acquiring step of obtaining 3-axes geomagnetism data repeatedly by a number of prescribed times or more, said 3-axes geomagnetism data varies with the walking of the pedestrian;
• and
• a first walking direction estimating step of estimating, when the pedestrian is walking with holding said traveling direction measuring apparatus in a generally fixed attitude, the walking direction of the pedestrian with respect to a terrestrial coordinate system from geomagnetism data sets obtained at the geomagnetism data acquiring step and the moving direction of the pedestrian estimated at the first moving direction estimating step.

A traveling direction measuring method in a traveling direction measuring apparatus including 3-axes acceleration detecting means for detecting acceleration, and acceleration data acquiring means for obtaining 3-axes acceleration data repeatedly by a number of prescribed times or more, said 3-axes acceleration data varies with walking of a pedestrian, said traveling direction measuring method comprising:

• a frequency component calculating step of calculating, when the pedestrian is walking with holding and swinging said traveling direction measuring apparatus, norms of individual acceleration data obtained by said acceleration data acquiring means, and for calculating frequency components varying during one step of the acceleration norm data sets calculated, and frequency components corresponding to duration of one step of the acceleration data sets obtained by said acceleration data acquiring means;
• a second gravity acceleration calculating step of calculating, when the pedestrian is walking with holding and swinging said traveling direction measuring apparatus, gravity acceleration seen from a coordinate system associated with said traveling direction measuring apparatus at the time when the swing is at a lowest point based on a frequency component corresponding to duration of one step of the acceleration norm data sets calculated by individual acceleration data obtained by said acceleration data acquiring means, and frequency component corresponding to duration of one step of the acceleration data sets obtained by said acceleration data acquiring means;
• a frequency component calculating step of calculating frequency components corresponding to duration of two steps of the acceleration data sets projected on a plane perpendicular to the gravity acceleration calculated at the second gravity acceleration calculating step;
• and
• a second moving direction estimating step of estimating from the frequency component corresponding to the duration of two steps the moving direction of the pedestrian seen from a terminal coordinate system associated with said traveling direction measuring apparatus at the time when the swing is at the lowest point.