386 results about "Three axis accelerometer" patented technology

One embodiment of an alignment apparatus for aligning an object, such as a tool or other implement, perpendicular with respect to a horizontal or a vertical target surface, comprises a three-axis accelerometer and at least two forward-facing distance sensors and a projection display comprising four addressable laser projectors. The accelerometer and distance sensor outputs are mapped to a predefined graphic symbol representing the orientation of the tool relative to the target surface, in particular when the tool is perpendicular to the target surface. The projection display projects the predefined symbol onto the target surface where it may be easily viewed by the tool operator allowing the operator to make any necessary corrections to the tool position.

A pipe inspection system employing a camera head assembly incorporating multiple local condition sensors, an integral dipole Sonde, a three-axis compass, and a three-axis accelerometer. The camera head assembly terminates a multi-channel push-cable that relays local condition sensor and video information to a processor and display subsystem. A cable storage structure includes data connection and wireless capability with tool storage and one or more battery mounts for powering remote operation. During operation, the inspection system may produce a two- or three-dimensional (3D) map of the pipe or conduit from local condition sensor data and video image data acquired from structured light techniques or LED illumination.

An attitude- and motion-sensing system for an electronic device, such as a cellular telephone, a game device, and the like, is disclosed. The system, which can be integrated into the portable electronic device, includes a two- or three-axis accelerometer and a three-axis magnetic compass. Data about the attitude of the electronic device from the accelerometer and magnetic compass are first processed by a signal processing unit that calculates attitude angles (pitch, roll, and yaw) and rotational angular velocities. These data are then translated into input signals for a specific application program associated with the electronic device.

Device (1) for measuring muscular capacity, comprising:removable fastening means (12) for fastening the device to the athlete or to the moved weight (3; 2);autonomous electrical power supply means (15);a display (11);a three-axis accelerometer (14) for delivering a sequence of accelerations (a(t)) along the axis of movement of the weight, said sequence comprising at least 100 measurements per second over a duration between 1 and 10 seconds; anddata processing means (16) for determining, at the end of the test, on the basis of said sequence of accelerations, at least one quantity representative of the muscular capacity of the athlete and for displaying this quantity on said display (11).

A control device for a vehicle or mechanism includes a portable displacement controller which permits a non-technical user to achieve effective control of the vehicle or mechanism, by moving the portable displacement controller intuitively with little learning effort. A first sensing device, attached to the displacement controller, detects the user's controlling motion. A second sensing device, attached to the object being controlled, detects motion thereof. An interface device receives signals from the sensing devices, processes those signals to determine relative motion of the controlling motion and the object's motion and outputs a control signal in accordance with the processed signals. The sensing devices each detect motion in six degrees of freedom; the sensing devices each include a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis gyroscope, and a three-axis magnetometer. In specific embodiments, the accelerometers, gyroscopes, and magnetometers include micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) devices.

A system and method for inputting motion measurement data into a computationally based device are provided. In a first version three-axis accelerometer determines components of an inertial force vector with respect to an orthogonal coordinate system. The accelerometer includes a sensor die made of a semiconductor substrate having a frame element, a proof mass element, and an elastic element mechanically coupling the frame and the proof mass. The accelerometer also has three or more stress-sensitive IC components integrated into the elastic element adjacent to the frame element for electrical connectivity without metal conductor traversal of the elastic element.

A wearable device for monitoring and providing real-time feedback about a swimmer's body motion and performance, in particular, body orientation and forward speed, is provided. The device comprises a three-axis accelerometer, optionally a three-axis gyroscope, a memory, and a microcontroller configured to process the sensor input, calculate a swimmer's performance and provide feedback to the swimmer through an output. The output can be an earpiece or a swimming goggle with a digital display.

An apparatus and method for golf swing analysis is described using a first microprocessor, a three-axis accelerometer capable of transmitting linear acceleration data to the first microprocessor, a three-axis gyroscope capable of transmitting angular velocity data to the first microprocessor, data processing, a radio transmitter for transmitting processed data, and a housing for holding the components, which attaches to a golf club. A three-axis magnetometer capable of transmitting directional orientation data to the first microprocessor is used to allow a user to choose a target line. Communication occurs between the apparatus and a portable device with a radio receiver, memory and a computer program that processes the data into graphical data and statistical data and displays the swing graphically after a user swings the golf club. The user will be able to analyze and try to improve his or her golf swing.

A system and method for inputting motion measurement data into a computationally based device are provided. In a first version three-axis accelerometer determines components of an inertial force vector with respect to an orthogonal coordinate system. The accelerometer includes a sensor die made of a semiconductor substrate having a frame element, a proof mass element, and an elastic element mechanically coupling the frame and the proof mass. The accelerometer also has three or more stress-sensitive IC components integrated into the elastic element adjacent to the frame element for electrical connectivity without metal conductor traversal of the elastic element.

A device for providing information concerning position and movement of a ball, in particular a basketball, to a user is provided. The device includes a ball having an opening therein. A sensor board is positioned within the opening in the ball. The sensor board carries a three-axis accelerometer electrically connected to a microcontroller and a transceiver. A receiver board is also provided and is located remotely from the ball. The receiver board carries a transceiver electrically connected to a microcontroller and a plug for connecting to a personal computer. The accelerometer on the sensor board continuously senses the position and acceleration of the ball. That information is then transmitted wirelessly to the receiving board by the transceivers. The position and acceleration information is then integrated in order to calculate the end position of the ball based on the position and acceleration information and previously input data on the shooter's height, distance from the basket and height of the basket. The data is then transferred to a personal computer by a USB connection for display to the shooter.

The invention discloses a high-precision three-dimensional posture inertia measurement system and method based on MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems), which relate to a high-precision three-dimensional posture inertia measurement method. The system and the method disclosed by the invention aim for solving the problems that the existing three-dimensional posture inertia measurement equipment is low in cost and low in precision due to adoption of a sensor. A three-axis gyroscope sensor is used for sending measured angular speed data to an ARM (Advanced RISC Machines) processor; a three-axis accelerometer sensor is used for sending measured acceleration data to the ARM processor; a three-axis magnetometer sensor is used for sending measured magnetic strength data to the ARM processor; a temperature sensor is used for measuring and sending obtained temperature excursion data of the three-axis gyroscope sensor to the ARM processor; the ARM processor is used for processing the received data by means of front low-pass digital filtration, front-end data processing and expansion Kalman filtration respectively so as to obtain Euler angle three-dimensional posture inertia data or quaternion three-dimensional posture inertia data. The system and the method disclosed by the invention can be applied to the field of navigation control.

An omnidirectional borehole navigation system is provided which features a housing for traversing a borehole; a gimbal system including at least one outer gimbal connected to the housing and at least one inner gimbal nested in and connected to the outer gimbal; a solid state three-axis gyro assembly mounted on the inner gimbal; a solid state three-axis accelerometer assembly mounted on the inner gimbal; gyro logic circuits on the inner gimbal responsive to the three-axis gyro assembly to produce the inertial angular rate about each gyro input axis; accelerometer logic circuits on the inner gimbal to produce the non-gravitational acceleration along each accelerometer input axis; and a microprocessor responsive to the gyro logic circuits and the accelerometer logic circuits for determining the attitude and the position and velocity of the housing in its borehole.

A control device for a vehicle or mechanism includes a portable displacement controller which permits a non-technical user to achieve effective control of the vehicle or mechanism, by moving the portable displacement controller intuitively with little learning effort. A first sensing device, attached to the displacement controller, detects the user's controlling motion. A second sensing device, attached to the object being controlled, detects motion thereof. An interface device receives signals from the sensing devices, processes those signals to determine relative motion of the controlling motion and the object's motion and outputs a control signal in accordance with the processed signals. The sensing devices each detect motion in six degrees of freedom; the sensing devices each include a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis gyroscope, and a three-axis magnetometer. In specific embodiments, the accelerometers, gyroscopes, and magnetometers include micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) devices.

An apparatus, system and method for golf swing analysis is described using a first microprocessor, a three-axis accelerometer that transmits linear acceleration data to the first microprocessor, a three-axis gyroscope that transmits angular velocity data to the first microprocessor, data processing, a radio transmitter for transmitting processed data, and a housing for holding the components, which attaches to a golf club. A camera with image recognition software and an ultrasonic and RF navigation system are used for error correction. A camera on the portable device may be used to capture video, which is trimmed to correspond with the animation, and the video may be placed side by side with the animation for visual analysis. Further error correction occurs using image sensors to determine moving object speeds and coordinates.

An omnidirectional borehole navigation system is provided which features a housing for traversing a borehole; a gimbal system including at least one outer gimbal connected to the housing and at least one inner gimbal nested in and connected to the outer gimbal; a solid state three-axis gyro assembly mounted on the inner gimbal; a solid state three-axis accelerometer assembly mounted on the inner gimbal; gyro logic circuits on the inner gimbal responsive to the three-axis gyro assembly to produce the inertial angular rate about each gyro input axis; accelerometer logic circuits on the inner gimbal to produce the non-gravitational acceleration along each accelerometer input axis; and a microprocessor responsive to the gyro logic circuits and the accelerometer logic circuits for determining the attitude and the position and velocity of the housing in its borehole.

The invention provides an attitude of using such portable device as mobile phone and game devices etc. and a motion induction system. The system comprises a two-axis or three-axis accelerometer and a three-axis magnetic sensor such as a magnetic compass which can be arranged integrally in the portable electronic device. The attitude angle and the rotation angle of the attitude data obtained from the accelerometer and the magnetic sensor are calculated by a data processing unit, and then are changed into input signals for special application procedures of the portable electronic device.

The invention applies to a pointing device of a mobile element, for example a cursor, on a plane surface. The pointing device comprises a first sensor for measuring the angular rates of the device and a second sensor of the linear accelerations along three dimensions of said device. Preferably, the first sensor is a two-axis or three-axis gyrometer and the second sensor is a three-axis accelerometer. The invention makes it possible to render the movements of the mobile element in the surface of the orientation in which the pointing device is held by its user. This result is achieved by global resolution of the angles of torsion by combining the measurements of the first and second sensors either within an extended Kalman filter or by application of an optimization criterion. The invention also provides a method for estimating the parameters which characterize motion and / or orientation of an object in space from said combination of the measurements of the first and second sensors either within an extended Kalman filter or by application of an optimization criterion.

An electronic device and method for conserving power of a global position system (GPS) include setting a time interval to acquire movement parameters of the electronic device, and activating the GPS and a three-axis accelerometer to acquire the movement parameters of the electronic device. The electronic device and method further include determining if the electronic device is at rest, maintaining an active state of the GPS if the electronic device is not at rest, or disabling the GPS if the electronic device is at rest.

The invention discloses a remote interactive pen and a handwriting detection method. The remote interactive pen comprises a handheld end and a receiving end. The handheld end detects a writing motion characteristic quantity of a penholder by adopting a three-axis gyroscope and two three-axis accelerometers and measures the relative motion distance between the penholder and a screen or the ground by adopting ultrasonic distance measurement; and the measurement information is subjected to data fusion according to a human writing motion model, solution of the writing motion characteristic quantity and identification of writing intention so as to realize handwriting detection. The receiving end is used for receiving writing control information solved by the handheld end, handwriting information and three-dimensional motion information of a cursor. Through the application of tracking and positioning arm motion characteristics to control cursor motion, operate a window and realize distance writing function, increasing the motion detection function vertical to the projection screen direction, serving as a three-dimensional air mouse for virtual reality and the like, the remote interactive pen overcomes the defect that the conventional input equipment cannot reflect the three-dimensional motion information of the cursor, and has the characteristics of simple structure and convenient use.

The present disclosure relates to interactive systems and methods for dimensioning with a mobile device. The mobile device can include an accelerometer, imager, and a corresponding algorithm configured to compute dimensions based on a plurality of inputs from the accelerometer, imager, etc. Specifically, the accelerometer allows the mobile device to measure acceleration and time, and the algorithm is configured to convert these measurements into distances. Additionally, with a three-axis accelerometer, the user can move the device off an axis being measured and still receive an accurate measurement, i.e. the algorithm can compensate for off-axis movement. Further, the present invention can incorporate an imager on the mobile device to provide additional compensation supplementing the algorithm and allowing the user additional freedom to be positioned away from the starting and end-point of a measurement.

A high-sensitivity and low-noise micromachined capacitive lateral accelerometer device having an input axis and a monolithic, three-axis accelerometer utilizing the device are provided. The device includes at least one electrode having a side surface normal to the input axis. A relatively large proofmass has at least one side surface normal to the input axis and extends along a width of the proofmass. The proofmass is movable against acceleration relative to the at least one electrode due to inertial force along the input axis to obtain a capacitive variation between the at least one electrode and the proofmass. The side surfaces are spaced apart to define a narrow, high-aspect ratio sensing gap which extends along substantially the entire width of the proofmass. The proofmass forms a sense capacitor with the at least one electrode.

The invention discloses a method and system of measuring carrier attitude, which comprises data processing device and sensor composed of three axis accelerometer, three axis flux meter, three axis rate gyroscope for measuring acceleration of gravity, earth magnetic flux density, the component of the carrier's angular speed on the coordinate system individually. When processing the signal, use the component of the carrier's angular speed to Kalman filtering the measured acceleration of gravity and earth magnetic flux density and get the estimated value by which resolve the carrier attitude. The invention can reduce the impact of the system causing by acceleration through stabilizing gyroscope signal and do not have the problem of integral float, the sensor using MEMS integrated chip technology.

The invention provides a monolithic integrated three-axis accelerometer and a manufacturing method thereof so as to solve the defects in structure and manufacturing technology of the existing structural capacitive accelerometer. Three layers of metal Al thin films are deposited in the direction of an axis Z so as to form a comb pair sensitive electrode; four layers of metal Al / SiO2 thin films are deposited in the directions of an axis X and an axis Y so as to form comb pair sensitive electrodes, and the accelerations of the three axis directions are detected simultaneously by a single integrated structure. The accelerometer and the manufacturing method thereof have the following positive technical effects: the interconnection stray capacitance among accelerator devices in three axis directions is lowered remarkably, and high detection accuracy and lower noise performance are realized; since the accelerometer is provided with the multiple metal layers, compared with a microaccelerometer manufactured from the same material, namely polycrystalline silicon, the accelerometer is more flexible in wiring; a foldable beam is used in the structure of the accelerometer, so that the own stress of the accelerometer is released better, and therefore the influence of the stress on the system can be reduced effectively.

A method for calibrating sensors applied to a patient to monitor rehabilitation is disclosed. The calibration method according to the invention that is insensitive to changes in the patient's body position during the calibration procedure—calibration of the flex sensors is facilitated regardless of what orientation they may be applied to the thigh and shank of patient. The calibration method uses three-axis accelerometers defined by software incorporated in local computer.

Disclosed is a novel three-axis capacitive-type accelerometer implemented on SOI wafer. The accelerometer consists of four springs, one proof mass, four pairs of gap-closing sensing electrodes (each pair of gap-closing sensing electrode containing one movable electrode and one stationary electrode), and several metal-vias as the electrical interconnections. The movable electrodes are on the proof mass, whereas the stationary electrodes are fixed to the substrate. The three-axis accelerometer has five merits. (1) The sensitivity of the accelerometer is improved since the proof-mass is increased by containing both device and handling silicon layers; (2) The sensitivity is also improved by the gap-closing differential capacitive sensing electrodes design; (3) The parasitic capacitance at bond pad is reduced by the existing of metal-vias between the device Si layer and handling Si layer; (4) The sensing gap thickness is precisely defined by the buried oxide of SOI wafer; (5) The stationary sensing electrodes anchored to the substrate also act as the limit stops to protect the accelerometer.

The invention relates to a micro-strapdown altitude heading reference system and a working method of the micro-strapdown altitude heading reference system. The system comprises a data acquisition module, a data processing resolving module and a peripheral communication interface module, wherein the data acquisition module integrates a three-axis gyroscope, a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis magnetic resistance sensor and an SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) into an integrated micro-electronic mechanical system sensor; the data processing resolving module adopts a 32-bit ARM (Advanced RISC Machine) microcontroller; and the peripheral communication interface module consists of a serial port level switching chip, an RS-232 interface, a CAN (Controller Area Network) transceiver and a CAN interface. The working method of the system comprises the working steps as follows: the system is electrified and initialized; the system is self-tested; a magnetic field is self-calibrated; initial alignment is conducted; measured attitudes are combined: resolving the information of attitude headings according to initial three-dimensional altitude and altitude resolving algorithm of the strapdown altitude heading reference system, and resolving the three-dimensional magnetic altitude angle according to the compensated magnetic field information and acceleration information, conducting the information merging algorithm and finally obtaining the stable altitude heading reference information; and the altitude heading reference information is sent to application equipment.

A method and apparatus are provided for obtaining and processing ballistocardiograph data to determine a physiological condition of a subject. Ballistocardiograph data indicative of heart motion of the subject measured along a plurality of spatial axes by a sensor device which may comprise a three-axis accelerometer. The ballistocardiograph data is processed to determine processed data indicative of heart motion of the subject. Indications of physiological condition are determined based at least in part on the processed data. Processing may comprise aggregation of multidimensional data, determining magnitude of heart motion and derivative thereof, determining a thrust summation, determining an index value, outputting a report based on an index value, etc. Processing may be informed by operator input, such as a time window of interest or indications of interest.

The invention relates to a single-point touch pressure sensing safety unlocking method and device for a mobile terminal. When a user set a safety unlocking scheme, the mobile terminal records the contents and input pressure corresponding to each touch on a screen during safety unlocking setting to use as the safety unlocking key. The invention further provides a corresponding hardware solution which is based on an existing capacitive touch screen and an MEMS three-axis accelerometer, two thin film pressure sensors and a pressure sensor interface circuit are disposed below the touch screen and used for measuring pressure generated by single-point screen touch during unlocking, and a low-energy-consumption single-point touch pressure sensing device is provided. By the method and device, the screen touch pressure of fingers for PIN number and password character input or unlocking pattern drawing can be measured and sensed, the input contents and the input screen pressure are used as the unlocking key for safely unlocking the mobile terminal, and safety and privacy protecting ability of the mobile terminal are increased.

This disclosure provides systems, methods and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for making and using x-axis gyroscopes, y-axis gyroscopes, z-axis gyroscopes, two-axis accelerometers and three-axis accelerometers. Combining fabrication processes for such devices can enable the monolithic integration of six inertial sensing axes on a single substrate, such as a single glass substrate. Such devices may be included in a mobile device, such as a mobile display device.

The invention discloses a single person positioning navigator based on multi-sensor fusion and a positioning and navigating method. The single person positioning navigator comprises a global satellite positioning system, a barometer, a three-axis gyroscope, a three-axis accelerometer and three-axis geomagnetic sensors. Attitude angle information obtained through the gyroscope, position information obtained through the accelerometer, human body course information provided by the geomagnetic sensors, height information provided by the barometer, stride frequency information worked out by the accelerometer, and position and speed information provided by the global satellite positioning system are input into a kalman filter together, multi-information fusion is carried out through a kalman filter algorithm, and thus positioning and navigating parameters are output. Even when the global satellite positioning system cannot stably receive information due to shielding, electromagnetic interference and other factors, the single person positioning navigator based on multi-sensor fusion and the positioning and navigating method can achieve effective positioning and navigating and are suitable for various environments such as inside rooms or inside tunnels. By means of the single person positioning navigator based on multi-sensor fusion and the positioning and navigating method, positioning errors accumulated along with time can be reduced, and accurate individual 3D positioning can be achieved.