JP2995241B2 - Communications system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication system .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When performing exercise such as running or jogging, a pedometer is attached to count the number of steps. Also,
Measuring the pulse rate during exercise at the same time is effective in measuring the physical condition and exercise ability.

[0003]

In this case, since the pedometer is worn on the waist belt or shoes, it is impossible to know the number of steps during exercise. Further, it is necessary to connect the heart rate monitor main body and the electrode because attaching the electrodes for detecting the electrocardiographic waveform to the body of the subject in the heart rate, how much the heart rate during exercise
I couldn't know. Therefore, by wireless communication,
Without receiving the electromagnetic signal from a pedometer or heart rate monitor.
Receives data with a transceiver and checks step count data and heart rate data even during exercise.
Recognizable systems are being considered. However, this system
Signal from the pedometer and heart rate monitor
There is a problem.

[0004] The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem, and has the same frequency signals transmitted from a plurality of transmitters.
And to provide a communication system that can be received by one receiver to issue.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a method for controlling the number of different first and second pulses.
The first and second transmitting signals of the same frequency intermittently
From the second transmitter and the first and second transmitters respectively
And one receiver for receiving the transmitted signal ,
The receiver determines that the number of pulses of the received signal is equal to the first pulse.
If the number is equal to or greater than the number of
Receiving as a signal from one of the transmitters , the second transmitter includes receiving means, and when receiving a signal from the first transmitter when transmitting a signal of a second pulse number , time
And transmitting the signal again after the transmission from the first transmitter is completed in a standby state .

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. First, an outline of an electromagnetic induction communication system to which the present invention is applied will be described. The electromagnetic induction communication system includes a heartbeat signal transmitter that transmits the electromagnetic induction signal (magnetic induction signal) by measuring the heart rate of the subject, and to measure the number of steps by movement step number signal transmitter for transmitting the electromagnetic induction signal And a wristwatch incorporating a receiving means for receiving the electromagnetic induction signal transmitted from the heart rate signal transmitter and the step count signal transmitter.

FIG. 1 shows a shirt 1 worn by a subject.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of FIG. The shirt body 2 is formed in a shape like a running shirt, for example, and has a pair of electrodes 3.
a, 3b are provided at positions contacting the left and right armpits of the human body. The electrodes 3 a and 3 b detect a heartbeat signal (electrocardiographic waveform) emitted from the subject's heart and output the heartbeat signal transmitter 4.
To send to. The heartbeat signal transmitter 4 is provided at the waist portion of the shirt body 2 and transmits a detected heartbeat signal from a coil 7 described later by electromagnetic induction.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of the heartbeat signal transmitter 4 provided on the shirt 1. The electrodes 3a,
3b is connected to the detection circuit 5 and outputs the detected heartbeat signal. The detection circuit 5 amplifies the heartbeat signal output from the electrodes 3a and 3b and outputs the amplified heartbeat signal to the transmission circuit 6. The transmission circuit 6 converts the heartbeat signal into an electromagnetic induction signal, and transmits the signal from the coil 7. In this case, the heartbeat signal transmitted from the heartbeat signal transmitter 4 is composed of, for example, seven pulse signals as shown in FIG. Note that the heartbeat signal transmitted from the coil 7 can be sufficiently detected if the distance is up to about 2 m.
The power supply circuit 8 supplies a drive voltage to the detection circuit 5 and the transmission circuit 6 via the switch 9.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of the step count signal transmitter to be worn on the subject's shoes. Control unit 10
Starts the step counting by operating the switch 11. The control unit 10 controls the receiving circuit 12, the vibration sensor 14, the detecting circuit 15, and the transmitting circuit 16 based on a microprogram stored in a ROM (not shown) in advance. Receiving circuit 1
2 receives the electromagnetic induction signal transmitted from the heartbeat signal transmitter 4 by the coil 13 and outputs it to the control unit 10. The vibration sensor 14 outputs a sensor voltage corresponding to the intensity of vibration due to the movement to the detection circuit 15 as a step count signal. Detection circuit 1
5 detects the sensor voltage output from the vibration sensor 14 and outputs it to the transmission circuit 16. The transmission circuit 16 transmits a step number signal based on the electromagnetic induction signal from the coil 17 based on the sensor voltage output from the detection circuit 15. Coil 17
As shown in FIG. 6B, the step count signal output from
It is a signal composed of a number of pulses. Note that this electromagnetic induction signal can be sufficiently detected if the distance is up to about 2 m. The power supply circuit 18 supplies a drive voltage to each unit via the switch 19.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of the wristwatch. The coil 20 receives the electromagnetic induction signal transmitted from the heart rate signal transmitter and the step signal transmitter,
The receiving circuit 21 is connected. The receiving circuit 21 detects the electromagnetic induction signal received by the coil 20, and outputs the signal to the waveform shaping circuit 22. The waveform shaping circuit 22 includes the receiving circuit 2
The electromagnetic induction signal output from 1 is shaped into a waveform, and the control unit 2
Output to 3. The receiving circuit 21 and the waveform shaping circuit 22
Starts an operation in response to an operation signal supplied from the control unit 23. The control unit 23 is a central processing unit that controls each unit based on a microprogram stored in the ROM 24 in advance and performs various processes. The RAM 25 is a memory for storing various data, and will be described later in detail with reference to FIG.

The display drive section 26 outputs a display drive signal based on the display data output from the control section 23 to the display section 27 to drive the display section 27 for display. The display unit 27 is composed of, for example, a liquid crystal display element and displays the current time, various kinds of received data, and the like. The key input unit 28 includes various keys, and outputs a key input signal corresponding to the key operation to the control unit 23.

The alarm section 29 generates an alarm sound based on the alarm signal output from the control section 23. Oscillation circuit 30
Oscillates a clock signal of a predetermined frequency and inputs the clock signal to the frequency dividing / timing circuit 31. The frequency division / timing circuit 31 divides the frequency of the clock signal input from the oscillation circuit 30, generates various timing signals such as a clock signal, and supplies the generated signals to the control unit 23.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a memory configuration of the RAM 25 in FIG. In the figure, a display register is a register for storing display data displayed on the display unit 27, and a mode register M is a register for storing mode data. In this case, when “M = 0”, the time display mode is set, and when “M = 1”, the distance measurement mode is set.
When "M = 2" is a heart rate measurement mode, Ru Oh in the distance + heart rate measurement mode when the "M = 3". The clock register is a register for storing current time data sequentially updated by the clock processing. The stride register is a register that stores stride data of the subject. The step number register is a register for counting step number data during exercise. The distance register is a register that stores the distance data obtained by the calculation of “step length × number of steps”. Register T is a register for measuring the period of the heart rate signal. The register P is a register for counting the number of pulses of the electromagnetic induction signal. Heart rate register is a register for storing heart rate data calculated.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the step count signal transmitter.

In step A1, it is determined whether there is a step number signal, that is, whether the vibration sensor 14 has output a step number signal. If it is determined in step A1 that there is a step count signal, the process proceeds to step A2, and if there is no step count signal, the process of FIG. 7 ends.

If there is a step count signal, the process proceeds from step A1 to step A2. In step A2, it is determined whether or not there is reception, that is, whether or not an electromagnetic induction signal from the heartbeat signal transmitter 4 has been received. If YES is determined in step A2, the process proceeds to step A3, and if NO, the process proceeds to step A4.

If it is determined in step A2 that there is reception, it indicates that the heartbeat signal transmitter 4 is transmitting an electromagnetic induction signal. Therefore, in order to prevent simultaneous transmission of the electromagnetic induction signal from the heartbeat signal transmitter 4 and the step count signal transmitter,
The process proceeds to step A3 and waits for transmission for a predetermined time, for example, 5 msec (millisecond). After elapse of 5 msec, the process returns to step A2. Hereinafter, steps A2 and A3 are executed until the determination in step A2 is NO. Then, the transmission of the heartbeat signal transmitter 4 ends, and if NO is determined in step A2, the process proceeds to step A4.

In step A4, a step count signal is transmitted. That is, the control unit 10 drives the transmission circuit 16 and transmits the step number signal based on the electromagnetic induction signal from the coil 17.

In the following step A5, the heartbeat signal transmitter 4
It is determined whether or not a heartbeat signal has been received. If YES in step A5, the process proceeds to step A6, and if NO, the process in FIG. 7 ends.

When the heart rate signal is received after the transmission of the step number signal, the currently transmitted step number signal overlaps the heart rate signal and is not recognized by the wristwatch as described later and becomes invalid. Therefore, the process proceeds from step A5 to step A6, waits for transmission of the step count signal for 5 msec, and transmits the step count signal again in step A7. As a result, the step count signal is determined by the wristwatch following the heartbeat signal. After execution of step A7, the processing in FIG. 7 ends.

As described above, the step count signal transmitter detects the transmission of the heart rate signal transmitter 4, waits for the transmission of the step count signal during transmission of the heart rate signal, and gives priority to the heart rate signal over the step count signal.

Next, the operation of the wristwatch will be described with reference to FIG. In a wristwatch, a heartbeat signal and a step count signal are determined based on the number of pulses of the electromagnetic induction signal.

In step B1, it is determined whether or not there is reception, that is, whether or not the reception circuit 21 has received an electromagnetic induction signal. If YES is determined in step B1, the process proceeds to step B2. If NO is determined in step B1, the process proceeds to step B7, in which the content of the register T is incremented by 1 to measure the cycle of the heartbeat signal.

If there is a reception, the process proceeds from step B1 to step B2. In step B2, the number of pulses of the received electromagnetic induction signal is counted and stored in the register P. In the next step B3, it is determined whether or not "P≥7", that is, whether or not the number of pulses of the electromagnetic induction signal stored in the register P is "7" or more.

When the number of pulses is "7" or more, the received electromagnetic induction signal is a heartbeat signal, or a heartbeat signal and a step number signal are received consecutively or partially overlapped. Is determined to be a heartbeat signal, that is, the step number signal is ignored, and the process proceeds to step B4. In step B4, heart rate calculation processing is performed. That is, the time since the last heartbeat signal is heart rate processing to the current heart beat signal, that is, the period of the heartbeat signal is measured by the register T, calculates the heart rate data based on the measured time. After the operation, the register T is cleared. Computed heart beat data while being stored in the heart rate register of RAM 25, and displayed on the display unit 27. In step B4, the contents of the register T are cleared, and a new cycle is measured. After the execution of step B4, the process of FIG. 8 ends.

On the other hand, if NO is determined in step B3, that is, if the number of pulses is equal to or less than "6", the process proceeds to step B5. In step B5, it is determined whether or not “3 ≦ P ≦ 5”, that is, whether or not the number of pulses of the electromagnetic induction signal stored in the register P is equal to or more than “3” and equal to or less than “5”. In this case, the reason why P = 4 is not set is that detection can be performed even if the number of waveforms increases or decreases by one due to noise or the like. If YES is determined in step B5, the received electromagnetic induction signal is determined to be a step count signal, and the process proceeds to step B6. If NO in step B5, the received signal is regarded as a signal such as noise and is invalidated, and the processing in FIG. 8 ends.

In step B6, the content of the step count register is incremented by one, the step count data is counted, and the counted step count data is displayed on the display unit 27. After the execution of step B6, the processing in FIG. 8 ends.

In the above embodiment, an example is shown in which the receiver is applied to a wristwatch. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and another electronic device may be used as the receiver. The data to be transmitted is not limited to a heartbeat signal or a step count signal. Further, the number of transmitters may be three or more, and in that case, priority may be given to each transmitter.

[0029]

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a communication system capable of receiving signals of the same frequency transmitted from the first and second transmitters without interference by one receiver.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a shirt 1. FIG.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of the heartbeat signal transmitter.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a circuit configuration of a step count signal transmitter.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of the wristwatch.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a memory configuration.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an output state of each signal.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Shirt 2 ... Shirt main body 3a, 3b ... Electrode 4 ... Heart rate signal transmitter 5 ... Detection circuit 6 ... Transmission circuit 7 ... Coil 10 ... Control unit 12 ... Reception circuit 13 ... Coil 14 ... Vibration sensor 15 ... Detection circuit 16 ... Transmission circuit 17 ... Coil 20 ... Coil 21 ... Reception circuit 22 ... Waveform shaping circuit 23 ... Control unit 27 ... Display unit

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A first pulse number and a second pulse number different from each other.
The first and second transmitting each signal of the same frequency intermittently
From the first and second transmitters and from the first and second transmitters.
I and a single receiver for receiving transmitted signals, respectively
And the receiver has the number of pulses of the received signal equal to the first number.
If the number of pulses is equal to or greater than the number of pulses,
Receiving as a signal from the first transmitter , the second transmitter includes receiving means, and transmits a signal of a second pulse number from the first transmitter when transmitting a signal of a second pulse number. Upon receiving the signal, a constant
Wait for the time to complete the transmission from the first transmitter
Communication, characterized in that so as to transmit the al again signals
system.