JPH02216011A - Walking location apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To inexpensively constitute an apparatus due to self-supporting navigation by detecting a walking distance by a pedometer circuit part and detecting a walking direction by an earth magnetism sensor. CONSTITUTION:The number of steps of a walking person are counted by a pedometer circuit part and an earth magnetism sensor circuit 2 consists of an earth magnetism sensor and a direction detecting circuit. At each time when the advance direction detected by the circuit part 2 changes, a memory circuit part 3 stores the advance direction before said change and the data of the number of steps up to that time. The average value of the steps of the walking person is preliminarily registered in a step register circuit part 5. Further, the distance and direction from the starting point to the present point are calculated from the number-of-step data and direction data from the circuit part 3 and the step data from the circuit part 5 by an operational processing part 4. By this method, an apparatus due to self-supporting navigation can be constituted inexpensively.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a walking location device,
It is used to know the distance and direction from the current walking position to the starting point.

[Prior Art] In recent years, car navigation systems have been attracting attention in the automobile field, and in these systems, a location system is an important technology for accurately knowing where the car is currently driving.

Currently, autonomous navigation and non-autonomous navigation are being considered as location systems. Non-independent navigation is a method of knowing the current location by receiving information from outside, and GPS
(G Iobal PositioniB S
systems), road-to-vehicle information systems, new automobile traffic information and communication systems, etc. are being considered. However, both require the development of a social environment and have the disadvantage of being relatively expensive.

On the other hand, autonomous navigation is a method that calculates the current position using only internal information.For example, the current driving position is calculated by detecting the distance traveled with a vehicle speed sensor and the driving direction with a geomagnetic sensor or gyro. . however,
Such self-contained navigation has the disadvantage of large cumulative errors, and methods such as map matching have been proposed to correct this problem, but at present they are still expensive systems.

[Problem to be solved by the invention] When applying and developing a location system for a car as described above to a walking location device for personal use, non-independent navigation is very expensive and is subject to constraints from the social environment. , autonomous navigation seems promising. This self-contained navigation method has the drawback of accumulating errors, as described above, but when walking, the distance traveled is much shorter than when driving a car, so errors are less likely to accumulate. Moreover, if the application is limited to walking, it is often effective even if there is some error. For example, after taking a walk in an unfamiliar area, such as a tourist spot, if one knows the direction and approximate distance from the starting point such as a station, it is easy to return to the starting point without getting lost. However, when walking, there is no effective means of detecting distance like the vehicle speed sensor in a car.

The present invention has been made in view of these points, and its purpose is to provide a step count I~ like a pedometer.
An object of the present invention is to provide a walking location device at low cost by using the device as a distance detection device.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, in the walking location device according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. ], a geomagnetic sensor circuit unit 2 that detects the direction of travel, a memory circuit unit 3 that stores data obtained from the step counting circuit unit 1 and the geomagnetic sensor circuit unit 2, and a memory circuit unit 3 that stores data obtained from the step counting circuit unit 1 and the geomagnetic sensor circuit unit 2, and calculates the distance to the starting point based on the data. It consists of an arithmetic processing circuit section 4 that calculates the direction, and a display circuit section 6 that displays the calculation results.

[Function] In the present invention, since the step counting circuit section 1 for counting the number of steps is provided in this way, the distance traveled by the pedestrian can be detected by the product of the pedestrian's stride length and the number of steps, and the distance traveled by the pedestrian can be detected by the product of the pedestrian's stride length and the number of steps. A walking location device using navigation can be constructed at low cost.

[Example] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention.

Reference numeral 1 has a step count circuit section, which is generally called a "pedometer" and counts the number of steps taken by a pedestrian. Since the configuration of this pedometer is well known, a detailed explanation of its internal configuration will be omitted.

Reference numeral 2 denotes a geomagnetic sensor circuit section, which includes a geomagnetic sensor and a direction detection circuit. FIG. 2(a) shows the structure of the geomagnetic sensor. The operating principle will be explained below. When a voltage is momentarily applied to the excitation coil CE, the same figure (b
), a magnetic field is generated within the toroidal core T. This magnetic field generates a voltage in the X coil Cx and Y coil CY in the figure, but if the magnetic field in the toroidal core T is uniform, the magnetic flux φ1
．． The voltage generated at φ2 and the magnetic flux φ3. The voltages generated at φ cancel each other out, and as a whole the coil CxC
The output voltage of Y becomes zero. Here, as shown by the broken line in the figure (d), considering the influence of the earth's magnetism, the magnetic fluxes φ1 to φ in the figure (e) become as shown in the figure (e), and the X coil Cx and The voltage generated in the Y coil CY becomes unbalanced, and a voltage corresponding to the direction of earth's magnetism can be detected. That is, the voltages generated in the X coil Cx and the Y coil CY differ depending on which direction the earth's magnetism is oriented. Therefore, we can know the direction of the earth's magnetism from this voltage difference,
This allows you to know the direction in which you are moving. The geomagnetic sensor circuit section 2 shown in FIG. 1 is composed of this geomagnetic sensor and a direction detection circuit that calculates the traveling direction from the voltage difference between the X coil Cx and the Y coil CY.

Reference numeral 3 denotes a memory circuit section, which stores data on the direction of travel before the change and the number of steps taken each time the direction of travel detected by the geomagnetic sensor circuit section 2 changes. In addition, 5
is a step length registration circuit section in which the average value of the pedestrian's step length is registered in advance.

4 is an arithmetic processing circuit section which calculates the distance and direction from the starting point to the current point based on the step count data and direction data from the memory circuit section 3 and the step length data from the step length registration circuit section 5. For example, as shown in Figure 3, the starting point is A, the point B is 500 steps north-northeast, the point C is 300 steps east, and the point D is 200 steps south. Here, if the step length is 1 m and the position of point D is determined by taking the north direction as the X component and the east direction as the X component as shown in the figure, then the X and X components at point D are
5in30°+300)+nYD-(500cos30
° 200) + n. Therefore, the distance from starting point A to current point is RAD"' D + VD"
Therefore, the angle between the line connecting the starting point A and the current point and the X axis is θ-jan-'(Yo/Xn>).

Next, 6 is a display circuit section, which displays the results (distance RAD and angle θ) processed by the arithmetic processing circuit section 4. Further, 7 is a display changeover switch for switching various displays. For example, the total number of steps, the direction and distance from the starting point to the current point, or the direction and distance from the current point to the starting point are displayed.

FIG. 4(a) is a perspective view showing the external appearance of this embodiment. In the figure, 61 is a direction display section, which here includes a plurality of LEDs.
is used. The display section 61a shows that one LED is lit to indicate the direction of the departure point.

62 is a distance display section, 50 is a stride length registration switch, 7 is a display changeover switch, and 8 is a start switch.

FIG. 4 (1) shows a person M walking with this walking location device S on. When using a geomagnetic sensor, the direction of movement cannot be determined unless the direction of movement of the person and the direction of the sensor are always the same, so arrow A1 should always be aligned with the direction of movement of the person. do. Further, when displaying the direction, arrow A2 shall be used in accordance with the direction of travel. The display changeover switch 7 allows the direction display section 61 and the distance display section 62 to display the direction and distance of the starting point as seen from the current point, or conversely the direction and distance of the current point as seen from the starting point, or simply the usual 10,000 steps. The total number of steps is displayed as a total.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, in the present invention, the walking distance is detected by the circuit section and the walking direction is detected by the geomagnetic sensor in the step count run 1, so that the location device for walking using self-contained navigation is inexpensive. The effect is that it can be realized.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 (,)
to (e) are diagrams explaining the principle of the geomagnetic sensor used in the above, FIG. 3 is a diagram explaining the operation of the arithmetic processing circuit used in the same,
FIG. 4(a) is a perspective view showing the appearance of the same as the above, and FIG. 4(b) is an explanatory view showing the state of use of the same. 1 is a step counting circuit section, 2 is a geomagnetic sensor circuit section,
3 is a memory circuit section, 4 is an arithmetic processing circuit section, 5 is a stride registration circuit section, and 6 is a display circuit section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A step count circuit unit that counts the number of steps, a geomagnetic sensor circuit unit that detects the direction of travel, a memory circuit unit that stores data obtained from the step count circuit unit and the geomagnetic sensor circuit unit, and a memory circuit unit that stores data obtained from the step count circuit unit and the geomagnetic sensor circuit unit, and A walking location device comprising an arithmetic processing circuit unit that calculates the distance and direction to a starting point, and a display circuit unit that displays the calculation results.