Heart pulse detector with speed control for treadmill
The present invention offers a heart pulse detector. Two pairs of contact electrodes mounted on each handrail of treadmill separately. A electrocardiography heart pulse detector built in the control panel of the treadmill has input terminal which electrically connected to the contact electrodes. A front end circuit within the heart pulse detector receives the electrical cardio signals of a user from the input terminal and preprocesses the electrical cardio signals for later processing by the reminder functional blocks of the heart pulse detector. A hand touching detection circuit assembly in the heart pulse detector is also connected to the input terminal. The hand touching detection circuit sense the signals from the input terminal and send out hand on/off data for using to control the speed of the treadmill and to control the operation of the heart pulse detection.
Latest Holylite Microelectronics Corp. Patents:
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heart pulse detector, and more particularly to a heart pulse detector which detects a user's heart pulse signal as well as the touching action style of the user's hands via the same contact electrodes and outputs heart pulse data and hand touch signals for controlling the speed of a treadmill accordingly.
2. Description of the Related Art
For electrical treadmill with electrocardiography heart pulse monitor needs contact electrodes which are usually mounted on the handrails of treadmill to derive the electrical cardio signals from the user when the hands of the user grasp or touch on the electrodes. In some cases, there may be circuits in the heart pulse monitor to sense the presence of the user's hands contacting with the electrodes and then to control the operation of functions of heart pulse monitor itself only.
For conventional electrical treadmill, there should have an extra apparatus to provide a user input means for user to input the commands to control the speed of the treadmill when the user is running or walking on it. There are varieties of user input apparatus for using to control the speed of a treadmill. For example, keypad or key switches are commonly user input apparatus for speed control of a treadmill. The technology is used in U.S. Pat. No. 6,830,541, to Wu, the system uses this technology consists of at least a movable switch mounted on an arm of the main flame and includes a holder secured on the arm. Some other examples are using different kind of sensors such as contact switch to sense the touching of user and control the speed of a treadmill. For example, the U.S. Pat. No. 6,761,688, to Chang, the system use one contact switch mounted on a corresponding one of the arms of the treadmill to cause an analog signal to control the speed. Some other sensors are using photoelectric device to sense the motion of hands of a user or the position of a user and generate commands to control the speed of treadmill. For example, the U.S. Pat. No. 6,135,924, to Gibbs, et al, the system use an optical sensor monitors the position of a user on the treadmill and automatically varies the speed of the treadmill. Some other sensors are using ultrasonic device to sense the motion of hands of user or the position of user and generate commands to control the speed of a treadmill. For example, the U.S. Pat. No. 6,719,668, to Huang, the system use two ultrasonic transmitter receiver units respectively installed in the upright support of the house flame at two sides. Another example is the U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,532, to Farnet, the system use sensors located below an upper run of the belt for sensing the position of a user, and a controller for controlling the speed of the belt in accordance with the position of the user relative to the sensors, causing the belt to accelerate, decelerate.
All extra apparatus mentioned above for speed control of treadmill increase the complexity of manufacture and then increase the cost of treadmill.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTIONIt is therefore an object of the invention to provide a heart pulse detector which detects a user's heart pulse signal as well as the touching action style of the user's hands via the same contact electrodes and outputs heart pulse data and hand touch signals for controlling the speed of a treadmill accordingly, thus simplify the manufacture of treadmill and save the cost of treadmill.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTIONA first aspect of the present invention teaches a heart pulse detector used in a treadmill that including a base frame, a motor driven tread belt, a rightup frame with a left handrail and a right handrail, a control panel, the heart pulse detector including: A plurality of sensor on the left handrail and the right handrail for obtaining electro cardio signal from the user; An instrument amplifier for amplifying the electro cardio signal; A common circuit for providing a common reference voltage to the instrument amplifier; A heart pulse detector for detecting a heart pulse signal in response to the amplified electro cardio signal from the output of the instrument amplifier and for producing a digital pulse that is synchrony with the heart pulse signal and is transmitted to the microprocessor in the control panel for calculating the heart pulse rate of the user; A plurality of sensor comprising a first pair of contact electrodes and a second pair of contact electrodes; The first pair of contact electrodes comprising a first contact electrode and a second electrode mounted on the left handrail of the treadmill separately; The second pair of contact electrodes comprising a third contact electrode and a fourth electrode mounted on the right handrail of the treadmill separately; The first contact electrode and the third contact electrode being connected to the inputs of the instrument amplifier; The second contact electrode and the fourth electrode being connected to the output of the common circuit; A hand touch detection circuit for receiving the signals from the first contact electrode and the third contact electrode and for producing a plurality of hand touch signal to indicate whether the first pair of contact electrodes and/or the second pair of contact electrodes are touching with the hand of the user; A plurality of hand touch signal will be transmitted to the microprocessor in the control panel for performing the speed control of the treadmill; The common circuit will output a high level voltage when a plurality of hand touch signal indicate that the first pair of contact electrodes and second pair of contact electrodes are not touching with the hand of the user.
Another preferred embodiment of the present invention teaches a hand touch detection circuit consist a data encoder for converting a plurality of hand touch signal into a formatted serial data signal for transmitting to the microprocessor in the control panel for performing the speed control of the treadmill.
The hand touch detection circuit further consists: A first inverter for responding to the signal at the first contact electrode and providing a first left input signal; A first comparator for responding to the signal at the first contact electrode and providing a second left input signal; A second inverter for responding to the signal at the third contact electrode and providing a first right input signal; A second comparator for responding to the signal at the third contact electrode and providing a second right input signal; A circuit for providing reference voltage to the positive input of the first comparator and the positive input of the second comparator; A processor for responding to the first left input signal, the second left input signal, the first right input signal, the second right input signal and providing a first hand touch signal to indicate whether only the first pair of contact electrodes are touching with the hand of the user and providing a second first hand touch signal to indicate whether only the second pair of contact electrodes are touching with the hand of the user and providing a third hand touch signal to indicate whether the first pair of contact electrodes and second pair of contact electrodes are touching with both hands of the user at the same time.
The foregoing and other advantages of the invention will be more fully understood with reference to the description of the best embodiment and the drawing wherein:
The foregoing and other advantages of the invention will be more fully understood with reference to the description of the best embodiment and the drawing as the following description.
The preferred embodiment of present invention is illustrated in
As shown in
Referring to
The contact electrode 11 and the contact electrode 14 are electrically connected together to terminal 21 which is connected to the output of the common driver 32 and also is connected to the common input of the instrument amplifier 33. The contact electrode 12 is electrically connected to terminal 22 which is connected to one of the inputs of the instrument amplifier 33 and also is connected to one of the inputs of the hand touch detector 31. The contact electrode 13 is electrically connected to a terminal 23 which is connected to other input of the instrument amplifier 33 and is also connected to the other input of the hand touch detector 31.
The detail circuits of the hand touch detector 31 are shown in
As shown in
As shown in
At the start of the heart pulse detector circuitry 10 after power on or function is enable, all the state of terminals 94, 95, 96 are set to off (logic low). So the state of terminal 24 is at logic low and the common driver 32 outputs a high level voltage to terminal 21.
When all the contact electrodes 11, 12, 13, 14 are not touched by user's hand, then the signals at terminals 22, 23 are both at low voltage level. The states of terminal 72, 73 are both at logic high, thus there is no state changed at terminals 94, 95, 96.
When the contact electrodes 11, 12 are touched by a user's hand, then a high level voltage is conducted to terminal 22 from terminal 21 through contact electrodes 11, 12 and the user's hand. The state of terminal 72 is then changed to logic low and timer 92 is started by events detector 91. As the user's hand keep in touch with contact electrodes 11, 12 for period larger than a timing T2 (for example, 100 msec), then the state of terminal 95 is set to logic high and a “LEFT HAND ON” signal is sent out to terminal 25. When the user's hand moves out the contact electrodes 11, 12, then signal on terminal 22 goes down to low voltage and the state of terminal 72 comes back to logic high. Timer 92 will be started again by events detector 91. After a timing T3 (for example, 100 msec) has been passed, the state of terminal 95 is set to logic low and a “LEFT HAND OFF” signal is sent out to terminal 25.
When the contact electrodes 13, 14 are touched by the user's hand, then a high level voltage is conducted to terminal 23 from terminal 21 through contact electrodes 13, 14 and the user's hand. The state of terminal 73 is then changed to logic low and the timer 92 is started by the events detector 91. As the user's hand keep in touch with the contact electrodes 13, 14 for a period larger than a timing T2 (for example, 100 msec), then the state of terminal 96 is set to logic high and a “RIGHT HAND ON” signal is sent out to terminal 25. When the other user's hand touch on the contact electrodes 11, 12 following, the state of terminal 72 now is changed to logic low, then the events detector 91 set the timer 92 start. As this state continue for a timing T1 (for example, 200 msec), the state of terminal 96 is set to logic low and a “RIGHT HAND OFF” signal is sent out to terminal 25. Following, then both the state of terminals 94, 24 are set to logic high and a “BOTH HAND ON” signal is sent out to terminal 25.
Referring to
Referring to
When the user release one hand or both hands from the contact electrodes 11, 12 or/and the contact electrodes 13, 14 for a period longer than timing T4 (for example, 200 msec.), both the state of terminals 94, 24 are set to logic high and a “BOTH HAND OFF” signal is sent out to terminal 25. Then the function of heart pulse detection is turn off and the microprocessor 52 will stop the calculation of heart pulse rate of the user. As one of the user's hand continuing touches on the contact electrodes 11, 12 or the contact electrodes 13, 14, the state of terminal 95 or terminal 96 is not changed and no more data of events of hand touch will be sent out to terminal 25. Only when both of the user's hands are moved out from the contact electrodes 11, 12, 13, 14, the events detector 91 will go back to its initial state.
The heart pulse detector of the present invention can be used as a user input apparatus to control the speed of treadmill. It is also can be used as a user input device to change the operation mode of treadmill or to control incline angle of treadmill.
Although specific embodiments of the invention have been disclosed, it will be understood by those having skill in the art that minor changes can be made to the form and details of the specific embodiments disclosed herein, without departing from the scope of the invention. The embodiments presented above are for purposes of example only and are not to be taken to limit the scope of the appended claims.
Claims
1. A heart pulse detector used in a treadmill that including a base frame, a motor driven tread belt, a rightup frame with a left handrail and a right handrail, a control panel, the heart pulse detector comprising:
- a plurality of sensor on the left handrail and the right handrail for obtaining electro cardio signal from the user;
- an instrument amplifier for amplifying the electrocardio signal;
- a common driver for providing a common reference voltage to said instrument amplifier;
- a heart pulse detector for detecting a heart pulse signal in response to the amplified electro cardio signal from the output of said instrument amplifier and for producing a digital pulse that is synchrony with the heart pulse signal and is transmitted to the microprocessor in the control panel for calculating the heart pulse rate of the user;
- said plurality of sensor comprising a first pair of contact electrodes and a second pair of contact electrodes;
- said first pair of contact electrodes comprising a first contact electrode and a second electrode mounted on the left handrail of the treadmill separately;
- said second pair of contact electrodes comprising a third contact electrode and a fourth electrode mounted on the right handrail of the treadmill separately;
- said first contact electrode and said third contact electrode being connected to the inputs of said instrument amplifier;
- said second contact electrode and said fourth electrode being connected to the output of said common driver;
- a hand touch detection circuit for receiving the signals from said first contact electrode and said third contact electrode and for producing a plurality of hand touch signals to indicate whether said first pair of contact electrodes and/or said second pair of contact electrodes are touching with the hand of the user;
- said plurality of hand touch signal will be transmitted to the microprocessor in the control panel for performing the speed control of the treadmill;
- said common driver will output a high level voltage when said plurality of hand touch signal indicate that said first pair of contact electrodes and/or said second pair of contact electrodes are not touching with the hand of the user.
2. The heart pulse detector as recited in claim 1, wherein said hand touch detection circuit further comprises a data encoder for converting said plurality of hand touch signal into a formatted serial data signal for transmitting to the microprocessor in the control panel for performing the speed control of the treadmill.
3. The heart pulse detector as recited in claim 2, wherein said hand touch detection circuit further comprises:
- a first inverter for responding to the signal at said first contact electrode and providing a first left input signal;
- a first comparator for responding to the signal at said first contact electrode and providing a second left input signal;
- a second inverter for responding to the signal at said third contact electrode and providing a first right input signal;
- a second comparator for responding to the signal at said third contact electrode and providing a second right input signal;
- a circuit for providing reference voltage to the positive input of said first comparator and the positive input of said second comparator;
- a processor for responding to said first left input signal, said second left input signal, said first right input signal, and said second right input signal, and providing a first hand touch signal to indicate whether only said first pair of contact electrodes are touching with hand of the user and providing a second first hand touch signal to indicate whether only said second pair of contact electrodes are touching with hand of the user and providing a third hand touch signal to indicate whether said first pair of contact electrodes and second pair of contact electrodes are touching with hands of the user at the same time.
4. The heart pulse detector as recited in claim 3, wherein said processor further comprises a timer for generating a predetermined period of timing signal as a reference for processor itself.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 20, 2008
Publication Date: Sep 24, 2009
Applicant: Holylite Microelectronics Corp. (Hsinchu city)
Inventors: Shyuh Der Lin (Hsinchu city), Yu Tung Lin (Hsinchu city)
Application Number: 12/076,569
International Classification: A63B 24/00 (20060101);