JP7342189B2 - chair management system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a chair management system used in offices and the like.

In recent office work formats, a chair, along with a desk, has become indispensable for operating PCs and the like. At the same time, people are beginning to recognize the effects of sitting for long periods of time on work, such as the effects on health and reduced work efficiency.

Against this background, a new type of chair has recently been proposed that allows the user to move the seat back and forth, left and right, even while sitting. Chairs like this not only reduce the stress on the body caused by maintaining the same posture while working, leading to improved work efficiency through refreshment, but also from the perspective of maintaining and improving health. is expected.

WO2017-145271 publication

By the way, a chair like this is meaningless if it cannot perform its functions. For example, if the sitting posture does not change for a long time, or if the sitting posture is biased to one side due to poor sitting posture, the effectiveness of the so-called movable chair will be halved, and it may be difficult for the user to notice.

Therefore, in addition to providing a chair that allows users to move their bodies, it is believed that if there is a support system that visualizes the chair's movements and provides feedback to the user while having fun, the motivation of the user will be further increased. Conceivable.

However, although some conventional chairs detect the biological information and sitting state of the seated person and transmit the information to the outside, there has been no idea of acquiring and visualizing information about the movement of the chair.

Based on this new perspective, the present invention aims to provide a chair management system that is useful in promoting the use of this type of chair.

In order to achieve this object, the present invention takes the following measures.

That is, the chair management system according to the present invention manages the motion of a chair in which the seat is configured to be movable in the longitudinal or lateral direction with respect to the legs , and the chair management system manages the motion of the chair in which the seat is configured to be movable in the longitudinal or lateral direction with respect to the legs. The vehicle is characterized by comprising: an acceleration sensor that acquires a signal; and data processing means that determines that a period in which the acceleration sensor is outputting a signal is considered to be a seated state .

It is preferable that the data processing means counts the elapsed time since the acceleration sensor starts outputting the signal as the sitting time.

Preferably, the data processing means determines that the user is away from the seat when a predetermined period of time during which the output of the signal from the acceleration sensor is stopped has elapsed.

It is preferable that the data processing means determines that shaking occurs when the signal from the acceleration sensor satisfies a predetermined condition.

It is preferable that the acceleration sensor detects acceleration associated with multi-axis shaking along a plurality of different directions.

It is preferable that the apparatus further includes a direction sensor that detects the direction of the seat, and that the data processing means detects the position and direction of the seat by using both the acceleration sensor and the direction sensor.

It is desirable that the acceleration sensor is provided between the back and the seat.

It is preferable that the acceleration sensor is provided in a back mounting portion that is located between the back and the seat and is exposed in a recessed position from a surface that is in contact with the seated person.

It is desirable that a setting part for setting a smartphone having the function of an acceleration sensor is provided at a position where information regarding movement of the seat is detected.

According to the present invention described above, it is possible to provide a new and useful chair management system that can acquire information regarding the movement of the chair seat and provide it to the user as useful information. .

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a chair to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied. A diagram for explaining the movement of the seat in the front, back, left, and right directions among the movements of the chair. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the support structure of the co-seat. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing hardware resources of a management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The figure which shows the functional block of the data processing means which comprises the same management system. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a screen generated by the posture data generation section. A graph showing the relationship between displacement, speed, and acceleration related to the movement of the seat. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a screen on which current posture data generated by a posture data generation unit is displayed. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating how postures move on a screen on which current posture data generated by a posture data generation unit is displayed. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the relationship between current posture data and alerts generated by a posture data generation unit. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a screen on which posture history data generated by a posture data generation unit is displayed. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a screen on which posture history data generated by a posture data generation unit is displayed. The figure which shows the relationship between the acceleration of a chair reference, and the acceleration of an installation position reference. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a management system. The figure which shows a user's confirmation screen. The figure which shows the management screen of a server. The figure which shows the modification of this invention.

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

In the chair Cr to which the management system of the present embodiment is applied, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the seat 1, which is a movable part, is fixed to the leg 2, which is a non-movable part and serves as a reference point on the chair. It is configured to be movable in the front-back direction (±D direction) and the left-right direction (±W direction).

A management system MS constructed including information terminals Cm such as a personal computer, a tablet, and a smartphone transmits movement information INF and seating information SEF for the legs 2 of the seat 1 through sensors 41, 42, and 43 attached to the chair Cr. Based on the information INF and SEF, a motion data MD for visually grasping the motion of the seat 1, which is a movable part, is generated in the information terminal Cm, and a display means is generated based on the motion data MD. The information terminal Cm is configured to display the movement of the seat 1, which is a movable part, on the screen pn of the information terminal Cm.

In addition to the seat 1, the movable parts of the chair Cr include the back 5 and movable elbows (not shown), and the movements including the front and back or left and right directions include the rocking motion of the back 5 and the turning motion of the movable elbows. I can think of things. In this embodiment, the movement of the seat 1 is visualized, but the present invention can of course be applied to visualizing the movement of the back and movable elbows, which are movable parts other than the seat 1.

Hereinafter, to specifically explain this embodiment in which the seat 1 is a movable part, this chair Cr is mounted on a support base 3 provided on a leg 2 via a support mechanism 4, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3. The support mechanism 4 includes a left-right moving section 41 and a back-and-forth moving section 42. The illustrated support mechanism 4 has a support base 3 supporting a left-right moving part 41, a left-right moving part 41 supporting a back-and-forth moving part 42, and a seat 1 attached to the back-and-forth moving part 42. The support mechanism 4 as a whole allows the seat 1 to move in a combination of forward and backward movement and left and right movement, thereby realizing an operation of moving the seat 1 back and forth and left and right with respect to the legs 2.

In the illustrated example, the left-right moving part 41 is suspended and supported by the lower ends of a pair of links 41a, 41a, and the upper ends of both links 41a, 41a are attached to the support base 3, so that the left-right moving part 41 can be moved to either the left or right. Even if the moving tip side is tilted downward, the center of gravity is raised. Further, the front-rear moving part 42 has a front end supported by the left-right moving part 41 by a slide support formed by a guide hole 42b provided in the front-rear moving part 42 and a follower 41b provided in the left-right moving part 41, and a rear end thereof. The link 42c is suspended and supported by the lower end of the link 42c, and the upper end of the link 42c is attached to the left-right moving part 41. Even when the front-back moving part 42 moves forward or backward, the center of gravity is tilted downward while the moving end side is tilted downward. Constructed to lift. As a result, even if the sitting load applied to the seat 1 at the destination is removed, the chair can return to its standard positions in the front and back and left and right directions using its own weight.

As mentioned above, this chair moves not only in the front, rear, left, and right directions, but also in the up and down directions, but since the displacement in the up and down direction is small compared to the displacement in the front, back, left, and right directions, in this embodiment, the seat 1 The explanation will be given as a chair that moves back and forth or left and right. In FIG. 2, the symbol n indicates the center of the leg (reference position), and m indicates the center of gravity of the seat 2. In this embodiment, the back 5 is movable together with the seat 2, so when referring to the position of the center of gravity of the seat 2, the center of gravity of the back 5 that moves together with the seat 2 is also included.

Of course, even if the support base 3 supports the front-back moving part 42 first, the back-and-forth moving part 42 supports the left-right moving part 41, and the seat 1 is attached to the left-right moving part 41, the same front-back, left-right movement as described above can be achieved. operation can be realized. Furthermore, the support structure can be implemented in various combinations, such as whether it is a slide support mechanism or a link mechanism. Furthermore, chairs whose seat 1 and back 5 move only back and forth, but do not move left or right, are of course included in the chairs that move back and forth or left and right, to which the present invention is applied.

Returning to the illustrated chair Cr, the base end of the back 5 of the chair Cr is attached to an appropriate part such as the back and forth moving section 42, the left and right moving section 41, or the support base 3 via the back attachment section 51, A part of the back attachment portion 51 is exposed at a position recessed from the surface that is between the seat 1 and the seat 1 and is in contact with the seated person. Therefore, in this embodiment, in order to configure the management system MS, a sensor box 6 having sensors 61 and 62 is arranged in the back mounting part 51, a seating sensor 63 is arranged inside the seat 1, and these sensors The signals detected at 61, 62, and 63 are transferred to the data processing means 8 via the transmitting/receiving sections 71 and 72 shown in FIG. 4, and the data processing means 8 generates visible operation data for use by the user. It is configured as follows. The transmitting/receiving units 71 and 72 are based on Bluetooth or other appropriate short-range wireless communication standards.
Note that it is also possible to adopt a method of estimating the sitting time without using a seating sensor. This will be discussed later.

In addition to the above-mentioned mounting positions, the sensors 61 and 62 may be mounted at any position that does not interfere with the user, such as the bottom surface of the seat 1 or the back surface of the back 5. However, for proper detection, it is desirable that the mounting positions of the sensors 61 and 62 be on the center line of the chair Cr in the left-right direction (W direction).

In this embodiment, the sensor 61 is an acceleration sensor that is one of motion sensors, and the sensor 62 is an azimuth sensor that senses geomagnetism and indicates the azimuth.

The acceleration sensor 61 is configured to detect acceleration in two axial directions, for example, and outputs two acceleration signals. In this embodiment, one axis is set to detect the front-rear direction (D direction) of the chair, and the other axis is set to detect the left-right direction (W direction) of the chair. Hereinafter, the accelerations detected by this will be α _D and α _w . That is, the accelerations α _D and α _w are accelerations on a coordinate system having two orthogonal axes, the front-rear direction and the left-right direction, when viewed from the chair reference.

Moreover, the orientation sensor 62 detects which direction the chair Cr is facing when attached to the chair Cr. In this embodiment, the explanation will be given assuming that the direction in which the front of the seat 1 faces with respect to the earth's magnetism N is outputted as an angle signal θ. That is, as shown in FIG. 6, if the front of the seat 1 faces north "N", θ=0, and if it faces east "E", θ=90°. It is configured to output a detected value θ in the range of 0° to 360°.

The seating sensor 63 shown in FIGS. 1 and 4 is a limit switch embedded in the underside of the seat 1. When the user sits down, a pressing part (not shown) is pressed to turn on, and when the user leaves the seat, the pressing part is returned by a spring. It is a weight-sensing type that turns off when it is turned off. This signal is transmitted to the data processing means 8 side, and the sitting time is managed in the data processing means 8 side. The estimation method when the seating sensor 63 is not used is to consider the period when the acceleration sensor 61 is outputting a signal as being in a seated state, and determine that the person is not seated when the output stops and a predetermined period of time (for example, 3 minutes) has elapsed. .

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, the data processing means 8 includes hardware resources such as a CPU 8a, a memory 8b, an interface (I/F) 8c, a screen (DP) 8d serving as a display means, and an input device (ENT) 8e. It is composed of an information terminal Cm, such as a personal computer, a smartphone, or a tablet, equipped with a computer. A chair management program Pr according to this embodiment is written in advance in the memory 8b. This management program Pr is called and executed by the CPU 8a, thereby controlling the information terminal Cm as a posture determining section 81, a posture data generating section 82, a calorie consumption calculating section 83, a sitting time calculating section 84, etc. shown in FIG. Make it work.

"Posture" here refers to the posture of seat 1 when leg 2 is the reference, such as "forward leaning posture", "backwards leaning posture", "leftward leaning posture", "rightward leaning posture", etc. In addition to ``posture'', it includes ``posture history'' such as ``sway'' and ``trajectory of movement,'' which are changes in posture over time. The main function of the management program Pr is to determine these postures and display them on the screen. For example, in FIG. 8, it is displayed that the chair Cr is tilted to the right through the object MO representing the seated person, and in FIG. 9, the movement of the chair Cr is displayed through the object MO representing the seated person. 11, the history of the shaking of the chair Cr is displayed through an object MO indicating a seated person. These will be described later.

This is not limited to za 1. Even if the movable part is a movable elbow (not shown), there are some that are configured to move approximately horizontally in front, back, right and left, or to rotate and move towards the user's chest. In such a device, the posture and change in posture of the movable elbow in the front-rear or left-right direction can be managed by the management system and management program of the present invention, as described above. In addition, when the movable part is the back, there are some devices in which the back is supported so as to be tiltable backwards with respect to the seat, and furthermore, the back and the seat are linked to perform a synchronized rocking motion. In such a device, the angle of the backward tilt direction and the change in the angle can be handled by the management system and the management program of the present invention as a posture or change in posture in the front-rear or left-right direction of the back, which is a movable part.

Hereinafter, returning to this embodiment in which the movable part is the seat 1, each function of the data processing means 8 will be explained.

The posture determining section 81 shown in FIG. 8 includes a position determining section 81a that determines the position of the seat 1 in the longitudinal or horizontal direction, a position change determining section 81b that determines a change in the position, and a position change determining section 81b that determines the shaking of the seat 1 in the longitudinal or horizontal direction. It includes a sway determining section 81c. In addition, the posture data generation unit 82 generates current posture data (real-time posture data) 82a, which is data regarding the current position of the seat 1, posture history data 82b, which is a history thereof, and rocking frequency data 82c, as motion data.

The posture determining section 81 performs calibration at the start of use in order to make the position determining section 81a and the position change determining section 81b function.

In the calibration, as shown in FIG. 6(b), when sitting, for example, place the chair Cr directly facing the desk Dk, and move the center m of the seat 1 shown in FIGS. This is executed by the user operating the execution button on the information terminal Cm while the information terminal Cm is positioned at the center position n, that is, the reference position where it returns under its own weight. This allows you to determine the front-rear position and left-right position of the seat when viewed from the chair standard.
(D, W) = (0, 0)
, and associate the direction of the chair Cr with the direction of the earth's magnetic field. For example, if calibration is performed when the front direction of the chair (direction D) is deviated by an angle θ ₀ with respect to the N direction of the earth's magnetic field, the position where θ (=θ ₀ ) is detected will be changed to (D, W)=(0,0). Then, if the chair rotates by δθ after that, the detected value θ of the direction sensor 62 corresponds to θ ₀ + δθ, so the rotational phase angle δθ of the seat 1 on the relative coordinates with respect to the desk DK at this time is θ - θ Calculated as ₀ .

Figure 11 shows a state in which the chair Cr is rotated by δθ in the negative direction through the user's object MO, and the DW coordinates of the front, rear, left, and right sides when viewed from the chair reference are rotated by the same angle with respect to the XY coordinates of the installation location. ing. When the seat 1 moves or swings back and forth and left and right in this state, the display of the object MO moves in the D direction and/or the W direction from the illustrated position.

The algorithm for detecting the movement of the chair 1 will be briefly described below.
If the seat 1 does not rotate, the XY coordinates of the seat 1 based on the installation location match the DW coordinates based on the chair as shown in FIG. 13(a), and the acceleration (αx, αy ) is equal to the acceleration (α _W , α _D ) on the DW coordinate. That is,
αx=α _W
αy=α _D
It is.

However, as shown in FIG. 13(b), the seat 1 rotates, and at the rotated position, it also moves forward, backward, left, and right on the DW coordinates based on the chair.

Therefore, the position change determination unit 81b shown in FIG. 5(a) uses the data (α _D , α _W ) of the biaxial acceleration sensor 61 and the output θ of the azimuth sensor 62 shown in FIG. 6(b). , the acceleration (αx, αy) on the installation location reference coordinates (X, Y) is determined as follows. fx and fy are general coordinate transformation functions.
αx=fx(α _D , α _W , δθ)
αy=fy (α _D , α _W , δθ)

The position determining unit 81a shown in FIG. 5(a) integrates the acceleration (α _x , α _y ) handled by the position change determining unit 81 b for each axis, thereby determining the constantly changing current speed (dx/dt, dy/ dt) and the coordinates (X, Y) of the current position of the destination moved from the initial position, for example, using the following equation.
(dx/dt, dy/dt) = (∫α _x dt, ∫α _y dt)
(X, Y) = (∬α _x d ² t, ∬α _y d ² t)

As a result, no matter which direction the chair Cr is facing, and no matter how the seat 1 moves (tilts) forward, backward, left, or right based on the chair, the current position of the seat 1 on the XY coordinates based on the installation location is maintained. It is possible to track the current posture, such as its orientation, or its changes over time. Of course, these methods of calculating the current speed and current position are merely examples. For this reason, it is necessary to use various approximation formulas, timely corrections, and even use completely different calculation methods that are generally known to calculate the current posture, taking into account the characteristics of the sensor, the sampling period, or the state of error accumulation. Needless to say, it is possible to calculate the change in time.

The sway determination unit 81c shown in FIG. 5A takes in data (α _D , α _W ) from the acceleration sensor 61, and determines that the seat 1 is “swaying” if the data satisfies a predetermined condition. Since swaying does not depend on which direction the chair is facing, if there is data from the acceleration sensor 61 (α _D , α _W ) when determining swaying, it is used as XY coordinate system data based on the installation location. It is not necessarily necessary to convert.

Normally, when the chair Cr is swung like a pendulum, waves representing displacement-velocity-acceleration appear periodically out of phase, as shown in FIG. For example, if the front of the seat has a + displacement, the displacement swings to the maximum positive at the front end (times t1, t5) and to the maximum negative swing at the rear end (time t3). The speed becomes 0 at the front end (times t1, t5) and the rear end (time t3), and takes a negative maximum value and a positive maximum value during the retreat or forward movement (times t2, t4). The acceleration becomes 0 when the speed changes, that is, when the seat 1 passes the center of the leg 2, that is, the reference position (times t2 and t4), and becomes negative at the front and rear ends where the direction of movement changes before and after stopping. or the maximum positive value (times t1, t3, t5). Therefore, if you think about it simply, the appearance of two zero-crossing points where the polarity of the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor 61 is switched can be counted as one reciprocating shake of the seat 1.

However, even if the same seat 1 is shaken, if the seat 1 is moved slowly, the acceleration will be close to 0, that is, uniform motion, and it cannot be called "swinging." In order to judge it as a "shaking," it is necessary for the stored energy due to gravity or a spring, etc., and kinetic energy to alternate, like a pendulum.To do this, in addition to reversing the sign of the acceleration, the maximum acceleration must be at least to some extent effective. It is necessary that the value has a certain character. Therefore, it is necessary to set a threshold value for the absolute value of the detected acceleration, and that it exceeds the threshold value as a requirement for determining "shaking."

Furthermore, the movements of the seated person using seat 1 of chair Cr include swinging in the front-back direction (D direction) of the seat (corresponding to pitching), swinging in the left-right direction (W direction) (corresponding to rolling), and vertical axis. It consists of twisting rotation (equivalent to yawing), a combination of these, and a combination of movements unique to the chair Cr and movements characteristic of the user. Furthermore, the movable range of the seat 1 is wider in the front-rear direction than in the left-right direction, and in the front-back direction, the range of movement of the seat 1 is wider behind the reference position than in the front, which is a characteristic characteristic of the chair. As described above, the expected nature, magnitude, and characteristics of shaking vary in the front, back, left, and right direction, as well as in the torsional direction.

In order to capture _such various movements, the sway determination unit 81c _shown in FIG. In this way, conditions such as polarity and threshold values necessary for determining ``shaking'' from both waveforms are determined.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 5(b), the shaking determination unit 81c patterns the magnitude and direction of the acceleration of the seat 1, the rotation of the seat 1, the movement trajectory, etc. for each characteristic movement of the seat 1 in advance. These sway reference data ref are stored as sway reference data ref, and the acceleration data α _D , α _W of seat 1 and the azimuth data θ of the seat that are actually detected as movement information inf are used by pattern matching, etc. By comparing the methods, the closest motion pattern is extracted, and based on the preset shaking conditions for each motion pattern, it is determined whether or not it is a "shaking" from the actual data, and data on the number of shaking is generated. It may be configured to do so.

The posture data generating section 82 shown in FIG. 5 generates current posture data 82a for displaying the current position calculated by the position determining section 81a of the posture determining section 81 on the XY coordinates. FIG. 6A shows the current posture data 82a displayed in the posture display field F0 on the screen Dp of the information terminal Cm, which is a display means. This posture display field F0 is obtained by superimposing the chair reference coordinates (D, W) on the installation reference coordinates (X, Y), and is made up of a circle representing the seated person's head and a triangle representing the seated person's nose. An object MO representing a seated person is displayed, and the position and orientation of the seat 1, which is a movable part, is represented through this object MO. When seat 1 rotates, the dynamic object on the screen also rotates, as shown in Figure 11, and when seat 1 moves horizontally, forward, backward, left, and right, the dynamic object on the screen also moves forward, backward, left, and right, as shown in Figure 8. I have already mentioned that.

In addition to the posture display field F0, this screen Dp includes an alert display field F1, a seating time display field F2, a swing count display field F3, and a consumed Cal field F4. These fields F1 to F4 include current posture data 82a, posture history data 82b, and swaying frequency data 82c, which will be described later regarding the posture data generation section 82, as well as the consumption Cal calculated by the consumption Cal calculation section and the sitting time calculation section 84. The calculated sitting time will be displayed. This will be explained below.

The alert display is made to let the user know whether the posture is good or bad. To display this alert, the posture data generation unit 82 is set to classify the position of seat 1 on the DW coordinate into 16 categories as shown in FIG. For example, an alert message is taken out from an alert message column prepared in advance in the right column of FIG. 10, and is configured to display that the center of gravity of the seat 1 is slightly tilted to the right. Incidentally, in the state shown in Fig. 9, the center of gravity of seat 1 corresponds to category 6 above, so "It is leaning slightly to the right" is displayed in the alert display field F1, and in the state of Fig. 11, the center of gravity of seat 1 corresponds to the above category 6. Since this falls under category 1, "balance is good" is displayed in the alert display field F1.

The posture data generation unit 82 also generates posture history data 82b. This posture history data 82b captures the position of the seat 1 on the absolute coordinates (X, Y) determined by the position determining section 81a of the posture determining section 81 as one piece of log information at every predetermined sampling period Δt. , is what I remembered. Then, the posture history data 82b is displayed in the posture display field F0 on the screen Dp, which is the display means, as shown in FIG. In FIG. 11, the elapsed time (9 seconds) after the start of sitting is displayed in the seating time display field F2, and the posture history data 82b is plotted as the posture history during this period in the posture display field F0.

The sitting time calculation unit 84 of the data processing unit 8 counts the sitting time. This sitting time calculation unit is configured such that when the aforementioned seating sensor 63 is turned ON, a timer is activated to count the elapsed time from the start of sitting, and when it is turned OFF, the counting is stopped, and the counted seating time is This is displayed in the seating time display field F2 in FIG. 11. If the seating sensor 63 is not used, the elapsed time from when the acceleration sensor 61 starts outputting the signal is counted.

In addition to being based on log information at regular intervals as described above, the posture history can also be calculated by plotting the peak-to-peak sway position with the largest amplitude as a point and connecting the points with a line. The posture history can also be displayed as shown in FIG.

In addition, when the shaking determining unit 81c determines that the shaking is "shaking," the posture data generation unit 82 shown in FIG. Displays the number of shakes. In FIG. 11, it is displayed that the vehicle shook 21 times in 9 seconds.

Further, the posture data generation unit 82 shown in FIG. 5 generates analysis data of the seating position as one of the posture history data 82b. This analysis data is obtained by calculating the ratio of where users often move Seat 1 within a predetermined time for each category of Seat 1 shown in Figure 10, and determining the ratio of their stay time. This analysis data is displayed in the attitude display field F0 as shown in FIG. In this case, it is displayed that 70% is in the center (section 1) and 25% is slightly behind (section 10). In addition, since the vehicle tends to be located a little behind, the alert display field F displays "Leaning a little behind".

Furthermore, the data processing means 8 shown in FIG. 5 includes a calorie consumption calculation section 83. It is known that calorie consumption can generally be measured through exhalation. Even with the same amount of exercise, the amount of calories burned varies depending on the speed and acceleration of moving a predetermined distance, and also depending on the body weight. Therefore, we conducted various tests on the relationship between the acceleration of the user while sitting on a chair Cr and rocking the seat at various accelerations, the user's weight, and the calories burned through exhalation. An arithmetic expression for calculating the calorie consumption by inputting is created in advance and stored in the memory 8b. Then, the consumed Cal calculation unit 83 calculates the consumed calories based on the pre-registered weight and the shaking number data 82c generated through the judgment of the shaking judgment unit 81c, and calculates the consumed calories in the consumed Cal display field F4 shown in FIG. 11 etc. The amount of Cal consumed after sitting is displayed. On this screen, it is displayed that the seat shakes 21 times during the 9 seconds of seating time, and the Cal consumed is 0.96.

This management system MS is also set to a mode that calls attention to excessive sitting, that is, prolonged state of not moving the body, based on the sitting time and the calorie value due to shaking. Specifically, for example, if you do not consume a predetermined number of calories (3 kcal) or more in a predetermined period of time (60 minutes), the text "You are sitting too much. Move your body to refresh yourself" will be displayed in the alert display field F or other areas. It is now displayed on the measurement display screen.

Further, in this management system MS, as shown in FIG. 14, operation data from the information terminals Cm1, Cm2, ... Cmj is sent to the server SV, and the server SV assigns chairs Cr1, Cr2, ..., Crk for each user ID. Manage usage status. To this end, when the application is started, a request is first made to pair the transmitting/receiving units 71 and 72 shown in FIG. It is configured to be sent to the server SV.

In the information terminal Cm, as shown in FIG. 15, a program that displays a list of the date, sitting time, number of times of shaking, consumed Cal, posture judgment, etc. is being executed at any time. Posture judgment is a column that displays the analysis results shown in FIG. 10 and the like. ``Play'' is a command for displaying the posture history in the posture display field F0 at any time. Users can use this screen to check their usage status at any time.

On the other hand, FIG. 16 is a management screen of the server SV, and a part of the management program Pr is also executed on the server SV from time to time. This management screen displays a list of ID, name, age, gender, occupation, sitting time, number of times of shaking, consumed Cal, posture judgment, etc. This management program Pr can be viewed upon request by an authorized person, and processing of the program and stored data is permitted. With this authority, it is also possible to set and use the server SV to display an alert on the information terminal Cm, for example, for a user whose number of shakes per unit time is less than a threshold value.

As described above, the chair management system MS according to the present embodiment manages the motion of the chair in which the seat 1, which is a movable part, is movable in the forward or left-right direction relative to the legs 2, which are non-movable parts. Sensors 61 and 62 that acquire movement information of the seat 1, and data processing means that generates motion data for visually understanding the movement of the seat 1 based on the movement information of the sensors 61 and 62. 8, and a screen Pn which is a display means for displaying the movement of the seat 1 based on the motion data generated by the data processing means 8.

With this configuration, the movement of the seat 1, which is a movable part, can be visualized and fed back to the user, allowing the user to learn how to use the chair and the sitting posture that they are normally unaware of. This provides an opportunity to reaffirm the importance of chair usage, which can increase motivation to use the chair and, in turn, promote the effective use of the chair.

In particular, in acquiring the movement information of seat 1, which is a movable part, (1) only the movement information of seat 1, which is a movable part, is acquired by a sensor, and the movement information of seat 1, which is a movable part, with respect to the ground is obtained through calculation processing. (2) A mode in which relative movement information of the movable part of the seat 1 to the non-movable part is obtained through calculation processing, and movement information of the non-movable part is predicted and subtracted by calculation; 3) A mode in which sensors are attached to both the movable part, the seat 1, and the non-movable part, for example, the leg 2, and subtraction is performed to obtain relative movement information of the movable part, the seat 1, with respect to the non-movable part, the leg 2. Contains.
Mode (3) has the highest accuracy, but requires many sensors. On the other hand, in this embodiment, since the aspect (1) is adopted, the number of sensors and calculation steps can be reduced and the objective can be achieved at low cost.

Furthermore, this management system MS includes an information terminal Cm that communicates with the sensors 61 and 62, and this information terminal Cm functions as a data processing means 8 and a screen Pn that is a display means. Due to the functional separation, it is sufficient to provide only the sensors 61 and 62 on the chair Cr side, which can lead to a reduction in the size and weight of the functional parts of the chair Cr.

Furthermore, it includes a server SV that communicates with the information terminal Cm, and this server SV stores at least the motion data transmitted from the information terminal Cm in association with the user of the chair. User status can be managed collectively and various collected data can be effectively used as big data.

Further, in this management system MS, the sensor includes an acceleration sensor 61. In this way, by employing at least the acceleration sensor 61, in addition to acceleration, velocity and position can also be determined by calculation, and since differentiation processing is not required, the calculation load is also reduced. Therefore, it is possible to accurately detect small vibrations that are difficult to detect with current GPS systems.

In this case, since the acceleration sensor 61 is configured to detect biaxial acceleration along a plurality of different directions, it is possible to accurately capture the planar movement of the movable part. Of course, if the number of axes is three or more, it is also possible to detect the movement of the movable part in three dimensions or in four or more dimensions.

Regarding this embodiment, since the sensor is configured by using both an acceleration sensor 61 and an orientation sensor 62, it is possible to appropriately display the position and orientation of the seat 1 in the orientation display field F0 as shown in FIG. I can do it.

In terms of content, the movement information of the seat 1, which is a movable part, is acceleration information in the front and back or left and right directions, and the data processing means 8 determines whether the movement of the seat 1 matches preset characteristics. If they match, it is counted as a sway to be extracted and the number of sways is generated as motion data, so it is possible to appropriately understand whether the function of the swaying chair is being used appropriately.

Further, the movement information of the seat 1 is acceleration information in the longitudinal or lateral direction, and the data processing means 8 compares the sway reference data ref regarding a plurality of behaviors stored in advance, and calculates the sway indicated by the nearest sway reference data ref. If it is determined that there is, even if the seat 1 makes complicated movements, it is possible to appropriately determine the sway.

Further, since the data processing means 8 is configured to calculate the calories consumed by the user based on the number of times of shaking, it can be used to educate people about doing light exercise using a shaking chair.

Further, the movement information of the seat 1, which is a movable part, is position information in the front-back or left-right direction, and the data processing means 8 generates data regarding the current position of the seat 1 as operation data, and the screen Dp, which is the display means, Since the seat is configured to display the position of the movable part relative to the non-movable part, it is possible to provide a useful function for the user to check his or her seating position.

In this case, the data processing means 8 is configured to concatenate data regarding the current position of the seat 1, which is a movable part, as operation data, and display the movement history of the seat 1 with respect to the non-movable part on a screen Dp, which is a display means. Therefore, it is possible to provide a useful function for users to check their own sitting history.

By creating a program that is read and executed by a computer and causes the computer to function as a data processing means in any of the management systems described above, this implementation can be implemented in both the information terminal Cm and the server SV. This makes it possible to effectively utilize the format management system MS.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the specific configuration of each part is not limited to only the embodiment described above.

Further, as shown in FIG. 17, it includes an information terminal Cm that communicates with the sensor 61 etc., and a server SV that communicates with this information terminal Cm, and this server SV serves as the data processing means 8. The management system may be constructed so that the information terminal Cm functions as the screen Dp serving as the display means.

Due to such functional separation, only the sensor 61 needs to be provided on the chair side, and the functional parts of the chair can be made smaller and lighter. Furthermore, since data processing is performed by the server SV, the server SV can collectively handle data processing from a plurality of information terminals Cm and can be used for central management. Accordingly, it is possible to distribute the load by giving each information terminal Cm only the role of display.

Of course, if the smartphone is equipped with the functions of an acceleration sensor and an orientation sensor, the smartphone itself may be set at an appropriate position on the chair to detect information regarding the movement of the movable part in the plane direction. In this way, as long as there is an information terminal, there is no need to use a separate sensor.

Of course, it is also possible to use a smartphone only as a sensor and use a PC, which is an information terminal, as a data processing means or display means.

Additionally, in each of the above configurations, the information terminal is configured to have a functional unit as a sensor, and a series of operational data acquired from the sensor functional unit is temporarily stored, processed, and displayed within the information terminal. Of course, the information terminal may be configured to have the means.

Furthermore, if the accuracy of GPS improves, it will become possible to detect the seating position, direction, history, etc. using only GPS instead of using a direction sensor or an acceleration sensor.

Other configurations can also be modified in various ways without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

1...Movable part (seat)
2...Non-movable part (leg)
8...Data processing means 61...Acceleration sensor 62...Direction sensor Cm...Information terminal INF...Movement information Pn...Display means (screen)
Pr...Management program ref...Reference data

Claims (9)

A chair that manages the motion of a chair in which the seat is configured to be movable back and forth or left and right relative to the legs ,
an acceleration sensor that obtains acceleration in the longitudinal or lateral direction of the seat ;
data processing means that considers a period in which the acceleration sensor is outputting a signal to be a sitting state;
A chair management system comprising: 2. The chair management system according to claim 1, wherein the data processing means counts the time elapsed since the acceleration sensor starts outputting the signal as the sitting time . 2. The chair management system according to claim 1, wherein the data processing means determines that the seat has left the seat when a predetermined time has elapsed during which the output of the signal from the acceleration sensor has stopped. 2. The chair management system according to claim 1 , wherein said data processing means determines that shaking occurs when a signal from said acceleration sensor satisfies a predetermined condition . The chair management system according to claim 1, wherein the acceleration sensor detects acceleration associated with multi-axis shaking along a plurality of different directions.
It is further equipped with an orientation sensor that detects the orientation of the seat.
2. The chair management system according to claim 1, wherein the data processing means detects the position and orientation of the seat by using both the acceleration sensor and the orientation sensor. The chair management system according to claim 1, wherein the acceleration sensor is provided between the back and the seat . 8. The chair management system according to claim 7, wherein the acceleration sensor is provided in a back attachment part that is between the back and the seat and is exposed in a recessed position from a surface that is in contact with the seated person. 2. The chair management system according to claim 1, wherein a setting section for setting a smartphone having the function of the acceleration sensor is provided at a position where information regarding movement of the seat is detected.

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