Patent ID: 8406698

Claim:
A method for determining a velocity of an object, comprising: receiving an audio signal by at least one microphone operatively coupled to a mobile terminal, wherein the mobile terminal is attached to a wireless network; processing the received audio signal, wherein the processing of the audio signal comprises converting the audio signal to a series of digital audio samples each of which has a predetermined intensity value and duration, and conveying the series of digital audio samples to a velocity calculation unit; performing the following steps by the velocity calculation unit: determining a span length to be traversed by the object, wherein the span length extends from a span start to a span end; determining an approximate travel time for a traversal of the span length from the span start to the span end by the object, wherein the determination of the approximate travel time comprises: processing the series of digital audio samples and detecting a first shape and a second shape which respectively correspond to an approximate start time and approximate end time of the traversal; wherein the detection of the first shape and/or second shape comprises detecting a digital audio sample whose intensity exceeds a predetermined threshold or a group of consecutive digital audio samples wherein the group's last digital audio sample has an intensity which exceeds the intensity of the group's first digital audio sample by a predetermined margin; determining the approximate travel time by determining a combined duration of the digital audio samples between the detected first shape and second shape, wherein the determination of the approximate travel time comprises determining the number and duration of digital audio samples between the detected first shape and second shape; determining the velocity of the object based on the span length and approximate travel time; and conveying information on the velocity of the object from the velocity calculation unit to a user interface of the mobile terminal; and outputting the velocity of the object via the user interface of the mobile terminal.