Electronic devices with pressure sensors for characterizing motion

• US 10,088,308 B2
• Filed: 09/09/2015
• Issued: 10/02/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Jackson, Stephen P., Pham, Hung A., Phan, Anh N., Ganguly, Shameek P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Huynh, Phuong
• Application Number:
  US14/848,690
• Publication Number:
  US 20160069679A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,119 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0257 using atmospheric pressure
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1123 Discriminating type of movement, e.g. walking or running A61B5/1116, A61B5/112 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 22/006 Pedometers
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 5/00 Measuring height; Measuring distances transverse to line of sight; Levelling between separated points; Surveyors' levels G01C3/20, G01C3/30 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 15/00 Measuring acceleration; Measuring deceleration; Measuring shock, i.e. sudden change of acceleration

Abstract

An electronic device may include a motion sensor for detecting movement of the electronic device and a pressure sensor for detecting changes in elevation of the electronic device. Applications that run on the electronic device such as health and fitness applications may use motion sensor and pressure sensor data to track a user'"'"'s physical activity. For example, processing circuitry in the electronic device may use the motion sensor to track a user'"'"'s steps and the pressure sensor to track changes in the user'"'"'s elevation. The processing circuitry may determine whether the user is climbing stairs based on the user'"'"'s step rate and the user'"'"'s changes in elevation. When the processing circuitry determines that the user is climbing stairs, the processing circuitry may use the pressure sensor and motion sensor to track and store the number of flights of stairs climbed by the user.

Claims

1. A portable electronic device, comprising:

a motion sensor that gathers motion sensor data indicative of a user'"'"'s movement;

a pressure sensor that gathers pressure information indicative of the user'"'"'s elevation; and

processing circuitry that;

determines a step rate of the user based on the motion sensor data and determines if the step rate is between predetermined minimum and maximum step rates;

determines a rate of elevation change of the user based on the pressure information and determines if the rate of elevation change exceeds a predetermined minimum rate of elevation change; and

determines that the user is climbing stairs when the step rate is between the predetermined minimum and maximum step rates and that the rate of elevation change exceeds the predetermined minimum rate of the elevation change.

2. The portable electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the motion sensor comprises an accelerometer.

3. The portable electronic device defined in claim 2 wherein the processing circuitry tracks the user'"'"'s steps using the accelerometer.

4. The portable electronic device defined in claim 3 wherein the processing circuitry tracks changes in the user'"'"'s elevation using the pressure sensor.

5. The portable electronic device defined in claim 4 wherein the processing circuitry determines a number of flights of stairs climbed by the user based on the user'"'"'s steps and the changes in the user'"'"'s elevation.

6. The portable electronic device defined in claim 5 further comprising a display that displays the number of flights of stairs climbed by the user.

7. A method for operating an electronic device having a motion sensor, a pressure sensor, and processing circuitry, the method comprising:

with the motion sensor, gathering motion sensor data indicative of a user'"'"'s movement;

with the pressure sensor, gathering pressure information indicative of the user'"'"'s elevation;

with the processing circuitry, synchronizing the gathered motion sensor data with the gathered pressure information to account for any time lag between the gathered motion sensor data and the gathered pressure information; and

with the processing circuitry, characterizing the user'"'"'s movement based on the motion sensor data and the pressure information.

8. The method defined in claim 7 wherein characterizing the user'"'"'s movement comprises determining whether the user is performing an activity selected from the group consisting of:

climbing stairs, walking, cycling, and running.

9. The method defined in claim 8 wherein characterizing the user'"'"'s movement comprises:

with the processing circuitry, determining a number of steps taken by the user in a given period of time; and

with the processing circuitry, determining the user'"'"'s change in elevation in the given period of time.

10. The method defined in claim 9 wherein characterizing the user'"'"'s movement further comprises:

when the number of steps taken by the user in the given period of time exceeds a first threshold and the user'"'"'s change in elevation in the given period of time exceeds a second threshold, determining that the user is climbing stairs.

11. The method defined in claim 10 further comprising:

in response to determining that the user is climbing stairs, determining a number of flights of stairs climbed by the user.

12. The method defined in claim 11 wherein determining the number of flights of stairs climbed by the user comprises comparing the user'"'"'s change in elevation with a predetermined average floor height.

13. A method for operating an electronic device having a pressure sensor, a motion sensor, and processing circuitry, comprising:

with the processing circuitry, tracking a user'"'"'s step rate using the motion sensor;

with the processing circuitry, tracking changes in the user'"'"'s elevation using the pressure sensor;

comparing the changes in the user'"'"'s elevation with a predetermined floor height; and

determining whether the user is climbing stairs based on the user'"'"'s step rate and based on the changes in the user'"'"'s elevation.

14. The method defined in claim 13 further comprising:

in response to determining that the user is climbing stairs, tracking and storing a number of flights of stairs climbed by the user.

15. The method defined in claim 14 further comprising:

determining a climb rate of the user based on the user'"'"'s elevation changes over a given period of time.

16. The method defined in claim 15 wherein tracking the user'"'"'s step rate comprises determining a number of steps taken by the user during the given period of time.

17. The method defined in claim 16 further comprising:

comparing the climb rate of the user with a minimum climb rate before tracking and storing the number of flights of stairs climbed by the user.

18. The method defined in claim 13 wherein determining whether the user is climbing stairs comprises determining whether the user'"'"'s step rate is greater than a minimum step rate.