SELECTION OF DISPLAY POWER MODE BASED ON SENSOR DATA

• US 20140125618A1
• Filed: 01/13/2014
• Published: 05/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fitbit, Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Fitbit, Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Axley, Andrew Cole, Yuen, Shelten Gee Jao, Park, James, Panther, Heiko Gernot Albert, Glick, Sara Yael, Carvalho, Shimona Avelina
• Granted Patent: US 8,768,648 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0214 of power generation or supply
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0242 adapted to measure environmental factors, e.g. temperature, pollution
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02055 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular condition and temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/021 Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/024 Detecting, measuring or recording pulse rate or heart rate A61B5/0205, A61B5/021 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/222 combined with detection or measurement of physiological parameters, e.g. heart rate
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4809 Sleep detection, i.e. determining whether a subject is asleep or not
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4812 Detecting sleep stages or cycles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4815 Sleep quality
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6838 Clamps or clips
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7264 Classification of physiological signals or data, e.g. using neural networks, statistical classifiers, expert systems or fuzzy systems neural networks per se G06N3/00; expert systems per se G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/743 Displaying an image simultaneously with additional graphical information, e.g. symbols, charts, function plots
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/744 Displaying an avatar, e.g. an animated cartoon character
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 22/006 Pedometers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3231 Monitoring the presence, absence or movement of users
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/30 : relating to physical therapies or activities, e.g. physiotherapy, acupressure or exercising
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 : for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 : for remote operation

Abstract

Methods, devices, and computer programs are presented for managing power consumption in an activity monitoring device associated with a user. One method includes an operation for analyzing sensor data acquired by sensors of an activity monitoring device to be worn on a wrist of a user, the sensor data being associated with motion of the user. In addition, the method includes an operation for determining the motion profile of the activity monitoring device based on the sensor data. The method further includes an operation for identifying display settings for a display of the activity monitoring device based on the motion profile. The display settings are associated with a rate of power consumption by the display. The display settings are applied to the display of the activity monitoring device when the identified display settings are different than the current display settings.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

analyzing sensor data acquired by sensors of an activity monitoring device associated with a user, the sensor data being associated with motion of the user;

determining a motion profile of the activity monitoring device based on the sensor data;

identifying display settings for a display of the activity monitoring device based on the motion profile, the display settings being associated with a rate of power consumption by the display; and

applying the display settings for the display of the activity monitoring device when the identified display settings are different than current display settings, wherein operations of the method are executed by a processor.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the determined motion profile includes movement of the activity monitoring device to a position where the display is oriented toward eyes of the user.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the movement is followed by a static position of the activity monitoring device for a predetermined amount of time.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the display is a touchscreen, wherein the display settings further include a scan rate of the touchscreen for detecting touch on the touchscreen, wherein a first display settings having a first scan rate are defined for a state of rest of the activity monitoring device, wherein a second display settings having a second scan rate are defined for receiving input via the touchscreen, wherein the second scan rate causes a higher power consumption than the first scan rate.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, further including:

detecting, before analyzing the sensor data, a state of the activity monitoring device where user interaction with a touchscreen of the display is expected.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the motion profile includes one or more of a last gesture performed by the user, or a time when the last gesture was performed, or a history of gestures made by the user, or respective gesture execution times for each gesture.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein identifying the display settings further includes:

determining if user interaction with the activity monitoring device is expected based on the motion profile; and

setting the display settings based on the determining if user interaction is expected.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the display settings further include one or more of on/off state, or brightness, or back light intensity, or refresh rate, or contrast, or gamma, or sharpness, or color profile.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the display is a touchscreen, wherein applying the display settings further includes one of:

increasing a scan rate of the touchscreen when user interaction is expected;

or

decreasing the scan rate of the touchscreen when user interaction is not expected.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the display is a touchscreen, wherein applying the display settings further includes:

setting in a plurality of areas in the touchscreen respective different scan rates for detecting touch on the plurality of areas in the touchscreen.

11. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the sensors include one or more of a gyroscope, or a magnetometer, or a thermometer, or an accelerometer, or a global positioning system, or a piezoelectric sensor, or a motion sensor, or an altimeter, or a pressure sensor, or a force sensor.

12. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the sensor data includes biometric information of the user and information about an environment where the activity monitoring device is located.

13. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein operations of the method are performed by a computer program when executed by one or more processors, the computer program being embedded in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium.

14. A method comprising:

analyzing sensor data acquired by sensors of an activity monitoring device to be worn by a user, the sensor data being associated with motion of the user;

determining a motion profile of the activity monitoring device based on the sensor data;

identifying display settings for a touchscreen of the activity monitoring device based on the motion profile, the display settings being associated with a rate of power consumption by the display; and

applying the display settings for the touchscreen when the identified display settings are different than current display settings, wherein applying the display settings for the touchscreen further includes,

setting, in a first area of the touchscreen where touch is expected, a first scan rate for detecting touch on the touchscreen; and

setting, in a second area of the touchscreen where touch is not expected, a second scan rate, wherein operations of the method are executed by a processor.

15. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein the first scan rate is greater than one scan per second, wherein the second scan rate is zero.

16. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein the first scan rate is in a range from 15 to 30 times per second, wherein the second scan rate is less than 15 times per second.

17. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein the first area is associated with a graphical button presented on the touchscreen, wherein the second area is the area of the touchscreen outside the first area.

18. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein the first area includes a plurality of subregions, each subregion being associated with a respective graphical button presented on the touchscreen.

19. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein the first area is defined by a subregion where a text message is presented on the touchscreen.

20. A method comprising:

detecting an event at a portable device;

examining the event to determine if a notification of the event is predefined to be transmitted to an activity monitoring device; and

transmitting the notification of the event to the activity monitoring device to cause display data to be presented on a screen of the activity monitoring device, wherein operations of the method are executed by a processor.

21. The method as recited in claim 20, wherein the event is selected from a group consisting of receiving an email, or receiving a text message, or receiving a phone call, or receiving biometric data, or receiving an alarm, or receiving a notification from a social network.

22. The method as recited in claim 20, wherein the portable device is a mobile phone, wherein the activity monitoring device is a device for tracking physical activity of a user.

23. The method as recited in claim 20, wherein the notification is receiving a phone call, wherein transmitting the notification further includes:

sending a caller ID associated with the phone call for presentation on the screen of the activity monitoring device.

24. The method as recited in claim 20, wherein examining the event to determine if the notification of the event is predefined to be transmitted further includes:

determining a current activity of a user associated with the portable device; and

determining if the notification is for presentation to the user based on the current activity of the user, wherein the current activity is selected from a group consisting of running, or stationary, or driving, or climbing steps, or walking, or sleeping, or talking, or snoring, or swimming.

25. The method as recited in claim 20, wherein operations of the method are performed by a computer program when executed by one or more processors, the computer program being embedded in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of the portable device.

26. An activity monitoring device comprising:

one or more biometric sensors for capturing biometric sensor data of a user wearing the activity monitoring device;

one or more motion sensors for capturing motion sensor data;

a memory for storing a computer program, biometric sensor data, and motion sensor data;

a display having display settings associated with a rate of power consumption by the display; and

a processor configured to analyze the motion sensor data, the processor determining a motion profile of the activity monitoring device based on the analyzed motion sensor data, wherein the processor identifies a selected display setting for the display based on the motion profile.

27. The activity monitoring device as recited in claim 26, wherein the sensors include one or more of a gyroscope, or a magnetic meter, or an accelerometer, or a global positioning system, or a piezoelectric sensor, or a motion sensor, or a pressure sensor, or a force sensor.

28. The activity monitoring device as recited in claim 26, wherein the motion profile includes a last gesture performed by the user, the gesture including where the gesture begins, speed of execution of the gesture, a duration of the gesture, and a trajectory of the gesture.

29. The activity monitoring device as recited in claim 26, wherein identifying display settings further includes:

analyzing user characteristics, wherein the user characteristics includes one or more of gender, or age, or weight, or geographical location, or residence location, or work location.

30. The activity monitoring device as recited in claim 26, wherein the method further includes:

increasing touchscreen sensitivity for a touchscreen of the display in response to detection of a touch on the touchscreen.