PORTABLE BIOMETRIC MONITORING DEVICES HAVING LOCATION SENSORS

• US 20140292566A1
• Filed: 04/29/2014
• Published: 10/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fitbit, Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Fitbit, Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Park, James, Panther, Heiko Gernot Albert, Yuen, Shelten Gee Jao
• Granted Patent: US 9,297,903 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/357.2
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/05 providing aiding data
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/09 providing processing capability normally carried out by the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/14 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/19 Sporting applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/258 relating to the satellite constellation, e.g. almanac, ephemeris data, lists of satellites in view
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/27 creating, predicting or correcting ephemeris or almanac data within the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/42 Determining position
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18513 Transmission in a satellite or space-based system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/651 for reducing power consumption by affecting camera operations, e.g. sleep mode, hibernation mode or power off of selective parts of the camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/661 Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/185 from a mobile camera, e.g. for remote control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Assisted-GPS for a portable biometric monitoring device is provided. The portable biometric monitoring device may obtain updated ephemeris data from an associated secondary device via a short-range, low-power communication protocol. The secondary device may be a computing device such as a smartphone, tablet, or laptop. Various rules may control when the ephemeris data is updated. The ephemeris data may be used in the calculation of the global position of the portable biometric monitoring device. Additionally, the portable biometric monitoring device may communicate downloaded position fixing data to the associated secondary device. The associated secondary device may then calculate the global position from the position fixing data.

Claims

1. A method of determining a global position of a worn biometric monitoring device comprising a navigation data receiver, and a motion-detecting sensor, the method comprising:

(a) determining that an ephemeris data update condition is met; and

(b) in response to determining that the ephemeris data update condition is met, obtaining updated ephemeris data via a wireless short-range, low-power communication protocol from a secondary device associated with the worn biometric monitoring device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the ephemeris data update condition is met comprises determining that the worn biometric monitoring device has moved after the worn biometric monitoring device has been substantially stationary.

3. The method of claim 2:

wherein the motion-detecting sensor is an accelerometer configured to detect acceleration of the worn biometric monitoring device; and

wherein determining that the worn biometric monitoring device has moved comprises detecting an acceleration greater than a threshold value of acceleration.

5. The method of claim 2:

wherein the motion-detecting sensor is a gyroscope configured to detect a change in orientation of the worn biometric monitoring device; and

wherein determining that the worn biometric monitoring device has moved comprises detecting a change in orientation of the worn biometric monitoring device.

6. The method of claim 2:

wherein the motion-detecting sensor is an altitude sensor configured to detect a change in altitude of the worn biometric monitoring device; and

wherein determining that the worn biometric monitoring device has moved comprises detecting a change in altitude of the worn biometric monitoring device.

7. The method of claim 2:

wherein the motion-detecting sensor is a light sensor configured to detect UV light; and

wherein determining that the worn biometric monitoring device has moved comprises sensing, with the light sensor, the presence of UV light.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(c) calculating the global position of the worn biometric monitoring device using the ephemeris data obtained in (b).

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the motion-detecting sensor is a sensor selected from the group consisting of:

an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, an altitude sensor, a user interface, an environmental sensor, a light sensor, a pedometer, and a global position sensor.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein (a) is performed, at least in part, by the associated secondary device.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the worn biometric monitoring device further comprises a user interface, and wherein the ephemeris data update condition comprises detecting that the user is interacting with the user interface.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the ephemeris data update condition is met comprises detecting an activation of a tracking mode of the worn biometric tracking device by the user.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the ephemeris data update condition is met comprises one or more of:

(i) detecting a wireless connection with the secondary device exceeding a threshold connection strength;

(ii) determining that the battery has a battery charge level exceeding a battery charge threshold;

(iii) determining that the controller has a spare processing ability exceeding a threshold processing ability; and

(iv) determining that the worn biometric monitoring device is in a stationary state.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein (a) is performed, at least in part, by the secondary device.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining updated ephemeris data, at the secondary device, from an Earth-based organization providing ephemeris data.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising determining a protocol of updated ephemeris data to obtain, wherein the protocol of updated ephemeris data is selected from the group consisting of 3gpp, Open Mobile Alliance, Secure User Plane Location V1.0, and Secure User Plane Location V2.0.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to (b), determining whether to obtain some or all of the updated ephemeris data available on the secondary device.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising determining, at the secondary device, whether to obtain some or all of the updated ephemeris data available from the Earth-based organization providing ephemeris data.

4. The method of claim, wherein the threshold value of acceleration is acceleration of the worn biometric monitoring device greater than 3 m/s2.

19. A wearable biometric monitoring device, the wearable biometric monitoring device comprising:

a motion-detecting sensor configured to detect motion of the wearable biometric monitoring device and output motion data to a controller;

communication circuitry, the communication circuitry configured to receive data from a secondary device associated with the wearable biometric monitoring device via a wireless short-range, low-power communication protocol and output data to the controller; and

the controller with one or more processors and a memory, wherein the one or more processors, the memory, the motion-detecting sensor, and the communication circuitry, are communicatively connected and the memory is configured to store program instructions for controlling the one or more processors to;

(a) determine that an ephemeris data update condition is met, and

(b) in response to determining that the ephemeris data update condition is met, obtaining updated ephemeris data via the wireless short-range, low-power communication protocol from a secondary device associated with the wearable biometric monitoring device.

20. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 19, further comprising program instructions for controlling the one or more processors to:

(c) calculate a global position of the wearable biometric monitoring device using the updated ephemeris data obtained in (b).

21. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 19, wherein the ephemeris data threshold update condition is the motion-detecting sensor detecting movement of the wearable biometric monitoring device.

22. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 19, wherein the motion-detecting sensor is selected from the group consisting of an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, an altitude sensor, a user interface, an environmental sensor, a light sensor, a pedometer, and a global position sensor.

23. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 19, wherein the motion-detecting sensor is an accelerometer configured to detect acceleration of the wearable biometric monitoring device and output acceleration data to the controller, and wherein the program instructions for (a) comprise instructions for detecting an acceleration greater than a threshold value of acceleration from the acceleration data.

24. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 23, wherein the threshold value of acceleration is acceleration of the worn biometric monitoring device greater than 3 m/s2.

25. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 19, further comprising a gyroscope configured to detect a change in orientation of the wearable biometric monitoring device and output orientation data to the controller, wherein the program instructions for (a) comprise instructions for detecting a change in orientation from the orientation data.

26. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 19, further comprising an altitude sensor configured to detect a change in altitude of the wearable biometric monitoring device and output altitude data to the controller, wherein the program instructions for (a) comprise instructions for detecting a change in altitude from the altitude data.

27. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 19, further comprising a light sensor configured to detect UV light and output light data to the controller, wherein the program instructions for (a) comprise instructions for sensing the presence of UV light from the light data.

28. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 19, further comprising a user interface configured to interact with a user, wherein the program instructions for (a) comprise instructions for detecting user interaction with the user interface.

29. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 19, further comprising a battery, wherein the ephemeris data update condition is one or more of:

(i) detecting a wireless connection with the secondary device exceeding a threshold connection strength;

(ii) determining that the battery has a battery charge level exceeding a battery charge threshold;

(iii) determining that the controller has spare processing ability exceeding a threshold processing ability; and

(iv) determining that the wearable biometric monitoring device is stationary.

30. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 19, wherein the program instructions for (b) comprise instructions for determining whether to obtain some or all of the updated ephemeris data available on the secondary device.