METHODS, SYSTEMS, AND APPARATUSES TO DISPLAY VISIBILITY CHANGES RESPONSIVE TO USER GESTURES

• US 20150286285A1
• Filed: 06/22/2015
• Published: 10/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fitbit, Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Fitbit, Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: PANTHER, Heiko Gernot Albert, PANTELOPOULOS, Alexandros, YUEN, Shelten Gee Jao
• Granted Patent: US 9,952,675 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6802 Sensor mounted on worn items
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/681 Wristwatch-type devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6824 Arm or wrist
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 22/006 Pedometers
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 15/00 Measuring acceleration; Measuring deceleration; Measuring shock, i.e. sudden change of acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3206 Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3265 Power saving in display device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1636 Sensing arrangement for detection of a tap gesture on the housing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/026 Arrangements or methods related to booting a display
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/10 Intensity circuits
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

In one embodiment, an electronic device to be worn on a user'"'"'s forearm includes a display and a set of one or more sensors that provide sensor data. In one aspect, a device may detect, using sensor data obtained from a set of sensors, that a first activity state of a user is active. The device may determine, while the first activity state is active, that the sensor data matches a watch check rule associated with the first activity state. Responsive to the detected match, the device may cause a change in visibility of the display.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a display;

a set of sensors to generate sensor data;

a set of processors coupled to the display and the set of sensors;

a non-transitory machine readable storage medium coupled to the processor and having stored therein instructions, which when executed by the set of processors, cause the set of processors to;

detect, using the sensor data, that a first activity state of a user is active;

determine, while the first activity state is active, that the sensor data matches a watch check rule associated with the first activity state; and

responsive to the detected match, cause a change in visibility of the display.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the set of sensors further to generate additional sensor data, and the instructions, which when executed by the set of processors, cause the set of processors to:

reverse the change in visibility of the display after a base time period;

detect, using the additional sensor data, that a second activity state of the user is active;

determine, while the second activity state is active, that the additional sensor data matches another watch check rule, the another watch check rule being one of a plurality of watch check rules associated with the second activity state; and

responsive to the detected match between the additional sensor data and the another watch check rule, cause another change in visibility of the display.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the instructions, which when executed by the set of processors, cause the set of processors to cause the change in visibility of the display by turning on the display.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the display includes a back light, and the instructions, which when executed by the set of processors, cause the set of processors to cause the change in visibility of the display by turning on the back light.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first activity state represents the user running.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the instructions, which when executed by the set of processors, cause the set of processors to detect that the first activity state of the user is active based on detecting that a number of peak accelerations in the sensor data for a time period exceeds a quantity threshold, wherein the number of peak accelerations include accelerations that exceed a magnitude threshold.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the time period is between 4 and 10 seconds.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the instructions, which when executed by the set of processors, cause the set of processors to log a determinable number of magnitude peaks in a circular buffer, and the time period represents a difference in time from the oldest magnitude peak in the circular buffer and the most recent magnitude peak in the circular buffer.

9. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the instructions, which when executed by the set of processors, cause the set of processors to detect that the first activity state of the user is active based on detecting that a number of peak accelerations in the sensor data for a time period fails to exceed a quantity threshold, wherein the number of peak accelerations include accelerations that exceed a magnitude threshold.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the watch check rule includes data or logic that represents a pattern of motion that is indicative of the user checking the display of the apparatus.

11. An apparatus comprising:

a display;

a set of sensors to generate sensor data;

a set of processors coupled to the display and the set of sensors;

a non-transitory machine readable storage medium coupled to the processor and having stored therein instructions, which when executed by the set of processors, cause the set of processors to;

detect, using the sensor data, that a first activity state of a user is active;

determine, while the first activity state is active, that the sensor data represents a set of adjustments that the user would make to view a display of a wristwatch worn on the user'"'"'s forearm; and

responsive to the determination, cause a change in visibility of the display.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the set of sensors are to further generate additional sensor data, and the instructions, which when executed by the set of processors, cause the set of processors to:

while the change in visibility of the display is still active, determine that the additional sensor data represents another set of adjustments that the user would make to view the display of the wristwatch worn on the user'"'"'s forearm; and

based on the determination that the additional sensor data represents another set of adjustments, update content displayed on the display.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the sensor data includes a plurality of samples of measurements of acceleration along a plurality of axes, and the instructions, which when executed by the set of processors, cause the set of processors to cause the change in visibility of the display further responsive to detecting that the sensor data reflects stability along at least one of the plurality of axes.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the sensor data includes a plurality of samples of measurements of acceleration along a first axis and a second axis, and the instructions, which when executed by the set of processors, cause the set of processors to cause the change in visibility of the display further responsive to detecting that the sensor data reflects decrease along the first axis beyond a first threshold and an increase along the second axis beyond a second threshold.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the instructions, which when executed by the set of processors, cause the set of processors to cause the change in visibility of the display further responsive to the sensor data being indicative of the user performing a movement consistent with the user raising and rotating their arm from a side position to a position where their wrist is in front of their stomach with the display is facing towards the sky.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the instructions, which when executed by the set of processors, cause the set of processors to cause the change in visibility of the display further responsive to the sensor data being indicative of the user performing a movement consistent with the user raising their wrist and rotating their arm such that the display is normal to the face of the user.

17. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the instructions, which when executed by the set of processors, cause the set of processors to cause the change in visibility of the display further responsive to the sensor data being indicative of the user performing a movement consistent with the user rotating their forearm from a starting position where the forearm is extended out away from the body of the user to a position where the forearm is across their body and the display is facing the sky.

18. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the set of sensors includes a three axis accelerometer.

19. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the set of sensors generate additional sensor data after the change in visibility of the display, and the instructions, which when executed by the set of processors, cause the set of processors to:

while the change in visibility of the display is still active, determine that the additional sensor data represents another set of adjustments to the apparatus; and

based on the determination that the additional sensor data represents another set of adjustments, reverse the change in visibility of the display.

20. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the instructions, which when executed by the set of processors, cause the set of processors to cause the change in visibility of the display by turning on the display.

21. A non-transitory machine readable storage medium storing therein instructions, which when executed by a set of processors, cause the set of processors to:

detect, using sensor data obtained from a set of sensors, that a first activity state of a user is active;

determine, while the first activity state is active, that the sensor data matches a watch check rule associated with the first activity state; and

responsive to the detected match, cause a change in visibility of a display.

22. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the instructions, which when executed by the set of processors, cause the set of processors to:

reverse the change in visibility of the display after a base time period;

detect, using additional sensor data generated by the set of sensors, that a second activity state of the user is active;

determine, while the second activity state is active, that the additional sensor data matches another watch check rule, the another watch check rule being one of a plurality of watch check rules associated with the second activity state; and

responsive to the detected match between the additional sensor data and the another watch check rule, cause another change in visibility of the display.

23. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the instructions, which when executed by the set of processors, cause the set of processors to cause the change in visibility of the display by turning on the display.

24. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the display includes a back light, and the instructions, which when executed by the set of processors, cause the set of processors to cause the change in visibility of the display by turning on the back light.

25. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the first activity state represents the user running.

26. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 25, wherein the instructions, which when executed by the set of processors, cause the set of processors to detect that the first activity state of the user is active based on detecting that a number of peak accelerations in the sensor data for a time period exceeds a quantity threshold, wherein the number of peak accelerations include accelerations that exceed a magnitude threshold.

27. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 25, wherein the sensor data includes a number of preceding peaks and a current peak, the number of preceding peaks in the sensor data acceleration magnitude exceed a threshold, and the current peak in acceleration magnitude is below the threshold and within a time interval of a most recent one of the preceding peaks.

28. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 26, wherein the instructions, which when executed by the set of processors, cause the set of processors to log a determinable number of magnitude peaks in a circular buffer, and the time period represents a difference in time from the oldest magnitude peak in the circular buffer and the most recent magnitude peak in the circular buffer.

29. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 25, wherein the instructions, which when executed by the set of processors, cause the set of processors to detect that the first activity state of the user is active based on detecting that a number of peak accelerations in the sensor data for a time period fails to exceed a quantity threshold, wherein the number of peak accelerations include accelerations that exceed a magnitude threshold.

30. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the watch check rule includes data or logic that represents a pattern of motion that is indicative of the user checking the display of the apparatus.