Electronic Devices with Motion Characterization Circuitry

• US 20150350822A1
• Filed: 09/30/2014
• Published: 12/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2014
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Pham, Hung A., Xiao, Xiao, Chow, Sunny K.
• Application Number:
  US14/501,725
• Publication Number:
  US 20150350822A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/19 Sporting applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/52 Determining velocity
• 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: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10
• 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 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

An electronic device may include a motion sensor for detecting movement of the electronic device. Applications that run on the electronic device such as fitness applications or activity logging applications may use motion sensor data to track a user'"'"'s physical activity. To avoid mischaracterizing a user'"'"'s movement, motion sensor circuitry in the electronic device may supplement motion sensor data with additional information in instances where motion sensor data alone may be insufficient to distinguish between different types of physical activity. For example, information on a user'"'"'s speed may be synthesized with motion sensor data to help characterize a user'"'"'s movement. Information on a user'"'"'s speed may be determined based on location information. The location information may, for example, be gathered using IEEE 802.11 transceiver circuitry or, in more rural areas, may be gathered using Global Positioning System receiver circuitry.

Claims

1. A portable electronic device, comprising:

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

wireless communications circuitry that gathers location information indicative of the user'"'"'s location; and

processing circuitry that characterizes the user'"'"'s movement based on the motion sensor data and the location information.

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

3. The portable electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the wireless communications circuitry comprises IEEE 802.11 transceiver circuitry.

4. The portable electronic device defined in claim 3 wherein the wireless communications circuitry gathers information about local wireless access points in a vicinity of the portable electronic device and wherein the location information is based on the information about the local wireless access points.

5. The portable electronic device defined in claim 4 wherein the processing circuitry determines an average speed of the user based on the location information.

6. The portable electronic device defined in claim 5 wherein the processing circuitry characterizes the user'"'"'s movement based on the average speed and the motion sensor data.

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

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

with the wireless communications circuitry, gathering location information indicative of the user'"'"'s location; and

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

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

walking and cycling.

9. The method defined in claim 7 wherein gathering the location information comprises gathering information on local wireless access points in a vicinity of the electronic device.

10. The method defined in claim 9 further comprising:

transmitting the information on the local wireless access points to a server; and

receiving geographic coordinates from the server.

11. The method defined in claim 9 further comprising:

with the processing circuitry, determining an average speed of the user based on the location information.

12. The method defined in claim 11 wherein characterizing the user'"'"'s movement comprises:

associating the motion sensor data with at least first and second activities; and

based on the average speed of the user, characterizing the user'"'"'s movement as one of the first and second activities.

13. The method defined in claim 7 further comprising:

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

without using the location information, characterizing the user'"'"'s movement based on the additional motion sensor data.

14. The method defined in claim 13 wherein characterizing the user'"'"'s movement based on the additional motion sensor data comprises determining that the user'"'"'s movement corresponds to running.

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

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

with the processing circuitry, gathering information on the user'"'"'s speed; and

characterizing the user'"'"'s movement based on the motion sensor data and the information on the user'"'"'s speed.

16. The method defined in claim 15 wherein gathering information on the user'"'"'s speed comprises gathering geographic location information using IEEE 802.11 transceiver circuitry.

17. The method defined in claim 16 wherein gathering the geographic location information comprises gathering information on local wireless access points in a vicinity of the electronic device.

18. The method defined in claim 17 wherein gathering the geographic location information comprises:

transmitting the information on the local wireless access points to a server; and

receiving geographic coordinates from the server.

19. The method defined in claim 15 wherein gathering information on the user'"'"'s speed comprises gathering geographic location information using global positioning system receiver circuitry.

20. The method defined in claim 15 wherein characterizing the user'"'"'s movement comprises determining that the user'"'"'s movement corresponds to an activity selected from the group consisting of:

walking, cycling, and running.