BLUETOOTH BEACON TRANSMISSION

• US 20150382150A1
• Filed: 06/30/2014
• Published: 12/31/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Polar Electro Oy
• Original Assignee: Polar Electro Oy
• Inventors: Granqvist, Niclas, Karjalainen, Markku, Ansermet, Raphael
• Granted Patent: US 9,763,056 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2503/10 Athletes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2503/12 Healthy persons not otherwise provided for, e.g. subjects of a marketing survey
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/002 Monitoring the patient using a local or closed circuit, e.g. in a room or building A61B5/0017 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02055 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular condition and temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02405 Determining heart rate variability
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1113 Local tracking of patients, e.g. in a hospital or private home
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/112 Gait analysis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/222 combined with detection or measurement of physiological parameters, e.g. heart rate
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4872 Body fat
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6898 Portable consumer electronic devices, e.g. music players, telephones, tablet computers
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7465 Arrangements for interactive communication between patient and care services, e.g. by using a telephone network telemetry of measured physiological signal A61B5/0002
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• 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

Abstract

There is provided a radio device, comprising: a Bluetooth circuitry configured to generate and advertise a Blue-tooth beacon signal having frame format according to the Bluetooth standard; a proximity communication circuitry configured to receive configuration commands wirelessly from a physically separate user device over a magnetic induction-based proximity communication; and at least one processor and at least one memory including a computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer pro-gram code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the radio device to perform operations comprising: reconfiguring at least part of data content of the Bluetooth beacon signal on the basis of the received configuration commands, wherein the data content of the Bluetooth beacon signal is set to comprise at least physical activity related information.

Claims

1. A radio device, comprising:

a Bluetooth circuitry configured to generate and advertise a Bluetooth beacon signal having a frame format according to the Bluetooth standard;

a proximity communication circuitry configured to receive configuration commands wirelessly from a physically separate user device over a magnetic induction-based proximity communication; and

at least one processor and at least one memory including a computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the radio device to perform operations comprising;

reconfiguring at least part of data content of the Bluetooth beacon signal on the basis of the received configuration commands, wherein the data content of the Bluetooth beacon signal is set to comprise at least physical activity related information.

2. The radio device of claim 1, wherein the magnetic induction-based proximity communication applies near field communication, NFC.

3. The radio device of claim 1, wherein the radio device is further caused to perform operations comprising:

reconfiguring at least part of transmission settings of the Bluetooth beacon signal on the basis of the received configuration commands.

4. The radio device of claim 1, wherein the radio device is further caused to perform operations comprising:

setting, on the basis of the configuration commands, whether the radio device operates in an advertisement mode only or whether the radio device also transmits scan responses as a response to a reception of a scan request.

5. The radio device of claim 1, wherein the radio device is further caused to perform operations comprising:

setting, on the basis of the configuration commands, the data content of the Bluetooth beacon signal to indicate a location dependent parameter with respect to a route travelled during a physical activity.

6. The radio device of claim 5, wherein the location dependent parameter indicates at least one of location, altitude, distance run, distance left.

7. The radio device of claim 1, wherein the radio device is coupled to a physical activity sensor measuring physical activity data of a person performing a physical activity, and the radio device is further caused to perform operations comprising:

acquiring at least one physical activity parameter on the basis of the measured physical activity data; and

setting, on the basis of the configuration commands, the data content of the Bluetooth beacon signal to comprise the acquired at least one physical activity parameter.

8. The radio device of claim 1, wherein the radio device is coupled to a plurality of physical activity sensors, and the radio device is further caused to perform operations comprising:

aggregating the physical activity data measured by the plurality of physical activity sensors; and

setting, on the basis of the configuration commands, the data content of the Bluetooth beacon signal to comprise the aggregated physical activity data.

9. The radio device of claim 1, wherein the radio device is coupled to a gym device, and the radio device is further caused to perform operations comprising:

setting, on the basis of the configuration commands, the data content of the Bluetooth beacon signal to indicate information specific to the said gym device.

10. The radio device of claim 9, wherein the information specific to the gym device is configured to comprise at least physical activity sensors coupled to the gym device.

11. The radio device of claim 9, wherein the radio device further comprises a proximity sensor configured to sense whether or not someone is in a gym device-specific exercise area of the gym device, and wherein the information specific to the said gym device is configured to indicate whether the said gym device is available or not on the basis of whether someone is detected to be in the gym device-specific exercise area.

12. The radio device of claim 9, wherein the radio device is further caused to perform operations comprising:

estimating time duration the current exerciser of the gym device will use the gym device, and wherein the information specific to the said gym device is configured to indicate the estimated time duration.

13. The radio device of claim 9, wherein the radio device comprises a wired bus interface for releasably attaching the radio device to the gym device.

14. A method, comprising:

generating and advertising a Bluetooth beacon signal having a frame format according to the Bluetooth standard;

receiving configuration commands wirelessly from a physically separate user device over a magnetic induction-based proximity communication; and

reconfiguring at least part of data content of the Bluetooth beacon signal on the basis of the received configuration commands, wherein the data content of the Bluetooth beacon signal is set to comprise at least physical activity related information.

15. A computer program product embodied on a distribution medium readable by a computer and comprising program instructions which, when loaded into an apparatus, execute a method comprising:

generating and advertising a Bluetooth beacon signal having a frame format according to the Bluetooth standard;

receiving configuration commands wirelessly from a physically separate user device over a magnetic induction-based proximity communication; and

reconfiguring at least part of data content of the Bluetooth beacon signal on the basis of the received configuration commands, wherein the data content of the Bluetooth beacon signal is set to comprise at least physical activity related information.