Opportunistic Syncing Methods for Wearable Devices

• US 20160174099A1
• Filed: 12/15/2015
• Published: 06/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: i4c Innovations Inc. (One Health Group, LLC)
• Original Assignee: i4c Innovations Inc. (One Health Group, LLC)
• Inventors: Goldfain, Albert
• Granted Patent: US 9,788,232 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 27/009 with electric-shock, sound, magnetic- or radio-waves emitting devices
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 29/005 Monitoring or measuring activity, e.g. detecting heat or mating
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2503/40 Animals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0238 Means for recording calibration data
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/06 Arrangements of multiple sensors of different types
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1116 Determining posture transitions
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1121 Determining geometric values, e.g. centre of rotation or angular range of movement
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6831 Straps, bands or harnesses
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/746 Alarms related to a physiological condition, e.g. details of setting alarm thresholds or avoiding false alarms alarms per se G08B
• CPC Class Codes: A61D 17/00 Devices for indicating trouble during labour of animals ; Methods or instruments for detecting pregnancy-related states of animals monitoring or measuring activity of animals A01K29/005
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1684 Constructional details or arrangements related to integrated I/O peripherals not covered by groups G06F1/1635 - G06F1/1675
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/7163 using impulse radio
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0226 : based on location or mobility handoff or reselection H04W36/00; mobile application services making use of the location of users or terminals H04W4/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0236 : radio quality, e.g. interference, losses or delay
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0005 : synchronizing of arrival of multiple uplinks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 : Terminal devices

Abstract

A system and method for monitoring the health of an animal using multiple sensors is described. The wearable device may include one or more sensors whose resultant signal levels may be analyzed in the wearable device or uploaded to a data management server for additional analysis. One or more embodiments include variations of the UWB system to accommodate differences in animals, such as scheduling or attempting transmissions between the wearable device and the data management server in such a way as to increase the likelihood of a successful transmission

Claims

8. A method comprising:

receiving, by a processor, data indicative of one or more signals at a wearable device for an animal, wherein at least one of the signals is a reflected Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) signal;

determining, by the processor, whether to transmit the data indicative of the one or more received signals to a remote device; and

based on the determining, transmitting, by the processor via a communication interface, the data indicative of the one or more received signals to the remote device.

1. A wearable device for an animal comprising:

a housing;

a UWB signal generator;

a UWB antenna configured to output signals from the UWB signal generator;

a receiver configured to receive reflected UWB signals; and

a processor configured to transmit data indicative of the received signals to a remote device.

2. The wearable device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to determine a strength of a communication linkage prior to transmitting the data.

3. The wearable device of claim 2, wherein the strength comprises a received signal strength indication.

4. The wearable device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to determine a payload size of the data prior to transmitting the data indicative of the received signals to the remote device.

5. The wearable device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to determine a confidence metric of the data prior to transmitting the data indicative of the received signals to the remote device.

6. The wearable device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to, prior to transmitting the data indicative of the received signals to the remote device, compare a time elapsed between a previous transmission time and a current time to a threshold value.

7. The wearable device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to, prior to transmitting the data indicative of the received signals to the remote device, determine a location of the wearable device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein determining whether to transmit the data indicative of the one or more received signals to the remote device comprises determining a strength of a communication linkage at the communication interface.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the determining the strength of the communication linkage comprises determining a received signal strength indication (RSSI).

11. The method of claim 8, wherein determining whether to transmit the data indicative of the one or more received signals to the remote device comprises determining a payload size of the data.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein determining whether to transmit the data indicative of the one or more received signals to the remote device comprises calculating, by the wearable device, a confidence metric of the data

13. The method of claim 8, wherein determining whether to transmit the data indicative of the one or more received signals to the remote device comprises determining a duration between a last time data was transmitted to the remote device and a current time.

13-1. The method of claim 8, wherein determining whether to transmit the data indicative of the one or more received signals to the remote device

15. A method comprising:

receiving, by a processor, first data indicative of one or more signals at a wearable device for an animal, wherein at least one of the signals is a reflected Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) signal;

determining, by the processor, a first syncing schedule for attempting to transmit first data indicative of the one or more signals to a remote device;

determining, by the processor, a second syncing schedule different from the first syncing schedule for attempting to transmit second data, different from the first data, indicative of the one or more signals to a remote device;

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the determining the second syncing schedule comprises modifying the first syncing schedule.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the first syncing schedule and second syncing schedule comprise a plurality of attempted syncing times.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

determining, by the processor, a third syncing schedule different from the first syncing schedule and the second syncing schedule for attempting to transmit third data, indicative of the one or more signals to a remote device different from the first data and second data.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the third syncing schedule comprises at least one attempted syncing time from the first syncing schedule and at least one attempted syncing time from the second syncing schedule.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein determining the second syncing schedule comprises mutating at least one element of the first syncing schedule.