AUTOMATIC TRACKING OF GEOLOCATION DATA FOR EXERCISES

• US 20160263435A1
• Filed: 05/19/2016
• Published: 09/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fitbit, Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Fitbit, Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Vaddi, Veera Venkata Sesha Sai, Venkatraman, Subramaniam, Niehaus, Logan, Duyan, Peter, Yuen, Shelten Gee Jao, Roberts, Timothy M.
• Granted Patent: US 10,488,527 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2503/10 Athletes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2505/09 Rehabilitation or training
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0242 adapted to measure environmental factors, e.g. temperature, pollution
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02405 Determining heart rate variability
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02416 using photoplethysmograph signals, e.g. generated by infrared radiation A61B5/14552 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02438 with portable devices, e.g. worn by the patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1123 Discriminating type of movement, e.g. walking or running A61B5/1116, A61B5/112 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/486 Bio-feedback A61B5/375 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 22/006 Pedometers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/13 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/19 Sporting applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/42 Determining position
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/385 Transceivers carried on the body, e.g. in helmets
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/3861 carried in a hand or on fingers

Abstract

Techniques for automatic tracking of user data for exercises are disclosed. In one aspect, a method of operating a wearable device may involve determining, based on output of one or more biometric sensors, that a user of the wearable device has started an exercise and identifying a type of the exercise that the user has started based on comparing the output of the one or more biometric sensors to defined sensor data for a plurality of exercise types. The method may further include adjusting a global positioning system (GPS) receiver in response to determining the start of the exercise and based on the type of the exercise.

Claims

1. A method of operating a wearable device, the wearable device comprising one or more biometric sensors and a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, the method comprising:

determining, based on output of the one or more biometric sensors, that a user of the wearable device has started an exercise;

identifying a type of the exercise that the user has started based on comparing the output of the one or more biometric sensors to defined sensor data for a plurality of exercise types; and

adjusting the GPS receiver in response to determining the start of the exercise and based on the type of the exercise.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the GPS receiver comprises:

turning on the GPS receiver based on the start of the exercise and the type of the exercise; and

logging position data based on output of the GPS receiver.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the GPS receiver comprises increasing a temporal resolution of the GPS receiver based on the start of the exercise and the type of the exercise.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising increasing a temporal resolution of at least one of the one or more biometric sensors based on the start of the exercise.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

selecting a subset of the one or more biometric sensors for which to increase the temporal resolution based on the type of the exercise; and

increasing the temporal resolution of the subset of the one or more biometric sensors.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, based on output of the one or more biometric sensors, that the user of the wearable device has ended the exercise; and

adjusting the GPS receiver in response to determining the end of the exercise.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein adjusting the GPS receiver in response to determining the start of the exercise comprises:

turning on the GPS receiver based on the start of the exercise and the type of the exercise; and

logging position data based on output of the GPS receiver, and

wherein adjusting the GPS receiver in response to determining the end of the exercise comprises;

turning off the GPS receiver based on the end of the exercise; and

stopping the logging of position data based on output of the GPS receiver.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a confidence metric of the user having started the exercise; and

providing at least one of visual, audio, and haptic feedback to the user relating to the type of the exercise in response to determining that the confidence metric is greater than a defined threshold.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the wearable device further comprises a user interface, the providing of the at least one of visual, audio, and haptic feedback to the user comprising:

selecting an exercise metric to be displayed to the user based on the type of the exercise, the exercise metric comprising at least one of a pace, distance, heart rate, calories burned, route; and

changing information displayed on the user interface to display the exercise metric to the user.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the wearable device further comprises a user interface, the providing of the at least one of visual, audio, and haptic feedback to the user comprising:

determining an exercise-related application to be run on the wearable device based on the type of the exercise; and

launching the exercise-related application.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining an initial fix of a geolocation of the wearable device from the GPS receiver;

determining that the geolocation of the wearable device has not changed after the initial fix of the geolocation for longer than a defined time period; and

turning off the GPS receiver in response to determining that the geolocation of the wearable device has not changed for longer than the defined time period.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the output of the one or more biometric sensors is indicative of the user continuing the exercise for longer than a defined time period; and

providing at least one of visual, audio, and haptic feedback to the user relating to the exercise in response to determining that the output of the one or more biometric sensors is indicative of the user continuing the exercise for longer than the defined time period.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that a step rate of the user is greater than a defined step rate threshold; and

determining that peak accelerations of the accelerometer are greater than a defined peak acceleration threshold,

wherein the determining that the user of the wearable device has started the exercise is further based on the determination that the step rate of the user is greater than the defined step rate threshold and that the peak accelerations of the accelerometer are greater than the defined peak acceleration threshold.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the identifying of the type of the exercise further comprises identifying the type of exercise as a non-stationary running-type exercise in response to (i) determining that the step rate of the user is greater than the defined step rate threshold, and (ii) determining that the peak accelerations of the accelerometer are greater than the defined peak acceleration threshold.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the wearable device further comprises a wireless transceiver, the method further comprising:

transmitting output from the GPS receiver, via the wireless transceiver, to a third party during the exercise.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

determining that the output of the GPS receiver or the one or more biometric sensors is indicative of the exercise being inadvertently stopped for more than a defined time period,

wherein the transmitting of the output of the GPS receiver to the third party is performed in response to determining that the output of the GPS receiver or the one or more biometric sensors is indicative of the exercise being inadvertently stopped for more than the defined time period.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising analyzing the output of the one or more biometric sensors based on the type of the exercise and at least one algorithm relating to at least one of:

heart rate estimation, calorie burn estimation, distance estimation, pace estimation, and cadence estimation.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising (i) selecting at least one of the heart rate estimation and calorie burn estimation algorithms and (ii) increasing a fidelity of the selected at least one algorithm based on the identified type of the exercise.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein analyzing the output of the one or more biometric sensors comprises selecting the at least one algorithm from a plurality of algorithms based on the type of exercise.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more biometric sensors include an altimeter, the method further comprising:

turning on the altimeter based on the start of the exercise and the type of the exercise; and

logging elevation data based on output of the altimeter.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more biometric sensors include at least one of a step counter and an accelerometer.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising logging a first set of position data based on a first duty cycle output of the GPS receiver, wherein adjusting the GPS receiver comprises logging a second set of position data based on a second duty cycle output of the GPS receiver, wherein the second duty cycle output has a higher temporal resolution than the first duty cycle output.

23. A wearable device, comprising:

one or more biometric sensors;

a global positioning system (GPS) receiver;

at least one processor coupled to the one or more biometric sensors and the GPS receiver; and

a memory storing computer-executable instructions for controlling the at least one processor to;

determine, based on output of the one or more biometric sensors, that a user of the wearable device has started an exercise;

identify a type of the exercise that the user has started based on comparing the output of the one or more biometric sensors to defined sensor data for a plurality of exercise types; and

adjust the GPS receiver in response to determining the start of the exercise and based on the type of the exercise.

24. The wearable device of claim 23, wherein the memory further comprises computer-executable instructions for controlling the at least one processor to:

turn on the GPS receiver based on the start of the exercise and the type of the exercise; and

log position data based on output of the GPS receiver.

25. The wearable device of claim 23, wherein adjusting the GPS receiver comprises increasing a temporal resolution of the GPS receiver based on the start of the exercise and the type of the exercise.

26. The wearable device of claim 23, wherein the memory further comprises computer-executable instructions for controlling the at least one processor to increase a temporal resolution of at least one of the one or more biometric sensors based on the start of the exercise.

27. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, cause a processor of a wearable device to:

determine, based on output of one or more biometric sensors of the wearable device, that a user of the wearable device has started an exercise;

identify a type of the exercise that the user has started based on comparing the output of the one or more biometric sensors to defined sensor data for a plurality of exercise types; and

adjust a global positioning system (GPS) receiver of a mobile device paired with the wearable device in response to determining the start of the exercise and based on the type of the exercise.

28. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 27, further having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:

turn on the GPS receiver based on the start of the exercise and the type of the exercise; and

log position data based on output of the GPS receiver.

29. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 27, further having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to adjust the GPS receiver via increasing a temporal resolution of the GPS receiver based on the start of the exercise and the type of the exercise.

30. A method of operating a wearable device, the wearable device comprising one or more biometric sensors, the method comprising:

determining, based on output of the one or more biometric sensors, that a user of the wearable device has started an exercise;

identifying a type of the exercise that the user has started based on comparing the output of the one or more biometric sensors to defined sensor data for a plurality of exercise types;

determining that the output of the one or more biometric sensors is indicative of the user continuing the exercise for longer than a defined time period;

classifying the exercise as a discrete exercise in response to determining that the output of the one or more biometric sensors is indicative of the user continuing the exercise for longer than the defined time period; and

displaying at least one of an indicator and information relating to the discrete exercise to the user via a web-interface or a mobile device.