TRACKING ACTIVITY DATA BETWEEN WEARABLE DEVICES PAIRED WITH A COMPANION DEVICE

• US 20170366657A1
• Filed: 07/27/2017
• Published: 12/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Thompson, Aaron P., Drell, Brian R., Shortlidge, Todd A.
• Granted Patent: US 10,104,219 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 24/0062 Monitoring athletic performances, e.g. for determining the work of a user on an exercise apparatus, the completed jogging or cycling distance
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 22/006 Pedometers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/014 Hand-worn input/output arrangements, e.g. data gloves
• 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 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/385 Transceivers carried on the body, e.g. in helmets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/033 of the user plane, e.g. user's traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/33 using wearable devices, e.g. using a smartwatch or smart-glasses
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 999/99 dummy group

Abstract

A set of wearable devices, each paired with a companion device, are configured to cumulatively maintain data about physical activities even though a user may switch between wearing them over a period of time. For example, a streak of workouts over many days can be maintained while the user switches between two watches over that period of time.

Claims

1. A first wearable device that is paired with a companion device that is also paired with a second wearable device, the second wearable device having been worn during a first time period that precedes a second time period, the first wearable device comprising:

one or more sensors;

a display;

a memory;

a radio transceiver configured to wirelessly communicate with the companion device;

a processing system coupled to the one or more sensors and to the display and to the memory and to the radio transceiver, the processing system is configured to receive through the radio transceiver during the second time period a first value from the companion device, wherein the first value indicates an aspect of a physical activity event, and the processing system is configured to compare a second value stored in the memory to the first value and is configured to determine a merged value based on the comparison and is configured to store the merged value in the memory.

2. The first wearable device as in claim 1 wherein the first wearable device is one of a watch or an audio accessory or a visual accessory and wherein the aspect is a duration of the physical activity event which is defined by physical data collected by the one or more sensors and wherein the first value was derived from data collected by the second wearable device.

3. The first wearable device as in claim 2 wherein the one or more sensors comprise one or more of:

an accelerometer;

a gyroscope;

a heart rate sensor;

or a pulse sensor.

4. The first wearable device as in claim 3 wherein the duration is a streak and the first wearable device and the second wearable device cumulatively count the streak across both the first and the second time periods.

5. The first wearable device as in claim 4 wherein the merged value is determined based on a merger strategy for the type of the physical activity event;

and wherein the processing system is configured to notify a user of an achievement based on the duration exceeding an achievement goal.

6. A machine implemented method comprising:

receiving, at a wearable device in a first worn state, a first value from a companion device, wherein the first value indicates an aspect of a physical activity event and the first value was derived from data collected by another wearable device in a prior worn state occurring at a time different from and prior to the first worn state;

comparing the first value to a second value stored on the wearable device;

determining a merged value based on the comparing; and

storing the merged value on the wearable device.

7. The method as in claim 6 wherein the merged value is a counter value and the aspect is a duration of the physical activity event.

8. The method as in claim 7 wherein the physical activity event is defined by physical data collected by the one or more sensors;

and wherein each event has an associated type; and

wherein the duration is streak and the wearable device and the another wearable device cumulatively count the streak across both the first worn state and the prior worn state.

9. The method as in claim 8, wherein the method further comprises:

incrementing the counter value on the wearable device in response to the collection of data, the incrementing indicating that the duration of the physical activity event has increased.

10. The method as in claim 9, wherein the method further comprises:

notifying a user of an achievement based on the duration exceeding an achievement goal.

11. The method as in claim 6, the method further comprising:

removing duplicate notifications of an achievement;

notifying a user of the achievement based on the aspect exceeding an achievement goal;

wherein the removing of duplicate notifications prevents a second notification of the achievement.

12. The method as in claim 8, the method further comprising:

resetting the counter value to an initial value when the determining of the merged value indicates the streak was broken.

13. The method as in claim 8 wherein the physical activity event has an associated type and wherein the determining of the merged value uses a merger strategy that is based on the associated type;

wherein the associated type is one of;

streaks;

bests;

first seen values;

or streak resets; and

wherein the merger strategy is one of;

largest wins for streaks and bests;

smallest wins for first seen values;

or remote wins for streak resets.

14. The method as in claim 6 wherein the wearable device is a watch or an audio accessory or visual accessory and the one or more sensors include one or more of:

an accelerometer;

a gyroscope;

a heart rate sensor;

or a pulse sensor.

15. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing executable program instructions which when executed by a data processing system cause the data processing system to perform a method comprising:

receiving, at a wearable device in a first worn state, a first value from a companion device, wherein the first value indicates an aspect of a physical activity event and the first value was derived from data collected by another wearable device in a prior worn state occurring at a time different from and prior to the first worn state;

comparing the first value to a second value stored on the wearable device;

determining a merged value based on the comparing; and

storing the merged value on the wearable device.

16. The medium as in claim 15 wherein the merged value is a counter value and the aspect is a duration of the physical activity event.

17. The medium as in claim 16 wherein the physical activity event is defined by physical data collected by the one or more sensors;

and wherein each event has an associated type; and

wherein the duration is streak and the wearable device and the another wearable device cumulatively count the streak across both the first worn state and the prior worn state.

18. The medium as in claim 17, wherein the method further comprises:

incrementing the counter value on the wearable device in response to the collection of data, the incrementing indicating that the duration of the physical activity event has increased.

19. The medium as in claim 18, wherein the method further comprises:

notifying a user of an achievement based on the duration exceeding an achievement goal.

20. The medium as in claim 15, the method further comprising:

removing duplicate notifications of an achievement;

notifying a user of the achievement based on the aspect exceeding an achievement goal;

wherein the removing of duplicate notifications prevents a second notification of the achievement.

21. The medium as in claim 17, the method further comprising:

resetting the counter value to an initial value when the determining of the merged value indicates the streak was broken.

22. The medium as in claim 17 wherein the physical activity event has an associated type and wherein the determining of the merged value uses a merger strategy that is based on the associated type;

wherein the associated type is one of;

streaks;

bests;

first seen values;

or streak resets; and

wherein the merger strategy is one of;

largest wins for streaks and bests;

smallest wins for first seen values;

or remote wins for streak resets.

23. The medium as in claim 15 wherein the wearable device is a watch or an audio accessory or visual accessory and the one or more sensors include one or more of:

an accelerometer;

a gyroscope;

a heart rate sensor;

or a pulse sensor.