Systems and Methods for Tracking Users of Wearable Devices

• US 20180082051A1
• Filed: 09/19/2017
• Published: 03/22/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2016
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Wal-Mart Stores Texas LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Inventors: Gibbs, Cathy, Johnson, Christopher Soames, Pearson, Kathleen Elizabeth
• Application Number:
  US15/708,826
• Publication Number:
  US 20180082051A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/34 involving the use of external additional devices, e.g. dongles or smart cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1097 Task assignment
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/28 the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• 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

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are related to a distributed system in which wearable devices communicate with computing systems to implement one or more actions or operations and sensor data transmitted by the wearable devices to the computing systems can be utilized to determine information about tasks being performed by the wearers of the wearable devices. Embodiments of the distributed system can include the wearable devices, wireless receivers (or transceivers), and a computing system.

Claims

1. A distributed system comprising:

a plurality of wearable devices, each of the plurality of wearable device comprising;

an accelerometer;

a wireless transmitter;

a controller operatively coupled to the accelerometer and the wireless transmitter, the controller being configured to receive acceleration data output from the accelerometer and to wirelessly transmit the acceleration data with a unique identifier; and

a band housing the accelerometer, the wireless transmitter, and the controller, the band being configured to be worn by a human;

a plurality of wireless receivers distributed throughout a facility, at least one of the plurality of wireless receivers configured to receive the acceleration data and the unique identifier wirelessly transmitted from at least one of the plurality of wearable devices in response to the at least one of the plurality of wireless receivers being within a transmission range of the at least one of the plurality of wearable devices; and

a computing system operatively coupled to the wireless signal receivers, the computing system being configured to (i) generate a first parameter in a physical memory location indicating an arrival of the wearable device in response to receipt of the unique identifier and (ii) determine a status of a task being performed by the human in response to receipt of the acceleration data by the at least one of the plurality of wireless receivers and a duration over which the at least one of the plurality of wireless receivers receives the acceleration data.

2. The distributed system of claim 1, wherein the computing system is configured to at least one of set a second parameter in a second physical memory location or reset the first parameter in the first physical memory location in response to the receipt of the unique identifier a second time by the at least one of the plurality of wireless receivers to indicate a departure of the human wearing the wearable device from the facility.

3. The distributed system of claim 1, wherein the computing system is configured to set the second parameter or reset the first parameter in response to receipt of the unique identifier the second time occurring after a time period as elapsed.

4. The distributed system of claim 1, wherein in response to receipt of the unique identifier wirelessly transmitted from the at least one of the plurality of wearable devices by the at least one of the wireless receivers, the computing system is configured to establish a first location of the at least one of the plurality of wearable devices.

5. The distributed system of claim 1, wherein in response to the plurality of wireless receivers receiving the unique identifier and the acceleration data subsequent to the computing system setting the first parameter, the computing system is configured to determine a second location of the human based on an aggregation of the acceleration data.

6. The distributed system of claim 1, wherein in response to a subset of the plurality of wireless receivers receiving the unique identifier and the acceleration data subsequent to the computing system setting the first parameter, the computing system is configured to determine a second location of the human based on the subset of the plurality of wireless receivers and a signal strength of received wireless transmissions from the at least one wearable device.

7. The distributed system of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of wireless transmitters geographically distributed throughout a facility,

wherein the plurality of wireless transmitters are configured to wirelessly transmit the unique identifier and a description of the task to the at least one wearable device in response to the first parameter being set by the computing system, and

wherein the at least one wearable device comprises:

a wireless receiver operatively coupled to the controller to receive the unique identifier and the description of the task; and

a display embedded in the carrier and operatively coupled to the controller, the display being controlled by the controller to render the description of the task on the display.

8. The distributed system of claim 1, further comprising a computer terminal configured to receive the unique identifier transmitted from the at least one wearable device in response to the computing terminal being within a transmission range of the computer terminal, and to accept the unique identifier as a first step authentication code in a two-step authentication process to log on to the computer terminal.

9. The distributed system of claim 1, wherein the at least one wearable device comprises a heart rate monitor, and the controller wirelessly transmits heart-rate data output from the heart rate monitor, and the computing system is configured to determine a level of energy exerted by the human in performing the task.

10. The distributed system of claim 1, wherein the carrier housing the accelerometer, wireless transmitter, and controller comprises a wristband.

11. A wearable device comprising:

a wristband having a body formed of one or more flexible straps; and

circuitry embedded in the wristband, the circuitry comprising;

an accelerometer;

a wireless transceiver;

a display; and

a controller operatively coupled to the accelerometer, the wireless transceiver, and the display, the controller being configured to (i) receive, via the wireless transceiver, a wireless transmission including a unique identifier associated with the wristband and a description of a task to be performed by a wearer of the wristband, (ii) render the description of the task on the display, (iii) receive acceleration data output from the accelerometer, and (iv) wirelessly transmit the acceleration data with the unique identifier, wherein the acceleration data is indicative of a status of a task.

12. The wearable device of claim 11, further comprises a power source embedded in the wristband, the power source being operatively coupled to the accelerometer, the wireless transceiver, the display, and the controller.

13. The wearable device of claim 11, further comprising a switch operatively coupled to the controller,

wherein, in response to actuation of the switch when the description of the task is rendered on the display, the controller is configured to reset a first physical memory location at which the acceleration data is stored.

14. The wearable device of claim 13, wherein after the first physical memory location is reset, the controller stores contemporaneously generated acceleration data in the first physical memory location and associates the contemporaneously generated acceleration data with the task.

15. The wearable device of claim 14, further comprising a heart rate monitor, wherein, in response to actuation of the switch when the description of the task is rendered on the display, the controller is configured to determine a level of energy exerted by the wearer of the wristband while performing the task.

16. A method in a distributed system, the method comprising:

receiving a first wireless transmission from a wearable device by a first wireless receiver, the first wireless transmission including a unique identifier;

generating a first parameter in a first physical memory location in response to the receipt of the unique identifier, the first parameter indicating an arrival of the human wearing the wearable device;

receiving, subsequent to the computing system setting the first parameter, a second wireless transmission from the wearable device by a second wireless receiver, the second wireless transmission including the unique identifier and acceleration data; and

receiving additional wireless transmissions from the wearable device, the additional wireless transmissions including the unique identifier and the acceleration data;

determining a status of a task being performed by the wearer of the wearable device based on at least the acceleration data received in the additional wireless transmissions, the second wireless receiver that receives the additional wireless transmissions, and a duration over which the second wireless receiver receives the additional wireless transmissions.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

resetting a second physical memory location at which the acceleration data is stored in response to receipt of the first wireless transmission by the first wireless receiver;

storing the acceleration data in the second wireless transmission at the second physical memory location;

determining a second location of the wearable device based on the acceleration data in the second wireless transmission.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

resetting the second physical memory location in response to receipt of the second wireless transmission by the second wireless receiver; and

storing the acceleration data in the additional wireless transmissions at the second physical memory location.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

setting a second parameter in a third physical memory location in response to the receipt of the unique identifier a second time by the first wireless receiver to indicate a departure of the wearer of the wearable device.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

resetting the first parameter in the first physical memory location in response to the receipt of the unique identifier a second time by the first wireless receiver to indicate a departure of the wearer of the wearable device.