Collaborative activity-data acquisition

• US 9,063,164 B1
• Filed: 10/09/2013
• Issued: 06/23/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fitbit, Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Fitbit, Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Yuen, Shelten Gee Jao, Panther, Heiko Gernot Albert, Burton, Barry Christopher, Roberts, Timothy M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Charioui, Mohamed
• Application Number:
  US14/050,228
• Time in Patent Office: 622 Days
• Field of Search: 702/127, 702/141, 702/142, 702/149, 702/150, 702/158, 702/160, 702/166, 702/177, 702/179, 702/183, 702/188
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6898 Portable consumer electronic devices, e.g. music players, telephones, tablet computers
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 22/006 Pedometers

Abstract

In a portable activity-monitoring device, an instruction to display information regarding activity of an individual bearing the portable activity-monitoring device is received via a user-interface. In response to the instruction to display information, a command is wirelessly transmitted to a discrete data-collection device requesting the discrete data-collection device to collect data via one or more sensors thereof and to convey the collected data to the portable activity-monitoring device. Thereafter, the portable activity-monitoring device wirelessly receives the collected data from the discrete data-collection device and displays the information regarding activity of the individual bearing the portable activity-monitoring device, the displayed information being based, at least in part, on the collected data.

Claims

1. A method of operation within a portable activity-monitoring device, the method comprising:

receiving, via a user-interface of the portable activity-monitoring device, an instruction to monitor activity of a human operator wearing or carrying the portable activity-monitoring device;

in response to the instruction to monitor activity of the human operator, wirelessly transmitting to a discrete data-collection device an instruction to collect data via one or more sensors of the discrete data-collection device and to convey the collected data to the portable activity-monitoring device;

wirelessly receiving the collected data from the discrete data-collection device;

displaying information regarding activity of the human operator on a display of the portable activity-monitoring device, the displayed information being based, at least in part, on the collected data; and

collecting additional data via one or more sensors of the portable activity-monitoring device, and wherein displaying the information regarding activity of the human operator comprises displaying information regarding activity of the human operator based in part on the collected data from the discrete data-collection device and in part on the additional data collected via the one or more sensors of the portable activity-monitoring device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein wirelessly transmitting to the discrete data-collection device an instruction to collect data comprises wirelessly transmitting to a mobile telephone an instruction to collect data via one or more sensors of the mobile telephone.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein wirelessly transmitting to the discrete data-collection device an instruction to collect data via one or more sensors of the discrete data-collection device comprises wirelessly transmitting to the discrete data-collection device an instruction to collect positioning data via a global positioning system of the discrete data-collection device.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein displaying the information regarding activity of the human operator comprises displaying change in position of the human operator over time based at least in part on the positioning data.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the instruction to monitor activity of the human operator wearing or carrying the portable activity-monitoring device comprises detecting tactile input via the user-interface of the activity-monitoring device.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein displaying the information regarding activity of the human operator wearing or carrying the portable activity-monitoring device comprises detecting an action of the human operator indicating a desire to view the information, and displaying the information regarding activity of the human operator in response to detecting the action.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein detecting the action of the human operator comprises detecting a gesture of the human operator via one or more sensors of the portable activity-monitoring device.

8. A portable activity-monitoring device comprising:

a user-input interface to receive an instruction to monitor activity of a human operator wearing or carrying the portable activity-monitoring device;

communication circuitry to (i) wirelessly transmit to a discrete data-collection device an instruction to collect data via one or more sensors of the discrete data-collection device and to convey the collected data to the portable activity-monitoring device and (ii) wirelessly receive the collected data from the discrete data-collection device;

a display element to display information regarding activity of the human operator, the displayed information being based, at least in part, on the collected data; and

one or more sensors to collect additional data, and wherein the display element to display the information regarding activity of the human operator displays information regarding activity of the human operator based in part on the collected data from the discrete data-collection device and in part on the additional data collected via the one or more sensors of the portable activity-monitoring device.

9. The portable activity-monitoring device of claim 8 wherein the communication circuitry to wirelessly transmit to the discrete data-collection device an instruction to collect data comprises circuitry to wirelessly transmit to a mobile telephone an instruction to collect data via one or more sensors of the mobile telephone.

10. The portable activity-monitoring device of claim 8 wherein the communication circuitry to wirelessly transmit to the discrete data-collection device an instruction to collect data via one or more sensors of the discrete data-collection device comprises circuitry to wirelessly transmit to the discrete data-collection device an instruction to collect positioning data via a global positioning system of the discrete data-collection device.

11. The portable activity-monitoring device of claim 10 wherein the display element to display the information regarding activity of the human operator displays change in position of the human operator over time based at least in part on the positioning data.

12. The portable activity-monitoring device of claim 8 wherein the user-input interface to receive the instruction to monitor activity of the human operator wearing or carrying the portable activity-monitoring device comprises a tactile interface to detect tactile user-input.

13. The portable activity-monitoring device of claim 8 further comprising:

one or more sensors to detect an action of the human operator wearing or carrying the portable activity-monitoring device indicating a desire to view the information regarding activity of the human operator wearing or carrying the portable activity-monitoring device; and

circuitry to cause the display element to display the information regarding activity of the human operator wearing or carrying the portable activity-monitoring device in response to detection of the action via the one or more sensors.

14. The portable activity-monitoring device of claim 13 wherein the one or more sensors to detect the action of the human operator wearing or carrying the portable activity-monitoring device comprise at least one sensor to detect a gesture of the human operator.

15. A method of operation within a portable activity-monitoring device, the method comprising:

acquiring data indicating motion of a human operator wearing or carrying the portable activity-monitoring device from one or more sensors of the portable activity-monitoring device;

wirelessly instructing a discrete data-collection device to generate and transmit global positioning data;

wirelessly receiving the global positioning data transmitted by the discrete data-collection device; and

displaying activity data on a display of the portable activity-monitoring device, the activity data indicating activity of the human operator and being based in part on the motion-indicating data from one or more sensors and in part on the global positioning data.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the discrete data-collection device comprises a mobile telephone having global positioning circuitry.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein acquiring data indicating motion of the human operator from one or more sensors comprises acquiring data indicating ambulatory motion of the human operator at least in part from an accelerometer.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein acquiring data indicating motion of the human operator comprises acquiring data from an altimeter indicating a change in altitude of the human operator.

19. The method of claim 15 wherein displaying the activity data comprises displaying at least one of (i) a distance traveled by the human operator, (ii) one or more speeds at which the human operator has traveled, or (iii) an elevation change of the human operator.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising displaying a number of ambulatory steps taken by the human operator to cover the distance traveled, wherein the number of ambulatory steps is determined from the motion-indicating data and the distance traveled is determined at least in part from the global positioning data.

21. The method of claim 19 wherein displaying the one or more speeds at which the human operator has traveled comprises displaying at least one of (i) a plurality of different speeds at which the human operator has traveled or (ii) an average speed of the human operator over the distance traveled.

22. A portable activity-monitoring device comprising:

one or more sensors to acquire data indicating motion of a human operator wearing or carrying the portable activity-monitoring device;

communication circuitry to (i) wirelessly instruct a discrete data-collection device to generate and transmit global positioning data and (ii) wirelessly receive the global positioning data transmitted by the discrete data-collection device; and

a display element to display information indicating activity of the human operator based in part on the motion-indicating data acquired by the one or more sensors and in part on the global positioning data.

23. The portable activity-monitoring device of claim 22 wherein the discrete data-collection device comprises a mobile telephone having global positioning circuitry.

24. The portable activity-monitoring device of claim 22 wherein the one or more sensors to acquire data indicating motion of the human operator comprises an accelerometer to acquiring data indicating ambulatory motion of the human operator.

25. The portable activity-monitoring device of claim 22 wherein the one or more sensors to acquire data indicating motion of the human operator comprise an altimeter that indicates a change in altitude of the human operator.

26. The portable activity-monitoring device of claim 22 wherein the display element to display the information indicating activity of the human operator comprises a display element to display at least one of a distance traveled by the human operator, (ii) one or more speeds at which the human operator has traveled, or (iii) an elevation change of the human operator.

27. The portable activity-monitoring device of claim 26 wherein the display element is further to display a number of ambulatory steps taken by the human operator to cover the distance traveled, wherein the number of ambulatory steps is determined from the motion-indicating data and the distance traveled is determined at least in part from the global positioning data.

28. The portable activity-monitoring device of claim 26 wherein the display element to display the one or more speeds at which the human operator has traveled displays at least one of a plurality of different speeds at which the human operator has traveled or (ii) an average speed of the human operator over the distance traveled.