Methods, systems and devices for automatic linking of activity tracking devices to user devices

• US 9,692,844 B2
• Filed: 07/11/2016
• Issued: 06/27/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fitbit, Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Fitbit, Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Park, James, Messenger, Jayson, Burton, Barry
• Primary Examiner(s): Raymond, Edward
• Application Number:
  US15/207,282
• Publication Number:
  US 20160323401A1
• Time in Patent Office: 351 Days
• Field of Search: 702160, 702150, 702182-185
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0214 of power generation or supply
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0242 adapted to measure environmental factors, e.g. temperature, pollution
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0271 using a remote monitoring unit
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02055 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular condition and temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/021 Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/024 Detecting, measuring or recording pulse rate or heart rate A61B5/0205, A61B5/021 take precedence
• 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 5/222 combined with detection or measurement of physiological parameters, e.g. heart rate
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4809 Sleep detection, i.e. determining whether a subject is asleep or not
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4812 Detecting sleep stages or cycles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4815 Sleep quality
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6838 Clamps or clips
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 22/006 Pedometers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/30 relating to physical therapies or activities, e.g. physiotherapy, acupressure or exercising
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 : Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 : based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 : Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• 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: H04W 4/21 : for social networking applications
• 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 76/10 : Connection setup

Abstract

Methods, systems and devices are provided for automatically linking a device to an activity tracking device. One method includes receiving, at a device, an identifier from a website. The identifier is for an activity tracker that has been paired to a user account of the website. The method also includes scanning, by the device, for identifiers advertised by one or more activity trackers and identifying the activity tracker by matching the advertised identifier to the identifier obtained from the website. The method then includes automatically establishing a link between the activity tracker and the device.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a device, an identifier from a website, the identifier being for an activity tracker that has been paired to a user account of the website;

scanning, by the device, for identifiers advertised by one or more activity trackers;

identifying the activity tracker by matching one of the advertised identifiers to the identifier obtained from the website; and

automatically establishing a link between the activity tracker and the device, the method being executed by a processor.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the device is a mobile device, and wherein the receiving, scanning, identifying and automatically linking is started just after a mobile app of the mobile device is opened.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertised identifiers are received from the one or more activity trackers, the advertised identifiers containing the identifiers of each of the activity trackers.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the advertised identifiers is a serial number, or is a subset of a serial number, or is generated from a serial number of the respective one or more of the activity trackers.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the scanning is within a proximity distance to the device, the proximity distance being within a Bluetooth wireless communication distance.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the device is a mobile device or a smartphone.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier is a semi-unique identifier (SU-ID).

8. A device, comprising:

a memory;

wireless communication logic for communicating over the internet with a website and for communicating locally with an activity tracker; and

a processor, wherein the processor is configured to;

process instructions for the device to enable receiving of an identifier from the website, the identifier being for the activity tracker that has been paired to a user account of the website;

scan for identifiers advertised by the activity tracker or other activity trackers;

identify the activity tracker as a match between one of the advertised identifiers and the identifier received from the website; and

automatically establish a link between the activity tracker and the device based on the match.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to start processing the scan for identifiers advertised by said activity tracker or said other activity trackers just after a mobile application is opened on the device.

10. The device of claim 8, wherein the advertised identifiers contain identifying information of the respective activity trackers.

11. The device of claim 8, wherein each of the advertised identifiers is one of a serial number, or is a subset of a serial number, or is generated from a serial number.

12. The device of claim 8, wherein the device is configured to scan within a proximity distance to the device, the proximity distance being within a Bluetooth wireless communication distance.

13. The device of claim 8, wherein the device is a mobile device or a smartphone.

14. The device of claim 8, wherein the identifier is a semi-unique identifier (SU-ID).

15. Computer readable media having program instructions for execution by a processor of a device, comprising:

program instructions for receiving an identifier from a website, the identifier being for an activity tracker that has been paired to a user account of the website;

program instructions for scanning for identifiers advertised by one or more activity trackers;

program instructions for identifying the activity tracker by matching one of the advertised identifiers to the identifier obtained from the website; and

program instructions for automatically establishing a link between the activity tracker and the device.

16. The computer readable media of claim 15, wherein the program instructions for receiving, scanning, identifying and automatically linking are configured to be executed just after a mobile app is opened on the device.

17. The computer readable media of claim 15, wherein the advertised identifiers are received from the one or more activity trackers, the advertised identifiers containing the identifiers of each of the activity trackers.

18. The computer readable media of claim 15, wherein each of the advertised identifiers is a serial number, or is a subset of a serial number, or is generated from a serial number.

19. The computer readable media of claim 15, wherein the program instructions for scanning, when executed, scan within a proximity distance to the device, the proximity distance being within a Bluetooth wireless communication distance.

20. The computer readable media of claim 15, wherein the device is a mobile device or a smartphone, and the identifier is a semi-unique identifier (SU-ID).

21. A device, comprising:

a memory;

wireless communication logic for communicating over the internet with a website and for communicating locally with an activity tracker; and

a processor configured to execute instructions to;

obtain a semi-unique identifier from the website, the semi-unique identifier being for the activity tracker that has been paired to a user account of the website;

scan for the semi-unique identifier, the scanning being of advertising messages having semi-unique identifiers generated by one or more activity trackers;

identify the activity tracker by matching the semi-unique identifier obtained from the website to a semi-unique identifier advertised in one of the messages; and

establish a link between the activity tracker and the device, the link being established without requiring user initiation to link the activity tracker to the device.

22. The device of claim 21, wherein the device is a mobile device, and wherein the instructions processed by the processor to obtain, scan, identify and link are triggered automatically upon processing an opening and logging into a mobile app of the mobile device.

23. The device of claim 21, wherein each of the advertising messages is a subset of a serial number of an activity tracker.

24. The device of claim 21, wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions for the scanning within a proximity distance, the proximity distance being within a Bluetooth wireless communication distance.

25. The device of claim 21, wherein the processor of the device is further configured to execute a client activity tracking application.

26. The device of claim 25, wherein the client activity application has access to a relationship between the semi-unique identifier and the activity tracker.

27. The device of claim 26, wherein the scanning by the processor for the semi-unique identifier is managed by the client activity application, such that activity trackers that do not advertise the semi-unique identifier are excluded from connection with the device.

28. The device of claim 21, wherein the device is a mobile device or a smartphone.

29. The device of claim 21, wherein the processor is configured to execute firmware having program instructions to control the scanning, the identifying and the linking.

30. The device of claim 21, wherein the wireless communication logic is facilitated by a Bluetooth low energy (BTLE) protocol, or a Bluetooth (BT) protocol, or a WiFi protocol, or a cellular protocol, or a combination thereof.