Transfer of measurement data related to physical exercise

• US 9,833,141 B2
• Filed: 08/01/2013
• Issued: 12/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Polar Electro Oy
• Original Assignee: Polar Electro Oy
• Inventors: Kampman, Ville, Jomppanen, Tuomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Koharski, Christopher D
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bays, Pamela M
• Application Number:
  US13/957,279
• Publication Number:
  US 20140039328A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,587 Days
• Field of Search: 600508, 600509, 600523, 600527
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0004 characterised by the type of physiological signal transmitted
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0006 ECG or EEG signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/002 Monitoring the patient using a local or closed circuit, e.g. in a room or building A61B5/0017 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/024 Detecting, measuring or recording pulse rate or heart rate A61B5/0205, A61B5/021 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation

Abstract

A system for processing heart rate measurement data measured during a physical exercise of a user. The system includes a server computer configured to: associate, during a registration procedure for a measurement device of a user, a device identifier of the measurement device with a user account of the user stored in the server computer; receive a device identifier and real-time heart rate measurement data over a network connection; identify the user'"'"'s measurement device from the received device identifier; and store the received heart rate measurement data to the user account of the user on the basis of the association between the received device identifier and the corresponding user account.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a server computer comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including a computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the server computer to perform operations comprising;

storing, in the at least one memory, a plurality of user accounts, each user account associated with a different user;

associating, by using a user account manager device, during a registration procedure for a heart rate measurement device of a user, a device identifier of the heart rate measurement device with a user account of the user comprised in the plurality of user accounts, wherein said heart rate measurement device is attachable to the user'"'"'s body;

receiving, over a wireless network connection by using a wireless network interface device, after the registration procedure, a device identifier together with heart rate measurement data of the user, the heart rate measurement data measured by using a heart rate measurement sensor;

identifying, by using the user account manager device and on the basis of the received device identifier, amongst the plurality of user accounts, the user'"'"'s user account and associated user attributes stored in the identified user account;

processing, by using a heart rate data processing device and on the basis of the user attributes stored in the identified user account of the user, the received heart rate measurement data of the user into advanced performance data of the user, the advanced performance data comprising at least one of an energy expenditure, fitness parameter, relaxation estimate, training load, recovery estimate, dehydration estimate, and a state indicator, wherein the state indicator represents a state of a current exercise performed by the user relative to a predetermined exercise schedule;

storing, in the server computer, the advanced performance data to the user account of the user on the basis of the association between the received device identifier and the associated user account; and

causing display of the advanced performance data to the user by using the network interface device; and

outputting an indication signal based on the advanced performance data, the indication signal representing the state of a current exercise being performed by the user relative to a predetermined exercise schedule.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising said heart rate measurement device comprising:

at least one heart rate measurement sensor for measuring said heart rate measurement data from the user'"'"'s body; and

a wireless communication circuitry configured to transmit the heart rate measurement data and the device identifier over a wireless connection to an equipment interface unit connected to the server computer.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein said heart rate measurement device is configured to acquire and store a network address of the server computer during the registration procedure and to transmit the network address of the server computer to the equipment interface unit in connection with the heart rate measurement data over the wireless connection.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising an equipment interface unit arranged to communicate with the server computer over the network connection and with said heart rate measurement device over said wireless connection, to receive from the heart rate measurement device a device identifier of the heart rate measurement device and heart rate measurement data, to determine a network address of the server computer, and to forward the heart rate measurement data and the device identifier of the heart rate measurement device to the server computer over the network connection.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the equipment interface unit is arranged to store an address database linking device identifiers of a plurality of heart rate measurement devices with server computer network addresses, to determine the network address of the server computer from the received device identifier of the heart rate measurement device on the basis of said link between the network address of the server computer and the received device identifier of the heart rate measurement device in the database.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the equipment interface unit is arranged to determine the network address of the server computer from the network address received from the heart rate measurement device.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the equipment interface unit comprises at least one physiological measurement sensor arranged to measure physiological measurement data related to the user during exercise, wherein the equipment interface unit is further configured to transmit the physiological measurement data together with the device identifier of the heart rate measurement device to the server computer over the same network connection through which the heart rate measurement data is transmitted.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the server computer is configured to compute the advanced performance data from the received heart rate measurement data and to transmit the advanced performance data to the network connection in real time.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the device identifier used by the server computer to identify the user'"'"'s user account is a medium access control address or an internet protocol address of the heart rate measurement device.

10. A method comprising:

storing, in a server computer, a plurality of user accounts, each user account associated with a different user;

associating, by using a user account manager device, during a registration procedure for a heart rate measurement device of a user, a device identifier of the heart rate measurement device with a user account of the user comprised in the plurality of user accounts, wherein said heart rate measurement device is attachable to the user'"'"'s body;

receiving, over a wireless network connection by using a wireless network interface device, after the registration procedure, a device identifier together with heart rate measurement data, the heart rate measurement data measured by using a heart rate measurement sensor;

identifying, by using the user account manager device and on the basis of the received device identifier, amongst the plurality of user accounts, the user'"'"'s user account and associated user attributes stored in the identified user account;

processing, by using a heart rate data processing device and on the basis of the user attributes stored in the identified user account of the user, the received heart rate measurement data of the user into advanced performance data of the user, the advanced performance data comprising at least one of an energy expenditure, fitness parameter, relaxation estimate, training load, recovery estimate, dehydration estimate, and a state indicator, wherein the state indicator represents a state of a current exercise performed by the user relative to a predetermined exercise schedule;

storing, in the server computer, the advanced performance data to the user account of the user on the basis of the association between the received device identifier and the associated user account; and

causing display of the advanced performance data to the user by using the network interface device; and

outputting an indication signal based on the advanced performance data, the indication signal representing the state of a current exercise being performed by the user relative to a predetermined exercise schedule.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

measuring said heart rate measurement data from the user'"'"'s body by the heart rate measurement device; and

transmitting the heart rate measurement data and the device identifier over a wireless connection from the heart rate measurement device to an equipment interface unit connected to the server computer.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

acquiring a network address of the server computer in the heart rate measurement device during the registration procedure;

storing the network address in a memory of the heart rate measurement device; and

transmitting the network address of the server computer from the heart rate measurement device to the equipment interface unit in connection with the heart rate measurement data over the wireless connection.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein an equipment interface unit is arranged to communicate with the server computer over the network connection and with said heart rate measurement device over said wireless connection, the method further comprising:

receiving, in the equipment interface unit from the heart rate measurement device over the wireless connection, a device identifier of the heart rate measurement device and heart rate measurement data;

determining a network address of the server computer in the equipment interface unit; and

forwarding the heart rate measurement data and the device identifier of the heart rate measurement device from the equipment interface unit to the server computer over the network connection.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

storing in the equipment interface unit an address database linking device identifiers of a plurality of heart rate measurement devices with server computer network addresses; and

determining the network address of the server computer from the received device identifier of the heart rate measurement device on the basis of said link between the network address of the server computer and the received device identifier of the heart rate measurement device in the database.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising, in the equipment interface unit, determining the network address of the server computer from the network address received over the wireless connection from the heart rate measurement device.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising in the equipment interface unit:

measuring with at least one physiological measurement sensor physiological measurement data related to the user during exercise; and

transmitting the physiological measurement data together with the device identifier of the heart rate measurement device to the server computer over the same network connection through which the heart rate measurement data is transmitted.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising in the server computer:

computing the advanced performance data from the received heart rate measurement data; and

transmitting the advanced performance data to the network connection in real time.