Activity metric calculation for wearable devices

• US 9,950,236 B1
• Filed: 07/15/2014
• Issued: 04/24/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verily Life Sciences LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verily Life Sciences LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Jooste, Sarel Kobus, Gibson, David Andrew, Murphy, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Crow, Stephen R
• Assistant Examiner(s): ATKINSON, GARRETT K
• Application Number:
  US14/332,191
• Time in Patent Office: 1,379 Days
• Field of Search: 482 1- 9, 482148
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/01 Measuring temperature of body parts ; Diagnostic temperature sensing, e.g. for malignant or inflamed tissue clinical contact thermometers G01K13/20
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0533 Measuring galvanic skin response
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14542 for measuring blood gases A61B5/14551 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/681 Wristwatch-type devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/746 Alarms related to a physiological condition, e.g. details of setting alarm thresholds or avoiding false alarms alarms per se G08B
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 71/06 Indicating or scoring devices for games or players , or for other sports activities
• 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: G16H 50/30 for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment

Abstract

A wearable device described herein includes a housing and a mount configured to mount the housing to an external surface of a wearer. The wearable device further includes one or more sensors configured to measure at least one physiological parameter of the wearer. The wearable device may obtain an activity metric that is based on at least one physiological parameter of the wearer measured by the one or more sensors and demographical data specific to the wearer. In some examples, the wearable may be configured to calculate the activity metric or a preliminary activity metric and to indicate the activity metric and/or preliminary activity metric to the wearer. In some examples, the wearable device may transmit the physiological parameter measurement to an external device and receive an indication of the activity metric from the external device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

obtaining, via a wearable device, a measurement of one or more physiological parameters related to a wearer of the wearable device;

in response to obtaining the measurement, transmitting, via the wearable device, the measurement to an external device;

calculating, by the wearable device, a preliminary activity metric based on both (i) the obtained measurement of the one or more physiological parameters and (ii) demographical data specific to the wearer, the demographical data being stored at the wearable device;

indicating to the wearer, by the wearable device, the preliminary activity metric;

after calculating, by the wearable device, the preliminary activity metric, receiving, via the wearable device, a subsequent activity metric from the external device;

refining the preliminary activity metric based on the received subsequent activity metric; and

indicating to the wearer, by the wearable device, the refined activity metric.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein both the preliminary activity metric and the subsequent activity metric are numeric values that are representative of an extent of physical activity engaged in by the wearer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the measurement of one or more physiological parameters comprises a measurement of one or more of the following:

a pulse, a blood-oxygen level, a Galvanic skin resistance (GSR), a skin temperature, or data from a motion sensor in the wearable device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the demographical data comprises data related to one or more of the following:

an age, a gender, a weight, an ethnicity, an occupation, or a location.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the preliminary activity metric is based on a particular calculation that is specific to the demographical data of the wearer.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the subsequent activity metric is further based on data related to a medical history of the wearer.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the medical history of the wearer comprises data regarding the wearer'"'"'s health state from a hospital or physician.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the demographical data specific to the wearer comprises first demographical data specific to the wearer, and wherein the subsequent activity metric is based on both (i) the obtained measurement of the one or more physiological parameters and (ii) second demographical data specific to the wearer.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first demographical data is a subset of the second demographical data.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the subsequent activity metric comprises an activity-metric ranking based on where the subsequent activity metric ranks among other activity metrics calculated for a plurality of other wearers of other wearable devices.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the plurality of other wearers have demographical data in one or more categories similar to the demographical data specific to the wearer of the wearable device.

12. A wearable device, comprising:

one or more sensors configured to measure physiological parameters related to a wearer of the wearable device; and

one or more processors configured to;

cause the one or more sensors to obtain a measurement of at least one physiological parameter;

transmit the obtained measurement to an external device;

calculate a preliminary activity metric based on both (i) the obtained measurement of the at least one physiological parameter and (ii) demographical data specific to the wearer, the demographical data being stored at the wearable device;

indicate the preliminary activity metric to the wearer;

after calculating the preliminary activity metric, receive, from the external device, a subsequent activity metric;

refine the preliminary activity metric based on the received subsequent activity metric; and

indicate the refined activity metric to the wearer.

13. The wearable device of claim 12, wherein both the preliminary activity metric and the subsequent activity metric are numeric values that are representative of an extent of physical activity engaged in by the wearer.

14. The wearable device of claim 12, wherein the subsequent activity metric is based on both (i) the obtained measurement of the one or more physiological parameters and (ii) second demographical data specific to the wearer.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon program instructions that upon execution by a processor, cause performance of a set of operations comprising:

via a wearable device, a measurement of one or more physiological parameters related to a wearer of the wearable device;

in response to obtaining the measurement, transmitting, via the wearable device, the measurement to an external device;

calculating a preliminary activity metric based on both (i) the obtained measurement of the one or more physiological parameters and (ii) demographical data specific to the wearer, the demographical data being stored at the wearable device;

indicating the preliminary activity metric to the wearer;

after calculating the preliminary activity metric, receiving, via the wearable device, a subsequent activity metric from the external device;

refining the preliminary activity metric based on the received subsequent activity metric; and

indicating to the wearer, via the wearable device, the refined activity metric.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the demographical data specific to the wearer comprises first demographical data specific to the wearer, and wherein the subsequent activity metric is based on both (i) the obtained measurement of the one or more physiological parameters and (ii) second demographical data specific to the wearer that is different from the first demographical data specific to the wearer.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the measurement of one or more physiological parameters comprises a measurement of one or more of the following:

a pulse, a blood-oxygen level, a Galvanic skin resistance (GSR), a skin temperature, or data from a motion sensor in the wearable device.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the demographical data comprises data related to one or more of the following:

an age, a gender, a weight, an ethnicity, an occupation, or a location.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the subsequent activity metric comprises an activity-metric ranking based on where the subsequent activity metric ranks among other activity metrics calculated for a plurality of other wearers of other wearable devices.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the plurality of other wearers have demographical data in one or more categories similar to the demographical data specific to the wearer of the wearable device.