Portable biometric monitoring devices having location sensors

• US 10,838,073 B2
• Filed: 01/08/2018
• Issued: 11/17/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fitbit, Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Fitbit, Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Park, James, Panther, Heiko Gernot Albert, Yuen, Shelten Gee Jao
• Primary Examiner(s): Galt, Cassi J
• Application Number:
  US15/864,463
• Publication Number:
  US 20180224559A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,044 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/05 providing aiding data
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/09 providing processing capability normally carried out by the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/14 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/19 Sporting applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/258 relating to the satellite constellation, e.g. almanac, ephemeris data, lists of satellites in view
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/27 creating, predicting or correcting ephemeris or almanac data within the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/42 Determining position
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18513 Transmission in a satellite or space-based system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/651 for reducing power consumption by affecting camera operations, e.g. sleep mode, hibernation mode or power off of selective parts of the camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/661 Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/185 from a mobile camera, e.g. for remote control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• 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: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Assisted-GPS for a portable biometric monitoring device is provided. The portable biometric monitoring device may obtain updated ephemeris data from an associated secondary device via a short-range, low-power communication protocol. The secondary device may be a computing device such as a smartphone, tablet, or laptop. Various rules may control when the ephemeris data is updated. The ephemeris data may be used in the calculation of the global position of the portable biometric monitoring device. Additionally, the portable biometric monitoring device may communicate downloaded position fixing data to the associated secondary device. The associated secondary device may then calculate the global position from the position fixing data.

Claims

1. A wearable biometric monitoring device comprising:

one or more biometric sensors comprising a motion-detecting sensor configured to detect motion of the wearable biometric monitoring device and output motion data to a controller;

communication circuitry configured to wirelessly receive navigation data and output data to the controller; and

the controller with one or more processors and a memory, wherein the one or more processors, the memory, the one or more biometric sensors, and the communication circuitry, are communicatively connected and the memory is configured to store program instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to;

(a) determine that one or more ephemeris update conditions have been met, wherein the one or more ephemeris update conditions comprise an ephemeris update condition that the wearable biometric monitoring device does not have stored updated ephemeris data in the memory, wherein the updated ephemeris data contains information about satellite positions usable for position fixing, and wherein the one or more ephemeris update conditions further comprise an ephemeris update condition that the one or more processors have spare processing ability exceeding a threshold processing ability; and

(b) obtain, responsive to (a), the updated ephemeris data via the communication circuitry.

2. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the wearable biometric monitoring device further comprises an ultraviolet light sensor, and the one or more ephemeris update conditions further comprise an ephemeris update condition that data generated by the ultraviolet light sensor indicate the wearable biometric monitoring device is outdoors.

3. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the wearable biometric monitoring device further comprises an ultraviolet light sensor, and the one or more ephemeris update conditions further comprise an ephemeris update condition that data generated by the ultraviolet light sensor indicate the wearable biometric monitoring device has moved.

4. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the one or more ephemeris update conditions further comprise an ephemeris update condition that motion data from the motion-detecting sensor indicate that the wearable biometric monitoring device has moved after the wearable biometric monitoring device has been substantially stationary.

5. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the wearable biometric monitoring device further comprises a battery, and the one or more ephemeris update conditions further comprise an ephemeris update condition that the battery has a battery charge level exceeding a battery charge threshold.

6. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the one or more ephemeris update conditions further comprise an ephemeris update condition that Wi-Fi or cell tower multilateration data indicate that the wearable biometric monitoring device is outdoors, wherein the Wi-Fi or cell tower multilateration data are received via the communication circuitry from another device or generated by a Wi-Fi or cellular receiver comprised in the wearable biometric monitoring device.

7. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the one or more ephemeris update conditions further comprise an ephemeris update condition that a current time meets requirements of an ephemeris update schedule.

8. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 7, wherein the ephemeris update schedule is determined based on a pattern of interaction of a user with the wearable biometric monitoring device.

9. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 8, wherein (b) comprises:

obtain X amount of days of updated ephemeris data via the communication circuitry, and store the updated ephemeris data in the memory, wherein X is a number between 1 and 30, X being determined from the pattern of interaction of the user with the wearable biometric monitoring device.

10. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 5, wherein the program instructions cause the one or more processors to determine that the current time meets the requirements of an ephemeris update schedule by:

(i) determining a time remaining from the current time before stored ephemeris data is no longer current;

(ii) comparing the time remaining determined in (i) to an ephemeris data update time threshold; and

(iii) determining that the time remaining is less than the ephemeris data update time threshold.

11. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the program instructions cause the one or more processors to obtain biometric data from the one or more biometric sensors, and calculate from the biometric data a biometric performance measurement selected from the group consisting of calories burned, step count, heart rate, ambulatory speed, blood pressure, blood glucose, skin conduction, body temperature, sleep data, and stairs climbed.

12. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the one or more ephemeris update conditions further comprise an ephemeris update condition that a position or activity tracking mode using the one or more biometric sensors is activated.

13. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the updated ephemeris data are obtained from one or more navigation satellites.

14. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 13, wherein the updated ephemeris data are obtained from the one or more navigation satellites via a data server.

15. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the program instructions cause the one or more processors to:

receive position fixing data from one or more navigation satellites; and

calculate a global position of the wearable biometric monitoring device using the position fixing data and the updated ephemeris data.

16. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the worn biometric monitoring device further comprises a user interface, and wherein the one or more ephemeris update conditions further comprise an ephemeris update condition that a user interacts with or has interacted with the user interface.

17. A method, implemented using a wearable biometric monitoring device comprising communication circuitry, a controller comprising one or more processors and a memory, and one or more biometric sensors comprising a motion-detecting sensor, the method comprising:

(a) determining, by the one or more processors, that one or more ephemeris update conditions have been met, wherein the one or more ephemeris update conditions comprise an ephemeris update condition that the wearable biometric monitoring device does not have stored updated ephemeris data in the memory, wherein the updated ephemeris data contains information about satellite positions usable for position fixing, and wherein the one or more ephemeris update conditions further comprise an ephemeris update condition that the one or more processors have spare processing ability exceeding a threshold processing ability; and

(b) obtaining, responsive to (a), the updated ephemeris data via the communication circuitry, wherein the communication circuitry is configured to wirelessly receive navigation data and output data to the controller.

18. A wearable biometric monitoring device comprising:

one or more biometric sensors;

an ultraviolet light sensor;

communication circuitry configured to wirelessly receive navigation data and output data to the controller; and

the controller comprising one or more processors and a memory, wherein the one or more processors, the memory, the one or more biometric sensors, the ultraviolet light sensor, and the communication circuitry are communicatively connected and the memory is configured to store program instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to;

(a) determine that one or more ephemeris update conditions have been met, wherein the one or more ephemeris update conditions comprise an ephemeris update condition that data generated by the ultraviolet light sensor indicate the wearable biometric monitoring device is outdoors, and wherein the one or more ephemeris update conditions further comprise an ephemeris update condition that the one or more processors have spare processing ability exceeding a threshold processing ability; and

(b) obtain, responsive to (a), updated ephemeris data via the communication circuitry, wherein the updated ephemeris data contains information about satellite positions usable for position fixing.