Program Setting Adjustments Based on Activity Identification

• US 20090319221A1
• Filed: 06/23/2009
• Published: 12/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: DP Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Lee, Brain Y., Christensen, Mark Andrew, Kinsolving, Arthur, Kahn, Philippe, Vogel, David
• Granted Patent: US 8,996,332 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/141
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0209 adapted for power saving
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1123 Discriminating type of movement, e.g. walking or running A61B5/1116, A61B5/112 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2024/0071 Distinction between different activities, movements, or kind of sports performed
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/17 Counting, e.g. counting periodical movements, revolutions or cycles, or including further data processing to determine distances or speed
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/44 Angular acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 24/0062 Monitoring athletic performances, e.g. for determining the work of a user on an exercise apparatus, the completed jogging or cycling distance
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 22/00 Measuring distance traversed on the ground by vehicles, persons, animals or other moving solid bodies, e.g. using odometers, using pedometers
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 15/00 Measuring acceleration; Measuring deceleration; Measuring shock, i.e. sudden change of acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors

Abstract

An electronic device monitors accelerations using an inertial sensor. The electronic device identifies a current motion state based on the accelerations. The electronic device determines an application that subscribes to a motion state identification service and notifies the application of the current motion state.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring a motion state, comprising:

monitoring accelerations by an electronic device using an inertial sensor;

identifying, by the electronic device, a current motion state based on the accelerations;

determining an application that subscribes to a motion state identification service; and

notifying the application of the current motion state.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the current motion state is different from a previous motion state; and

modifying one or more settings of the application if the current motion state is different from the previous motion state.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the current motion state is one of a plurality of potential motion states, the method further comprising:

determining a confidence rating for the current motion state that indicates a probability that the current motion state corresponds to an actual motion state of a present user of the electronic device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a plurality of potential current motion states; and

identifying confidence ratings for each of the identified potential current motion states.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining additional motion information from the acceleration measurements, the additional motion information including at least one of a user'"'"'s current cadence, the user'"'"'s current rolling averages of accelerations, a current dominant axis, and counted periodic human motion counts;

identifying specific additional motion information the application is configured to receive; and

sending the specific additional motion information to the application.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying notification criteria associated with the application; and

notifying the application of the current motion state when the identified notification criteria are satisfied.

7. A computer readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

monitoring accelerations by an electronic device using an inertial sensor;

identifying, by the electronic device, a current motion state based on the accelerations;

determining an application that subscribes to a motion state identification service; and

notifying the application of the current motion state.

8. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7, the method further comprising:

determining whether the current motion state is different from a previous motion state; and

modifying one or more settings of the application if the current motion state is different from the previous motion state.

9. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the current motion state is one of a plurality of potential motion states, the method further comprising:

determining a confidence rating for the current motion state that indicates a probability that the current motion state corresponds to an actual motion state of a present user of the electronic device.

10. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7, the method further comprising:

identifying a plurality of potential current motion states; and

identifying confidence ratings for each of the identified potential current motion states.

11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7, the method further comprising:

determining additional motion information from the acceleration measurements, the additional motion information including at least one of a user'"'"'s current cadence, the user'"'"'s current rolling averages of accelerations, a current dominant axis, and counted periodic human motion counts;

identifying specific additional motion information the application is configured to receive; and

sending the specific additional motion information to the application.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7, the method further comprising:

identifying notification criteria associated with the application; and

notifying the application of the current motion state when the identified notification criteria are satisfied.

13. An electronic device, comprising:

an application that runs on the electronic device;

an inertial sensor to monitor accelerations experienced by the electronic device; and

a motion state identification system to identify a current motion state based on the accelerations, to determine that the application subscribes to a motion state identification service, and to notify the application of the current motion state.

14. The electronic device of claim 13, further comprising:

the motion state identification system to determine whether the current motion state is different from a previous motion state, and to cause the electronic device to modify one or more settings of the application if the current motion state is different from the previous motion state.

15. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the current motion state is one of a plurality of potential motion states, the electronic device further comprising:

the motion state identification system to determine a confidence rating for the current motion state that indicates a probability that the current motion state corresponds to an actual motion state of a present user of the electronic device.

16. The electronic device of claim 13, further comprising:

the motion state identification system to identify a plurality of potential current motion states, and to identify confidence ratings for each of the identified potential current motion states.

17. The electronic device of claim 13, further comprising:

the motion state identification system to determine additional motion information from the acceleration measurements, the additional motion information including at least one of a user'"'"'s current cadence, the user'"'"'s current rolling averages of accelerations, a current dominant axis, and counted periodic human motion counts.

18. The electronic device of claim 17, further comprising:

the motion state identification system to identify specific additional motion information the application is configured to receive, and to send the specific additional motion information to the application.

19. The electronic device of claim 13, further comprising:

the motion state identification system to identify notification criteria associated with the application, and to notify the application of the current motion state when the identified notification criteria are satisfied.