System for monitoring health, wellness and fitness

• US 7,689,437 B1
• Filed: 06/16/2000
• Issued: 03/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: JB IP Acquisitions LLC
• Original Assignee: BodyMedia Incorporated (AliphCom Corp.)
• Inventors: McCormack, Margaret A., Liden, Craig B., Pacione, Christopher D., Stivoric, John M., Kasabach, Christopher D., Teller, Eric, Moss, John L.
• Primary Examiner(s): O'Connor; Gerald J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): PASS, NATALIE
• Time in patent office: 3574 Days
• Field of Search: 600/300, 600/485, 600/508, 600/301, 600/407, 600/519, 600/509, 600/483, 600/595, 600/549, 345/741, 705/2, 705/3, 434/236, 434/247, 482/8
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0209 adapted for power saving
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0295 adapted for recording user messages or annotations
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0456 Apparatus provided with a docking unit
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/411 Detecting or monitoring allergy or intolerance reactions to an allergenic agent or substance
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/441 Skin evaluation, e.g. for skin disorder diagnosis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7264 Classification of physiological signals or data, e.g. using neural networks, statistical classifiers, expert systems or fuzzy systems neural networks per se G01N3/00; expert systems per se G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/22 Social work
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 15/00 ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/10 relating to drugs or medications, e.g. for ensuring correct administration to patients
• 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 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/921 Diet management

Abstract

A method for assisting an individual to monitor, control and modify certain aspects of the individual'"'"'s physiological status according to a preset physiological status goal comprising establishing the goal according to certain preselected physiological parameters, affixing a physiological monitoring device in proximity to the body of the individual, generating data indicative of one or more measured parameters of the individual using said device, and using the one or more measured parameters to determine status information indicative of the relative degree of achievement of the individual'"'"'s performance with relation to the physiological status goal and providing the status information to the individual. Alternatively, the method may comprise providing, to the individual, information indicative of a suggested change in the individual'"'"'s performance to assist the individual in the achievement of the physiological status goal.

Claims

1. A method for assisting an individual to monitor, control and modify certain aspects of the individual'"'"'s physiological status according to a preset physiological status goal, said individual wearing a wearable physiological monitoring device, the method comprising:

establishing said physiological status goal according to certain physiological parameters of said individual;

generating data with said wearable device, said generated data indicative of a first parameter of said individual wearing said wearable physiological monitoring device;

generating data indicative of a second parameter of said individual with at least one of said wearable device and a second device;

receiving data related to the life activities of said individual;

calculating, from said first and second parameters, quantitative status information indicative of the relative degree of achievement of said individual'"'"'s performance with relation to said physiological status goal;

generating individual status information relating to the status of said individual from said life activities data; and

communicating to a recipient said calculated quantitative status information regarding said individual and said individual status information,

wherein said first and second parameters are produced by at least one of said individual'"'"'s body and the environment adjacent said individual'"'"'s body.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein said physiological status goal comprises a plurality of categories.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein said quantitative status information is determined and provided with respect to each of said categories.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein said categories relate to two or more of nutrition, activity level, mind centering, sleep, and daily activities.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein said communicating step comprises providing at least a portion of said quantitative status information in graphical form.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein at least two sensors selected from the group consisting of physiological sensors and contextual sensors are in electrical communication with at least one of said wearable device and said second device, said sensors generating said data indicative of a first parameter and said data indicative of a second parameter of said individual.

7. A method according to claim 6, further comprising generating derived data based on said data indicative of a first parameter and said data indicative of a second parameter of said individual.

8. A method according to claim 7, further comprising the additional step of using at least said derived data to determine said quantitative status information.

9. A method according to claim 8, said at least two sensors being chosen from the group consisting of respiration sensors, temperature sensors, heat flux sensors, body conductance sensors, body resistance sensors, body potential sensors, brain activity sensors, blood pressure sensors, body impedance sensors, body motion sensors, oxygen consumption sensors, body chemistry sensors, body position sensors, body pressure sensors, light absorption sensors, piezoelectric sensors, electrochemical sensors, strain gauges, and optical sensors.

10. A method according to claim 8, said at least two sensors being two of a body motion sensors adapted to generate data indicative of motion, a skin conductance sensor adapted to generate data indicative of the resistance of said individual'"'"'s skin to electric current, a heat flux sensor adapted to generate data indicative of heat flow, a body potential sensor adapted to generate data indicative of heart beats or muscle or brain activity of said individual, and a temperature sensor adapted to generate data indicative of a temperature of said individual'"'"'s skin, said data indicative of a first parameter and said data indicative of a second parameter comprising at least two of said data indicative of motion, said data indicative of resistance of said individual'"'"'s skin to electric current, said data indicative of heat flow, said data indicative of heart beats or muscle or brain activity and said data indicative of a temperature of said individual'"'"'s skin.

11. A method according to claim 10, said at least two sensors being said body motion sensor and said heat flux sensor, wherein said derived data comprises data relating to calories burned and is generated using at least said data indicative of motion and said data indicative of heat flow.

12. A method according to claim 10, wherein one of at least said at least two sensors further comprises said skin conductance sensor which generates data indicative of the resistance of said individual'"'"'s skin to electric current.

13. A method according to claim 10, said at least two sensors being said body motion sensor and said body potential sensor, wherein said derived data comprises data relating to calories burned and is generated using at least said data indicative of motion and said data indicative of heart beats.

14. A method according to claim 8, wherein said derived data comprises data relating to at least one of activity level, sleep, nutrition, stress level and relaxation level.

15. A method according to claim 7, said at least two sensors being chosen from the group consisting of respiration sensors, temperature sensors, heat flux sensors, body conductance sensors, body resistance sensors, body potential sensors, brain activity sensors, blood pressure sensors, body impedance sensors, body motion sensors, oxygen consumption sensors, body chemistry sensors, body position sensors, body pressure sensors, light absorption sensors, piezoelectric sensors, electrochemical sensors, strain gauges, and optical sensors.

16. A method according to claim 7, said at least two sensors being two of a body motion sensors adapted to generate data indicative of motion, a skin conductance sensor adapted to generate data indicative of the resistance of said individual'"'"'s skin to electric current, a heat flux sensor adapted to generate data indicative of heat flow, a body potential sensor adapted to generate data indicative of heart beats or muscle or brain activity of said individual, and a temperature sensor adapted to generate data indicative of a temperature of said individual'"'"'s skin, said data indicative of a first parameter and said data indicative of a second parameter comprising at least two of said data indicative of motion, said data indicative of resistance of said individual'"'"'s skin to electric current, said data indicative of heat flow, said data indicative of heart beats or muscle or brain activity and said data indicative of a temperature of said individual'"'"'s skin.

17. A method according to claim 16, said at least two sensors being said body motion sensor and said heat flux sensor, wherein said derived data comprises data relating to calories burned and is generated using at least said data indicative of motion and said data indicative of heat flow.

18. A method according to claim 16, said at least two sensors being said body motion sensor and said body potential sensor, wherein said derived data comprises data relating to calories burned and is generated using at least said data indicative of motion and said data indicative of heart beats.

19. A method according to claim 7, wherein said derived data comprises data relating to at least one of activity level, sleep, nutrition, stress level and relaxation level.

20. A method according to claim 6, said at least two sensors comprising at least one skin conductance sensor, generating data indicative of the resistance of said individual'"'"'s skin to electric current.

21. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of aggregating at least one of said data indicative of a first parameter of said individual, said data indicative of a second parameter of said individual, and said quantitative status information with data collected from a plurality of individuals to create aggregate data.

22. A method according to claim 21, further comprising the step of creating reports based on said aggregate data.

23. A method according to claim 1, said wearable physiological monitoring device being part of an armband.

24. A method according to claim 1, said wearable physiological monitoring device being part of a garment.

25. A method according to claim 1, said wearable physiological monitoring device having at least two sensors, said at least two sensors being two of a body motion sensor adapted to generate data indicative of motion, a skin conductance sensor adapted to generate data indicative of the resistance of said individual'"'"'s skin to electric current, a heat flux sensor adapted to generate data indicative of heat flow, a body potential sensor adapted to generate data indicative of heart beats or muscle or brain activity of said individual, a temperature sensor adapted to generate data indicative of a temperature of said individual'"'"'s skin, an impedance sensor adapted to generate data indicative of an impedance of said individual'"'"'s body, and a pulse rate sensor adapted to generate data indicative of a pulse rate of said individual, said physiological monitoring device generating at least two of said data indicative of motion, said data indicative of resistance of said individual'"'"'s skin to electric current, said data indicative of heat flow, said data indicative of heart beats or muscle or brain activity, said data indicative of a temperature of said individual'"'"'s skin, said data indicative of impedance, and said data indicative of pulse rate when worn by said individual;

said data indicative of a first parameter and said data indicative of a second parameter being generated using said at least two of said data indicative of motion, said data indicative of resistance of said individual'"'"'s skin to electric current, said data indicative of heat flow, said data indicative of heart beats or muscle or brain activity, said data indicative of a temperature of said individual'"'"'s skin, said data indicative of impedance, and said data indicative of pulse rate.

26. A method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving sensor data from one or more sensor devices, said one or more sensor devices measuring said sensor data from the individual, and using said sensor data in addition to said data indicative of a first parameter and said data indicative of a second parameter to calculate said quantitative status information.

27. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of generating derived data from at least one of said data indicative of a first parameter and said data indicative of a second parameter, wherein said quantitative status information indicative of the relative degree of achievement of said individual'"'"'s performance with relation to said physiological status goal is calculated from at least said derived data.

28. A method according to claim 1 wherein said step of calculating, from said first and second parameters, quantitative status information indicative of the relative degree of achievement of said individual'"'"'s performance with relation to said physiological status goal further comprises using said life activities data in said calculation.

29. A method according to claim 1 further comprising the step of commutating said data indicative of said first and second parameters to a central monitoring unit, and wherein said step of calculating, from said first and second parameters, quantitative status information indicative of the relative degree of achievement of said individual'"'"'s performance with relation to said physiological status goal is performed by said central monitoring unit.

30. A method according to claim 1, said data indicative of a first parameter and said data indicative of a second parameter comprising at least two of data indicative of resistance of said individual'"'"'s skin to electric current, data indicative of heat flow of said individual, data indicative said individual'"'"'s brain activity, data indicative of a temperature of said individual'"'"'s skin, said data indicative of impedance of said individual, data indicative of said individual'"'"'s respiration, data indicative of said individual'"'"'s body conductance, data indicative of said individual'"'"'s body resistance, data indicative of said individual'"'"'s body potential, data indicative of said individual'"'"'s blood pressure, data indicative of said individual'"'"'s oxygen consumption, data indicative of said individual'"'"'s body chemistry sensors, and indicative of said individual'"'"'s body position sensors.

31. A method according to claim 1 wherein said life activities are manually entered.

32. A method for assisting an individual to monitor, control and modify certain aspects of the individual'"'"'s physiological status according to a preset physiological status goal, said individual wearing a wearable physiological monitoring device, the method comprising:

establishing said physiological status goal according to certain physiological parameters of said individual;

generating data with said wearable device, said generated data indicative of a first parameter of said individual wearing said wearable physiological monitoring device;

generating data indicative of a second parameter of said individual with at least one of said wearable device and a second device;

calculating, directly from said first and second parameters, quantitative status information indicative of the relative degree of achievement of said individual'"'"'s performance with relation to said physiological status goal; and

communicating to a recipient said calculated quantitative status information indicative of a suggested change in said individual'"'"'s performance to assist said individual in the achievement of said physiological status goal,

wherein said first and second parameters are produced by at least one of said individual'"'"'s body and the environment adjacent said individual'"'"'s body.

33. A method according to claim 32, wherein at least two sensors selected from the group consisting of physiological sensors and contextual sensors are in electrical communication with at least one of said wearable device and said second device, said sensors generating said data indicative of a first parameter and said data indicative of a second parameter of said individual.

34. A method according to claim 33, further comprising generating derived data based on said data indicative of a first parameter and said data indicative of a second parameter.

35. A method according to claim 34, further comprising the step of using at least said derived data to determine said quantitative status data.

36. A method according to claim 35, said at least two sensors being chosen from the group consisting of respiration sensors, temperature sensors, heat flux sensors, body conductance sensors, body resistance sensors, body potential sensors, brain activity sensors, blood pressure sensors, body impedance sensors, body motion sensors, oxygen consumption sensors, body chemistry sensors, body position sensors, body pressure sensors, light absorption sensors, piezoelectric sensors, electrochemical sensors, strain gauges, and optical sensors.

37. A method according to claim 35, said at least two sensors being two of a body motion sensor adapted to generate data indicative of motion, a skin conductance sensor adapted to generate data indicative of the resistance of said individual'"'"'s skin to electric current, a heat flux sensor adapted to generate data indicative of heat flow, a body potential sensor adapted to generate data indicative of heart beats or muscle or brain activity of said individual, and a temperature sensor adapted to generate data indicative of a temperature of said individual'"'"'s skin, said data indicative of a first parameter and said data indicative of a second parameter comprising at least two of said data indicative of motion, said data indicative of resistance of said individual'"'"'s skin to electric current, said data indicative of heat flow, said data indicative of heart beats or muscle or brain activity and said data indicative of a temperature of said individual'"'"'s skin.

38. A method according to claim 37, said at least two sensors being said body motion sensor and said heat flux sensor, wherein said derived data comprises data relating to calories burned and is generated using at least said data indicative of motion and said data indicative of heat flow.

39. A method according to claim 37, said at least two sensors comprising said skin conductance sensor and a body motion sensor, wherein said derived data comprises data related to calories burned, and wherein said data relating to calories burned is generated using at least said data indicative of motion and said data indicative of resistance of said individual'"'"'s skin to electric current.

40. A method according to claim 37, said at least two sensors being said body motion sensor and said body potential sensor, wherein said derived data comprises data relating to calories burned and is generated using at least said data indicative of motion and said data indicative of heart beats.

41. A method according to claim 35, wherein said derived data comprises data relating to at least one of activity level, sleep, nutrition, stress level and relaxation level.

42. A method according to claim 34, said at least two sensors being chosen from the group consisting of respiration sensors, temperature sensors, heat flux sensors, body conductance sensors, body resistance sensors, body potential sensors, brain activity sensors, blood pressure sensors, body impedance sensors, body motion sensors, oxygen consumption sensors, body chemistry sensors, body position sensors, body pressure sensors, light absorption sensors, piezoelectric sensors, electrochemical sensors, strain gauges, and optical sensors.

43. A method according to claim 34, said at least two sensors being two of a body motion sensors adapted to generate data indicative of motion, a skin conductance sensor adapted to generate data indicative of the resistance of said individual'"'"'s skin to electric current, a heat flux sensor adapted to generate data indicative of heat flow, a body potential sensor adapted to generate data indicative of heart beats or muscle or brain activity of said individual, and a temperature sensor adapted to generate data indicative of a temperature of said individual'"'"'s skin, said data indicative of a first parameter and said data indicative of a second parameter comprising at least two of said data indicative of motion, said data indicative of resistance of said individual'"'"'s skin to electric current, said data indicative of heat flow, said data indicative of heart beats or muscle or brain activity and said data indicative of a temperature of said individual'"'"'s skin.

44. A method according to claim 43, said at least two sensors being said body motion sensor and said heat flux sensor, wherein said derived data comprises data relating to calories burned and is generated using at least said data indicative of motion and said data indicative of heat flow.

45. A method according to claim 43, said at least two sensors comprising a body motion sensor and skin conductance sensor, wherein said derived data comprises data relating to calories burned, wherein said data relating to calories burned is generated using at least said data indicative of motion and said data indicative of resistance of said individual'"'"'s skin to electric current.

46. A method according to claim 43, said at least two sensors being said body motion sensor and said body potential sensor, wherein said derived data comprises data relating to calories burned and is generated using at least said data indicative of motion and said data indicative of heart beats.

47. A method according to claim 34, wherein said derived data comprises data relating to at least one of activity level, sleep, nutrition, stress level and relaxation level.

48. A method according to claim 32, said wearable physiological monitoring device being part of an armband.

49. A method according to claim 32, said wearable physiological monitoring device being part of a garment.

50. A method according to claim 32, said wearable physiological monitoring device having at least two sensors, said at least two sensors being two of a body motion sensor adapted to generate data indicative of motion, a skin conductance sensor adapted to generate data indicative of the resistance of said individual'"'"'s skin to electric current, a heat flux sensor adapted to generate data indicative of heat flow, a body potential sensor adapted to generate data indicative of heart beats or muscle or brain activity of said individual, a temperature sensor adapted to generate data indicative of a temperature of said individual'"'"'s skin, an impedance sensor adapted to generate data indicative of an impedance of said individual'"'"'s body, and a pulse rate sensor adapted to generate data indicative of a pulse rate of said individual, said physiological monitoring device generating at least two of said data indicative of motion, said data indicative of resistance of said individual'"'"'s skin to electric current, said data indicative of heat flow, said data indicative of heart beats or muscle or brain activity, said data indicative of a temperature of said individual'"'"'s skin, said data indicative of impedance, and said data indicative of pulse rate when worn by said individual;

said data indicative of a first parameter and said data indicative of a second parameter being generated using said at least two of said data indicative of motion, said data indicative of resistance of said individual'"'"'s skin to electric current, said data indicative of heat flow, said data indicative of heart beats or muscle or brain activity, said data indicative of a temperature of said individual'"'"'s skin, said data indicative of impedance, and said data indicative of pulse rate.

51. A method according to claim 32, further comprising the step of generating derived data from at least one of said data indicative a first parameter and said data indicative of a second parameter, wherein said quantitative status information indicative of the relative degree of achievement of said individual'"'"'s performance with relation to said physiological status goal is calculated from at least said derived data.

52. A method according to claim 32 further comprising the step of receiving data related to said individual'"'"'s life activities, and wherein said step of calculating, from said first and second parameters, quantitative status information indicative of the relative degree of achievement of said individual'"'"'s performance with relation to said physiological status goal further comprises using said life activities data in said calculation.

53. A method according to claim 32 further comprising the step of commutating said data indicative of said first and second parameters to a central monitoring unit, and wherein said step of calculating, from said first and second parameters, quantitative status information indicative of the relative degree of achievement of said individual'"'"'s performance with relation to said physiological status goal is performed by said central monitoring unit.

54. A method according to claim 32, said data indicative of a first parameter and said data indicative of a second parameter comprising at least two of data indicative of resistance of said individual'"'"'s skin to electric current, data indicative of heat flow of said individual, data indicative said individual'"'"'s brain activity, data indicative of a temperature of said individual'"'"'s skin, said data indicative of impedance of said individual, data indicative of said individual'"'"'s respiration, data indicative of said individual'"'"'s body conductance, data indicative of said individual'"'"'s body resistance, data indicative of said individual'"'"'s body potential, data indicative of said individual'"'"'s blood pressure, data indicative of said individual'"'"'s oxygen consumption, data indicative of said individual'"'"'s body chemistry sensors, and indicative of said individual'"'"'s body position sensors.

55. A method according to claim 32 wherein said life activities are manually entered.