Diet watch

• US 7,855,936 B2
• Filed: 12/11/2007
• Issued: 12/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Czarnek & Orkin Laboratories, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Czarnek & Orkin Laboratories, Inc.
• Inventors: Czarnek, Robert, Aruffo, Sylvia D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Miska; Vit W
• Application Number:
  US11/953,901
• Publication Number:
  US 20080137486A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,106 Days
• Field of Search: 368/10, 368107-110, 340/573.1, 340/573.7, 340/540, 340/686.1, 340/689, 434/127, 434/238, 434/247
• US Class Current: 368/10
• CPC Class Codes: G04C 3/002 Position, e.g. inclination dependent switches
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 21/02 Detectors of external physical values, e.g. temperature

Abstract

A diet watch includes a housing with an adjustable wristband attached thereto, at least one accelerometer disposed within the housing, a microcontroller disposed within the housing and operatively coupled to the accelerometer and a feedback device operatively coupled to the microcontroller. The accelerometer provides a signal indicative of an orientation of a user'"'"'s hand in space. The microcontroller uses the signal from the at least one accelerometer to determine that a bite was taken by the user and starting a timer to countdown a preset time interval. The feedback device provides an indication to the user that another bite of food may be taken after the preset time interval has elapsed.

Claims

1. A diet watch comprising:

a housing with an adjustable wristband attached thereto;

at least one accelerometer disposed within the housing, said at least one accelerometer responsive to movement of a user'"'"'s hand in space for outputting at least two signals related to components of acceleration in at least two directions;

a microcontroller disposed within the housing and operatively coupled to the at least one accelerometer for using the signals from the at least one accelerometer to determine that a bite was taken by the user and starting a timer to countdown a preset time interval; and

a feedback device operatively coupled to the microcontroller for providing an indication to the user that another bite of food may be taken after the preset time interval has elapsed.

2. The diet watch of claim 1, further comprising a user interface having at least one button that allows a user to program the microcontroller to determine when the motion of the user'"'"'s arm corresponds to the bite being taken by the user and when to ignore movement of the arm.

3. The diet watch of claim 2, wherein the at least one button allows the user to set the preset time interval, to set the indication that the feedback device provides to the user or any combination thereof.

4. The diet watch of claim 1, wherein the microcontroller is programmable to be customized to distinct movement patterns of the user through threshold memorization based on feedback provided by the accelerometer.

5. The diet watch of claim 1, further comprising a display screen positioned on the housing for providing a visual indication to the user of relevant information.

6. The diet watch of claim 5, wherein the display screen is a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a light emitting diode (LED) display.

7. The diet watch of claim 1, wherein the at least one accelerometer is a two-axis accelerometer or a three-axis accelerometer.

8. The diet watch of claim 1, wherein the accelerometer uses the force of gravity as an input vector to determine the orientation of the user'"'"'s hand in space.

9. The diet watch of claim 1, wherein the feedback device is a vibrator, buzzer, Light Emitting Diode (LED) or electric shock device.

10. The diet watch of claim 1, wherein the feedback device provides a signal to the user if the user attempts to take another bite of food before the preset time interval has elapsed.