Transfer of measurement data related to physical exercise

• US 8,812,095 B2
• Filed: 08/01/2013
• Issued: 08/19/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Polar Electro Oy
• Original Assignee: Polar Electro Oy
• Inventors: Kampman, Ville, Jomppanen, Tuomas
• Primary Examiner(s): MANUEL, GEORGE C
• Application Number:
  US13/957,307
• Publication Number:
  US 20140039337A1
• Time in Patent Office: 383 Days
• Field of Search: 600/523
• US Class Current: 600/523
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/024 Detecting, measuring or recording pulse rate or heart rate A61B5/0205, A61B5/021 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/30 relating to physical therapies or activities, e.g. physiotherapy, acupressure or exercising
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation

Abstract

A system for processing heart rate measurement data measured during a physical exercise of a user. The system includes a server computer configured to: associate, during a registration procedure for a measurement device of a user, a device identifier of the measurement device with a user account of the user stored in the server computer; receive a device identifier and real-time heart rate measurement data over a network connection; identify the user'"'"'s measurement device from the received device identifier; and store the received heart rate measurement data to the user account of the user on the basis of the association between the received device identifier and the corresponding user account.

Claims

1. A system for processing heart rate measurement data measured during a physical exercise of a user, the system comprising a server computer comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including a computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the server computer to:

associate, during a registration procedure for a measurement device of a user, a device identifier of the measurement device with a user account of the user stored in the server computer;

receive a device identifier with real-time heart rate measurement data over a network connection during the physical exercise;

identify the user'"'"'s measurement device from the received device identifier; and

perform real-time computation for the received heart rate measurement data and store the processed heart rate measurement data to the user account of the user on the basis of the association between the received device identifier and the corresponding user account,

wherein the system further comprises and equipment interface unit arranged to communicate with the server computer over the network connection and with said measurement device over a wireless connection, to receive from the measurement device, the device identifier of the measurement device, a network address of the server computer, and heart rate measurement data, and to forward the heart rate measurement data and the device identifier of the measurement device over the network connection to the server computer having the network address.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising said measurement device attachable to the user'"'"'s body and comprising:

at least one sensor for measuring said heart rate measurement data from the user'"'"'s body; and

a wireless communication circuitry configured to transmit the heart rate measurement data and the device identifier over a wireless connection to an equipment interface unit connected to the server computer.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein said measurement device is configured to acquire and store a network address of the server computer during the registration procedure and to transmit the network address of the server computer to the equipment interface unit in connection with the heart rate measurement data over the wireless connection.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the equipment interface unit is arranged to store an address database linking device identifiers of measurement devices with server computer network addresses, to determine the network address of the server computer from the received device identifier of the measurement device on the basis of said link between the network address of the server computer and the received device identifier of the measurement device in the database.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the equipment interface unit comprises at least one sensor arranged to measure physiological measurement data related to the user during the exercise, wherein the equipment interface unit is further configured to transmit the physiological measurement data together with the device identifier of the user'"'"'s measurement device to the server computer over the same network connection through which the heart rate measurement data is transmitted.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the server computer is configured to compute advanced performance data from the received real-time heart rate measurement data and to transmit the advanced performance data to the network connection in real time, the advanced performance data comprising at least one of a fitness parameter, relaxation estimate, recovery estimate, and dehydration estimate.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising the measurement device being wearable by the user and comprising:

at least one sensor for measuring said heart rate measurement data from the user'"'"'s body; and

a wireless communication circuitry configured to transmit the heart rate measurement data and the device identifier over a wireless connection to the equipment interface unit connected to the server computer,

the measurement device being configured to acquire and store a network address of the server computer during the registration procedure and to transmit the network address of the server computer to the equipment interface unit in connection with the heart rate measurement data over the wireless connection.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a wireless interface configured to provide a wireless device-to-device connection with a measurement device;

a network interface configured to provide the apparatus with a network connection;

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including a computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus to;

receive, from a measurement device attachable to the user'"'"'s body at a beginning of an exercise carried out by a user, a device identifier of the measurement device, a network address of a server computer, and heart rate measurement data; and

cause the network interface to transmit the device identifier with the heart rate measurement data through the network connection to the network address of the server computer during the exercise, wherein the server computer performs real-time computation for the heart rate measurement data and uses the device identifier to store the heart rate measurement data to a correct user account.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus to transmit the measurement data to the server computer in real time, as it is being received through the wireless interface.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the memory is arranged to store an address database linking device identifiers of measurement devices with server computer network addresses, and wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus to determine the network address of the server computer from the received device identifier of the measurement device on the basis of said link between the network address of the server computer and the received device identifier of the measurement device in the database.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising at least one sensor arranged to measure physiological measurement data related to the user during the exercise, and wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus to cause the network interface to transmit the physiological measurement data together with the device identifier of the user'"'"'s measurement device to the server computer over the same network connection through which the heart rate measurement data is transmitted.

12. A method for processing heart rate measurement data measured during a physical exercise of a user, the method comprising:

associating, in a server computer during a registration procedure for a measurement device of a user, a device identifier of the measurement device with a user account of the user stored in the server computer;

receiving, in the server computer, a device identifier and real-time heart rate measurement data over a network connection;

identifying, in the server computer, the user'"'"'s measurement device from the received device identifier;

receiving, in an equipment interface unit over a wireless connection with the measurement device, the device identifier of the measurement device, a network address of the server computer, and heart rate measurement data;

forwarding the heart rate measurement data with the device identifier of the measurement device during the physical exercise from the equipment interface unit over the network connection to the server computer having the network address; and

performing, in the server computer, real-time computation for the received heart rate measurement data and storing the processed heart rate measurement data to the user account of the user on the basis of the association between the received device identifier and the corresponding user account.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

measuring said heart rate measurement data from the user'"'"'s body by the measurement device; and

transmitting the heart rate measurement data and the device identifier over a wireless connection from the measurement device to the equipment interface unit connected to the server computer.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

acquiring the network address of the server computer in the measurement device during the registration procedure;

storing the network address in a memory of the measurement device; and

transmitting the network address of the server computer from the measurement device to the equipment interface unit in connection with the heart rate measurement data over the wireless connection.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

storing in the equipment interface unit an address database linking device identifiers of measurement devices with server computer network addresses; and

determining the network address of the server computer from the received device identifier of the measurement device on the basis of said link between the network address of the server computer and the received device identifier of the measurement device in the database.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising in the equipment interface unit:

measuring with at least one sensor physiological measurement data related to the user during the exercise; and

transmitting the physiological measurement data together with the device identifier of the user'"'"'s measurement device to the server computer over the same network connection through which the heart rate measurement data is transmitted.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising in the server computer:

computing advanced performance data from the received real-time heart rate measurement data; and

transmitting the advanced performance data to the network connection in real time, the advanced performance data comprising at least one of a fitness parameter, relaxation estimate, recovery estimate, and dehydration estimate.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

acquiring the network address of the server computer during the registration procedure in the measurement device wearable by the user;

storing the network address in a memory of the measurement device; and

transmitting the network address of the server computer from the measurement device to the equipment interface unit in connection with the heart rate data over the wireless connection.