Physical activity-based device control

• US 8,923,994 B2
• Filed: 11/23/2010
• Issued: 12/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Teknologian tutkimuskeskus VTT Oy
• Original Assignee: Teknologian tutkimuskeskus VTT Oy
• Inventors: Laikari, Arto, Ermes, Miikka, Repokari, Lauri, Haapala, Teemu, Harvela, Juhani
• Primary Examiner(s): Lewis, David L
• Assistant Examiner(s): HALL, SHAUNA-KAY N
• Application Number:
  US13/511,149
• Publication Number:
  US 20120239173A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,498 Days
• US Class Current: 700/91
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0247 Pressure sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1123 Discriminating type of movement, e.g. walking or running A61B5/1116, A61B5/112 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6898 Portable consumer electronic devices, e.g. music players, telephones, tablet computers
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7239 using differentiation including higher order derivatives
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7267 involving training the classification device
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2024/0065 Evaluating the fitness, e.g. fitness level or fitness index
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2024/0068 Comparison to target or threshold, previous performance or not real time comparison to other individuals
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/30 Speed
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/40 Acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/803 Motion sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/833 Sensors arranged on the exercise apparatus or sports implement
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/50 Wireless data transmission, e.g. by radio transmitters or telemetry
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2230/04 heartbeat characteristics, e.g. ECG, blood pressure modulations
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2230/30 blood pressure A63B2230/04 takes precedence
• 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: 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 method for controlling the configuration, such as access and/or one or more other features, of an application in an electronic device from the standpoint of a particular user, comprising obtaining an indication of the identity of the user determined based on sensor data associated with physical activity by the user, obtaining an indication of the physical activity identified based on the sensor data, and modifying or at least providing information enabling to modify the identified user'"'"'s configuration of an application logic based on the identified activity and optionally other activity information derived utilizing the sensor data. Related mobile device, electronic arrangement and system are presented.

Claims

1. A mobile device for a plurality of users, said users being identifiable based on sensor data, comprising

a sensor data storage for obtaining sensor data indicative of physical activity associated with a user monitored via a sensor,

a user recognizer for identifying the user from said plurality of identifiable users on the basis of the sensor data obtained,

an activity recognizer for identifying the physical activity of the identified user, such as a sports activity, on the basis of the sensor data obtained,

an analyzer for measuring an intensity or energy consumption associated with the physical activity performed, and

an interface for providing an indication of a user identity, indication of the physical activity, and an indication of said intensity or energy consumption, to an application logic to enable modifying the identified user'"'"'s configuration relative to said application logic incorporating rewarding the user for performing the physical activity, said application logic being either local or external relative to the mobile device, wherein said rewarding comprises allocating the level of user rights of the associated user relative to a number of applications responsive to the physical activity.

2. The mobile device of claim 1, comprising at least one sensor selected from the group consisting of:

an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a pedometer, a pulse meter, a movement sensor, a pressure sensor, a location sensor or other location determination entity, a distance sensor, a velocity sensor, a speed sensor, and a blood oxygen sensor.

3. The mobile device of claim 1, comprising a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver for position sensing.

4. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the user recognizer is configured to utilize a user-specific, and optionally an activity-specific, reference signal and/or other reference data to identify the user on the basis of the sensor data.

5. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the user recognizer is configured to utilize a user-specific, and optionally an activity-specific, reference signal and/or other reference data to identify the user on the basis of the sensor data, and wherein a plurality of references is associated with a certain user, preferably at least one reference per activity to be identified.

6. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the user recognizer is configured to utilize a user-specific, and optionally an activity-specific, reference signal and/or other reference data to identify the user on the basis of the sensor data, and wherein a plurality of references is associated with a certain user, preferably at least one reference per activity to be identified, and further wherein a sum signal based on a plurality of acceleration signals corresponding to an activity-specific segment of sensor data is formed and utilized as such and/or in modified form to extract a plurality of sub-elements therefrom, such as step pairs in connection with walking activity, to be applied for determining the activity-specific reference.

7. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the user recognizer is configured to utilize a user-specific, and optionally an activity-specific, reference signal and/or other reference data to identify the user on the basis of the sensor data, and wherein a plurality of references is associated with a certain user, preferably at least one reference per activity to be identified, and further wherein a sum signal based on a plurality of acceleration signals corresponding to an activity-specific segment of sensor data is formed and utilized as such and/or in modified form to extract a plurality of sub-elements therefrom, such as step pairs in connection with walking activity, to be applied for determining the activity-specific reference, and wherein a number of said sub-elements are processed, such as normalized and summed together, to establish the activity-specific reference.

8. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the user recognizer is configured to utilize at least one analysis tool for identifying the user based on the sensor data, the tool being selected from the group consisting of:

cross correlation, a number of Fourier coefficients, neural network, and structured pattern recognition.

9. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the activity recognizer is configured to utilize an activity-specific, and optionally user-specific, reference signal and/or other reference data to identify the activity on the basis of the sensor data.

10. The mobile device of claim 1, comprising a remote identification device such as an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) or NFC (Near Field Communication) tag, preferably provided with a unique ID.

11. The mobile device of claim 1, comprising application logic, optionally a game application or other end application or a control application 12.

12. An electronic arrangement, optionally an electronic device or a plurality of at least functionally connected devices, for controlling and optionally hosting one or more applications for a plurality of users identifiable based on sensor data, said arrangement comprising

an input collector for obtaining sensor data, such as accelerometer data, acquired by a mobile device, and indicative of physical activity associated with a user, such as sports activity,

a user recognizer for identifying the user of the mobile device from said plurality of users on the basis of the sensor data,

an activity recognizer for identifying the physical activity of the identified user on the basis of the sensor data,

an analyzer for determining an intensity or energy consumption associated with the physical activity, and

a control entity configured to modify or at least provide information enabling to modify the user'"'"'s configuration of an application logic incorporating rewarding the user for performing the physical activity, based on the physical activity and an indication of said intensity or energy consumption, said application logic being either local or external relative to the electronic arrangement, wherein said rewarding comprises allocating the level of user rights of the associated user relative to a number of applications responsive to the physical activity.

13. The arrangement of claim 12, wherein the user recognizer is configured to analyze the sensor data for identifying the user based on the sensor data using at least one analysis method or element selected from the group consisting of:

cross correlation, a number of Fourier coefficients, neural network, and structured pattern recognition.

14. The arrangement of claim 12, configured to determine the number of cycles of a cyclic physical activity during a predetermined time period represented by the sensor data.

15. The arrangement of claim 12, configured to determine the number of cycles of a cyclic physical activity during a predetermined time period represented by the sensor data, and further configured to utilize the determined number of cycles and an indication of the identified activity to establish an estimate of an overall energy consumption of the user relative to the period.

16. The arrangement of claim 12, configured to segment the sensor data based on the detection of cyclic physical activity and related cycles in the data.

17. The arrangement of claim 12, configured to provide activity information comprising at least one information element selected from the group consisting of:

the user'"'"'s or user group'"'"'s activity profile, activity rank, activity class, activity points, activity credits, energy consumption information, frequency information, duration information, numerical information, symbolic information, textual information, qualitative information, quantitative information, stressfulness information, training effect information, and intensity information.

18. The arrangement of claim 12, configured to modify the configuration via the control of at least one configuration element selected from the group consisting of:

a parental control feature, a game feature, an application content feature, a personal training feature, a training log, a locked feature, a reward feature, a punishment feature, a bonus feature, activation feature, deactivation feature, an instructive feature, and a communications feature.

19. A system comprising a mobile device for use by a plurality of users identifiable based on sensor data and at least one electronic device external thereto, said system comprising

a sensor for obtaining data indicative of physical activity associated with a user,

a user recognizer for identifying the user from said plurality of users on the basis of the sensor data obtained,

an activity recognizer for identifying the physical activity of the identified user on the basis of the sensor data obtained,

an analyzer for determining an intensity or energy consumption associated with the physical activity performed, and

a control entity configured to modify or at least provide information enabling to modify the user'"'"'s configuration of an application logic incorporating rewarding the user for performing the physical activity, based on the physical activity and said intensity or energy consumption, wherein said rewarding comprises allocating the level of user rights of the associated user relative to a number of applications responsive to the physical activity.

20. A method for controlling the configuration, optionally access and/or one or more other features, of a number of applications in an electronic device from the standpoint of a particular user, comprising

obtaining an indication of the identity of the user determined based on sensor data associated with physical activity by the user and provided by a sensor device for use by a plurality of users identifiable based on sensor data,

obtaining an indication of the user'"'"'s physical activity identified based on the sensor data,

obtaining an indication of an intensity or energy consumption of the physical activity by the user, and

modifying or at least providing information enabling to modify the user'"'"'s configuration of an application logic incorporating rewarding the user for performing the physical activity based on the physical activity and said indication of intensity or energy consumption, wherein said rewarding comprises allocating the level of user rights of the associated user relative to said number of applications responsive to the physical activity.

21. A computer program product in a non-transient computer readable storage medium for controlling the configuration of a number of applications in an electronic device from the standpoint of a particular user, comprising program code for obtaining an indication of the identity of the user determined based on sensor data associated with physical activity by the user and provided by a sensor device for use by a plurality of users identifiable based on sensor data, for obtaining an indication of the user'"'"'s physical activity identified based on the sensor data, for obtaining an indication of the intensity or energy consumption associated with the physical activity, and for modifying or at least providing information enabling to modify the identified user'"'"'s configuration of an application logic incorporating rewarding the user for performing the physical activity based on the identified activity and said indication of said intensity or energy consumption, wherein said rewarding comprises allocating the level of user rights of the associated user relative to said number of applications responsive to the physical activity.