System and method for automatically detecting and initiating a walk

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10708709-B2
Application number	US-201816182057-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 6, 2018
Priority date	Oct 12, 2016
Publication date	Jul 7, 2020
Grant date	Jul 7, 2020

Abstract

Systems, methods, and apparatuses for detecting the start of a walk event are disclosed. The method comprises detecting that a wearable device is in a walk mode if it is determined that the wearable device has exited a geo-fence zone and that the wearable device is not connected to a wireless network; comparing current environment details associated with the wearable device to past walk environment details associated with the wearable device to identify at least one similarity between the current environment details and the past walk environment details; confirming that the wearable device is in the walk mode upon identifying at least one similarity between the current environment details and the past walk environment details, the predictive function refined using the one or more previous responses to a walk mode prompt; and transmitting a recorded GPS location of the wearable device while the wearable device is in a walk mode.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
detecting that a wearable device is in a walk mode in response to at least one of:
determining that the wearable device has exited a geo-fence zone,
determining that the wearable device is not connected to a wireless network, and
determining that past walk environment details are similar to current environment details by
comparing the current environment details associated with the wearable device to the past walk environment details associated with the wearable device to identify at least one similarity between the current environment details and the past walk environment details, and
using a predictive function on the at least one similarity, the predictive function refined using one or more previous responses to a walk mode prompt; and

transmitting a recorded GPS location of the wearable device while the wearable device is in the walk mode.

2. The method according to claim 1 :
further comprising identifying a location of the wearable device; and
wherein determining that the wearable device has exited the geo-fence zone comprises comparing the location to a plurality of latitude and longitude points defining a polygonal region representing the geo-fence zone.

3. The method according to claim 2 wherein identifying the location of the wearable device comprises:
identifying an active wireless network to which the wearable device is currently connected;
identifying a list of known wireless networks; and
determining if the active wireless network is in the list of known wireless networks.

4. The method according to claim 3 wherein determining that the wearable device has exited the geo-fence zone comprises detecting that the wearable device has disconnected from the active wireless network.

5. The method according to claim 1 comprising prompting a user for confirmation that the wearable device is in the walk mode.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein detecting that the wearable device is in the walk mode is further in response to detecting a presence of a known device within a predefined proximity to the wearable device and confirming an identity of the known device.

7. The method according to claim 1 wherein the environment details include at least one of a date, a time, a location of past walks, a list of scheduled walks, and the one or more previous responses to the walk mode prompt.

8. The method according to claim 1 wherein the current environment details include a date and a time it is determined that the wearable device has exited the geo-fence zone and a location of the wearable device.

9. The method according to claim 1 further comprising confirming that the wearable device is in the walk mode without confirmation of a user.

10. The method according to claim 1 further comprising alerting a user that the wearable device has exited the geo-fence zone if it is not confirmed that the wearable device is in the walk mode.

11. An apparatus comprising:
a processor; and
a storage medium for tangibly storing thereon program logic for execution by the processor, the stored program logic comprising at least one of:
logic, executed by the processor, for detecting that a wearable device is in a walk mode in response to determining that the wearable device has exited a geo-fence zone,
logic, executed by the processor, for detecting that the wearable device is in the walk mode in response to determining that the wearable device is not connected to a wireless network, or
logic, executed by the processor, for detecting that the wearable device is in the walk mode in response to determining that past walk environment details are similar to current environment details by
comparing the current environment details associated with the wearable device to the past walk environment details associated with the wearable device to identify at least one similarity between the current environment details and the past walk environment details, and
using a predictive function on the at least one similarity, the predictive function refined using one or more previous responses to a walk mode prompt;

wherein the stored program logic further comprises logic, executed by the processor, for transmitting a recorded GPS location of the wearable device while the wearable device is in the walk mode.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11 , the stored program logic further comprising:
logic, executed by the processor, for identifying a location of the wearable device; and
logic, executed by the processor, for determining that the wearable device has exited the geo-fence zone by comparing the location to a plurality of latitude and longitude points defining a polygonal region representing the geo-fence zone.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12 wherein identifying the location of the wearable device comprises:
identifying an active wireless network to which the wearable device is currently connected;
identifying a list of known wireless networks; and
determining if the active wireless network is in the list of known wireless networks.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13 wherein determining that the wearable device has exited the geo-fence zone comprises detecting that the wearable device has disconnected from the active wireless network.

15. The apparatus according to claim 11 wherein the stored program logic further comprises logic, executed by the processor, for prompting a user for confirmation that the wearable device is in the walk mode.

16. The apparatus according to claim 11 wherein the stored program logic further comprises logic, executed by the processor, for:
detecting a presence of a known device within a predefined proximity to the wearable device and confirming an identity of the known device; and
detecting that the wearable device is in the walk mode is further in response to detecting the presence of the known device within the predefined proximity and confirming the identity of the known device.

17. The apparatus according to claim 11 wherein the environment details include at least one of a date, a time, a location of past walks, a list of scheduled walks, or the one or more previous responses to the walk mode prompt.

18. The apparatus according to claim 11 wherein the current environment details include a date and a time it is determined that the wearable device has exited the geo-fence zone and a location of the wearable device.

19. The apparatus according to claim 11 wherein the stored program logic further comprises logic, executed by the processor for confirming that the wearable device in the walk mode without confirmation of a user.

20. The apparatus according to claim 11 wherein the stored program logic further comprising logic, executed by the processor, for alerting a user that the wearable device has exited the geo-fence zone if it is not confirmed that the wearable device is in the-walk mode.

Assignees

• Mars Inc

Inventors

• Taylor Brad
• Harman Daniel James

Classifications

• H04W4/021 Primary

  Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences · CPC title

• H04W40/246

  Connectivity information discovery · CPC title

• H04W4/025

  using location based information parameters · CPC title

• H04W4/023

  using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds · CPC title

• H04B1/385

  Transceivers carried on the body, e.g. in helmets · CPC title