Portable biometric monitoring devices having location sensors

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9013351-B2
Application number	US-201414265208-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 29, 2014
Priority date	Apr 1, 2013
Publication date	Apr 21, 2015
Grant date	Apr 21, 2015

Abstract

Assisted-GPS for a portable biometric monitoring device is provided. The portable biometric monitoring device may obtain updated ephemeris data from an associated secondary device via a short-range, low-power communication protocol. The secondary device may be a computing device such as a smartphone, tablet, or laptop. Various rules may control when the ephemeris data is updated. The ephemeris data may be used in the calculation of the global position of the portable biometric monitoring device. Additionally, the portable biometric monitoring device may communicate downloaded position fixing data to the associated secondary device. The associated secondary device may then calculate the global position from the position fixing data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A wearable biometric monitoring device, the wearable biometric monitoring device comprising:
one or more biometric sensors, the one or more biometric sensors configured to output biometric data;
a user interface, the user interface configured to interact with a user;
communication circuitry, the communication circuitry configured to transmit and receive data to and from a portable camera associated with the biometric monitoring device and output the data received from the portable camera; and
a controller with one or more processors and a memory, wherein the one or more processors, the memory, the user interface, and the communication circuitry are communicatively connected and the memory is configured to store program instructions to:
receive the biometric data output from the one or more biometric sensors,
use the biometric data to calculate a biometric performance measurement selected from the group consisting of calories burned, step count, heart rate, ambulatory speed, blood pressure, blood glucose, skin conduction, body temperature, sleep data, and stairs climbed, and
control the one or more processors to wirelessly interact, via the communication circuitry, with the portable camera to perform:
starting a recording by the portable camera;
stopping a recording by the portable camera;
pausing a recording by the portable camera;
wirelessly receiving video data from the portable camera to the memory; and/or
playing a recording by the portable camera.

2. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein the communication circuitry is further configured to communicate data to the portable camera via a short-range, low-power communication protocol.

3. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 2 , wherein the short-range, low-power communication protocol is selected from the group consisting of: Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE), ANT, near field communication (NFC), ZigBee, IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.15, Infrared Data Association (IrDA) protocols, and standards related to any of the foregoing.

4. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein the user interface comprises a digital display, and the controller is further configured to display the video data from the portable camera on the user interface.

5. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein the video data from the portable camera is current video data recorded by the portable camera and communicated directly to the wearable biometric monitoring device.

6. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein the video data from the portable camera is video data stored on a memory on the portable camera prior to the wearable biometric monitoring device receiving the video data from the portable camera.

7. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to store program instructions to control the one or more processors to wirelessly interact with a second portable camera to perform at least one of:
starting a recording by the second portable camera;
stopping a recording by the second portable camera;
pausing a recording by the second portable camera;
wirelessly receiving video data from the second portable camera to the memory; and
playing a recording by the second portable camera.

8. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 7 , wherein the user interface comprises a digital display, and the controller is further configured to display the video data from the second portable camera on the digital display.

9. The wearable biometric monitoring device of claim 7 , wherein the video data from the second portable camera is current video data recorded by the second portable camera and communicated directly to the wearable biometric monitoring device.

10. A method of wirelessly interacting with a portable camera using a wearable biometric monitoring device, the wearable biometric monitoring device comprising communication circuitry and one or more biometric sensors, the method comprising:
receiving biometric data from the one or more biometric sensors and using the biometric data to calculate a biometric performance measurement selected from the group consisting of calories burned, step count, heart rate, ambulatory speed, blood pressure, blood glucose, skin conduction, body temperature, sleep data, and stairs climbed; and
communicating, using the communication circuitry, instructions between the wearable biometric monitoring device and the portable camera, wherein the instructions include a command for:
starting a recording by the portable camera,
stopping a recording by the portable camera,
pausing a recording by the portable camera,
wirelessly transmitting video data from the portable camera to the wearable biometric monitoring device, and/or
playing a recording by the portable camera.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the wearable biometric monitoring device further comprises a digital display and the instructions include a command for:
wirelessly transmitting video data from the portable camera to the wearable biometric monitoring device; and
displaying the video data from the portable camera on the digital display.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising communicating instructions from the wearable biometric monitoring device to a second portable camera, wherein said instructions include a command for:
starting a recording by the second portable camera;
stopping a recording by the second portable camera;
pausing a recording by the second portable camera;
wirelessly transmitting video data from the second portable camera to the wearable biometric monitoring device and/or
playing a recording by the second portable camera.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the video data is current video data recorded by the portable camera.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the video data from the portable camera is video data stored on a memory on the portable camera prior to the wearable biometric monitoring device receiving the video data from the portable camera.

15. The method of 12 , wherein the wearable biometric monitoring device further comprises a digital display and instructions include a command for:
wirelessly transmitting video data from the second portable camera to the wearable biometric monitoring device; and
displaying the video data from the second portable camera on the digital display.

16. The method of 12 , wherein the video data from the second portable camera is current video data recorded by the second portable camera.

17. A wearable biometric monitoring device, the wearable biometric monitoring device comprising:
one or more biometric sensors, the one or more biometric sensors configured to output biometric data;
communication circuitry configured to transmit and receive data to and from a secondary device associated with the wearable biometric monitoring device via a wireless short-range, low-power communication protocol and output the data to the controller;
a controller with one or more processors and a memory, wherein the one or more processors, the memory, and the communication circuitry are communicatively connected and the memory is configured to store program instructions to:
receive the biometric data output from the one or more biometric sensors, and

use the biometric data to calculate a biometric performance measurement selected from the group consisting of calories burned, step count, heart rate, ambulatory speed, blood pressure, blood glucose, skin conduction, body temperature, sleep data, and

Assignees

• Fitbit Inc

Inventors

• Park James
• Panther Heiko Gernot Albert
• Yuen Shelten Gee Jao

Classifications

• H04N23/651

  for reducing power consumption by affecting camera operations, e.g. sleep mode, hibernation mode or power off of selective parts of the camera · CPC title

• H04N23/661

  Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet · CPC title

• H04L67/125

  involving control of end-device applications over a network · CPC title

• H04N5/23206

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04N7/185

  from a mobile camera, e.g. for remote control · CPC title