Back-filling of geolocation-based exercise routes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9730027-B2
Application number	US-201615159748-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 19, 2016
Priority date	May 19, 2016
Publication date	Aug 8, 2017
Grant date	Aug 8, 2017

Abstract

Techniques for automatic tracking of user data for exercises are disclosed. In one aspect, a method of operating a wearable device may involve determining that a user of the wearable device has started an exercise, activating the GPS receiver in response to determining that the user has started the exercise, and detecting a time at which the GPS receiver achieves an initial GPS fix of a location of the wearable device. The method may further involve logging, based on output of the one or more biometric sensors, a first set of user data during a first time interval between the start of the exercise and the detected time of the initial GPS fix, and back-filling an exercise route of the user during the first time interval based on the first set of user data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of operating a wearable device, the wearable device comprising one or more biometric sensors and a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, the method comprising:
determining that a user of the wearable device has started an exercise;
detecting a time at which the user has started the exercise in response to determining that the user of the wearable device has started the exercise;
activating the GPS receiver in response to determining that the user has started the exercise;
detecting a time at which the GPS receiver achieves an initial GPS fix of a location of the wearable device;
determining a first time interval between the time of the start of the exercise and the detected time of the initial GPS fix;
logging, based on output of the one or more biometric sensors, a first set of user data relating to at least one of distance, direction, and speed of the user during the first time interval; and
back-filling an exercise route of the user during the first time interval based on the first set of user data.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein activating the GPS receiver comprises turning on the GPS receiver in response to determining that the user has started the exercise.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
retrieving one or more candidate start locations of the exercise from a memory; and
identifying one of the one or more candidate start locations as a start location of the exercise,
wherein the back-filling comprises back-filling the exercise route from the location of the initial GPS fix to the identified start location of the exercise.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
logging a second set of user data corresponding to position data from the GPS receiver collected during a second time interval after the initial GPS fix,
wherein the back-filling of the exercise route is further based on the second set of user data.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein:
the logging of the second set of user data comprises determining one or more second direction vectors representative of the user's movement during the second time interval based on the position data from the GPS receiver;
the logging of the first set of user data comprises determining one or more first direction vectors representative of the user's movement during the first time interval based on at least one of (i) output of the one or more biometric sensors and (ii) the second direction vectors; and
the back-filling of the exercise route is further based on the one or more of the first and second direction vectors.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
retrieving a plurality of candidate start locations of the exercise from a memory;
logging a second set of user data corresponding to position data from the GPS receiver collected during a second time interval after the initial GPS fix; and
identifying one of the candidate start locations as a start location of the exercise based on the first and second sets of user data,
wherein the back-filling of the exercise route is further based on the second set of user data and the identified start location of the exercise.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the memory is located in at least one of the wearable device, a paired mobile device, and a server.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
logging a second set of user data corresponding to position data from the GPS receiver collected during a second time interval after the initial GPS fix; and
calibrating the first set of user data based at least in part on the second set of user data,
wherein the back-filling of the exercise route based on the first set of user data comprises back-filling of the exercise route based on the calibrated first set of user data.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein:
the logging of the first set of user data further comprises estimating a stride length of the user during the first time interval,
the logging of the second set of user data further comprising calculating a stride length of the user during the second time interval, and
the calibrating of the first set of user data comprises adjusting the estimated stride length during the first time interval based on the calculated stride length during the second time interval.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first set of user data comprises one or more of step count, step rate, stride length, cadence, and a distance-to-cadence ratio for the user.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving input from the user regarding at least one candidate start location; and
storing the at least one candidate start location in a memory.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the back-filling comprises estimating a start location of the exercise based on the first set of user data, the method further comprising:
storing the estimated start location of the exercise in a memory; and
refining the estimated start location via clustering a plurality of previously stored start locations.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the back-filling comprises:
estimating a start location of the exercise based on the first set of user data;
retrieving a plurality of candidate start locations of the exercise from a memory;
determining that the estimated start location is within a defined distance from one of the candidate start locations;
selecting the one of the candidate start locations in response to determining that the estimated start location is within the defined distance from the one of the candidate start locations; and
back-filling the exercise route between the selected candidate start location and the location of the initial GPS fix of the location of the wearable device.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining that the user of the wearable device has started the exercise is based on output of the one or more biometric sensors.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the logging of the first set of user data comprises determining one or more direction vectors representative of the user's movement during the first time interval based on output of the one or more biometric sensors; and
the back-filling of the exercise route is further based on the determined one or more direction vectors.

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying a type of the exercise that the user has started based on comparing the output of the one or more biometric sensors to defined sensor data for a plurality of exercise types;
estimating a rate of periodic movement of the user during the first time interval; and
estimating a distance that the user has traveled during the first time interval based on the rate of periodic movement,
wherein the back-filling of the exercise route is further based on the distance that the user has traveled during the first time interval.

17. A wearable device, comprising:
one or more biometric sensors;
a global positioning system (GPS) receiver;
at least one processor coupled to the one or more biometric sensors and the GPS receiver; and
a memory storing computer-executable instructions for controlling the at least one processor to:
determine that a user of the wearable device has started an exercise;
detect a time at which the user has started the exercise in response to determining that the user has started the exercise;
activate the GPS receiver in response to determining that the user has started the exercise;
detect a time at which the GPS receiver achieves an initial GPS fix of a location of the wearable device;
determine a first time interval between the time of the start of th

Assignees

• Fitbit Inc

Inventors

• Su Hao-Wei
• Foxlin Eric
• Venkatraman Subramaniam
• Niehaus Logan
• Duyan Peter
• Yuen Shelten Gee Jao
• Roberts Timothy M

Classifications

• G06Q10/40

  Business processes related to social networking or social networking services · CPC title

• H04W4/028 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W4/027

  using movement velocity, acceleration information · CPC title

• H04B1/385

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

• H04M1/72569

  Electricity · mapped topic