Energy expenditure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9747411-B2
Application number	US-201615355243-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 18, 2016
Priority date	Jan 19, 2012
Publication date	Aug 29, 2017
Grant date	Aug 29, 2017

Abstract

Aspects relate to calculating energy expenditure values from an apparatus configured to be worn on an appendage of a user. Steps counts may be quantified, such as by detecting arm swings peaks and bounce peaks in motion data. A search range of acceleration frequencies related to an expected activity may be established. Frequencies of acceleration data within a search range may be analyzed to identify one or more peaks, such as a bounce peak and an arm swing peak. Novel systems and methods may determine whether to utilize the arm swing data, bounce data, and/or other data or portions of data to quantify steps. The number of peaks (and types of peaks) may be used to choose a step frequency and step magnitude. At least a portion of the motion data may be classified into an activity category based upon the quantification of steps.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A unitary apparatus comprising:
a unitary housing configured to be worn on an appendage of a user, comprising:
a processor;
a sensor configured to capture motion data of the user;
a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed by the processor perform at least:
capturing motion data of the user with the sensor while being worn on an appendage of the user;
adding the motion data into one or more buffers;
detecting arm swings peaks and bounce peaks in the motion data;
determining whether to utilize the arm swing peaks or the bounce peaks in the motion data to quantify steps; and
calculating a step frequency of the user during a time period based on at least one of the utilized arm swing peaks or bounce peaks in the data;
classifying the motion data as running or walking based upon the calculated step frequency during the time period, and
calculating a speed of the user, wherein if the motion data is classified as walking, the speed is calculated as a linear combination of the step frequency and a height of the user, and wherein if the motion data is classified as running, the speed is calculated as a linear combination of a height of the user and a standard deviation of data in the one or more buffers.

2. The unitary apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium of the unitary apparatus comprises further instructions that when executed by the processor, perform at least:
receiving a metabolic equivalence value corresponding to the classified data from the computer-readable medium on the unitary apparatus, wherein the metabolic equivalence value is utilized to calculate an energy expenditure value.

3. The unitary apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium of the unitary apparatus comprises further instructions that when executed by the processor, perform at least:
determining that at least a portion of the motion data cannot be categorized as either running or walking, and in response, conducting an energy expenditure determination that assigns a metabolic equivalence value to unclassified data.

4. The unitary apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the calculation of the energy expenditure value comprises combining energy expenditure values of classified activities and energy expenditure values of unclassified activities.

5. The unitary apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the time period is a first time period, and further comprising a display configured to be observable by the user while being worn by the user, and the non-transitory computer-readable medium of the unitary apparatus comprises further instructions that when executed by the processor, perform at least:
combining the energy expenditure value for the first time period with an energy expenditure value from a second time period to determine an accumulated energy expenditure value; and
displaying the accumulated energy expenditure value on the display of the unitary apparatus.

6. The unitary apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the sensor comprises an accelerometer, and the non-transitory computer-readable medium of the unitary apparatus comprises further instructions that when executed by the processor, perform at least:
determining accelerometer magnitude vectors from the accelerometer for a time frame;
calculating an average value from magnitude vectors for the time frame; and
determining whether the magnitude vectors for the time frame meet an acceleration threshold and be used to quantify steps for at least the time frame.

7. The unitary apparatus of claim 6 , the non-transitory computer-readable medium of the unitary apparatus comprises further instructions that when executed by the processor, perform at least:
determining that the magnitude vectors for the time frame did not meet an acceleration threshold and therefore are not used to quantify steps for at least the time frame; and
utilizing the data that did not meet the acceleration threshold in a calculation of an energy expenditure value.

8. The unitary apparatus of claim 7 , the non-transitory computer-readable medium of the unitary apparatus comprises further instructions that when executed by the processor, perform at least:
determining that at least a portion of the data meets the acceleration threshold and in response, placing acceleration data within an analysis buffer;
calculating a mean acceleration value of the analysis buffer to create a search range of acceleration frequencies related to an expected activity;
analyzing frequencies of the acceleration data within the search range to identify at least one bounce peak and one arm swing peak; and
determining whether to utilize at least one of the bounce peak and the arm swing peak to quantify steps.

9. The unitary apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the search range comprises an arm swing range and a bounce range, and wherein analyzing frequencies within the acceleration data comprises:
identifying a first frequency peak as an arm swing peak if the first frequency peak is within the arm swing range and meets an arm swing peak threshold; and
identifying a second frequency peak as a bounce peak if the second frequency peak is within the bounce range and meets a bounce peak threshold.

10. The unitary apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the determining whether to utilize the bounce peak or the arm swing peak to quantify steps comprises:
quantifying a number of arm swing peaks and bounce peaks; and
utilizing the quantification of arm swing peaks and bounce peaks in a calculation to choose a step frequency and step magnitude.

11. The unitary apparatus of claim 10 , the non-transitory computer-readable medium of the unitary apparatus comprises further instructions that when executed by the processor, perform at least:
based upon the chosen frequency and step magnitude, quantifying a number of steps taken by the user during a respective time frame; and
based upon the number of steps taken, classifying the user's motion as running or walking for the respective time frame.

12. The unitary apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the time period is a first time period, and the non-transitory computer-readable medium of the unitary apparatus comprises further instructions that when executed by the processor, perform at least:
based on the classified activity, assigning an energy expenditure value for the first time period;
combining the energy expenditure value for the first time period with an energy expenditure value from a second time period to calculate an accumulated energy expenditure value; and
displaying the accumulated energy expenditure value on the display of the unitary apparatus.

13. The unitary apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the energy expenditure value from the second time period comprises data that is not classified into an activity.

14. The unitary apparatus of claim 12 , the non-transitory computer-readable medium of the unitary apparatus comprises further instructions that when executed by the processor, perform at least:
receiving a user input from a user input device located on the user input device, and in response, displaying the energy expenditure value on the display.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed by a processor perform at least:
capturing motion data of a user with a sensor worn on an appendage of the user;
quantifying steps taken by the user, comprising:
detecting arm swing instances and bounce instances in the motion data from the sensor worn on the appendage;
determining whether to utiliz

Assignees

• Nike Inc

Inventors

• Weast Aaron B
• Goodwin Aaron K
• Mullin James M
• Schmitt John M

Classifications

• G09B19/003

  Repetitive work cycles; Sequence of movements · CPC title

• G06F19/12 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G01C22/006

  Pedometers · CPC title

• G09B19/0038 Primary

  Sports · CPC title

• A61B5/4866

  Evaluating metabolism (using breath test A61B5/083) · CPC title