Portable monitoring devices for processing applications and processing analysis of physiological conditions of a user associated with the portable monitoring device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9801547-B2
Application number	US-201414221234-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 20, 2014
Priority date	Sep 30, 2010
Publication date	Oct 31, 2017
Grant date	Oct 31, 2017

Abstract

An activity monitoring device and associated methods for using and interfacing with the activity monitoring device are provided. In one example, the activity monitoring device includes a housing configured for attachment to a body part of a user. Also included ins a display screen attached to the housing and a sensor for capturing physiological conditions of the user. The sensor is disposed along a surface of the housing so that the sensor is proximate to the body part, the body part having at least some exposed skin. The activity monitoring device also includes memory for storing the captured physiological conditions, and a processor for examining the captured physiological conditions. At a particular time, the processor automatically selects an application to execute from a plurality of applications based on characteristics of the captured physiological conditions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An activity monitoring device configured to be worn on a wrist of a user, comprising,
a housing configured for attachment to the wrist of the user, the housing having an upper surface and a generally planar lower surface, the lower surface configured to be closer to the skin of the user than the upper surface when the activity monitoring device is worn by the user, the housing further comprising:
a protrusion formed on the lower surface of the housing and extending away from the lower housing of the housing, the protrusion comprising an optically opaque material and covering only a portion of the lower surface of the housing, the protrusion having (i) a lower surface formed on the protrusion, and (ii) arcuate sides formed on the protrusion to provide contact between the lower surface of the protrusion and the skin of the user but not between the lower surface of the housing and the skin of the user; and
an optically transparent layer covering at least a portion of the lower surface of the housing;

a display screen attached to the housing;
a first sensor for capturing motion data of the user, the motion data being representative of one or more activities;
a second sensor for capturing physiological conditions of the user, the second sensor being directed toward a surface of the housing so that the second sensor is proximate to the wrist when the activity monitoring device is worn by the user, the wrist having at least some exposed skin, the second sensor including:
a pair of first light pipes formed in the protrusion and having a geometry defined by the optically opaque material of the protrusion, each one of the pair of first light pipes forming an elongate cylindrical structure having an upper end and a lower end, the upper end disposed adjacent the lower surface of the housing and the lower end disposed at the lower surface of the protrusion, each one of the pair of first light pipes having a light emitting device disposed at the lower surface of the housing and at the upper end of the first light pipe, wherein each of the pair of first light pipes is configured to transmit light generated by the light emitting device through the protrusion and along a direction of light travel defined by the geometry of the first light pipe; and
a second light pipe formed in the protrusion and disposed between the pair of first light pipes and having a geometry defined by the optically opaque material of the protrusion, the second light pipe having an upper end and a lower end, the upper end of the second light pipe disposed adjacent the lower surface of the housing and the lower end of the second light pipe disposed at the lower surface of the protrusion, the second light pipe having a detector disposed at the lower surface of the housing and at the upper end of the second light pipe, wherein the second light pipe is configured to transmit reflected light along a direction of light travel defined by the geometry of the second light pipe toward the detector, wherein the pair of first light pipes and the second light pipe are oriented adjacent one another and directed toward the exposed skin when the housing is attached to the wrist;

memory for storing the captured physiological conditions and the motion data; and
a processor for examining the captured physiological conditions and the motion data, and at a particular time based on the examining of the motion data, automatically executing an application of a plurality of applications.

2. The activity monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein the captured physiological conditions include a heart rate of the user.

3. The activity monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein examining the motion data by the processor identifies a period of time of occurrence of one or more of the activities of the user, and the captured physiological conditions produce specific physiological conditions that are correlated to the period of time.

4. The activity monitoring device of claim 3 , wherein the specific physiological conditions include one or more of heart rate, heart rate variability, respiration rate, galvanic skin response, motion, skin temperature, or body temperature, or combinations thereof, the processor using the specific physiological conditions to identify when the user is attempting to go to sleep, entering sleep, is asleep and/or is awoken from a period of sleep.

5. The activity monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein the surface of the housing is configured to be proximate to the wrist and has a reflective coating so that more light scattered off the exposed skin is reflected back into the skin to improve a signal to noise ratio for detecting heart rate.

6. The activity monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein the housing includes a band for enabling the attachment to the wrist of the user.

7. The activity monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein the housing includes a wrist band, and the surface of the housing is configured to be proximate to the skin of the user.

8. The activity monitoring device of claim 1 , further comprising an environmental sensor for capturing environment data.

9. The activity monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein automatically executing the application includes launching or starting a specific functionality provided by the application.

10. The activity monitoring device of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further configured to automatically close or discontinue execution of the application in response to examining changes in the physiological conditions.

11. The activity monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to set one or more modes of one or more applications of the activity monitoring device based on examination of the physiological conditions and/or environmental conditions.

12. The activity monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein automatically executing the application causes data to be processed and displayed on the display screen, the data being related to one or both of the captured motion data and the captured physiological conditions.

13. The activity monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein the first and second light pipes being directed toward the exposed skin ensures that at least some light directed onto the exposed skin by the light emitting device is reflected from the skin.

14. An activity monitoring device, comprising,
a wrist band;
a display screen disposed on a housing, the wrist band being coupled to the housing, the housing having an upper surface and a lower surface, the housing further comprising:
a protrusion formed on the lower surface of the housing and extending away from the lower housing of the housing, the protrusion comprising an optically opaque material and covering only a portion of the lower surface of the housing; and
an optically transparent layer covering at least a portion of the lower surface of the housing;

a first sensor disposed in the housing to capture data associated with a user;
a second sensor disposed in the housing to capture environmental conditions;
memory disposed in the housing for storing the captured data associated with the user, for storing the captured environmental conditions, and for storing one or more applications; and
a processor in communication with the first and second sensors, the memory and the display screen, the processor configured to execute from time to time the one or more applications to render content associated with the one or more applications on the display screen,
wherein at least one of the applications being configured to present metrics regarding the captured data of the user and the environmental conditions,
wherein the captured environm

Assignees

• Fitbit Inc

Inventors

• Yuen Shelten Gee Jao
• Park James
• Friedman Eric Nathan
• Martinez Mark Manuel
• Axely Andrew Cole

Classifications

• A61B5/0205

  Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition · CPC title

• A61B5/7264

  Classification of physiological signals or data, e.g. using neural networks, statistical classifiers, expert systems or fuzzy systems · CPC title

• A61B5/0059 Primary

  using light, e.g. diagnosis by transillumination, diascopy, fluorescence (photoacoustic A61B5/0093; optical measurement of heart rate A61B5/02416; optical measurement of blood flow A61B5/0261; optical measurement of analytes A61B5/1455) · CPC title

• A61B5/01

  Measuring temperature of body parts {; Diagnostic temperature sensing, e.g. for malignant or inflamed tissue} (clinical contact thermometers G01K13/20) · CPC title

• A61B5/222

  combined with detection or measurement of physiological parameters, e.g. heart rate · CPC title