US 2,003,065,257 · Filed 2002-11-12
The Wearable That Counts Both Steps and Calories
Imagine a device you wear that tracks how much you move and what you eat, then shows you on a screen how active you've been and what you've consumed. It's like having a personal coach on your wrist that remembers everything and helps you see your habits at a glance.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a wearable device that combines three key functions: a motion sensor built into a small box you wear, a button you press to log when you eat something, and a clock that timestamps everything. What's protected here is the specific way these three inputs—movement data, food logging, and time stamps—flow into a central processor that calculates your activity level and food intake, then displays the results on an integrated screen. Anyone making an unauthorized wearable that bundles these exact functions together would infringe.
Why it matters
This patent represents an early attempt to merge personal activity tracking with nutrition logging in a single wearable device—a category that has exploded in the fitness-tech market. By combining motion sensing with manual food logging and displaying both metrics on one device, the patent staked out territory in what would become the smartwatch and fitness-tracker space. The integration of these three data streams under one processor was novel enough to warrant protection, even though the individual technologies existed separately.
Real-world use
Today's fitness trackers and smartwatches that show you steps taken and let you manually log meals are direct descendants of this design concept.
Original USPTO abstract
A diet and activity-monitoring device includes a housing configured to be mounted on the subject and a display integral with the housing for displaying information to the subject. The device also includes a body activity monitor operatively disposed within the housing for monitoring the body activity of the subject, a consumption notation control operable by the subject to indicate food consumption, and a timer operable to output a time indicative signal. The device further includes a processor operable to receive and process the body activity signal, time indicative signal and the food consumption signal, for use in determining a food consumption indicator or a body activity indicator, that is stored in a memory portion of the processor for recall by the subject on the display screen.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 2,003,065,257
- Filing date
- 2002-11-12
- Grant date
- Application — not yet granted
- Assignee
- Mault James R. / Edwin Pearce / David Gilmore / Roshi Givechi / Jeanne Ragan / Andrzej Skoskiewicz / Neil Grimmer
- Inventor(s)
- MAULT JAMES R., PEARCE EDWIN, GILMORE DAVID, GIVECHI ROSHI, RAGAN JEANNE, SKOSKIEWICZ ANDRZEJ, GRIMMER NEIL
- CPC class
- A61B5/02055
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