US 2,004,133,081 · Filed 2003-10-09
The Patent Behind Automatic Fitness Tracking Without Manual Logging
Imagine a device that figures out how many calories you burned or ate just by reading signals from your body—without you having to write anything down. This patent describes how sensors can work together to automatically predict what your body is doing, using one set of measurements to make sense of another.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a method where one set of sensor signals is processed through a first mathematical function, then used to inform how a second set of signals gets processed through one or more additional functions—all to predict a physical state like calories burned or consumed. What's protected is this two-step or multi-step signal-processing architecture, where early measurements guide how later measurements are interpreted, rather than treating all sensor data the same way.
Why it matters
This patent addresses a core problem in fitness tracking: raw sensor data alone isn't very useful. By layering multiple measurement types and letting them inform each other, the invention enables wearable devices to deliver automatic, accurate health insights without constant manual input from the user. This kind of intelligent sensor fusion became foundational to the modern fitness-tracker industry.
Real-world use
When your smartwatch estimates calories burned during a run by combining heart rate, movement, and temperature data, it's likely using a framework similar to this one—letting your heart rate reading refine how the device interprets your accelerometer and skin temperature.
Original USPTO abstract
Various methods and apparatuses for measuring a state parameter of an individual using signals based on one or more sensors are disclosed. In one embodiment, a first set of signals is used in a first function to determine how a second set of signals is used in one or more second functions to predict the state parameter. In another embodiment, first and second functions are used where the state parameter or an indicator of the state parameter may be obtained from a relationship between the first function and the second function. The state parameter may, for example, include calories consumed or calories burned by the individual. Various methods for making such apparatuses are also disclosed.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 2,004,133,081
- Filing date
- 2003-10-09
- Grant date
- Application — not yet granted
- Assignee
- Eric Teller / Jonathan Farringdon / David Andre / Christopher Pacione / John Stivoric / Scott Safier / Raymond Pelletier / Suresh Vishnubhatla
- Inventor(s)
- TELLER ERIC, FARRINGDON JONATHAN, ANDRE DAVID, PACIONE CHRISTOPHER, STIVORIC JOHN, SAFIER SCOTT, PELLETIER RAYMOND, VISHNUBHATLA SURESH
- CPC class
- A61B5/00
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