US 6,463,385 · Granted 2002-10-08
The GPS Watch That Turned Workouts Into Data Gold
Imagine a sports watch that knows exactly where you are, how fast your heart is beating, and what the temperature feels like—all at once. This patent describes a wearable computer that tracks your performance during exercise by combining GPS location data with heart rate sensors, then lets you download everything to your computer to analyze your run or bike ride in detail on a map.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a wearable sports computer with an integrated GPS receiver that simultaneously collects geographical position, elevation, and performance data from attached sensors like heart-rate monitors. What's protected here is the specific combination of GPS positioning, sensor interfacing, data storage, and the ability to download and overlay that performance data onto map displays on a personal computer—essentially the architecture of a location-aware fitness tracker.
Why it matters
This patent, filed in 2000 and granted in 2002, sits at the birth of the GPS sports-watch category. Before this, runners and cyclists had no easy way to see exactly where they'd gone, how fast, or how their heart responded to each hill. By locking down the core idea of combining GPS, biometric sensors, and downloadable analysis, this patent established the technical foundation that companies like Garmin and later Apple would build into mainstream fitness devices.
Real-world use
Every time a runner checks their GPS watch after a workout and sees their route traced on a map with heart-rate zones color-coded along the path, they're looking at the exact capability this patent protects.
Original USPTO abstract
A sports computer having an integral global satellite positioning (GPS) receiver and computer interfacing capability enables functional and/or performance characteristics to be tracked and analyzed as a function of geographical position and/or elevation. The computer includes a mount and/or interfaces to one or more sensors to measure operational and/or physiological parameters such as heart rate, or weather conditions such as temperature. Stored geographical and sensor parameters may be downloaded to an external personal computer so that the data collected during a workout may be reviewed and analyzed on the screen of the PC. Preferably, map data may also be stored enabling the collected data to be viewed relative to the map information, for example, in superposition.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 6,463,385
- Filing date
- 2000-11-13
- Grant date
- 2002-10-08
- Assignee
- William R. Fry
- Inventor(s)
- FRY WILLIAM R.
- CPC class
- A63B69/16
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