Apple has been granted a “Fitness System” patent that would allow you to measure your body composition with an iPhone or iPad.
About the patent
The patent relates to a fitness system, and, in particular, assessing body composition based on visual information. In the patent, Apple says that users, without the aid of specialized medical equipment (e.g., weight scale, body fat calipers), are limited to taking before and after images of their bodies in order to assess the effects of a fitness program. The assessments are merely qualitative.
However, a user can’t ascertain quantitative physique and biometric assessments of his or her body from the images alone. As a result, the user doesn’t have a way to quantitatively track physique and biometric changes resulting from the user following a fitness program.
What’s more, based on the images alone, a current system can’t generate a visual indication of the body of the user that is based on the quantitative physique and biometric assessments of the user. Apple’s idea is for iPhones and iPads to be equipped with sensors and processors that can take a variety of images of a person and use a “body assessment classifier” to offer info such as weight, body mass index, and more.
Summary of the patent
Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent: “A method includes obtaining one or more images associated with a user. The method further includes generating, using a body-assessment classifier, one or more body-assessment vectors. Each of the one or more body-assessment vectors is a function of a particular one of the one or more images. The one or more body-assessment vectors include quantitative physique and biometric assessments associated with the user. The method further includes displaying, on the display, a body-assessment indicator that is based on the one or more body-assessment vectors.”
