A new Apple patent filing hints at future Apple Watches may offer fitness machine connectivity and better activity monitoring.
About the patent filing
The patent filing relates generally to activity monitoring using wearable computers. In the patent filing Apple notes that some wearable computers (e.g., smartwatch, fitness band) include a fitness application that uses a digital pedometer to track a user’s daily movements and provide customized notifications related to progress and workout results, such as distance traveled and calories burned.
Some fitness apps also monitor the user’s heart rate, which can be used to calculate calories burned. A typical digital pedometer relies on accelerometer data from an accelerometer to determine when a step is taken.
Apple says that if the wearable computer is worn on the wrist, accelerations due to arm swing may cause inaccurate step counts, resulting in inaccurate distance traveled measurements. The heart rate measurement, however, is often accurate due to the device being worn on the user’s wrist where the user’s heartbeat can be accurately measured.
When a user works out in a gym, they will often use a fitness machine that includes a processor that monitors the workout and generates fitness metrics summarizing the workout. For example, a treadmill may display to the user the total distance traveled, elapsed time and total calories burned during the workout.
The total distance travelled is typically accurate because it is based on rotation of the treadmill motor shaft rather than accelerometer data, but the total calories burned is often an estimate based on a model that does not include the actual heart rate of the user. Apple wants the Apple Watch to be better able to track heart rates and other metrics.
Summary of the patent filing
Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent filing: “A method of generating a calibration factor is described. In an example, the method may include establishing a wireless communication connection with a fitness machine associated with a physical workout session. The method may also include receiving accrued workout data of the physical workout session and first machine data from the fitness machine. method may also include initiating a workout session on the wearable computer based on the first machine data. During the workout session, the method may also include obtaining sensor data, obtaining second machine data, and determining the calibration factor based on the second machine data and the sensor data. The method may also include determining pre-connection fitness data based on the accrued workout data and the calibration factor. The method may also include generating a workout session summary based on the pre-connection fitness data.”
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