Apple Patent Reveals Security, GPS & Doppler Sensors Coming to Nike + iPod System
On September 11, 2008, the US Patent & Trademark Office published Apple’s patent application titled Smart Garment . Apple’s patent generally relates to advancements made in the Nike + iPod system to enhance performance monitoring. The updated sensors include a number of new features such as integrated security so as to enable authorities to track your stolen shoes or garments, adding advanced GPS capabilities, new location based capabilities that could inform you of surrounding restaurants, rest stops and other shops and other sensors such as a notification sensor that lets you know when it’s time to update your worn shoes. The updated capabilities even introduces Doppler based velocity measurements which gives accuracies in the range of 0.1 mph in typical GPS receivers, which is the highest accuracy typically required for useful assessment of athletic activities.
Patent Overview
Outdoors endurance activities have become very popular not only because they are enjoyable and healthy, but also because they provide opportunities for competition, camaraderie, and a structured regimen. It would be beneficial for an individual participating in an outdoor endurance activity such as running, cross-country skiing, in-line skating, or outdoor swimming to be able to monitor his or her performance in metrics such as speed, distance, slope, elevation, equipment used (thereby correlating an individual’s performance to particular running shoes, for example). Furthermore, as part of a particular training program, a user will want to be able to keep track of his or her performance for a particular event as well as be able to store the information for later comparison with subsequent athletic events. For example, if a runner desires to track his or her performance over a period of time, various physical characteristics of the runner, such as age, weight, and gender, for example, could be used to evaluate the runner’s performance against both his or her individual performances. In addition to being able to gauge their own particular athletic performances against their own historical record, a user might also like to be able to compare his or her own performance against a reference performance typical of, for example, a person having similar physical characteristics. In this way, a user could gauge his or her own athletic prowess and abilities against an accepted reference and be able to determine, for example, the performance percentile he or she falls in relation to his or her particular cohort of runners.
In addition to being able to ascertain one’s own performance against a hypothetical norm, a user may also like to be able to compete against others. Such competitions historically have been held in meets, or other local physical competitions where athletes meet in person and compete. It would also be desirable to be able to compete against an opponent even in those situations where both opponents cannot be physically in the same location using a network such as the Internet. However, being able to track each individual, until recently, has been impractical. In addition, it would be beneficial to be able to correlate a user’s performance to particular garments (running time vs. a particular shoe or shoe design) as well as tracking shoe characteristics (such as wear) over time or distance used.
The described embodiments provide an improved method, apparatus and system for automatic monitoring in real-time athletic performance of a user utilizing an authenticated sensor electronically paired with an authorized garment worn by the user in communication with (either wirelessly or wired) an external processing device. As used herein an authorized garment is a garment sanctioned to be electronically paired with an authenticated (i.e., certified) sensor. Once the garment and sensor are electronically paired, the sensor can receive (and in some cases process) sensing information (such as garment performance data or user performance data) received from the garment. Since only authorized garments are configured to electronically pair with authenticated sensors, a user (or manufacturer) can be assured that the sensing data received by the sensor is both accurate and consistent with its intended use (a sensor designed for use with running shoes cannot properly be used with dance shoes, for example). In the case of running shoes, if a user owns a number of running shoes, he or she may want to determine if a particular shoe or shoe design facilitates superior performance by the user, determine which shoe design provides for better wear, evaluate a particular shoe against other shoes of similar design, and so on.
Improved Security
Improved security can be provided by authenticating the sensor to only a limited number of garments (such as running shoes) as determined by a user, shoe manufacturer, etc. thereby reducing the incentive for thieves to steal the sensor or finders of lost sensors to keep them. Since the sensor will function properly with only authorized garments, a thief (or recalcitrant finder) can use the sensor only if it is properly authenticated and only then with authorized garments thereby markedly reducing the incentive to steal (or keep) the sensor resulting in vastly improved security than would otherwise be possible.
Expiry Notification Sensors
Furthermore, in addition to performance and improved security, a sensor can provide notification to a user that a particular garment has reached an expected useful lifetime based upon any number of factors, such as, an amount of time that the garment has been used, an amount of wear detected by the sensor, etc. For example, in many cases, a runner will not notice that a running shoe has been worn down to the point where crucial support (arch support, for example) has eroded thereby increasing the likelihood of injury. In this way, by providing a notification that one or both of the running shoes should be replaced, the runner may be better able to avoid injuries related to outworn equipment.
GPS: Velocity and/or Location Data
A sensor can also include location-sensing devices (such as a GPS receiver) that provide velocity and/or location data to a processor unit that can be coupled to a database having information such as physical characteristic data such as weight, age, and gender. The database can, in turn, provide an updated readout to a display unit of the user’s ongoing athletic performance statistics. Such statistics can include elevation gain, speed, heading, elevation, calories burned, anticipated calories burned (based upon a pre-selected course), and others.
Apple’s patent FIG. 1 illustrates an example of sensor 100 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. The sensor could include a processor (102) that could control the overall operation of the sensor. If GPS capable, the sensor can utilize line of sight to GPS antenna 120 to receive GPS satellite signals at GPS receiver 122 from one or more GPS satellites to determine a location of the sensor and/or a time of observation.
In some embodiments, sensor 100 can include one or more dead reckoning devices 124 to provide direction information or change of location information. Such dead reckoning devices include altimeters, accelerometers, cadence measurement sensors and the like. For example, cadence measurement sensors utilize the rhythmic motion associated with the athletic performance (e.g., the user’s strides) to extrapolate the user’s speed and distance during periods of satellite blockage thereby further enhancing the robustness of the system in challenging environments with high levels of signal blockage. Authorization module 128 can be used to facilitate the electronic pairing of a garment and sensor 100 by processing garment identification credentials. In those embodiments of sensor 100 that include GPS receiver 122, RAM 104 can store in addition to selected data such as measured user performance metrics, local elevation data in digital elevation model (DEM) database 126 in the form of DEM data. In addition to local elevation data, DEM database 126 can store local points of interest (such as restaurants, rest stops, parks, shops, etc.) that can be updated by the user or downloaded from external circuitry.
Doppler Based Velocity
DEM data can serve to improve the accuracy of the GPS elevation and speed measurements as well as to improve the tolerance of sensor 100 to satellite blockage. Processor 102 can be configured to calculate carrier-wave Doppler-shift based user velocity based upon data received from GPS receiver 122 and DEM database 126 and calculate selected athletic performance feedback data using the calculated user velocity and other data such as the elevation profile and the user physical characteristics. The use of Doppler based velocity measurements gives accuracies in the range of 0.1 mph in typical GPS receivers, which is the highest accuracy typically required for useful assessment of athletic activities.
Measuring Performance, Stride and Running Style
Apple’s documentation states that sensor 100 could provide the user with performance data. The illustrated shoe includes applied force sensing units 802, 804, and 806 placed in shoe sole 808 at heel location, midsole location and toe location - each arranged to respectively sense impact force. Sensors 802-806 each periodically send impact force sensing data to sensor 100 most of which is then forwarded to an external computing device, such as portable media player for processing. Such processing can include characterizing a user’s running style in real time. For example, by comparing the relative forces of impact and the temporal relationship between the occurrence of the forces of impact, a user’s stride can be characterized as either a toe plant type stride (see FIGS. 9 and 10) or a heel plant type stride (see FIGS. 11 and 12) where a user’s stride can be defined as an amount of time between consecutive toe, heel, or mid-sole impacts for a particular shoe. Taken over a number of strides, a user’s running style profile can be developed that provides a characterization of the user’s overall running style.
Since, a runner’s stride and stride type can vary over the course of a run (a sprint typically uses more of a toe plant style whereas a power walker would use more of a heel plant style), a user’s running style profile can also vary over the course of the run (as well as well as over the course or months or years, or as the running shoes wear, or between different, but authorized, running shoes). Therefore, in order to more accurately gauge a user’s overall running style, a user’s average running style can be calculated. In some cases, the user’s average running style is accumulated from a number of previous runs using the same running shoe or can incorporate average running styles from different (but authorized) running shoes, if desired. In this way, a user has the ability to compare running styles and/or performance not only from one run to another, but from one running shoe to another, or merely deduce an overall running style regardless of the running shoe used.
Apple lists Brett G. Alten (Cupertino, CA) and Robert Edward Borchers (Pleasanton, CA) as the inventors of patent 20080218310.
Other Apple Patents Published Today
Other Apple patents that were published by the USPTO today include the following: Video Conferencing Apparatus and Method – is a continuation patent about Apple’s iSight; Portable Electronic Device with a Global Setting User Interface – is a continuation patent about the iPhone’s instant messaging capabilities; Portable Multifunction Device, Method, and Graphical User Interface for Managing Communications Received While in a Locked State – is a provisional patent about receiving communications while your iPhone is in a locked state; Integrated Infrared Receiver and Emitter for Multiple Functionalities – is a utility application of a provisional patent application regarding sensors and emitters, such as, for example, infrared sensors and emitters and finally - Portable Electronic Device with Auto-Dim Timers which is another provisional patent relating to the iPhone. The abstract states the following: A portable electronic device with a touch-sensitive display is disclosed. In some embodiments, the time period after which the display is dimmed due to user inactivity is extended based on user interaction with the device subsequent to a dimming event. The dim time can be extended for a single application, multiple applications, or for the device as a whole. The user interaction with the device that extends the dim time can be a touch on any button of the device, the device’s touch screen display, or even a smack on the body of the device that is detected by an acceleration sensor.
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Written and researched by Jack Purcher.
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