CN107209484B

CN107209484B - Electronic device for monitoring physical activity of a user

Info

Publication number: CN107209484B
Application number: CN201680008088.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 内里奥·亚历山德里
Original assignee: Technogym SpA
Current assignee: Technogym SpA
Priority date: 2015-02-12
Filing date: 2016-02-08
Publication date: 2020-08-11
Anticipated expiration: 2036-02-08
Also published as: EP3256911B1; WO2016128880A1; CN107209484A; EP3256911A1

Abstract

An electronic device for monitoring physical activity of a user includes a housing adapted to define a shell and electronic circuitry housed within the housing, the electronic circuitry configured to monitor physical activity of the user. The device is configured to be fixed to a case of a watch, said device comprising fixing means to fix said case to at least one portion of said case of the watch.

Description

Electronic device for monitoring physical activity of a user

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of fitness and, in particular, to an electronic device for monitoring a user's physical activity.

Background

For the purposes of the present description, "physical activity" (physical activity) means any kind of movement of the user (which determines an increase in energy expenditure with respect to the rest state), i.e. movements during daily and work life and during "physical exercise", which identifies all activities that require human body movements with precise objectives (rehabilitation, physical form, aesthetics, performance) and following precise criteria in terms of duration, intensity, frequency.

In the fitness industry, electronic accessories and devices are known that are capable of measuring and monitoring the physical activity and/or physical exercise of a user throughout the day, regardless of whether the user is at a gym or elsewhere.

Such monitoring accessories and devices typically include sensors (e.g., accelerometers, etc.) configured to detect information indicative of the user's physical activity calculating the corresponding amount of motion performed during the day and transmit that information to the user's mobile phone.

This enables the user to receive information about the amount of movement performed and to evaluate whether such an amount of movement is first sufficient to maintain as healthy a lifestyle as possible overall, or is characterized by a good physical activity or physical exercise level allocated that day and a reduction in the moment of inactivity, or specifically whether such an amount of movement is sufficient to complete a training plan, a weight loss plan or otherwise, or whether and by how much it should be increased otherwise.

Such monitoring accessories and devices are inevitably added to other devices or accessories that are already available to the user during physical activity or physical exercise, or generally at leisure time at ordinary times, such as mobile phones (smart phones), tablets, media players (MP3 players), handheld computers or PDAs (acronyms from personal digital assistants), and the like.

This obviously also causes problems for the user in terms of cost and safety of the device itself, in particular during the execution of the sports activity and/or the sports exercise, the device being subject to stresses that may fall, etc.

To reduce the number of devices or accessories available to a user, electronic monitoring devices have been developed that are adapted to integrate with electronic devices (e.g., smartphones) that users typically already own.

However, this technological evolution has led to the development of electronic monitoring devices that are still more and more complex and expensive. This is due to the need to integrate such devices inside the user's other device or accessory and to allow communication and operation between them in many cases for such needs.

In particular, in addition to making the monitoring device and the user's device or accessory more sophisticated, this latter aspect is not a very general solution and is hardly suitable for the user's other devices or accessories unless further modified.

Disclosure of Invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic device for monitoring the physical activity of a user which allows to eliminate, at least in part, the drawbacks previously complained with reference to the prior art and in particular to be able to ensure greater versatility and still low costs.

This object is achieved by an electronic monitoring device according to the present disclosure. An electronic device for monitoring physical activity of a user according to the present disclosure includes: a housing adapted to define a shell; an electronic circuit housed within the housing, the electronic circuit configured to monitor physical activity of the user. The device is configured to be fixed to the outer surface of the bottom side of the case of the watch, the bottom side being configured to be located on the wrist side of the user when the watch is worn by the user, and the device comprises fixing means of the case to at least one portion of the case of the watch; wherein the fixing means are distributed on a surface of the case that can face the outer surface of the bottom side of the case of the watch.

Drawings

Further features and advantages of the electronic device for monitoring sports activities and/or sports exercises according to the present invention will become more apparent in the following description which shows preferred embodiments, given by way of indicative non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 diagrammatically shows a side view of an electronic device for monitoring physical activity of a user and a portion of a watch separate from one another in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 diagrammatically shows a side view of an electronic device for monitoring athletic activity of the user of FIG. 1, the electronic device being secured to a portion of the watch of FIG. 1;

figure 3 diagrammatically shows a perspective view of an electronic device for monitoring the physical activity of a user, fixed to a portion of a watch as in figure 2, and

fig. 4 diagrammatically shows, by means of a block diagram, an electronic circuit of a device for monitoring physical activity of a user according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In accordance with the present invention, with reference to the aforementioned figures, an electronic device for monitoring the physical activity of a user will now be described, in the following only the electronic device or devices generally indicated by reference numeral 100 being described, also for the sake of brevity.

For the purposes of the present description, it is worth reiterating that "physical activity" means any kind of movement of the user (which determines an increase in energy expenditure with respect to the rest state), i.e. movements during daily and work life and during "physical exercise", which identifies all activities that require human movements with precise objectives (rehabilitation, physical form, aesthetics, performance) and following precise criteria in terms of duration, intensity, frequency.

The device 100 comprises a casing 1 suitable for defining a housing, not shown in the drawings.

Furthermore, the device 100 comprises electronic circuitry housed inside the casing 1.

The electronic circuitry is advantageously configured to monitor the physical activity of the user.

It is to be noted that the electronic circuit not shown in fig. 1-3 due to being inside the housing 1 will be described hereinafter with reference to the block diagram of fig. 4.

According to the invention, the device is advantageously configured to be fixed to the case 2 of the watch 3.

In fig. 1-3, a wristwatch 3 to which the device 100 can be fixed is diagrammatically shown, an example of its case 2, in which also the portions 4, 4' of the watchband of the same wristwatch 3 are shown.

The device 100 according to the invention advantageously comprises fixing means 5 of the case 1 to at least one portion of said case 2 of the watch 3.

This configuration allows device 100 to be secured to any watch.

According to an embodiment, as shown in fig. 1-3, the case 1 is configured to be fixed to the rear surface 6 of the case 2 of the wristwatch 3.

According to another embodiment, not shown in the drawings, the casing 1 is configured to be fixed instead to any other part of the casing 2 than the rear surface, for example, the side surface of the casing 2 or the front surface (quarter portion) of the casing 2.

Returning to the fixing means 5, according to one embodiment, the fixing means are configured to allow an immovable fixing between the device 100 and a portion of the case 2 of the watch 3.

This configuration advantageously allows preventing any separation of the device 100 from the case 2 of the watch 3.

In this regard, according to one embodiment, the fixation device 5 comprises an adhesive.

According to another embodiment, as an alternative to what has been described above, the fixing means 5 are configured to allow removable fixing between the device 1 and a portion of the case 2 of the wristwatch 3.

This configuration instead allows the device 100 to be removed from the case 2 of the watch 3 and reattached to the case of another watch.

In this respect, the fixing means 5 comprise at least one magnet.

According to another embodiment, not shown in the drawings, the fixing means 5 may comprise any other mechanism suitable for allowing removable fixing to the case 2 of the watch 3.

According to another embodiment, in combination with those described above, the fixing means 5 are assigned to a portion of the casing 1 that can face the casing 2 of the watch 3.

According to different embodiments, such a portion of the casing 1 may be, for example, any portion of the surface of the casing 1 that may face the casing 2 of the watch 3, or may be a peripheral portion (edge), a central portion, or also the entire surface of the casing 1 that may face the casing 2 of the watch 3.

Referring to the embodiment of fig. 1 to 3, the housing 1 has a substantially disc-like shape. This shape allows the device 100 to be applied to a wristwatch having a substantially circular case.

According to another embodiment, not shown in the drawings, the casing 1 has a substantially quadrangular shape (for example, rectangular or square). This shape allows the device 100 to be applied to a watch having a substantially quadrangular case.

According to another embodiment, also not shown in the figures, the casing 1 can have any shape other than circular and quadrangular.

It is worth noting that advantageously, the case 1 has a considerable reduction in thickness with respect to the thickness of the case 2 of the watch 3 (for example, a few millimetres) so as to allow the user to wear the watch 3 to which the device 100 is fixed without experiencing any inconvenience.

According to other embodiments, which can be alternative to or combined with the previous embodiments, the fixing means 5 are configured to fix the casing 1 to a substantially flat surface, as far as the example shown in fig. 1-3 is concerned.

According to other embodiments, as an alternative to what has been described only in the preceding paragraph, the fixing means 5 are configured to fix the housing to a substantially curved surface.

For example, if the securing means 5 is an adhesive, the thickness of the adhesive may be such as to assume and maintain the generally curved shape of the surface to which the device 100 is secured.

With particular reference to the block diagram of fig. 4, the electronic circuitry of the device 100 will now be described.

As previously mentioned, such electronic circuitry, indicated by reference numeral 400 in fig. 4, is configured to monitor the physical activity of the user.

In more detail, the electronic circuit 400 comprises a data processing unit 401, for example a microprocessor or microcontroller.

Furthermore, the electronic circuit 400 comprises a memory unit 402 operatively connected to the data processing unit 401.

The storage unit 402 and the data processing unit 401 are configured to store program code and data processed during execution of such program code and to load and execute such program code, respectively, to allow the device 100 to monitor a user's physical activity.

Furthermore, the electronic circuit 100 comprises at least one sensor 403 for detecting at least one parameter representative of the movement of the user. At least one sensor is operatively associated with the data processing unit 401.

Such at least one parameter representative of the movement of the user may be, for example, acceleration, velocity, position, etc.

In this regard, examples of the at least one sensor are as follows: accelerometers (of the single, dual or triple axis variety), gyroscopes, sensors that detect the user's position (e.g., with GPS technology), compasses, and the like.

According to other embodiments, the device 100 may comprise two or more sensors in combination with each other of the kind described in the preceding paragraph.

According to another embodiment, not shown in the figures, the electronic circuit 100 may further comprise a biometric sensor operatively connected to the data processing unit 401, the biometric sensor being configured to detect a biometric parameter of the user.

Examples of biometric parameters of a user are: heart rate, body temperature, etc.

It is worth noting that in this embodiment, the detection of the biometric parameter by the biometric sensor (which preferably needs to be in contact with the surface of the user's skin) is more reliable, since the device 100 is very advantageously fixed to the rear surface 6 of the case 2 of the watch 3, so that in one position the device 100 (and therefore the biometric sensor) is in contact with the user's skin more or most in a continuous manner.

Returning to the data processing unit 401, it is noted that in one embodiment it is advantageously configured to generate information representative of the physical activity of the user based on said at least one parameter representative of the movement of the user detected by said at least one sensor.

Notably, such information representative of the user's athletic activity is, for example, the number of steps that may also be performed at the user's option within a determined time interval (e.g., hourly, daily, weekly, etc.), the distance covered, the speed of movement, the calories consumed, the period or periods of inactivity, the period or periods of activity, and so forth.

In this embodiment, as will be explained below, the device 100 is configured to transmit the stored and generated data (and therefore also such information representative of the user's physical activity, if present, and possibly also biometric parameters detected by the biometric sensor) to another electronic device separate from the electronic device 100 for monitoring the user's physical activity, in particular configured (e.g. by display) to enable the user to obtain the data received from the device 100.

According to another embodiment, the data processing unit 401 is only configured to store said at least one parameter representative of the movement of the user detected by said at least one sensor 403, and without any subsequent processing to such at least one parameter.

Furthermore, according to another embodiment, if a biometric sensor is also present, the data processing unit 401 is configured to simply store one or more biometric parameters detected by the biometric sensor without any subsequent processing to such parameters.

In this embodiment, as will be explained below, the device 100 is configured to transmit the stored data (and thus, if present, the at least one parameter representative of the movement of the user detected by the at least one sensor 403 and the biometric parameter detected by the biometric sensor) to another electronic device separate from the electronic device 100 for monitoring the physical activity of the user, which electronic device is configured to generate and make available (e.g., by display) to the user such information representative of the physical activity of the user based on the data received from the device 100 and may display the biometric parameter received from the device 100.

Returning to fig. 4, furthermore, the electronic circuit 400 comprises a data communication module 404 operatively connected to the data processing unit 401 with wireless technology.

The data communication module 404 is configured to allow the data processing unit 401 (and thus the device 100) to transmit and receive data to and from another electronic device, which has been described above as being separate from the electronic device 100 for monitoring the physical activity of the user.

Such other electronic devices are, for example, smart phones, tablets, notebooks, PDA handheld computers, and electronic computers (personal computers or server computers) configured to transfer data according to the wireless technology of the data communication module 404.

In this respect, such wireless technology may be, for example, bluetooth technology, Wi-Fi, NFC (acronym from near field communication), or other technologies comparable to NFC technology (such as Mifare, Felica, RFID), or technologies for data transmission via mobile networks (GSM, UMTS or 4G), etc.

Returning to the block diagram of fig. 4, in addition, the electronic circuit 400 includes a power supply battery 405.

It is worth noting that all the above-mentioned electrical/electronic components forming part of the electronic circuit 400 are preferably integrated on the same support, for example a printed circuit or a substrate of semiconductor material.

An example of the operation of the apparatus 100 described above will now be described in its simplest embodiment with reference to the preceding figures.

The user fixes the device 100 to a portion of the case 2 (rear face 6) of the wristwatch 3.

Once the watch 3 is worn, the device 100 monitors the sports activity by means of the data processing unit 401, which stores said at least one parameter representative of the movement of the user detected by said at least one sensor 403.

Such at least one parameter is stored in the storage unit 402 and subsequently transmitted from the data communication module 404 to another electronic device (e.g. a smartphone) configured with a specific software application available to the user, which generates and makes available to the user information representative of the user's physical activity based on said at least one parameter representative of the user's movements received from the device 100, e.g. which displays it on the display of the smartphone.

If the user wants to change the watch and fix the device 100 to a portion of the case 2 of the watch 3 by means of a magnet, it is sufficient to remove the device 100 to fix it on a portion of the case of another watch (for example, again to the rear face).

It is clear that the object of the invention is achieved because the fact that the monitoring device can be fixed to the case of a watch allows such a device to be obtained without having to obtain more complex other electronic devices in which the monitoring device is integrated inside.

Such a device is necessarily cheaper, lighter, less bulky and easier to fix the watch.

Moreover, the configuration of such a device and the presence of means for fixing the case of the device to the rear face of the case of the watch advantageously allow fixing such a device to a wide variety of watches, thus practically improving versatility.

Finally, the fact that the fixing means can be configured to removably fix the device to the case of the watch advantageously allows to increase the versatility and to be easily replaced again.

Furthermore, the fact that the device 100 stores one or more parameters representing the user's movements, which may then also be downloaded on another electronic device, or the fact that the device 100 automatically generates one or more information representing the user's physical activity, which may then also be downloaded on another electronic device, advantageously allows the user to avoid carrying other electronic devices (e.g. a smartphone) and to perform physical activities, in particular physical exercises, in a more realistic and free manner.

Again, the fact that there are also available biometric parameters allows the user to better monitor the physical state during or when performing the performance of the physical activity (in particular the physical exercise) if the device is equipped with a biometric sensor.

Modifications and adaptations to the above-described embodiments of the electronic monitoring device may occur to those skilled in the art, or functional equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof to meet temporary requirements without departing from the scope of the appended claims. Each feature described as belonging to one possible embodiment may be implemented independently of the other described embodiments.

Claims

1. An electronic device (100) for monitoring physical activity of a user, comprising:

-a casing (1) adapted to define a housing;

-an electronic circuit (400) housed inside said casing (1), said electronic circuit (400) being configured to monitor the physical activity of said user;

the device (100) is characterized in that it is configured to be fixed to an outer surface (6) of a bottom side of a case (2) of a watch (3), said bottom side being configured to be located on the wrist side of a user when said watch is worn by said user, and in that said device (100) comprises fixing means (5) of said case (1) to at least one portion of the case (2) of said watch (3);

wherein the fixing means (5) are distributed on a surface of the outer surface (6) of the case (1) that can face the bottom side of the case (2) of the watch (3).

2. Device (100) according to claim 1, wherein said fixing means (5) are configured to allow an immovable fixing between said device (100) and a case (2) of said watch (3).

3. Device (100) according to claim 1, wherein said fixing means (5) are configured to allow removable fixing between said device (100) and a case (2) of said watch (3).

4. The device (100) according to any one of the preceding claims 1 to 3, wherein the housing (1) has a substantially disc-like shape.

5. The device (100) according to any one of the preceding claims 1 to 3, wherein the housing (1) has a substantially quadrangular shape.

6. The device (100) according to any of the preceding claims 1 to 3, wherein the fixation means (5) is configured to fix the housing (1) to a substantially flat surface.

7. The device (100) according to any of the preceding claims 1 to 3, wherein the fixation means (5) is configured to fix the housing (1) to a substantially curved surface.

8. The device (100) according to any one of the preceding claims 1 to 3, wherein the fixing means (5) comprise at least one magnet.

9. The apparatus (100) according to any one of the preceding claims 1 to 3, wherein the fixing means (5) comprise at least one adhesive.

10. The device (100) according to any one of the preceding claims 1 to 3, wherein the electronic circuit (400) comprises:

-a data processing unit (401) configured to monitor physical activity of the user;

-a storage unit (402) operatively associated with said data processing unit (401);

-at least one sensor (403) for detecting at least one parameter representative of a movement of a user, said at least one sensor (403) being operatively associated with said data processing unit (401);

-a data communication module (404) operatively connected to the data processing unit (401) in a wireless technology;

-a power supply battery (405).