Patent Application
20090171180
Embodiments of the present invention relate to wearable sensors on various parts of the body and, more particularly, to configuration of wearable sensors by an end user.
In many fields, for example in the health fields and the gaming arts, there may be a need for a person to wear a number of sensors on various parts of their body. In a health care setting, a doctor or technician may place and configure the sensors.
Such sensors may be used as wearable activity monitors. That is, devices that could monitor and report on the user's daily physical activity patterns. In some situations, a patient may need to wear several identical or similar sensors on many different parts of their body. For example, they may need to wear a sensor on both their left and right ankles. In this situation, it can be quite difficult to specify which sensor is located where. Furthermore, the user may have to don a large collection of sensors and it may be difficult or confusing as to where a specific sensor should be worn if they were already preconfigured to a particular location.
In a gamming environment, a network of wearable sensors attached, for example, to a user's arms and/or legs may enable a new class of physical game that would allow people to interact with the game. A racing game, for example, could be controlled by how fast somebody can shuffle their feet up and down, or arm and leg movements could control a fighting game. This capability would be similar to systems that use a wireless joystick to control a PC game with the additional benefit that the physical sensors would enable a more realistic gamming experience.
Currently, most wearable sensors must be manually configured when they are attached or they may be preconfigured for a particular body location. While these techniques may be acceptable for situations where a healthcare provider can configure or place the sensors, it is a significant hurdle that will make it difficult for the typical consumer to configure a wearable sensor system.
The foregoing and a better understanding of the present invention may become apparent from the following detailed description of arrangements and example embodiments and the claims when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, all forming a part of the disclosure of this invention. While the foregoing and following written and illustrated disclosure focuses on disclosing arrangements and example embodiments of the invention, it should be clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration and example only and the invention is not limited thereto.
Described is a method and apparatus for configuring a system that uses wearable sensors facilitated by a mobile device with Near Field Communication (NFC) capability. NFC is an emerging technology that has been initially intended for point-of-sale interactions. For example, a smart-card or other device can act as a user's digital wallet which can be used to pay for a transaction at a point-of-sale terminal. NFC may be used as a technology for configuring wireless networks. For example, a user may scan the NFC component embedded in a wireless access point in order to configure their mobile device to securely establish a wireless connection. Using NFC in this way is advantageous because, it makes the configuration very easy to perform. That is, the user simply touches two devices together rather than requiring them to manually type in a lengthy association code, encryption key, or perform a laborious manual device discovery.
Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, the appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.
Embodiments use an NFC configuration capability and applies it to wireless sensors that may occupy different physical locations (as opposed to just virtual configuration, like a network ID). If the wearable sensors have an embedded NFC tag in them, a mobile device with an NFC reader may be used to configure the system so that it recognizes which sensor is connected to which body part. For example, the mobile device might prompt the user to scan the sensor on their left ankle, and then after that particular sensor has been registered to be associated with the left ankle, the user could then configure the system to record the next sensor attached to another body part.
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This same basic technique can apply to a number of similar situations using NFC for disambiguation. Consider the case where someone has several wearable sensors that they rotate through to manage battery lifetime (i.e., use one sensor until the battery runs low, and then switch to a different sensor). This technique would allow the user to easily configure their mobile platform with new sensors while the old ones are being recharged. Furthermore, the scanning process could be used to trigger state changes in the sensors. For example, it may turn them “on” from a low-power sleep state. Using a sleep state may be advantageous since battery life is limited. Likewise, an NFC scan may also be used to trigger a data dump from the sensors. That is, the user or practitioner simply scans the wearable sensor with the mobile device and the sensor performs a data dump to the mobile device. Similarly, the mobile device may be used to scan and determine the state of the sensor (which may be too small or compact to have a significant display useful enough for communicating any diagnostic information).
Another valuable characteristic of using a personal mobile device, such as a mobile phone, to establish on-body associations with wearable sensors is to associate the sensors with a particular person through the association with their phone. Since the wearable sensors are small and don't have any significant I/O capability suitable for configuring the wearable sensor, it would be difficult to configure such a sensor in the field without a proximate IO capability to a mobile device with a full user interface (UI).
In another embodiment, the above described techniques may be used to configure sensors other than wearable sensors. For example, doors, appliances, and fixtures in the house may be fashioned with sensors to determine use. These systems may be used diagnostically to determine changes in psychological and physiological state of elders who may be suffering from Alzheimer's, or have limited mobility. Using the method described, it would be easier to deploy such a system and then later the NFC method could be used to map each sensor to its particular location and provide a label, for example, “kitchen door” or “stove control”, etc. The sensors may than be used to determine if an elder is using a door, window, cabinet door, or appliance.
The above description of illustrated embodiments of the invention, including what is described in the Abstract, is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. While specific embodiments of, and examples for, the invention are described herein for illustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications are possible within the scope of the invention, as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize.
These modifications can be made to the invention in light of the above detailed description. The terms used in the following claims should not be construed to limit the invention to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims. Rather, the scope of the invention is to be determined entirely by the following claims, which are to be construed in accordance with established doctrines of claim interpretation.
