Device, Method And Application For Establishing A Current Load Level
Patent No. US11468984 (titled "Device, Method And Application For Establishing A Current Load Level") was filed by V1Am Ltd on Apr 16, 2020.
What is this patent about?
’984 is related to the field of mobile device-based stress level detection. Specifically, it concerns using sensors and application usage data from a smartphone to determine a user's current stress level. The background acknowledges existing stress monitoring methods, including dedicated devices with sensors and questionnaire-based approaches, but notes their limitations in terms of cost, user burden, and reliability due to limited data sources.
The underlying idea behind ’984 is to leverage the ubiquitous nature of smartphones and their built-in sensors, combined with data on how users interact with applications, to infer their stress level. Instead of relying on specialized hardware or subjective questionnaires, the invention proposes a system that passively collects biometric data from various sources on the phone and uses this data to estimate the user's current load.
The claims of ’984 focus on a mobile device that calculates a user's current load level. This involves a mobile device with integrated sensors, a variety of applications, and an evaluation unit (either on the device or a central server). A key element is a further application that gathers biometric data from the sensors and application usage. The evaluation unit then determines the current load level using a network of artificial neural networks, with parallel processing and graphics card acceleration.
In practice, the invention works by having a background application on the smartphone collect data from sensors like the gyroscope, accelerometer, and microphone, as well as usage data from other applications like SMS, telephony, and social media apps. This data is then pre-processed and analyzed to extract relevant features related to sleep patterns, speech characteristics, motor functions (typing speed), and social interactions. These features are then fed into a neural network to estimate the user's stress level.
The differentiation from prior approaches lies in the comprehensive use of readily available data sources on a standard smartphone, eliminating the need for dedicated stress monitoring devices. By combining sensor data with application usage patterns, the system aims to provide a more reliable and less intrusive way to assess a user's stress level. The use of a network of neural networks , processed in parallel with graphics card support, is intended to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the stress level estimation.
How does this patent fit in bigger picture?
Technical landscape at the time
In the early 2010s when ’984 was filed, mobile devices such as smartphones were becoming increasingly powerful and ubiquitous, at a time when mobile applications were typically distributed through centralized app stores. Systems commonly relied on sensors integrated into these devices, such as accelerometers and GPS, to gather data. When hardware or software constraints made complex data processing on the device non-trivial, data was often transmitted to remote servers for analysis.
Novelty and Inventive Step
The examiner approved the application because the independent claims were novel and non-obvious. The examiner stated that the subject matter of the independent claims could not be found or suggested in the prior art. The examiner was convinced by the applicant's arguments, especially in light of the amendments made to the claims. The prior art of record failed to teach or reasonably suggest the concept of displaying a consolidated load level to the user via a mobile device, where the consolidated load level is obtained from a combination of category-specific load levels using an arithmetic or weighted mean, in combination with the other limitations of the claim.
Claims
This patent contains 18 claims, with independent claims 1 and 12. Independent claim 1 focuses on a device for calculating a user's current load level using a mobile end unit with sensors and applications, while independent claim 12 focuses on a method for calculating a user's current load level using a mobile end unit. The dependent claims generally elaborate on specific features, components, and steps related to the device and method described in the independent claims.
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Date
Description
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US11468984
- Application Number
- US16850984
- Filing Date
- Apr 16, 2020
- Status
- Granted
- Expiry Date
- Aug 1, 2033
- External Links
- Slate, USPTO, Google Patents