Oh, patents! Apple Yoga fitness tracker

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Some people might cringe at the idea of a fitness tracker associated with Yoga. A 5000 year old body and mind practice, meaning “unity” in Sanskrit, the sacred language of India, where the true names of the “asanas” (poses) are found. According to Forbes, a yoga fitness tracker might also be especially troubling for those practitioners, who turn to yoga to precisely disconnect from all of their electronic bits and bytes. At the end of the day, however, the Apple Yoga fitness tracker perhaps testifies to the beauty of yoga, its capacity to transcend the ages through the human body, to become relevant in 2022, in new ways, new cultures, new languages, and in new conversations that also celebrate health.

Consequently, for those interested in electronically monitoring their yoga practice, as part of an overall health and fitness program—or for any other reason, Apple created a native Apple Watch yoga app, with the capacity to measure energy expenditure during a yoga session. The app measures heart rate in beats per minute (BPM), active calories (generated in movement), and total calories (combining active and resting calories.)

A new and non-obvious device, since unlike fitness trackers for aerobic exercise routines, like biking, running or swimming, where heart rate is correlated to calories burned in repetitive, high intensity movement, many different sorts of yoga exists, combining both movement and pause. An apparent inactivity between yoga asanas, where regular aerobic fitness trackers might also pause, until activity is resumed. Not to menton the confounding variable of increased ambient temperature, causing increased heart rate, during some types of yoga sessions, without increased intensity of movement. Thus, the Apple watch yoga fitness tracking app qualified as an invention, earning the US utility patent US10709933B2, titled Pose and heart rate energy expenditure for yoga.

The Figures 4 and 6 are included below, together with the patent abstract.

The patent Figure 4 depicts exemplary yoga poses, in view of reciting four yoga movement models, deemed relevant in the calculation of yoga energy expenditure. The first model recited as Power yoga (e.g.,Vinyassa, Ashtanga or Acro yoga) is one where each of the poses 402, 404, 406 and 408 are continuous, flowing from one to the other. The second model, recited as Wellness yoga (e.g., Hatha, Iyengar Anasura, Jivamukti, Forrest, Sivananda or Svaroopa yoga), is one where movement from one pose to another is disconnected. In other words each of the poses 402, 404, 406 and 408 might be held for a given amount of time. The third model recited as Hot yoga (e.g. Bikram® yoga) is a version of the second model, performed under much higher ambient temperatures. The fourth model, recited as  Meditative yoga (e.g., representing Vini, Kundalini, Integra or Tantra yoga), is depicted with pose 410, which invokes little, or no movement.

The patent Figure 6 shows the app flowchart. The flowchart recites means 602 to detect the beginning of a yoga session, means 604 to detect the ambient temperature of the session, in view of determining 606 whether the session is Hot yoga, and of scaling 608 Heart rate measurements accordingly. Most importantly, the flowchart depicts means 610 of determining the sort of ongoing yoga session, based on motion sensing and a pose–detection algorithm, so that a corresponding energy expenditure model 612 might be applied to the incoming motion sensor data.

A method and a system for determining an energy expenditure of a user while practicing yoga are described. A heart rate sensing module can measure the user's heart rate. A temperature sensing module can measure ambient temperature. A motion sensing module can collect user's motion data. In some embodiments, a hot yoga session can be detected based on measured ambient temperature. In some embodiments, a yoga type can be detected based on the motion data. In some embodiments, an energy expenditure model can be applied based on the determined yoga type. [Abstract US10709933B2]

References

Bell, L (Dec. 31, 2018). How to use Yoga App on the Apple watch to track your practice.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/leebelltech/2018/12/31/how-to-use-the-yoga-app-on-the-apple-watch-to-track-your-practice/?sh=364d6a1d1669

Turlington, K. (2002). Living yoga: Creating a life practice. Hyperion: New York, NY.