User-calibrated activity newsfeed on a social network

[0001] Making lasting changes to personal behavior, such as weight loss or increasing fitness, can be a daunting task. Traditional methods for weight loss and fitness, including expert advice, diet regimens, books, and videos, are often ineffective due to their lack of emphasis on motivation and accountability. Internet-based weight loss and fitness programs are currently available, though they often suffer from the same deficiencies as the more traditional methods.

[0002] Social networking websites, such as Facebook.com, MySpace.com, and Twitter.com, provide members of the websites with access to an online community. Typically, a member of a social networking website is able to post and update member information, display pictures, join common interest groups, and send and receive messages from other members of the website. Twitter.com allows a member to update the member's information by sending a text message from the member's mobile phone. From this function, a member of Twitter.com is able to conveniently post the member's behavior in approximately real-time. However, the posting of member information is not automated, therefore accurate updates of member information require frequent and numerous text-based entries.

[0003] Activity-monitoring devices exist to make measurements of the activities of the users of the devices. A user of an activity-monitoring device can store the measurements in a computer for later viewing. However, the raw activity measurements can be difficult to interpret and identify because of the wide variety of potential activities. The activity measurements also generally do not give personalized or customized information, such customization is necessary due to the wide variation among different users undertaking similar activities.

[0004] The present invention addresses the difficult problem of affecting personal behavior and accurately and timely publishing the activity of a person. The present invention advances the art with a user-calibrated activity newsfeed on a social network capable of connecting people based on the activities.

[0005] The present invention is directed to calibrating activity measured by an activity monitor and publishing the activity to a computer implemented social network. An activity monitor is operated by a user of the social network and measures an activity signal due to the activity of the user. The measured activity can be identified by earlier user-calibrated activities and published on the social network website to friends of the user. The publication can be done essentially concurrently with the actual activity of the user. The calibration by the users themselves enables measured activities to be identified despite the wide variation of activities and users. The near real-time publication of activity to a social network of the present invention permits friends of the user to receive accurate and up-to-date behavioral information about the user. Furthermore, the user-calibrated and published activities allow users of the social network to connect to each other around user activities. These features are particularly useful for a social network for affecting personal behavior.

[0006] In the present invention, the activity signal is stored and compared with previously calibrated activities. If the activity signal is identified with one of the previously calibrated activities, the identifier is published on the social networking website. The publication can be on a newsfeed on a user profile of the user. If the activity signal does not correspond with any of the previously calibrated activities, the user can calibrate the activity by assigning an identifier to the activity. Calibration can occur while the activity is undertaken or any time afterward. Furthermore, user-calibration can be accomplished on the activity monitor or on a separate computing means.

[0007] The activity monitor can be a portable device capable of transmitting activity signals or other data wirelessly to the application server operating the computer implemented social network. The activity monitor can be an accelerometer, a pedometer, a GPS navigational device, a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant, or any other device capable of measuring motion of the user and/or distances traveled by the user. The activity monitor device can also be a medical device, such as a heart monitor or a glucose monitor, capable of measuring signals due to changes internal to the body of the user. The nature of the activity signal would depend on the type of activity monitor and the present invention functions irrespective of the type of activity monitor.

[0008] The present invention is particularly beneficial for users of a social network for behavioral change, such as weight loss or fitness. In addition to calibration and publication, the present invention enables users of the social network to connect to each other around the activities by communicating with each other. A user can transmit and receive messages to other users of the social network directly on the activity monitor or through other computing means. The connections and messages can be for motivational, encouragement, and accountability purposes.

[0015] By providing friendship, support and accountability, a social network is a powerful tool that can help a user of the social network manage his or her personal behavior. To accomplish this, user activity must be accurately monitored, calibrated, and published for other users of the social network to view, which may foster connections between users based on the user activity. Below is a detailed description of a user-calibrated activity newsfeed on a social network.

[0016] FIG. 1 shows an example of a user Z whose activity is monitored by an activity monitor 150 and published on a computer implemented social network. The activity monitor measures an activity signal 155 based on the activity of user Z. The activity signal 155 is identified based on the user's calibration of the activity. The identified activity is published to friends A, B and C of user Z, where user Z and friends A, B and C are part of the computer implemented social network.

[0017] In a preferred embodiment, the social network is for affecting personal behavior, such as for fitness and weight loss. For example, user Z is a registered user of the social network who is trying to lose weight by physical exercise and dieting. Friends A, B and C of user Z view the activity of user Z and can send messages to user Z. By having friends watch the user's activity, the social network helps build accountability to help the user accomplish his or her behavioral change goals. The messages sent by the friends are useful for encouragement and motivation. Friends A, B and C can be registered with the computer implemented social network. However, one or more friends of registered user Z need not be registered, associated, or affiliated with the social network.

[0018] An application server 120 operates the social network. Functions of the application server 120 include storing user information, maintaining a list of friends for each user, and providing a means for users to communicate with each other. In a preferred embodiment, the application server 120 also maintains a user profile for each of the registered users of the social network. Members of the social network access the social network via a computer network, such as the Internet 110. The members of the social network access the network through any computing means capable of communicating with the network. The computing means include personal computers, laptops, mobile phones, and personal digital assistants. In a preferred embodiment, the interface with the social network is through a web browser.

[0019] The activity signal 155 measured by the activity monitor 150 is transmitted to the application server 120 to be published on the social network. In a preferred embodiment, the transmission of the activity signal 155 is through a wireless connection. The activity monitor 150 transmits the activity signal to the application server 120 via a wireless gateway, such as a short message system (SMS) gateway. The wireless transmission allows the activity to be published in near real-time, regardless of where the activity is undertaken. Alternatively, the activity monitor 150 can transmit the activity signal 155 through a wired connection with another computing means communicatively connected to the application server 120.

[0020] The activity monitor 150 can be any device capable of measuring a property of the user of the device. In a preferred embodiment, the activity monitor 150 is an accelerometer for measuring the motion of the user. The acceleration measurements of the accelerometer depend on the activity undertaken by the user. The activity monitor 150 can be any portable, wearable, or handheld device. The monitor can be a pedometer or a global positioning system (GPS) device for measuring locations and distances traveled. Medical devices, such as a heart monitor, a glucose monitor, or a diabetes monitor, can also be used to monitor the user's activity based on signals derived from changes internal to the user's body. The activity monitor 150 can be incorporated into a portable computing device such as a mobile phone or a personal digital assistant. For example, an accelerometer built into a mobile phone measures a user's motion, then the measurements are transmitted through a cell phone network to the application server 120 for publishing the activity. The nature of the activity signal 155 depends on the activity monitor 150. The signal 155 can be a simple numerical value or a location. However, the activity signal 155 may also be a more complicated pattern measured by the activity monitor.

[0021] FIG. 2 shows an example of an activity monitor 150 measuring an activity signal 155. Optionally, the activity monitor 150 marks a timestamp 210 to denote when the activity signal 155 was measured. The timestamp 210 can be helpful for calibration. Alternatively, the user can manually enter the timestamp on the activity monitor 150 or the application server 120 marks the timestamp when it receives the activity signal 155 from the activity monitor 150.

[0022] In a preferred embodiment, a user can communicate with the user's friends through the activity monitor 150. FIG. 2 shows a display 230 on the monitor 150, in which an encouraging message sent by a friend of the user is displayed. A message-receiving button 260 is available to connect with the application server 120 and receive messages from friends of the user. The activity monitor may also have two-way communication capabilities.

[0023] In a preferred embodiment, the activity signal 155 is transmitted to the application server 120 and stored for later calibration. FIG. 3 shows an example of a user interface 300 accessible by the user to calibrate activity signals. An unidentified activity signal 355 requires calibration. The user enters an identifier for the unidentified activity signal 355 in the textbox 350. The now identified activity signal is saved 340 for later comparison with other activity signals. Previously calibrated activities can also be edited 330 by changing the identifiers. Alternatively, calibration of the activity can also be accomplished directly on the activity monitor 150 during or after the activity.

[0024] The calibrated activity signals are used to identify other activity signals. For example, since the running activity signal 155 is calibrated, the activity monitor 150 would measure a similar but new signal during another run by the user. This new signal would be compared with all of the stored activity signals and identified as a running signal if similarities between the new signal and the calibrated running signal are sufficient. The comparison of signals depends on the nature of the signals and could include thresholds or ranges of values. Preferably, the application server 120 (or a database connected to the server 120) stores the user-calibrated signals and matches new activity signals with the calibrated signals. However, signal comparison and matching can also be accomplished by the activity monitor 150.

[0025] The application server 120 publishes the activity after the activity signal is compared with the calibrated activity signals and matching has been attempted. In a preferred embodiment, the activity is published on the user profile 400 of the user who is undertaking or has undertaken the activity. An example of a user profile is shown on FIG. 4. The user profile 400 has a newsfeed 410, which displays current and past activities of the user with the activity identifiers. If an activity signal cannot be identified with the calibrated activity signals, the activity corresponding to the activity signal is denoted as unidentified on the newsfeed 410. The time and date 430 of the activities are also published. If an activity were unidentified, the time and date 430 would aid in calibrating the activity. A scroll bar 415 enables viewers of the user profile 400 to scroll to other published activities.

[0026] The use of calibrated activities to identify other activities enables automated updates of user behavior to the social network. Automated activity identification and posting eliminates the necessity for a user to tediously and frequently log data. Furthermore, because users self-calibrate their activities, the problems for activity identification due to the large variety of potential activities and the wide variation of activity signals for similar activities among different users are overcome.

[0027] It is important to note that the accurately published user activities enable users of the social network to connect to other users around the activities. For example, a user undertaking an activity can use the calibrated and published activities of other users to find other users currently doing the same or a similar activity. The connections are particularly useful for a social network for personal behavioral modification.

[0028] For making connections, a function is provided for users of the social network to communicate with each other. A message box 420 is displayed on the user profile 400. The message box shows messages sent to the user by friends of the user. A scroll bar 425 enables viewers of the message box to scroll to other messages sent to the user. The messages sent to the user help to motivate the user and hold the user accountable by knowing that others are monitoring the user's activities. Other user attributes can also be displayed on the user profile 400.

[0029] FIG. 5 shows an example of a friend interface 500 with a list of friends 510. One or more friends of the user may use an activity monitor as well. The current activities of the friends of the user are displayed by the list 510. The activities are published on the list 510 with the corresponding activity identifiers if the activities are calibrated. In one embodiment, a view button 560 links to the user profile of the friend for more detailed displays of the friend's activities and other attributes.

[0030] A user and the user's friends can communicate by entering 575 and sending 573 messages. The messages can serve any purpose, including encouragement. In addition to a custom message, the sender of the message can also choose from a list of stored messages. Furthermore, a poke 574 can be sent to a friend. A poke 574 is a short message simply to notify the receiver of the poke 574 that a friend was thinking of the receiver. Optionally, a poke 574 is automatically sent to a user when a friend of the user views the user profile of the user.

[0031] A user may also find 571 people to become friends with the user. Potential friends can be contacted by manually entering contact information or by importing email address books and sending emails to people listed in the address books. As mentioned above, friends of a user need not be registered with the social network. Not registered friends of the social network can be invited 572 to join the network. As a registered user of the social network, the application server would host a user profile and maintain a list of friends for the registered member. Further details on the nature of the friends of a registered user are described in U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 11/983,126 filed Nov. 6, 2007, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

[0032] As one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, various changes, substitutions, and alterations could be made or otherwise implemented without departing from the principles of the present invention, e.g. the Internet could be substituted by a local area network. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be determined by the following claims and their legal equivalents.