Arda + Apple Watch Series 4 = Awesomeness for Consumers!

Apple’s big announcement for the Apple Watch Series 4 on 13 September shows a continued and increased interest by the company in building a highly useful personal fitness and health wearable.

Included on the watch is an FDA approved EKG (also called ECG) which can detect heart abnormalities. Apple is talking about detecting atrial fibrillation (i) through the watch. If this is the only abnormal heart classification possible, it is quite a stretch to call it an EKG, but with Apple’s 2016 patent application that hints at non-invasive glucose monitoring for diabetics (ii). An intriguing future for the Apple watch is on the horizon.

Sensor Data Means Many Things in Isolation. Context is Key.

The Apple Watch Series 4 also contains a host of other sensors including heart rate, a barometer, an accelerometer and GPS. Each sensor records its own stream of data but that data can mean many things in isolation.

For example, a rise in heart rate can be due to:

• exertion
• a hot day
• being at altitude
• stress
• fatigue
• illness

Or a host of other contributors. To make heart rate meaningful, you must take other contributing factors into account.

The exciting thing about having many sensors on a single watch is that all the data can be combined to create ‘context’:

• Mary’s heart rate went up. The GPS picked up that she was moving at a running speed and the accelerometer picked up that she was moving at a stride rate comparable to running. Conclusion: heart rate went up because Mary was running.
• Tom’s heart rate went up. The accelerometer detected that his stride rate was at a walking pace and the barometer detected that his altitude was increasing at a rate similar to climbing stairs. Conclusion: Tom’s heart rate went up when he climbed some stairs.

Just suppose now or soon, an Apple watch EKG check showed an abnormality as Tom walked up those stairs. We know that, for Tom, an abnormal heart function occurred when walking up stairs where heart rate was pushed up to exceed a threshold. We know enough to say, “take it easy on the stairs Tom” along with “go and see your health professional”.

With context, understanding the user’s situation is significantly improved, allowing for accurate diagnosis and help from medical experts, coaches, trainers and even AI. Context makes the data meaningful.

Context is Performance Lab’s Specialty

The rise of the sensor-packed wearable like the Apple Watch Series 4 has us excited at Performance Lab because context is our specialty! Here are some extracts from our patent portfolio around context (iii) (iv):

‘For health or environmental monitoring, the classification is the incidence of a health (ECG, Blood Pressure) or environmental (Temperature, Heat Index, Wind Speed) parameter matched up to the other parameters that describe a situation (heart rate, terrain, speed etc).’

‘Sensors may be used to determine if an individual is stationary, or moving (running or walking), the speed that they are moving at and the direction they are moving in, whether the terrain is flat or hilly, whether it is cold or hot, windy or rainy, the altitude the individual is at, the location of the individual, the body temperature, heart rate, sweat rate, footfall, blood pressures, ECG etc. These measurements that are associated with the individual can be very useful in weight loss, health and military applications.’

‘…heart rate, R-R (or HRV) ECG, blood pressure, body temperature, glucose and cholesterol levels are also monitored to be processed as part of the data relating to the classified activity.’

Our Arda app for the Apple Watch Series 3 is currently in private beta testing. The fact that Apple has doubled down on their watch as an activity, exercise and health device with many sensors is exciting and we look forward to adding Arda’s piece to the puzzle — using our unique contextual methods to make all that information as meaningful and useful for consumers as possible!

REFERENCES

(i) A. Chen, Sept 12th, 2018, Why an Apple Watch with EKG Matters; The Verge

(ii) M. Campbell, Aug 23rd, 2018, Apple Patent hints at Non-Invasive Glucose Monitoring Tech for Apple Watch; Appleinsider

(iii) Automated physical activity classification

(iv) Classification system and method

Performance Lab’s app for the Apple Watch Series 3 is currently in private beta testing and its token generating event for the Arda Smart Training Community is live now. To learn more and to buy tokens visit joinarda.com, or stay informed by joining our community on Telegram.