Energy expenditure

1. A unitary apparatus comprising:

a housing configured to be worn on an appendage of a user, comprising:

a processor;

a sensor configured to capture motion data of the user;

a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed by the processor perform at least:

capturing motion data of the user with the sensor while being worn on an appendage of the user;

detecting appendage swings peaks and bounce peaks in the motion data;

calculating a step frequency of the user during a time period based on at least one of appendage swing peaks or bounce peaks in the motion data;

classifying the motion data based upon the calculated step frequency during the time period;

calculating an energy expenditure value for the user, based on the classified motion data; and

calculating an energy expenditure points value, based on the calculated energy expenditure value.

2. The unitary apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium of the unitary apparatus comprises further instructions that when executed by the processor, perform at least:

receiving a metabolic equivalence value corresponding to the classified data from the computer-readable medium on the unitary apparatus, wherein the metabolic equivalence value is utilized to calculate the energy expenditure value.

3. The unitary apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium of the unitary apparatus comprises further instructions that when executed by the processor, perform at least:

determining that at least a portion of the motion data cannot be categorized as either running or walking, and in response, conducting an energy expenditure determination that assigns a metabolic equivalence value to the uncategorized motion data.

4. The unitary apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the calculation of the energy expenditure value comprises combining energy expenditure values of classified activities and energy expenditure values of unclassified activities.

5. The unitary apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the time period is a first time period, and further comprising a display configured to be observable by the user while being worn by the user, and the non-transitory computer-readable medium of the unitary apparatus comprises further instructions that when executed by the processor, perform at least:

combining the energy expenditure value for the first time period with an energy expenditure value from a second time period to determine an accumulated energy expenditure value; and

displaying the accumulated energy expenditure value on the display of the unitary apparatus.

6. The unitary apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the sensor comprises an accelerometer, and the non-transitory computer-readable medium of the unitary apparatus comprises further instructions that when executed by the processor, perform at least:

determining accelerometer magnitude vectors from the accelerometer for a time frame;

calculating an average value from magnitude vectors for the time frame; and

determining whether the magnitude vectors for the time frame meet an acceleration threshold and be used to quantify steps for at least the time frame.

7. The unitary apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium of the unitary apparatus comprises further instructions that when executed by the processor, perform at least:

determining that the magnitude vectors for the time frame did not meet an acceleration threshold and therefore are not used to quantify steps for at least the time frame; and

utilizing the data that did not meet the acceleration threshold in a calculation of an energy expenditure value.

8. The unitary apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium of the unitary apparatus comprises further instructions that when executed by the processor, perform at least:

determining that at least a portion of the data meets the acceleration threshold and in response, placing acceleration data within an analysis buffer;

calculating a mean acceleration value of the analysis buffer to create a search range of acceleration frequencies related to an expected activity;

analyzing frequencies of the acceleration data within the search range to identify at least one bounce peak and one appendage swing peak; and

determining whether to utilize at least one of the bounce peak and the appendage swing peak to quantify steps.

9. The unitary apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the search range comprises an appendage swing range and a bounce range, and wherein analyzing frequencies within the acceleration data comprises:

identifying a first frequency peak as an appendage swing peak if the first frequency peak is within the appendage swing range and meets an appendage swing peak threshold; and

identifying a second frequency peak as a bounce peak if the second frequency peak is within the bounce range and meets a bounce peak threshold.

10. The unitary apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the determining whether to utilize the bounce peak or the appendage swing peak to quantify steps comprises:

quantifying a number of appendage swing peaks and bounce peaks; and

utilizing the quantification of appendage swing peaks and bounce peaks in a calculation to choose a step frequency and step magnitude.

11. The unitary apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium of the unitary apparatus comprises further instructions that when executed by the processor, perform at least:

based upon the chosen frequency and step magnitude, quantifying a number of steps taken by the user during a respective time frame; and

based upon the number of steps taken, classifying the user's motion as running or walking for the respective time frame.

12. The unitary apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the time period is a first time period, and the non-transitory computer-readable medium of the unitary apparatus comprises further instructions that when executed by the processor, perform at least:

based on the classified user's motion, assigning an energy expenditure value for the first time period;

combining the energy expenditure value for the first time period with an energy expenditure value from a second time period to calculate an accumulated energy expenditure value; and

displaying the accumulated energy expenditure value on the display of the unitary apparatus.

13. The unitary apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the energy expenditure value from the second time period comprises data that is not classified into an activity.

14. The unitary apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium of the unitary apparatus comprises further instructions that when executed by the processor, perform at least:

receiving a user input from a user input device located on the user input device, and in response, displaying the energy expenditure value on the display.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed by a processor perform at least:

capturing motion data of a user with a sensor worn on an appendage of the user;

quantifying steps taken by the user, comprising:

detecting appendage swing instances and bounce instances in the motion data from the sensor worn on the appendage;

using only motion data collected from the sensor worn on the appendage, calculating a step frequency of the user during a time period based on at least one of the utilized appendage swing instances or bounce instances in the motion data;

calculating an energy expenditure value for the user, based on the calculated step frequency; and

calculating an energy expenditure points value, based on the calculated energy expenditure value.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, are further configured to perform at least:

generate a warning message for the user prior to adjust the energy expenditure points value.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the time period is a first time period, and wherein the calculated energy expenditure value is a first energy expenditure value and the computer-readable medium further comprising instructions that when executed by the processor, perform at least:

combining the energy expenditure value for the first time period with an energy expenditure value from a second time period to determine an accumulated energy expenditure value; and

displaying the accumulated energy expenditure value on a display of a device configured to be worn by the user during collection of the motion data.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein captured motion data of the user is only from one or more sensors that are located on the device.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein all information used to calculate the energy expenditure value is either (a) located on the device before collection of the motion data or (b) derived from the motion data without information external to the device.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the sensor comprises an accelerometer.