Self-charging mobile device for efficiently charging battery

Abstract

Disclosed is a wearable device comprising: a battery; a first power supply unit which is connected to the battery, includes an automatic winding module for storing energy, generated by the movement of a user, in an elastic member, and charges the battery by converting the elastic energy stored in the automatic winding module into electrical energy under a first condition; a second power supply unit which is connected to the battery and charges the battery by receiving electrical energy from an external power source under a second condition; a monitoring unit for determining the state of each of the battery, the first power supply unit, and the second power supply unit; a control unit for storing predetermined data or charging at least a portion of the first power supply unit and the second power supply unit with reference to the determination result of the monitoring unit; and a charging notification unit for requesting the user to charge the battery through one of the first power supply unit or the second power supply unit or notifying the user of the charging state with reference to the determination result of the monitoring unit.

Description

Self-charging mobile devices that efficiently charge their batteries

[0001] The present invention relates to a self-charging wearable device that efficiently charges a battery, and more particularly, to a wearable device that converts energy generated from the user's movements or the environment around the user into electrical energy and supplies it to a battery, and evaluates the amount of electrical energy converted to efficiently supply electrical energy to the battery even when there is no external power source.

[0002] Wearable devices can perform a variety of functions, such as linking with external devices like smartphones or running their own operating systems and applications. These devices are typically designed to be worn by users, taking the form of wristwatches, rings, or glasses, allowing them to be carried around in close contact with the wearer.

[0003] Due to their ability to be carried and closely attached to the user, currently commercialized wearable devices are equipped with health-related applications and sensors, allowing pregnant women and the elderly with limited mobility to roughly understand their health status on a daily basis. The market for these applications is also expanding. For example, Apple in the US has been steadily pioneering health-related industries with the Apple Watch, released in 2015, and in 2023, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in South Korea granted medical product approval to Samsung's wearable device.

[0004] However, the design of wearable devices has the problem of requiring frequent charging due to the high power consumption of various applications, despite the use of relatively small batteries to simultaneously integrate sensors for providing information to various applications and displays for user notifications while maintaining portability. Furthermore, it is difficult for users to charge wearable devices wirelessly or with wires while wearing them, necessitating a new design to address these issues.

[0005] The present invention aims to solve all of the above-described problems.

[0006] Another object of the present invention is to provide a wearable device that includes an independent power supply, thereby reducing the need for charging via an external power source.

[0007] Another object of the present invention is to provide a wearable device that can guide information for efficient charging based on the user's status.

[0008] In order to achieve the purpose of the present invention as described above and to realize the characteristic effects of the present invention described below, the characteristic configuration of the present invention is as follows.

[0009] According to one aspect of the present invention, a wearable device is disclosed, comprising: a battery; an automatic winding module connected to the battery and storing energy generated by a user's movement in an elastic member, the first power supply unit converting elastic energy stored in the automatic winding module into electrical energy under a first condition to charge the battery; a second power supply unit connected to the battery and receiving electrical energy from an external power source under a second condition to charge the battery; a monitoring unit determining the status of each of the battery, the first power supply unit, and the second power supply unit; a control unit storing predetermined data or performing charging on at least a portion of the first power supply unit and the second power supply unit with reference to a determination result of the monitoring unit; and a charging notification unit for requesting the user to charge the battery through one of the first power supply unit and the second power supply unit or notifying the user of a charging status with reference to the determination result of the monitoring unit.

[0010] As an example, a wearable device is disclosed, which further includes a memory; and when the monitoring unit detects that the user's exercise status satisfies a condition that a first threshold exercise amount or more is greater than or equal to the first condition during a predetermined past time period, the control unit determines a main exercise time period by referring to a result of grouping a plurality of time periods that satisfy the condition that the user's exercise status is greater than or equal to the first threshold exercise amount, determines information about a path that the user moved during the main exercise time period as main path information, and stores the main exercise time period and the main path information in the memory, and when the monitoring unit detects that the user's current time and current location information correspond to the main exercise time period and the main path information, respectively, the charging notification unit requests the user to charge the battery through the first power supply unit.

[0011] As an example, if the monitoring unit detects that the user's movement state during the past time interval is less than a second threshold momentum and that the speed at which the user's position changes exceeds a threshold speed, the control unit determines the user's state as a riding state, and for each day of the week, among the time periods and routes in which the user was in the riding state, a time period and a route with a threshold riding frequency or greater are determined as main riding information and stores the determined time periods and routes in the memory, and if the monitoring unit detects that the user's current state is in the riding state or the user's current time and current location correspond to the main riding information, the wearable device is disclosed, wherein the charging notification unit does not request the user to charge the battery through the first power supply unit.

[0012] As an example, the control unit determines the amount of electric energy supplied to the battery by the user through the first power supply unit and the second power supply unit during the past time interval as the first power supply amount and the second power supply amount, respectively, and determines a location where the second power supply amount is greater than a predetermined threshold supply amount as a primary charging location, and stores the first power supply amount, the second power supply amount, and the primary charging location in the memory, and determines that the user is in a first preferred state if the first power supply amount is greater than the second power supply amount, and determines that the user is in a second preferred state if the second power supply amount is greater than the first power supply amount, and when the monitoring unit detects that the current state of the user is the first preferred state and the amount of electric energy supplied to the battery through the first power supply unit is less than the first power supply amount and the current location of the user does not correspond to the primary charging location, the charging notification unit requests charging of the battery through the first power supply unit, and the monitoring unit determines that the user is charging the battery through the first power supply unit. A wearable device is disclosed, wherein when the energy consumption of the wearable device is detected to be greater than a predetermined threshold consumption amount during a first charging time when the state is detected, the charging notification unit requests an increase in the amount of exercise of the user to increase the amount of electric energy delivered to the battery through the first power supply unit.

[0013] As an example, if the monitoring unit detects that the user's movement state during the past time interval is less than a second threshold movement amount and that the speed at which the user's position changes exceeds a threshold speed, the control unit determines the user's state as a boarding state, and for each day of the week, determines a time period and a route with a threshold boarding frequency or higher among the time periods and routes during which the user was in the boarding state as main boarding information and stores the determined time periods and routes in the memory, and if the monitoring unit detects that the first power supply is less than a predetermined first reference supply amount despite the user being in the first preferred state, the charging notification unit provides detour route information having a common starting point and an arrival point of the main route information stored in the memory as a first alternative route to the user, or provides at least a portion of a route corresponding to the boarding state information as a second alternative route to the user, so as to request that the user charge the battery through the first power supply unit using either the first alternative route or the second alternative route.

[0014] As an example, a wearable device is disclosed, further comprising a memory; and the control unit stores in the memory a reference addition amount of electric energy supplied to the battery and a reference subtraction amount of electric energy consumed by the battery through each of the first power supply unit and the second power supply unit for each reference pair data consisting of reference time zone information and reference location information during a past time period, and when the monitoring unit detects that the current time and current location information of the user correspond to the reference time zone information and the reference location information, respectively, and that the reference subtraction amount is greater than the reference addition amount by a preset threshold difference value, the control unit determines one of the first power supply unit and the second power supply unit as a priority power supply unit with reference to the current location information, and the charging notification unit requests charging of the battery through the priority power supply unit.

[0015] As an example, a wearable device is disclosed, which further includes a third power supply unit that includes at least one solar power generation element and charges the battery through coupling of excitons generated from the solar power generation element under a third condition; and when the monitoring unit detects that the amount of sunlight is equal to or greater than a preset threshold amount of sunlight as the third condition by referring to weather information corresponding to information about the current time and the current location of the user, the control unit determines a path in which a ratio of path sections in which the amount of sunlight is equal to or greater than the preset threshold amount of sunlight corresponds to a preset threshold ratio as a third alternative path, and provides the third alternative path to the user through the charging notification unit.

[0016] As an example, a wearable device is disclosed, further comprising a memory; and the control unit stores in the memory a reference addition amount of electric energy supplied to the battery and a reference subtraction amount of electric energy consumed by the battery through each of the first power supply unit, the second power supply unit, and the third power supply unit for each reference pair data consisting of reference time zone information and reference location information during a past time section, and when the monitoring unit detects that the current time and current location information of the user correspond to the reference time zone information and the reference location information, respectively, and that the reference subtraction amount is greater than the reference addition amount by a preset threshold difference value, the control unit determines at least one of the first power supply unit, the second power supply unit, and the third power supply unit as a priority power supply unit with reference to the current location information, and the charging notification unit requests charging of the battery through the priority power supply unit.

[0017] As an example, the automatic winding module of the first power supply unit includes a housing in which the elastic member is positioned; a gear unit connected to the elastic member and including at least one gear to compress the elastic member according to rotation of the gear; a weight connected to the gear unit and configured to move in a pendulum according to movement of the user so that the elastic energy is stored in the elastic member through the gear unit; and a generator connected to the elastic member to convert the elastic energy into electrical energy; wherein, when the monitoring unit detects that the battery charge of the battery is less than or equal to a critical charge amount and the first condition is detected to be satisfied in which the user's momentum is greater than or equal to a first critical momentum amount capable of rotating the gear unit by the weight, a wearable device is disclosed in which the first power supply unit converts the elastic energy stored in the elastic member of the automatic winding module into electrical energy through the generator to charge the battery.

[0018] As an example, a wearable device is disclosed, which includes a thermoelectric element for supplying power through a thermoelectric effect, and further includes a fourth power supply unit for charging the battery by the thermoelectric element under a fourth condition; and when the monitoring unit detects that the difference between the body temperature of the user and the outdoor temperature of the user is greater than a predetermined threshold difference value as the fourth condition, the charging notification unit requests charging of the battery through the fourth power supply unit.

[0019] The present invention has the effect of providing a wearable device that reduces the need for charging through an external power source by including an independent power supply.

[0020] The present invention has another effect of providing a wearable device that can guide information for efficient charging based on the user's status.

[0021] The drawings attached below for use in explaining embodiments of the present invention are only some of the embodiments of the present invention, and a person having ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention pertains (hereinafter “ordinary skilled worker”) can obtain other drawings based on these drawings without performing an inventive work.

[0022] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a wearable device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0023] FIG. 2 schematically illustrates an automatic winding module of a first power supply unit of a wearable device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0024] FIG. 3A schematically illustrates a monitoring unit of a wearable device according to an embodiment of the present invention detecting information during a past time period, and a control unit determining status information including a user's main exercise time zone, main route information, and main boarding information by referring to the information detected by the monitoring unit, and storing the same in memory.

[0025] FIG. 3b schematically illustrates a charging notification unit requesting a notification by referring to the current time and current location information detected and determined by the monitoring unit of a wearable device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0026] FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for determining at least one of a plurality of power supply units of a wearable device as a priority power supply unit according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0027] The detailed description of the present invention, which follows, refers to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate specific embodiments in which the present invention may be implemented, to clearly illustrate the purposes, technical solutions, and advantages of the present invention. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the present invention.

[0028] Furthermore, throughout the detailed description and claims of the present invention, the word "comprise" and its variations are not intended to exclude other technical features, additives, components, or steps. Other objects, advantages, and features of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art, in part from this description and in part from practice of the invention. The examples and drawings below are provided for illustrative purposes and are not intended to limit the present invention.

[0029] Furthermore, the present invention encompasses all possible combinations of the embodiments set forth herein. It should be understood that the various embodiments of the present invention, while different, are not necessarily mutually exclusive. For example, specific shapes, structures, and characteristics described herein may be implemented in other embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Furthermore, it should be understood that the positions or arrangements of individual components within each disclosed embodiment may be modified without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the following detailed description is not intended to be limiting, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled, if properly described. Like reference numerals in the drawings designate the same or similar functions throughout the several aspects.

[0030] Hereinafter, in order to enable a person having ordinary skill in the art to easily practice the present invention, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings.

[0031] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a wearable device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0032] Referring to FIG. 1, a wearable device (1000) capable of self-charging can be divided into a power supply module (1100) related to the supply of electric energy and a processing module (1200) for judging the status of the user and / or the status of the wearable device (1000) and sending a notification to the user with reference to the result of the judgment.

[0033] More specifically, the power supply module (1100) may include a battery (1150) that stores electric energy for the operation of the wearable device (1000) and first to fourth power supply units (1110, 1120, 1130, 1140) for supplying electric energy to the battery (1150). Here, the first power supply unit (1110) and the second power supply unit (1120) are essential components, and the third power supply unit (1130) and the fourth power supply unit (1140) are optional components. In addition, the battery (1150) may be a secondary battery that is easy to recharge. Among these, the second power supply unit (1120) can charge the battery (1150) by receiving electric energy wirelessly or wired from an external power source under the second condition, and the first power supply unit (1110), the third power supply unit (1130), and the fourth power supply unit (1140) can independently supply electric energy without using an external power source under each condition.

[0034] More specifically, the first power supply unit (1110) stores energy generated by the user's movement as elastic energy in an automatic winding module (not shown) described later with reference to FIG. 2, and then converts the stored elastic energy into electrical energy under the first condition, the third power supply unit (1130) includes a solar power generation element and converts light energy into electrical energy through the coupling of excitons generated in the solar power element under the third condition, and the fourth power supply unit includes a thermoelectric element for supplying power through the thermoelectric effect, so that the thermoelectric element converts thermal energy into electrical energy under the fourth condition. At this time, it goes without saying that the energy that can be converted into electrical energy is not limited to these, and depending on the situation in which the invention is implemented, an additional power supply unit that can convert energies not described above into electrical energy using energy harvesting technology may be included in the power supply module (1100), or some of the power supply units may be omitted.

[0035] The first to fourth conditions may be determined according to the configuration of each of the power supply units (1110, 1120, 1130, 1140) and the battery (1150). For example, as a second condition, when the second power supply unit (1120) is connected to an external power source, electric energy may be supplied to the battery (1150) through the second power supply unit (1120). As a third condition, when it is detected that the amount of sunlight is greater than a preset threshold amount of sunlight, the battery (1150) may be charged through the third power supply unit (1130). As a fourth condition, when it is detected that the difference between the user's body temperature and the outdoor air temperature is greater than a predetermined threshold difference, the battery (1150) may be charged through the fourth power supply unit. The first condition related to the user's exercise amount will be described later with reference to FIG. 2, which illustrates an automatic winding module (not shown) of the first power supply unit (1110). At this time, the method of providing notification through the charging notification unit (1240) to be described later according to each condition is described later through FIGS. 3a and 3b.

[0036] In addition, the processing module (1200) may further include a monitoring unit (1230) for determining the status of each of the first to fourth power supply units (1110, 1120, 1130, 1140) and the battery (1150) included in the power supply module (1100), a control unit (1210) for storing various data to be described later in the memory (1220) with reference to the determination result of the monitoring unit (1230) or for causing at least some of the first to fourth power supply units (1110, 1120, 1130, 1140) to perform charging, and a charging notification unit (1240) for requesting the user to charge the battery (1150) through at least one of the first to fourth power supply units (1110, 1120, 1130, 1140) with reference to the determination result of the monitoring unit (1230) or for notifying the user that the battery (1150) is being charged. At this time, the control unit (1210) may include a hardware configuration such as a Micro Processing Unit (MPU) or a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a cache memory, and a data bus for processing the results determined by the monitoring unit (1230). In addition, the memory (1220) may include at least one type of storage medium among a flash memory type, a hard disk type, a multimedia card micro type, a card type memory (e.g., SD or XD memory), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), a ReadOnly Memory (ROM), an Electrically Erasable Programmable ReadOnly Memory (EEPROM), a Programmable ReadOnly Memory (PROM), a magnetic memory, a magnetic disk, and an optical disk, but is not limited thereto and may include all media capable of storing data.

[0037] In addition, the monitoring unit (1230) may include or be linked to an acceleration sensor (not shown), a heart rate sensor (not shown), a microphone sensor (not shown), a body temperature sensor (not shown) for detecting the user's exercise status, and a GPS (not shown) for detecting the user's location, but is not limited thereto, and the charging notification unit (1240) may include at least some of a display (not shown), a vibration module (not shown), and a speaker (not shown) to provide information to the user through images, vibrations, voices, etc. At this time, the information transmitted to the user may be not only information related to the power of the wearable device (1000), but also all information related to the current time, current location, weather conditions, and the user's health. In addition, a separate device (not shown) such as a smartphone may be synchronized with the wearable device (1000) so that the user may store instructions for the operation of the wearable device (1000) in the memory (1220) through the separate device (not shown), and the control unit (1210) may determine status information with reference to the results detected and judged by the monitoring unit (1230) and store the same in the memory (1220), and the separate device (not shown) may perform a calculation to provide the user with virtual currency or a token that can be exchanged for the virtual currency based on the amount of exercise, or when the monitoring unit (1230) detects that the user is in an emergency situation, the user may notify an external party that the user is in an emergency situation.

[0038] A description of the automatic winding module included in the first power supply unit (1110) of the wearable device (1000) for converting the user's kinetic energy into electrical energy will be described later with reference to FIG. 2.

[0039] FIG. 2 schematically illustrates an automatic winding module of a first power supply unit of a wearable device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0040] Referring to FIG. 2, the automatic winding module of the first power supply unit may include an elastic member (1112) for storing the user's kinetic energy as elastic energy, a housing (1113) in which the elastic member (1112) is positioned, a gear portion (1114) connected to the elastic member (1112) and including at least one gear, the gear portion compressing the elastic member (1112) according to rotation of the gear, and a weight (1115) connected to the gear portion (1114) for performing a pendulum motion according to the user's movement to store elastic energy in the elastic member (1112) through the gear portion (1114). In addition, the automatic winding module may further include a generator (1111) for converting the elastic energy stored in the elastic member (1112) into electrical energy. At this time, the elastic member (1112) is illustrated in the form of a spring in FIG. 2, but is not limited thereto, and any material that can be compressed through the gear portion (1114) and store a portion of the user's kinetic energy in the form of elastic energy can be selected as the elastic member (1112).

[0041] The process of converting elastic energy stored in the elastic member (1112) into electrical energy through the generator (1111) is as follows. When the monitoring unit (1230) detects that the battery charge of the battery (1150) is lower than a predetermined critical charge amount, and when the user's momentum satisfies a first condition that is higher than a first critical momentum amount that can rotate the gear unit (1114) by the weight (1115), the automatic winding module of the first power supply unit converts the elastic energy stored in the elastic member (1112) into electrical energy through the generator (1111), so that the battery (1150) can be charged. At this time, the generator (1111) may be provided with an inductor and a magnet for converting the kinetic energy generated by converting elastic energy by causing the compressed elastic member (1112) to expand under the control of the control unit (1210) into electrical energy, or it may be sufficient to convert the elastic energy stored in the elastic member (1112) into electrical energy through various methods, such as converting the pressure caused by the elastic energy into electrical energy through a piezoelectric element.

[0042] The process of storing the user's kinetic energy as elastic energy in the elastic member (1112) through the automatic winding module and converting it into electrical energy can be explained as follows. As the user moves, the weight (1115) performs a pendulum motion, which causes the gear of the gear unit (1114) to rotate. At this time, depending on the mass of the weight (1115), the configuration of the gear unit (1114), the elastic coefficient of the elastic member (1112), etc., the first critical momentum, which is the minimum momentum that can be stored in the elastic member (1112) by causing the user's movement to rotate the gear unit (1114) by the weight (1115), is determined. Then, when the monitoring unit (1230) detects that the battery charge of the battery (1150) is lower than or equal to a predetermined critical charge amount and that the user's exercise amount is higher than or equal to the first critical exercise amount, the first power supply unit (1110) converts elastic energy stored in the elastic member (1112) of the automatic winding module into electrical energy through the generator (1111), so that the battery can be charged.

[0043] The operation of the control unit (1210) and the charge notification unit (1240) with reference to the results of the monitoring unit (1230) detecting the status of each of the first to fourth power supply units (1110, 1120, 1130, 1140) and the battery (1150) is described below with reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B.

[0044] FIG. 3a is a schematic diagram illustrating a monitoring unit of a wearable device according to an embodiment of the present invention detecting information during a past time period, and a control unit determining status information including a user's main exercise time zone, main route information, and main boarding information by referring to the information detected by the monitoring unit and storing the status information in a memory, and FIG. 3b is a schematic diagram illustrating a charging notification unit requesting a notification by referring to the current time and current location information detected and determined by the monitoring unit of a wearable device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0045] Referring to FIG. 3a, the monitoring unit (1230) can detect the user's status during a past time interval (1231) or detect the status of the power supply unit and battery (1232) to determine the status of the power supply unit and battery.

[0046] As an example, the monitoring unit (1230) can detect and determine whether the user satisfies a state of a first threshold exercise amount or more as a first condition, and the control unit (1210) can determine information suitable for the user by referring to the time period in which the monitoring unit (1230) detected that the first condition was satisfied and the path the user moved, and store the information in the memory (1220). Specifically, the control unit (1210) can determine a main exercise time period by referring to the result of grouping a plurality of time periods in which the user's exercise status satisfies the first condition, and determine information about the path the user moved during the main exercise time period as the main path and store the information in the memory (1220) (1211).

[0047] As another example, the monitoring unit (1230) may detect that the user is in a state of boarding a vehicle, i.e., in a riding state, when the user's body movement is almost non-existent, such that the user's momentum is less than a second threshold momentum as a second condition, and the user's speed, measured via GPS or the like, exceeds a threshold speed due to various means of transportation. Then, the control unit (1210) may determine, for each day of the week, among the time periods and routes where the user was detected to be in a riding state, the time periods and routes with a frequency greater than the threshold riding frequency as key boarding information and store them in the memory (1220) (1212). In other words, the time periods and routes where the user is expected to be motionless, such as when the user regularly boards a vehicle for commuting, may be stored.

[0048] In addition, the monitoring unit (1230) can detect (1232) the status of each of the first to fourth power supply units (1110, 1120, 1130, 1140) and the battery (1150) included in the wearable device and determine the amount of power supplied through each of the first to fourth power supply units (1110, 1120, 1130, 1140) and the charging method preferred by the user (1213).

[0049] For example, based on the results detected by the monitoring unit (1230), the control unit (1210) can determine the amount of electric energy supplied to the battery through the first power supply unit (1110) and the second power supply unit (1120), respectively, as the first power supply amount and the second power supply amount. Then, the control unit (1210) can determine a location where the second power supply amount is greater than a predetermined threshold supply amount as a primary charging location. In other words, the primary locations where the user connects the wearable device to an external power source to supply electric energy to the battery (1150) (for example, if there are wireless chargers at home and at the office, the home and the office are primary locations) can be determined as primary charging locations. In addition, the control unit (1210) may determine that the user is in a first preferred state in which he / she prefers charging through the first power supply unit if the first power supply unit is greater than the second power supply unit, and may determine that the user is in a second preferred state in which he / she prefers charging through the second power supply unit if the second power supply unit is greater than the first power supply unit. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and for example, the first to fourth power supply units (1110, 1120, 1130, 1140) described in FIG. 1 may be each considered and a power supply unit having the largest power supply unit may be determined as a preferred state.

[0050] In this way, when the control unit (1210) determines information and stores it in the memory (1220) by referring to the results of the monitoring unit (1230) detecting (1232) the user's status (1231) and each of the first to fourth power supply units (1110, 1120, 1130, 1140) and the status of the battery (1150) during the past time interval, the charging request unit (1240) can determine an operation by referring to the results detected by the monitoring unit (1230) and the information stored in the memory (1120), as illustrated in FIG. 3b.

[0051] Referring to FIG. 3b, when the current time and current location detected by the monitoring unit (1230) are detected (1233), the charging notification unit (1240) can provide several requests to the user based on the results determined by the monitoring unit (1230).

[0052] For example, the monitoring unit (1230) can detect the user's current time and current location (1233) and detect that the user's current time and current location information correspond to key exercise time zone and key route information. In other words, it can detect that the user is about to start exercising or is exercising. Then, the charging notification unit (1240) can request that the user charge the battery (1150) through exercising, i.e., through the first power supply unit (1110) (1241).

[0053] In addition, when the monitoring unit (1230) detects that the battery (1150) is being charged through the first power supply unit (1110) in response to the user's response, the charging notification unit (1240) can additionally provide the user with information about the user's exercise or the amount of battery (1150) charged due to the user's exercise, and when the monitoring unit (1230) detects that the user's current time and current location information correspond to the main exercise time zone and main route information but do not satisfy the first condition, the charging notification unit (1240) can detect that the user is taking a short break and provide additional information such as an appropriate rest method or stretching that can be performed in parallel.

[0054] As another example, the monitoring unit (1230) may detect that the user's current status is a boarding state, or that the user's current time and current location correspond to key boarding information. In other words, the monitoring unit (1230) may detect that the user is currently boarding a means of transportation or is waiting to board, and thus power charging via the first power supply unit (1110) is not possible. Then, the charging notification unit (1240) may put on hold a charging request to the user via the first power supply unit (1110) based on the judgment result of the monitoring unit (1230) (1242).

[0055] As another example, the monitoring unit (1230) can detect that the user is in a first preferred state in which he / she prefers charging through the first power supply unit (1110), and that the amount of electric energy supplied to the battery (1150) through the first power supply unit (1110) is less than the first power supply amount or that the user's current location does not correspond to a primary charging location. In other words, the monitoring unit (1230) can detect that the battery charge amount is low, the user prefers exercise, and that the user is not in a suitable state to supply electric energy to the battery (1150) through the second power supply unit (1120) connected to an external power source. Then, with reference to the result detected by the monitoring unit (1230), the charging notification unit (1240) can request (1243) charging through the first power supply unit (1110) to the user so that the amount of electric energy supplied to the battery (1150) through the first power charging unit (1110) becomes greater than or equal to the first power supply amount.

[0056] In addition, when the current status of each of the first to fourth power supply units (1110, 1120, 1130, 1140) and the battery (1150) of the wearable device is detected (1234) by the monitoring unit (1230), the charging notification unit (1240) can provide another request to the user based on the result of the monitoring unit (1230) judging each of the power supply units (1110, 1120, 1130, 1140) and the battery (1150).

[0057] For example, a state in which the user's state determined by the control unit (1210) based on the results detected by the monitoring unit (1230) during the past time interval is the first preferred state, but a state in which the first power supply is less than or equal to a predetermined first reference supply amount may be detected. At this time, the first reference supply amount may correspond to the amount of electric energy to be supplied through the first power supply unit (1110) when the exercise goal input by the user is achieved, or may be set to correspond to the amount of electric energy expected to be supplied through the first power supply unit (1110) under an appropriate exercise intensity by the person implementing the invention. That is, when a state in which the first power supply is less than or equal to the first reference supply amount is detected, it may be considered that the user's exercise amount has decreased for some reason. Then, the charging notification unit (1240) may provide detour route information by referring to the main route information and main boarding information stored in the memory (1220) determined by the control unit (1210) as described in FIG. 3A. More specifically, in order to increase the user's exercise amount so that the user's first power supply becomes the first reference supply amount, the charging notification unit (1240) may provide the user with information on a detour route that has a longer distance or a higher slope, but has the starting point and the ending point in common with the main route information on which the user mainly exercised, as a first alternative route (1244). In addition, when the user inputs into the wearable device a situation in which his or her current health condition has decreased the amount of exercise, the charging notification unit (1240) may provide the user with information on a detour route that has a shorter distance or a lower slope, but has the starting point and the ending point in common with the main route information, as a first alternative route (1244).As another example, in order to enable the user to increase the distance walked by walking, etc., rather than using a means of transportation, by referring to the boarding status information corresponding to the time zone and location information when the user is mainly in the boarding status, the charging notification unit (1240) may provide the user with at least a portion of the route corresponding to the boarding status information as a second alternative route (1244).

[0058] In addition, if the monitoring unit (1230) detects that the user's wearable device usage increases or the amount of electric energy consumed by the monitoring unit (1230) for measuring the amount of exercise increases, even though the battery (1150) is being charged through the first power supply unit (1110) by satisfying the first condition, and the energy consumption of the wearable device is higher than a predetermined threshold consumption amount, the charging notification unit (1240) may request the user to increase the amount of exercise to increase the amount of electric energy transmitted to the battery (1150) through the first power supply unit (1110) (1245).

[0059] In addition, the charging request unit (1240) may provide the user with a method to increase the amount of electric energy delivered to the battery (1150) through the first power supply unit (1110), or may provide a reward such as a health effect or blockchain-based virtual currency resulting from the user's movement, or may provide the user with an incentive to reduce the use of the wearable device.

[0060] Meanwhile, the embodiments disclosed in FIGS. 3A and 3B have been mainly described with a focus on adjusting the power supply amount through the user's first power supply unit (1110) and second power supply unit (1120), but the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, in the case of the third power supply unit (1130) that receives light energy from sunlight and supplies electric energy to the battery (1150) as described in FIG. 1, the control unit (1210) may provide a third alternative path, in which the ratio of path sections in which the amount of sunlight along the user's path is equal to or greater than a preset threshold amount of sunlight corresponds to a preset threshold ratio, by referring to weather information corresponding to the user's current time and current location detected by the monitoring unit (1230). As another example, in the case of a wearable device including a fourth power supply unit (1140) that supplies power through a thermoelectric effect as described in FIG. 1, when the monitoring unit (1230) detects that the difference between the user's body temperature and the user's outdoor temperature is greater than a predetermined threshold difference value, the charging notification unit (1240) may request the user to charge the battery (1130) through the fourth power supply unit (1140).

[0061] In addition, if the monitoring unit (1230) detects that the third condition is satisfied but the amount of sunlight is too high, or the fourth condition is satisfied but the outdoor temperature is outside the optimal temperature range and it is difficult for the user to be outdoors, the charging notification unit (1240) may recommend to the user to supply electric energy to the battery through the second power supply unit (1120) at the main charging location. That is, the examples presented in FIGS. 3A and 3B relate to a method in which the charging notification unit (1240) requests the user to maximize the charging of the battery by analyzing information related to the user's lifestyle detected through the monitoring unit (1230) through the control unit (1210), but is not limited thereto, and may be designed to provide a variety of information related to the user's health in combination.

[0062] Meanwhile, a wearable device according to an embodiment of the present invention has a plurality of power supply units, and can evaluate the efficiency with which each power supply unit supplies electric energy to a battery to ensure efficient charging, and a description thereof is provided with reference to FIG. 4.

[0063] FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for determining at least one of a plurality of power supply units of a wearable device as a priority power supply unit according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0064] Referring to FIG. 4, the control unit can store in memory, for each reference pair data consisting of reference time zone information and reference location information for a past time, a reference addition amount of electrical energy supplied to the battery and a reference subtraction amount of electrical energy stored in the battery consumed through each power supply unit (S201). In addition, the monitoring unit can detect the user's current time and current location information and determine whether they correspond to the reference time zone information and reference location information (S202).

[0065] Next, if the monitoring unit detects that the user's current time and current location information correspond to reference time zone information and reference location information, respectively, and that the reference subtraction amount is greater than the reference addition amount by a threshold difference, the control unit may determine at least one of all power supply units as a priority power supply unit by referring to the reference data conditions and current location information stored in the memory (S203). Thereafter, the charging notification unit may request the user to charge the battery through the determined priority power supply unit (S204). As an example, if the monitoring unit detects that the user's current time zone and current location information correspond to main exercise time zone and main route information, at least some of the first power supply unit, the third power supply unit, the fourth power supply unit, etc., which can be charged outdoors, may be determined as priority power supply units.

[0066] Meanwhile, it should be understood that additional steps may be added to the method described in FIG. 4. For example, as described in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the monitoring unit may further include a step of detecting weather information corresponding to the user's current time and current location information, and the control unit may refer to this, so that the control unit may reflect this when determining the priority power supply. In addition, the control unit may refer to information input by the user into the wearable device when determining the priority power supply. For example, if the user inputs into the wearable device the time during which he or she exercises at a location where he or she primarily charges the wearable device via the second power supply, i.e., at a location corresponding to the primary charging location (e.g., residence), and the monitoring unit detects that the user's current time corresponds to the indoor exercise time input by the user and that the wearable device is worn, the control unit may determine the primary power supply as the priority power supply even when the user's location is the primary charging location.

[0067] Although the present invention has been described above with specific details such as specific components and limited examples and drawings, these are provided only to help a more general understanding of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the above examples, and those with ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention pertains can make various modifications and variations from this description.

[0068] Therefore, the idea of ​​the present invention should not be limited to the embodiments described above, and all things that are modified equally or equivalently to the following claims as well as the claims are considered to fall within the scope of the idea of ​​the present invention.

Claims

1. In wearable devices, battery; A first power supply unit, which is connected to the battery and includes an automatic winding module that stores energy generated by the user's movement in an elastic member, and converts the elastic energy stored in the automatic winding module into electrical energy under a first condition to charge the battery; A second power supply unit connected to the battery and supplied with electric energy from an external power source under a second condition to charge the battery; A monitoring unit that determines the status of each of the battery, the first power supply unit, and the second power supply unit; A control unit storing predetermined data or charging at least a portion of the first power supply unit and the second power supply unit with reference to the judgment result of the monitoring unit; and A charging notification unit for requesting the user to charge the battery through one of the first power supply unit and the second power supply unit or for notifying the user of the charging status, with reference to the judgment result of the monitoring unit; A wearable device comprising:

2. In paragraph 1, memory; including more, When the monitoring unit detects that the user's exercise status satisfies the condition that the user's exercise status is greater than or equal to a first threshold exercise amount as the first condition during a predetermined past time period, the control unit determines a main exercise time zone by referring to the result of grouping a plurality of time zones that satisfy the condition that the user's exercise status is greater than or equal to the first threshold exercise amount, determines information about the path the user moved during the main exercise time zone as main path information, and stores the main exercise time zone and the main path information in the memory. A wearable device, wherein when the monitoring unit detects that the user's current time and current location information correspond to the main exercise time zone and the main route information, respectively, the charging notification unit requests the user to charge the battery through the first power supply unit.

3. In paragraph 2, When the monitoring unit detects that the user's movement status during the past time interval is less than the second threshold momentum and that the speed at which the user's position changes exceeds the threshold speed, the control unit determines the user's status as a boarding status, and for each day of the week, determines the time period and route that are greater than the threshold boarding frequency among the time periods and routes in which the user was in the boarding status as main boarding information and stores the determined time period and route in the memory. A wearable device, wherein when the monitoring unit detects that the user's current state is in the boarding state or when the user detects that the current time and the current location correspond to the main boarding information, the charging notification unit holds off on requesting the user to charge the battery through the first power supply unit.

4. In paragraph 2, The control unit determines the amount of electric energy supplied to the battery by the user through the first power supply unit and the second power supply unit during the past time interval as the first power supply amount and the second power supply amount, respectively, and determines a location where the second power supply amount is greater than a predetermined threshold supply amount as a primary charging location, and stores the first power supply amount, the second power supply amount, and the primary charging location in the memory, and determines that the user is in a first preferred state if the first power supply amount is greater than the second power supply amount, and determines that the user is in a second preferred state if the second power supply amount is greater than the first power supply amount. When the monitoring unit detects that the current state of the user is the first preferred state, the amount of electric energy supplied to the battery through the first power supply unit is less than the first power supply amount, and the current location of the user does not correspond to the main charging location, the charging notification unit requests charging of the battery through the first power supply unit. A wearable device, wherein, when the energy consumption of the wearable device is detected to be greater than a predetermined threshold consumption amount during a first charging time during which the monitoring unit detects that the user is charging the battery through the first power supply unit, the charging notification unit requests that the amount of electric energy transferred to the battery through the first power supply unit be increased by increasing the amount of exercise of the user.

5. In paragraph 4, When the monitoring unit detects that the user's movement status during the past time interval is less than the second threshold momentum and that the speed at which the user's position changes exceeds the threshold speed, the control unit determines the user's status as a boarding status, and for each day of the week, determines the time period and route that are greater than the threshold boarding frequency among the time periods and routes in which the user was in the boarding status as main boarding information and stores the determined time period and route in the memory. A wearable device in which, when the monitoring unit detects that the first power supply is less than a predetermined first reference supply even though the user corresponds to the first preferred state, the charging notification unit provides the user with detour route information having a common starting point and an arrival point of the main route information stored in the memory as a first alternative route, or provides the user with at least a part of the route corresponding to the boarding state information as a second alternative route, thereby requesting the user to charge the battery through the first power supply unit using either the first alternative route or the second alternative route.

6. In paragraph 1, memory; including more, The control unit stores, in the memory, a reference addition amount of electric energy supplied to the battery and a reference subtraction amount of electric energy consumed stored in the battery through each of the first power supply unit and the second power supply unit for each reference pair data consisting of reference time zone information and reference location information during a past time period, When the monitoring unit detects that the user's current time and current location information correspond to the reference time zone information and the reference location information, respectively, and that the reference subtraction amount is greater than the reference addition amount by a preset threshold difference, the control unit determines one of the first power supply unit and the second power supply unit as the priority power supply unit with reference to the current location information, A wearable device wherein the charging notification unit requests charging of the battery through the priority power supply unit.

7. In paragraph 1, Further comprising a third power supply unit including at least one solar power generation element and charging the battery through coupling of excitons generated from the solar power generation element under a third condition; A wearable device in which, when the monitoring unit detects that the amount of sunlight is greater than or equal to a preset threshold amount of sunlight as the third condition by referring to weather information corresponding to information about the current time and current location of the user, the control unit determines a path in which the ratio of the path sections in which the amount of sunlight is greater than or equal to the preset threshold amount of sunlight corresponds to a preset threshold ratio as a third alternative path, and provides the third alternative path to the user through the charging notification unit.

8. In paragraph 7, memory; including more, The control unit stores, in the memory, a reference addition amount of electric energy supplied to the battery and a reference subtraction amount of electric energy consumed by the battery through each of the first power supply unit, the second power supply unit, and the third power supply unit for each reference pair data consisting of reference time zone information and reference location information during a past time period, and When the monitoring unit detects that the user's current time and current location information correspond to the reference time zone information and the reference location information, respectively, and that the reference subtraction amount is greater than the reference addition amount by a preset threshold difference, the control unit determines at least one of the first power supply unit, the second power supply unit, and the third power supply unit as the priority power supply unit with reference to the current location information, A wearable device wherein the charging notification unit requests charging of the battery through the priority power supply unit.

9. In paragraph 1, The automatic winding module of the first power supply unit comprises: a housing in which the elastic member is positioned; a gear unit connected to the elastic member and including at least one gear to compress the elastic member according to rotation of the gear; a weight connected to the gear unit to move in a pendulum according to movement of the user so that the elastic energy is stored in the elastic member through the gear unit; and a generator connected to the elastic member to convert the elastic energy into electrical energy. A wearable device in which, when the monitoring unit detects that the battery charge of the battery is less than or equal to a critical charge amount, and when the user's momentum is greater than or equal to a first critical momentum amount capable of rotating the gear unit by the weight as the first condition, the first power supply unit converts the elastic energy stored in the elastic member of the automatic winding module into electrical energy through the generator to charge the battery.

10. In paragraph 1, A fourth power supply unit including a thermoelectric element for supplying power through a thermoelectric effect, wherein the thermoelectric element charges the battery under a fourth condition; A wearable device, wherein when the monitoring unit detects that the difference between the user's body temperature and the user's outdoor temperature is greater than a predetermined threshold difference as the fourth condition, the charging notification unit requests charging of the battery through the fourth power supply unit.

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