Wireless Scale with Mobile Terminal Interface
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Electronic personal scales with advanced features like impedance measurement become complex and impractical due to cluttered displays and control buttons, especially when placed on the floor, necessitating an ergonomic solution for improved user interaction.
Innovation Solution
An electronic scale communicates with a mobile telecommunications terminal via a telecommunications network, allowing the terminal to display and process weighing data, leveraging existing rich user interface functionalities and communication capabilities, thus providing an ergonomic and cost-effective method for data access and display.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the bathroom scale includes advanced features like bioelectrical impedance analysis and multiple measurement parameters, then the functionality and information provided to users is improved, but the display and control interface becomes complex and impractical for floor placement
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the user interface into two separate components: the bathroom scale (weighing device) and the remote terminal (mobile phone or PDA). The scale handles only weighing and measurement functions with minimal local display, while the terminal provides the complex user interface for viewing results, entering data, and accessing additional functionalities. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by distributing interface complexity to a separate device.
Solution Approach 2:
The complex display and control functions are extracted from the bathroom scale and relocated to the remote terminal. The scale retains only the essential weighing platform and minimal local display for basic operations, while all advanced features, data visualization, and user interaction occur on the terminal device. This extraction eliminates the interface complexity problem while preserving full functionality.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the bathroom scale has a complex display and control buttons for advanced features, then more functions can be accessed, but the scale becomes impractical when placed on the floor
Solution Approach 1:
The remote terminal acts as an intermediary between the user and the bathroom scale. Instead of interacting directly with a complex scale interface, users interact with their familiar mobile phone or PDA, which then communicates with the scale via wireless connection. This intermediary provides the complex functionality while maintaining ease of operation through the terminal's existing user interface.
Solution Approach 2:
The system leverages the universal multi-functionality of mobile phones and PDAs to provide the user interface. These devices already possess screens, input methods, communication capabilities, and processing power, so they can handle all the complex functions without adding anything to the scale itself. This universality resolves the contradiction by using an existing multi-functional device for the interface role.
3Loss of information
If data transmission occurs every time a user uses the scale, then real-time data access is improved, but energy consumption and network usage increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements periodic data transmission based on user profiles rather than continuous transmission for every weighing. When a user is recognized from stored profile data, full data transmission is avoided and only essential updates are sent. This periodic approach maintains data accessibility while significantly reducing energy consumption and network usage compared to transmitting data every single time.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses automatic user recognition through stored profiles to determine transmission needs. The scale and terminal automatically identify returning users and adjust their data exchange accordingly, without requiring manual intervention. This self-service mechanism optimizes energy usage by avoiding unnecessary transmissions while maintaining real-time access for recognized users.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution enhances ergonomics by simplifying user interaction, allowing data communication only when necessary, and enabling access to external resources for enriched user experiences and data presentation, while maintaining accuracy and precision in measurements.
Implementation Method 1
The weighing data includes the user's mass, calculated using at least one user mass calculation parameter from said representative measurement of the user's mass during the measurement step, and during said update step, the server updates said user mass calculation parameter based on statistical data relating to the scales in operation; the weighing data include the user's mass, calculated using at least one user mass calculation parameter from said representative user mass measurement during the measurement step, said representative user mass measurement being performed by at least one strain gauge belonging to the scale
Implementation Method 2
some models, equipped with bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) functions, can measure not only the user's mass, but also other parameters such as body fat percentage, lean body mass index, hydration level, body mass index (BMI), etc.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3~5
AI summary
The invention relates to a method for weighing a user (U) located on an electronic scale (1) in communication with a mobile telecommunication terminal (2) having a display screen (3), the scale (1) and the mobile terminal (2) both wirelessly communicating with a telecommunication network adapted to put at least the mobile terminal (2) in communication with an additional communication device (4, 6), the method including a weighing step, a two-way communication step during which the scale (1) transmits weighing data resulting from the weighing to the mobile terminal (2), and a display step during which the mobile terminal (2) displays weighing data on the screen (3).