In a world where our wellbeing is often quantified by smart gadgets, the wearable gadgets tend to overlook one essential factor: our own assessment of how we feel. Patent US20230298761A1, filed by Oura Health, introduces an inventive concept that aims to bridge this gap.
Currently, wearable gadgets like Oura Ring provide quantifiable data such as sleep cycles and exercise hours. However, this data may not align with an individual's perception of how well they've slept or how effective their workout session was. This discrepancy often results in conflicting results, where a device might report a good night's sleep, but the wearer feels exhausted.
Furthermore, these devices typically do not account for long-term sleep patterns, which can create difficulties in accurately assessing one's health status. For example, one bad night of sleep may not be cause for concern, but a series of restless nights could indicate more profound health issues.
Oura's groundbreaking patent proposes a solution to these problems by incorporating subjective inputs from users - like mood and feelings - into scores generated by the devices. So how tired or energetic you feel could influence your sleep or activity scores, making the data more personalized and useful.
Multiple green and red LEDs positioned around the ring facilitates better data acquisition from the finger's blood vessels compared to wearables on the wrist. This design offers a superior performance in acquiring physiological data under different conditions and light levels, potentially resulting in a more accurate user score.
Looking forward, as this technology makes its way to our everyday lives, imagine starting your day with a cup of tea while your ring tells you how you slept, factoring in not just the data it gathered, but also how you tell it you felt upon waking.
Or perhaps consider an evening jog around the park where your ring, paired with its mobile app, gives you a more accurate report of your running routine, measuring not only your physical exertion but also your perceived effort. It could potentially become a companion that actually "listens" to you.
This invention from Oura can therefore herald a more empathetic era of wearable technology, where devices are not just passive data collectors but active entities adapting to our individual wellbeing perception.
P.S.: It's important to remember that this technology, as innovative as it is, is still a patent. Therefore, there's no guarantee that it will be available in the market soon or ever. The goal here is the aspiration towards a more wholesome understanding of personal health and wellbeing, transforming how we interact with wearable tech in our everyday lives.