Apple is working on improved Fall Detection tech, which could factor-in location, elevation, weather, fitness and more.
The new Apple Watch Series 10 is hot off the production line, with Apple adding a suite of new features in watchOS 11 and debuting a refined design with a larger display.
However, a refined version of the Fall Detection feature, recently patented by Apple, doesn’t appear to have cut this time around.
Fall Detection has been a key safety feature, and any Watch since Series 4 watch can use the motion sensors to determine whether wearers have taken a hard tumble. If the user is unresponsive, the feature will contact the emergency services on their behalf.
But an August patent filing from Apple explained how the feature could dive much deeper. Future iterations could use more of the watch’s smarts to determine how serious the fall and subsequent injury might have been. The idea is to separate “injurious falls” from “non-injurious” falls.
The patent entitled “Detecting Falls Using A Mobile Device” describes how the watch would take into account what the Apple Watch user was doing directly before the fall, where they were doing it, and the effect it had on the body.
Detail from the plurality of the watch’s sensors could determine, for example, if the user was ascending or descending a staircase.
If they’re hiking, the location data and altitude would determine where and how far they fell. It’ll even take into consideration the weather and if it was raining or snowing in that location.
“In some implementations, the mobile device can determine that the user has fallen by determining, based on the location data, an environmental condition at the location of the mobile device, and determining that the user has fallen based on the environment conditional. The environmental condition can be the weather at the location (e.g., rain, snow, etc.),” the patent reads.
Motion sensors would determine whether the wearer tripped or slipped (coupling with existing velocity data determining a hard fall) whether the movements indicated arms were flailing, whether the wearer was braced for the fall, and whether there was rotation (including the speed and number of those rotations) on the way down.
The watch would also detect a change in the user’s heart rate to determine the seriousness of the fall.
The filing explains: “In some implementations, determining the change in heart rate of the user during the period of time can include determining a rate of decay of the heart rate of the user during the period of time.”
Apple even says that the fitness data amassed by the Apple Watch can be useful in determining the nature of the fall; your historical activity levels, your walking speed, your VO2 max readings, and more.
The patent goes on: “In some implementations, the one or more characteristics of the user can include a historical physical activity level of the user. Further, the likelihood can increase with a decrease in the historical physical activity level of the user. In some implementations, the historical physical activity level can be indicative of a frequency of movement by the user prior to the impact. In some implementations, the historical physical activity level can be indicative of an intensity of movement by the user prior to the impact.
“In some implementations, one or more characteristics of the user can include the vascular health of the user. Further, the likelihood can increase with a decrease in the vascular health of the user. The vascular health of the user can be determined based on the maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max) of the user.
“In some implementations, one or more characteristics of the user can include a historical walking speed of the user. The likelihood can increase with a decrease in the historical walking speed of a user.”
Overall, it sounds like a much more robust and holistic use of the Apple Watch’s various sensors to help determine the severity of the fall and the potential injury, which could then be transmitted to emergency services. It appears the Apple Watch currently has all the sensors required to enact the feature, so it’s just a case of building the functionality on the backend.
We would expect this to be one of the filings that make it into the Apple Watch feature suite in relatively short order.
