Weighing scales in use today typically have a small LCD panel on the body of the scale which is used to display an individual's weight and other body metric data and may also have one or more buttons or other inputs to change the data that may be displayed on the LCD panel. These scales sometimes have electrodes on the body of the scale that when in contact with the user's skin, may provide body composition data which may also be displayed on the LCD panel. Body composition data may include a biometric analysis which is used to estimate the percentage of body fat and may be undertaken by passing a small current from one side of the body and measuring it as it exits from the other side. This analysis, also called as Bio-Impedance Electrical Analysis (BIA) is available in numerous bathroom scales today.
With the advent of touch screen electronic devices, many devices today are converging towards tactile input or touch screen technology. However, a weighing scale with touch screen technology that is able to perform a BIA is not available today. A primary reason why a combination of BIA technology and touch screen technology does not exist today is because touch screen technology typically works by detecting disturbances in the electrical field around the screen when the screen is touched by a user, while BIA technology works when a user's skin comes in contact with electrodes which are used to pass electrical through the user's body to measure impedance. A conductive material such as an electrode when placed next to an electrical field emitted by the touch screen sensor will interfere with the electrical field and cause the touch screen to give false readings and interfere with the user's ability to provide touch input.
Due to the technological hurdle of using BIA technology with touch screen devices, BIA capable weighing scales must employ one or more physical inputs such as buttons to modulate the functions of the scale. Displaying biometric data on an LCD screen and manipulating the data with one or more buttons can become quite laborious. For this reason, users may resort to bending over and operating the inputs with their hands. For some users, this difficulty in operating the physical inputs can lead to infrequent monitoring of their biometric data and a diminished health and body awareness. Another drawback to the inability to use BIA technology with touch screen devices is that touch screens provide a graphical interface adept at displaying graphics such as charts and graphs. Typically, in order to view detailed biometric data, the data must be transmitted to an external electrical device such as a smart phone, desktop computer, tablet computer, and the like from which to view the detailed data.
Therefore, a need exists for weighing scales that are able to provide BIA biometric data with a touch screen input. There is a further need for a weighing scale that is able to provide BIA biometric data with a touch screen input that may be operated without requiring a user to bend over to manipulate the input. There further exists a need for a device that has the capability to share fitness and other body metrics information with friends and family in order to compare how each other is performing against their fitness and health goals. Finally, there exists a need for a device that combines all the body metric data elements associated with an individual's weight and body and display all of them (graphs, charts, data analysis) on the weighing scale, rather than having a user transmit the data to an external electrical device such as a smart phone, desktop computer, tablet computer, and the like from which to view the detailed data.
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