Portable monitoring devices and methods of operating same

A portable monitoring device, adapted to couple to a body of a user, to calculate a number of stairs or flights of stairs traversed by the user, the portable monitoring device comprising:

• a housing having a physical size and shape that is adapted to couple to the body of the user;
• a motion sensor, disposed in the housing, to sample motion of the user in response to a motion sample signal, wherein, in response to sampling the motion of the user, the motion sensor generates data which is representative of motion of the user;
• an altitude sensor, disposed in the housing, to sample an altitude of the user in response to an altitude sample signal, wherein, in response to sampling the altitude of the user, the altitude sensor generates data which is representative of a change in altitude of the user;
• processing circuitry, disposed in the housing and coupled to the motion sensor and the altitude sensor, to:
• generate the altitude sample signal in response to detecting a motion event using the data which is representative of motion of the user, and
• calculate a number of stairs or flights of stairs traversed by the user using the data which is representative of a change in altitude of the user.

A portable monitoring device, adapted to couple to a body of a user, to calculate a number of stairs or flights of stairs traversed by the user, the portable monitoring device comprising:

• a housing having a physical size and shape that is adapted to couple to the body of the user;
• a motion sensor, disposed in the housing, to sample motion of the user in response to a motion sample signal, wherein, in response to sampling the motion of the user, the motion sensor generates data which is representative of motion of the user;
• an altitude sensor, disposed in the housing, to sample an altitude of the user in response to an altitude sample signal, wherein, in response to sampling the altitude of the user, the altitude sensor generates data which is representative of a change in altitude of the user;
• processing circuitry, disposed in the housing and coupled to the motion sensor and the altitude sensor, to:
• generate the altitude sample signal using the data which is representative of motion of the user,
• calculate data which is representative of a change in elevation of the user using (i) the data which is representative of motion of the user and (ii) the data which is representative of a change in altitude of the user, and
• correlate data which is representative of the change in elevation of the user to a number of stairs or flights of stairs traversed by the user;
• and
• a display, coupled to the processing circuitry, to output data of the number of stairs or flights of stairs traversed by the user.