Patent ID: 8311770

Claim:
An activity monitoring system comprising: a portable activity 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 detect motion of a user and, in response thereto, to generate data which is representative of motion of the user; an altitude sensor, disposed in the housing, to detect a change in altitude of the user and, in response thereto, to generate data which is representative of the change in altitude of the user; and processing circuitry, disposed in the housing and coupled to the motion sensor and the altitude sensor, to calculate a number of stairs or flights of stairs traversed by the user using the data which is representative of motion of the user and the data which is representative of a change in altitude of the user, and a display to output data of a badge and/or metric wherein the badge and/or metric which describes the number of stairs or flights of stairs traversed by the user.