Streaming the data (real-time) from PineTime watch to PC/laptop with InfiniTime?

[stevensu1838]

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Streaming the data (real-time) from PineTime watch to PC/laptop with InfiniTime?

Description

Hi team

I am a researcher from an university, and we've been working on a project aiming to stream live data (such as heart rate data) from Pine Time watch to the PC/laptop. I've learned that the InfiniTime might be a good way to make our goal happen. May I please ask if streaming the data (real-time) from PineTime watch to PC/laptop is doable with InfiniTime? If so, I will give it a try. Cheers

[minacode]

The companion itd can do that for you. You can also write your own program if you want. You can pair with the watch via Bluetooth LE and subscribe to the according services. Just ask or see the docs for more details.

Specifically for heart rate I would not trust the sensor for scientific purposes though, but that is only my take. It depends on what you want to do with it. The motion values are coming directly from the hardware (Bma421 or Bma425) and should have a good quality.

[JF002]

Here are a few additional info to @minacode's answer.

InfiniTime exposes a few data via BLE:

• Battery level
• Heart rate value (when enabled)
• Step count
• Motion (x/y/z accelerations)

The companion app can read those data (polling) or subscribe to the corresponding BLE characteristics to receive a notification each time the value changes (using the BLE NOTIFY functionality).

[stevensu1838]

Hi @minacode and @JF002,

Thank you so much for your great help. I am very new to PineTime and InfiniTime. I know how to program though. My goal is simply to stream the data (real-time) from the PineTime watch to PC. And I've looked into both the InfiniTime document and the companion itd. May I please ask if can I directly start my project using the companion itd alone or do I need to do something with InfiniTime first? Are the two independent of each other? My last question is do you have any document/tutorial more beginner friendly to start with a PineTime Watch development kit? I find InfiniTime fascinating but have lost my direction in browsing the official document. I haven't been able to do anything with InfiniTime and my PineTime Watch development kit. Which should be the very first step? Thank you both for everything. Best regards

[minacode]

May I please ask if can I directly start my project using the companion itd alone or do I need to do something with InfiniTime first?

It's very simple.

1. Install itd on your linux. There are packages for the main distributions.
2. Start it. This triggers the watch to pair with your PC.
3. Run itctl to get the data you want.
4. In case of heart rate data you have to start the measurement on the watch by pressing the button in the heart rate app.

Are the two independent of each other?

Itd is not a project of InfiniTimeOrg, but itd exists only for InfiniTime and the author of itd is part of the itd community. Itd is not the only companion on Linux but it is the best supported one. There seems to be active communication between them. @JF002 can probably say this better.

I don't know about the development kit, sorry.

[JF002]

May I please ask if can I directly start my project using the companion itd alone or do I need to do something with InfiniTime first?

It mostly depends on what you want to do. If InfiniTime already exposes the data you want to stream (steps, HR, battery), you don't need to change anything to InfiniTime. Same goes for the companion apps : ITD (but also Amazfish, Siglo, Gadgetbridge,...) already support most of the functionality from InfiniTime, so you probably won't need to do anything for them to work with InfiniTime. On the other side, if you want to stream other data, or change the acquisition rate or anything else, so yes, you'll need to work in InfiniTime and/or the companion app.

Are the two independent of each other?

InfiniTime and the companion apps are effectively independent projects, but we all work together to create a nice ecosystem around the PineTime. There are multiple companion apps that currently support the PineTime. Some of them also support other devices:

• ITD
• Amazfish
• Gadgetbridge
• InfiniLink
• Watchmate
• Siglo

My last question is do you have any document/tutorial more beginner friendly to start with a PineTime Watch development kit? I

There are quite a lot of documentation available but it's probably a bit scattered around the web. Here are a few links

• The Wiki : contains a lot of info about the PineTime. You'll find the datasheets, schematics, documentation on wiring the devkits and many links.
• Lup Yuen Lee : Lup wrote a lot of articles about the PineTime. They are a goldmine of information!
• The documentation of InfiniTime : we do our best to maintain the documentation up to date. It contains info about the code, how to build and flash the PineTime,...
• You can also have a look at a quick started guide I wrote when we released InfiniTime 0.7.1 (the first version that was flashed by default on the PineTime)

I find InfiniTime fascinating...

Thanks!

...but have lost my direction in browsing the official document

Yeah, I understand. We are currently trying to re-work the documentation but this is progressing slowly...

I haven't been able to do anything with InfiniTime and my PineTime Watch development kit. Which should be the very first step?

The first step would probably be to setup a development environment (or with docker for InfiniTime and/or for the companion app of your choice (refer to the project documentation).

You can also use InfiniSim, the InfiniTime simlator to do some development. It mostly simulate the UI, and not the BLE connectivity, though.

Then, if you have the devkit, you will also want to set it up with your SWD probe (here and here). And finally flash your devkit here, here, here, here and here.

[stevensu1838]

@minacode , Hi, thank you so much for your great help. And I've been trying out the itd by following you instruction above and the itd document. I've successfully install itd-bin on my Arch Linux PC by using yay -S itd-bin. In the terminal, it shows it is installed as below:

[lui@crossbow ~]$ yay -Ss itd-bin aur/itd-bin 0.0.8-1 (+1 1.00) (Installed) Companion daemon for the InfiniTime firmware on the PineTime smartwatch

My question is how do I start itd to trigger the watch to pair with my PC? I am sorry I am new to linux. I did something below but if didn't work: `[lui@crossbow ~]$ {"Receiver": "ITD", "Method": "Notify", "Arg": {"title": "title1", "body": "body1"}, "ID": "some-id-here"} bash: {Receiver:: command not found [lui@crossbow ~]$ itctl NAME: itctl - A new cli application

USAGE: itctl [global options] command [command options] [arguments...]

COMMANDS: help Display help screen for a command resources, res Handle InfiniTime resource loading filesystem, fs Perform filesystem operations on the PineTime firmware, fw Manage InfiniTime firmware get Get information from InfiniTime notify Send notification to InfiniTime set Set information on InfiniTime update, upd Update information on InfiniTime watch Watch a value for changes

GLOBAL OPTIONS: --socket-path value, -s value Path to itd socket (default: "/tmp/itd/socket") [lui@crossbow ~]$ ` Can you please help? How do I start runing itd and how do I use the cmmand itctl to get the data you want. Thank you so much

[minacode]

systemctl start --user itd.service

starts it.

systemctl enable --user itd.service

makes it start every time when booting. So you have to do a separate start the first time.

See here.

(Since you are new to linux: there are also stop, disable and status in addition to start and enable.)

A prompt should appear on your linux and a code on your watch. Enter that code. If you ever have connection issues, remove the watch from your paired devices on your linux. That will trigger this prompt again. The watch should show a notification upon successful (re)connection. You can then use itctl.

[stevensu1838]

@minacode Hi, Thank you so much for your great help. With your instruction, I successfully connected the PC to the watch as shown in the pic below:

However, no prompt appears on my Linux and no code on my watch, either. Any idea? Thank you so much again.

[minacode]

Well, seems like you are connected 😉 Does itctl work? I guess you have an older firmware that does not support pairing (which is no problem in itself). You can update it via itctl. Follow the whole procedure, including validating the firmware and updating the resources.

[stevensu1838]

@minacode, Hi thank you so much for your help. You are amazing. itcl works for me as shown in the code blow: `[lui@crossbow ~]$ systemctl --user stop itd [lui@crossbow ~]$ systemctl --user start itd [lui@crossbow ~]$ itctl get NAME: itctl get - Get information from InfiniTime

USAGE: itctl get command [command options] [arguments...]

COMMANDS: address, addr Get InfiniTime's bluetooth address battery, batt Get InfiniTime's battery percentage heart Get heart rate from InfiniTime motion Get motion values from InfiniTime steps Get step count from InfiniTime help, h Shows a list of commands or help for one command

OPTIONS: --help, -h show help (default: false)

[lui@crossbow ~]$ itctl get heart 0 BPM [lui@crossbow ~]$ itctl get heart 122 BPM [lui@crossbow ~]$ itctl get heart 155 BPM [lui@crossbow ~]$

` I can successfully read the heart rate data from the watch, and my firmware version is 1.6.0. So the only problem is no prompt appears on my Linux and no code on my watch. Do I still need to update the firmware to the latest version?

My last question is I'd love to display the heat rate data in number and line graph trough the itgui as shown in the picture below, however the itgui document is hard to follow, could you please elaborate a bit about how to use the itgui command? Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Cheers

[stevensu1838]

@minacode

To be clear, I find the following instruction from itgui hard to follow, could you please make it beginner friendly. Like where is cmd/itgui. Really appreciate it

itgui

In cmd/itgui, there is a gui frontend to the socket of itd. It uses the Fyne library for Go. Compilation

Before compiling, certain prerequisites must be installed. These are listed on the following page: https://developer.fyne.io/started/#prerequisites

It can be compiled by running:

go build ./cmd/itgui

Cross-compilation

Due to the use of OpenGL, cross-compilation of itgui isn't as simple as that of itd and itctl. The following guide from the Fyne website should work for itgui: https://developer.fyne.io/started/cross-compiling.

[FintasticMan]

You should be able to just run itgui on the command-line and get that gui running. If you want other things such as the motion data sent to your computer, you will need to update your watch to the latest firmware. This can be done using itctl by downloading the 2 zip files from the GitHub release, and running itctl fw upg -a pinetime-mcuboot-app-dfu-1.11.0.zip -r infinitime-resources-1.11.0.zip.

[minacode]

itgui is not part of the Arch package. You can download it by running in the path of your choice:

git clone https://gitea.arsenm.dev/Arsen6331/itd.git

Then move into the dir

cd itd

and build according to the docs you cited with

go build ./cmd/itgui

Then run it with

cmd/itgui

which is basically just the path to it, depending on where you currently are.

If this fails it might be due to me not testing this while typing or because you need to install the go package on your Arch first.

Also I would always recommend to install updates. Why stay on an older version?

[stevensu1838]

@minacode Hi I followed your steps and there is no errors. However, I got the problem at the last step when I key in cmd/itgui. It shows bash: cmd/itgui: Is a directory

I really appreciate your great support. You are so warm-hearted. And we are getting there

[stevensu1838]

@FintasticMan Hi, thank you so much for your input. Just let you know that just run itgui on the command-line doesn't get that gui running somehow

[minacode]

If this fails it might be due to me not testing this while typing

:grinning:

After building itgui with go the binary is located in the itd directory. You can run

./itgui

from there or

itd/itgui

from your home as it seems.

itgui is not something that your command line will magically know. This has to do with the PATH variable and is a whole other topic. (Tldr: your shell knows everything it can find in one of the directories that your path variable contains. Your itd directory is not one of those places but you could add it if you want). Therefore you have to give your command line the whole (relative) path to the executable.

[stevensu1838]

Hi@minacode, you are the legend and thanks for the explanation. I've brought out the gui but it throws errors as shown below. Do you know why? Thanks a lot in advance. Cheers

[FintasticMan]

I think that might be an issue because your watch is on an older version of InfiniTime, you can update it to the latest version using itctl fw upg -a ~/Downloads/pinetime-mcuboot-app-dfu-1.11.0.zip, and when it has finished rebooting, running itctl res load ~/Downloads/infinitime-resources-1.11.0.zip. You can get the zip files needed for those commands from the GitHub releases page.

[stevensu1838]

Hi @FintasticMan,

I've been trying to update the version of InfiniTime, but it throws the following errors. And I didn't find detailed instructions on how to use itctl to update the version of firmware. Could you please tell me more on how to do it? Thanks a lot

[stevensu1838]

Hi @FintasticMan @minacode , I successfully updated the version of InfiniTime using itctl fw upg -a ~/Downloads/pinetime-mcuboot-app-dfu-1.11.0.zipusing, and then I rebooted the watch and validated the new firmware on the watch. However it throws the following errors when I running itctl res load ~/Downloads/infinitime-resources-1.11.0.zip. Can you please help?

And I tried the following but didn't work either

[stevensu1838]

Hi @minacode and @FintasticMan , after I updated the version of InfiniTime to 1.11.0. When I start pairing using , Now either systemctl --user start itd or systemctl start --user itd.service A code does show on my watch, however, no prompt appear on my linux. Is there anything that I can do? And when I couldn't event get heart rate data as I did before updating, as shown below:

I thought it might be the problem of my archlinux machine that I don't get a prompt on my linux machine. So I wanted to use a Ubuntu machine with itd. However, after I installed itd with sudo apt install ~/Downloads/itd-0.0.7-linux-x86_64.deb, I couldn't event start itd. See the picture below:

Can you please help? It is much hard than I expected to use and hopefully our conversations here can help other beginers. Thanks a million.

[minacode]

For your screenshots: double check the file names or use the tab key to autocomplete while typing.

The missing socket error appears when there is no connection.

On the watch you can confirm your firmware version in the settings under "Firmware".

The prompt not showing seems to be a problem of your Linux. I have no good solution for this. Maybe wait some seconds? It's not always instant but should be fast enough.

[FintasticMan]

Maybe you could try unpairing your watch in your computer's bluetooth settings, and then pairing again. That is necessary sometimes when updating from a version without secure pairing.

[minacode]

Regarding your Ubuntu:

See user logs and 'systemctl --user status itd.service' for details.

When your shell gives you such hints, consider using them. What is the status of this service?

It is much hard than I expected to use and hopefully our conversations here can help other beginers.

Don't take this personally but I feel like you have the worst luck in this process 😉 But yes, hopefully we can get a good documentation out of this in the end.

[stevensu1838]

@minacode, please check out the user logs and 'systemctl --user status itd.service' details for the Ubuntu machine. Can you see anything wrong?

[minacode]

Yes, there is obviously something wrong. It is red and called 'error' :grinning: Best is that you ask that question over at the itd repository I linked to previously. You will find people that can solve this problem there far more likely. I can not debug the itd systemd unit on your Ubuntu for you because I do not use Ubuntu.

Have you tried unpairing your watch from the Arch as @FintasticMan said? This seems to be a good idea. Here is what I found from a quick search on how to do that.

[stevensu1838]

Hi @minacode and @FintasticMan, I've tried unpairing my watch from Arch Linux and the situation is still the same: A code does show on my watch, however, no prompt appear on my linux. Thank you both so much.

[stevensu1838]

@minacode @FintasticMan @JF002 , Hi all, as you know I simply want to stream the heart rate data from the PineTime watch to my PC, do you have other ways to do it instead of itd? Sorry, haven't got that running yet. Also, I've noticed that the heart rate data is not that accurate from the watch. Is it caused by the sensor itself or the coding/algorithm? If it is caused by the hardware, I might have to move to other smart watches. Thank you all so much. Cheers

[minacode]

the situation is still the same: A code does show on my watch, however, no prompt appear on my linux.

Can you run

itd

manually on a command line? You may have to

systemctl stop --user itd.service

before that. You should be able to enter the code on the command line then. If not we might get some output regarding errors. In a second terminal you can then use itctl.

Also, I've noticed that the heart rate data is not that accurate from the watch. Is it caused by the sensor itself or the coding/algorithm?

Specifically for heart rate I would not trust the sensor for scientific purposes though, but that is only my take. It depends on what you want to do with it.

The PineTime costs around $27. You won't get AppleWatch-level measurements.

[stevensu1838]

@minacode Thank you so much for everything. Is there any chance you can remote control my linux PC and take a look at what's going on? Can we use teamviewer on Arch Linux? And please check out the logging below too see if you can find some information useful. Cheers

`[lui@crossbow ~]$ systemctl --user stop itd [lui@crossbow ~]$ ITD_LOGGING_LEVEL=debug itd 10:40PM DBG No device found in list, attempting to discover 10:40PM DBG InfiniTime device discovered mac=F7:58:76:0E:DF:CE 10:40PM DBG Device not connected, connecting WARN[0000] Recovering from panic: send on closed channel 10:40PM DBG Device not paired, pairing 10:40PM DBG Passkey requested, calling onReqPasskey callback Passkey: 09510:40PM FTL Error connecting to InfiniTime error="Authentication Canceled" [lui@crossbow ~]$ systemctl --user stop itd [lui@crossbow ~]$ ITD_LOGGING_LEVEL=debug itd 10:42PM DBG No device found in list, attempting to discover 10:42PM DBG InfiniTime device discovered mac=F7:58:76:0E:DF:CE 10:42PM DBG Device not connected, connecting 10:42PM DBG Device not paired, pairing 10:42PM DBG Passkey requested, calling onReqPasskey callback Passkey: 730006 10:42PM DBG Resolved characteristic name="Step Count" uuid=00030001-78fc-48fe-8e23-433b3a1942d0 10:42PM DBG Resolved characteristic name="Weather Data" uuid=00040001-78fc-48fe-8e23-433b3a1942d0 10:42PM DBG Resolved characteristic name="Motion Values" uuid=00030002-78fc-48fe-8e23-433b3a1942d0 10:42PM DBG Resolved characteristic name="New Alert" uuid=00002a46-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb 10:42PM DBG Resolved characteristic name= uuid=00000002-78fc-48fe-8e23-433b3a1942d0 10:42PM DBG Resolved characteristic name= uuid=00000003-78fc-48fe-8e23-433b3a1942d0 10:42PM DBG Resolved characteristic name="Notification Event" uuid=00020001-78fc-48fe-8e23-433b3a1942d0 10:42PM DBG Resolved characteristic name="Current Time" uuid=00002a2b-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb 10:42PM DBG Resolved characteristic name="Battery Level" uuid=00002a19-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb 10:42PM DBG Resolved characteristic name= uuid=00001531-1212-efde-1523-785feabcd123 10:42PM DBG Resolved characteristic name= uuid=00000001-78fc-48fe-8e23-433b3a1942d0 10:42PM DBG Resolved characteristic name= uuid=00001532-1212-efde-1523-785feabcd123 10:42PM DBG Resolved characteristic name="Heart Rate" uuid=00002a37-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb 10:42PM DBG Resolved characteristic name="Filesystem Version" uuid=adaf0100-4669-6c65-5472-616e73666572 10:42PM DBG Resolved characteristic name= uuid=00000004-78fc-48fe-8e23-433b3a1942d0 10:42PM DBG Resolved characteristic name="Filesystem Transfer" uuid=adaf0200-4669-6c65-5472-616e73666572 10:42PM DBG Resolved characteristic name="Firmware Version" uuid=00002a26-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb 10:42PM DBG Resolved characteristic name= uuid=00000005-78fc-48fe-8e23-433b3a1942d0 10:42PM DBG Checking characteristic status 10:42PM DBG Characteristic available name="Firmware Version" uuid=00002a26-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb 10:42PM INF Connected to InfiniTime version=1.11.0 10:42PM DBG Checking characteristic status 10:42PM DBG Characteristic available name="New Alert" uuid=00002a46-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb 10:42PM DBG Checking characteristic status 10:42PM DBG Characteristic available name="Current Time" uuid=00002a2b-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb 10:42PM INF Initialized InfiniTime music controls 10:42PM INF Relaying notifications to InfiniTime 10:42PM DBG Checking characteristic status 10:42PM DBG Characteristic available name="Filesystem Transfer" uuid=adaf0200-4669-6c65-5472-616e73666572 10:42PM INF Started control socket path=/tmp/itd/socket 10:42PM DBG Checking characteristic status 10:42PM DBG Characteristic available name="Weather Data" uuid=00040001-78fc-48fe-8e23-433b3a1942d0 10:42PM DBG Adding weather event event={"DewPoint":2,"EventType":3,"Expires":3600,"Temperature":1110,"Timestamp":1666604552} 10:42PM DBG Checking characteristic status 10:42PM DBG Characteristic available name="Weather Data" uuid=00040001-78fc-48fe-8e23-433b3a1942d0 10:42PM DBG Adding weather event event={"Amount":0,"EventType":1,"Expires":3600,"Timestamp":1666604552,"Type":0} 10:42PM DBG Checking characteristic status 10:42PM DBG Characteristic available name="Weather Data" uuid=00040001-78fc-48fe-8e23-433b3a1942d0 10:42PM DBG Adding weather event event={"DirectionMax":10,"DirectionMin":10,"EventType":2,"Expires":3600,"SpeedMax":1,"SpeedMin":1,"Timestamp":1666604552} 10:42PM DBG Checking characteristic status 10:42PM DBG Characteristic available name="Weather Data" uuid=00040001-78fc-48fe-8e23-433b3a1942d0 10:42PM DBG Adding weather event event={"Amount":0,"EventType":8,"Expires":3600,"Timestamp":1666604552} 10:42PM DBG Checking characteristic status 10:42PM DBG Characteristic available name="Weather Data" uuid=00040001-78fc-48fe-8e23-433b3a1942d0 10:42PM DBG Adding weather event event={"EventType":9,"Expires":3600,"Humidity":54,"Timestamp":1666604552} 10:42PM DBG Checking characteristic status 10:42PM DBG Characteristic available name="Weather Data" uuid=00040001-78fc-48fe-8e23-433b3a1942d0 10:42PM DBG Adding weather event event={"EventType":6,"Expires":3600,"Pressure":1017,"Timestamp":1666604552}

`

[minacode]

Looks like it worked. You even inserted pairing keys. And then it connected to various services. I cannot read that something went wrong.

Did you try?

In a second terminal you can then use itctl.

[stevensu1838]

@minacode I get it working with your instructions. Terminal 1 Ternimal 2 Gui

The only problem is the watch keeps showing new numbers for pairing and It throws a bit error as you can see in the picture above. I just ignore these and it's been working.

Another question is I hope to see the line graph as show below. However, there is no Metrics option for me. Could you please help?

[minacode]

WRN Multiple connection attempts have failed. If this continues, try removing the InfiniTime device from bluetooth

This can happen sadly. Removing the pairing and starting itd again should be enough for a stable connection.

Another question is I hope to see the line graph as show below. However, there is no Metrics option for me. Could you please help?

I can't answer that right now, sorry.

But you can stream the data in the terminal, right?

Bonus knowledge:

cmd > file

writes the output of cmd into a file called file. Change both such that it fits your needs. You can use that to easily capture the streamed data into a file.

[stevensu1838]

@minacode

Thank you so for for everything. especially for this bonus knowledge. I just tried it but didn't get it working. Did I do something wrong? What does cmd do? I do need capture the streamed data into a file. Thanks a million.

[minacode]

With cmd I meant itctl get heart for example. Instead of showing its outputs you can use the > to write it to a file. It's how your Linux shell works.

[stevensu1838]

@minacode I am still trying to save data and plot it myself. But when I type in itctl get heart > in the terminal, it throws syntax errors. I only need to read and plot the time steps and heart rate data to make a very simple plot. Could you please elaborate on how I can save the heart rate data into a csv, excel or any other file? I am counting on you. Thanks a lot

May I please ask how shuld I open and read the db file correcty on arch linux? Thanks a lot. Cheers

[FintasticMan]

Have a look into Linux shell redirection and piping, that should give you an idea on how to write the output from a command to a file. You might also want to use something like sed or awk to modify the output from the command.

[minacode]

There is itctl watch that lets you monitor a value repeatedly. It outputs the current values until you stop it. Each value is written on a new line. Putting that into a file like I described above (>) gives you a file with one value per line. That is already a valid csv file. If you name it with an .csv ending you should be good. Timestamps are difficult, because the watch does not provide them. You can trust the watch to measure at constant intervals at least as much as you can trust the heart for scientific purposes. Maybe that is enough for you to make your own time stamps.

[stevensu1838]

@minacode you are such an inspiring person. it's so cool to know so much about everything. Do you know what exactly the heart rate data logging interval is from the PineTime watch? Can you please show the heart rate interval part of the current algorithm? I'd love to modify the logging frequency. Cheers

[minacode]

I was wrong. InfiniTime sends a new heart rate once the value changes. That is definitely not in regular intervals. A quick search found me this link where the best solution is to install moreutils on your Linux to gain access to the program ts that can timestamp data. The timestamps would then be added when the measurements arrive on your computer.

What you probably want is:

itctl watch heart | ts "%F, %T," > data.csv

where data.csv can be any file name you want.

When using itctl watch in this way you will not see output and the command will not terminate on its own. You can close it with Ctrl+C. To see the output you can do

tail data.csv

in another terminal in the same directory (where data.csv is your files name).

You can change the output format which above is "%F, %T," to whatever you want with this link. Note the commas. They divide your cells in the csv format.

I learned something from this :smile:

[stevensu1838]

Hi @minacode, thank you so much for your effort. As you said, InfiniTime sends a new heart rate once the value changes. That is definitely not in regular intervals. If updating is not in regular intervals, how can I make a plotting of the heart rate data (normal time series data with regular intervals) as the one shown below? Any idea, please?

[minacode]

You are getting every value change with that method. That should be enough.

[Anachron]

@stevensu1838 you could pipe the itctl values into a file and read it regulary (30s intervals, for example) and pipe this again into another file.

[minacode]

The timestamped values are literally the most fine-grained x-y-coordinates for his plot he could ask for...

[Anachron]

True, but depending on how the plot is made he may need the additional data points with unchanged values.

[stevensu1838]

@Anachron Thank you both so much. I want the time interval every 1s or every 5s or every 30s. I do think I need the additional data points with unchanged values to make the plotting continuous. I am trying out your will. And can you please say a bit more about how 1) read the file regulary (30s intervals, for example) and 2) pipe this again into another file. I've never done this before. Cheers

[stevensu1838]

@minacode @Anachron You guys are amazing! I've record the data with timestamps as @minacode instructed. And I am trying to read it regularly (5s intervals, for example) and pipe this again into another file. Do you know how to read it every a few seconds? Also, please let me know how I can add the additional data points with unchanged values to fill some of the empty value while reading the file regularly. You guys are awesome. I learn a lot from you all

[minacode]

I think you can just rename your file to a .csv ending and open it in the table program of your choice. I don't get why you need the additional values. Virtually everything that plots diagrams should be able to accept unregular data points.

And don't name your files.txt. That makes interpretation of them from programs harder. They will handle the file according to the ending. Your content is not text (.txt) but a table which is .csv.

[stevensu1838]

@minacode Hi Thanks a lot for your tip. Yes, I can plot the unregular data points. My problem is I will try to plot the heart rate data from PineTime watch with the data from other smartwatches. For those watches, the heart rate data is logged every 5 or 10 or 30 seconds. To compare the data from PineWatch and other watches (such as sumsung watch), I think I will need to plot the data in the same figure in one plotting. So they will share the same X and Y axis. Did make myself clear? What do you think? How do I plot two data sets, one with regular intervals and the other one with the irregular interval, in the same plotting to compare? Thanks a lot. You save my life

[stevensu1838]

@Anachron @minacode ,

Please find below an example of the two sets of data that I want to plot in one figure and compare. Please let me know if you have any good ideas. Cheers.