Activity Recognition

Introduction#

Activity recognition is the detection of a user’s physical activity in order to perform certain actions on the device, such as taking points when a drive is detected, turn wifi off when a phone is still, or putting the ring volume to max when the user is walking.

Google Play ActivityRecognitionAPI

This is a just a simple example of how to use GooglePlay Service’s ActivityRecognitionApi. Although this is a great library, it does not work on devices that do not have Google Play Services installed.

Docs for ActivityRecognition API

Manifest

<!-- This is needed to use Activity Recognition! -->
<uses-permission android:name="com.google.android.gms.permission.ACTIVITY_RECOGNITION" />

<application
    android:allowBackup="true"
    android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
    android:label="@string/app_name"
    android:roundIcon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_round"
    android:supportsRtl="true"
    android:theme="@style/AppTheme">

    <activity android:name=".MainActivity">
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

            <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        </intent-filter>
    </activity>

    <receiver android:name=".ActivityReceiver" />
</application>

MainActivity.java

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity implements GoogleApiClient.ConnectionCallbacks, GoogleApiClient.OnConnectionFailedListener {

    private GoogleApiClient apiClient;
    private LocalBroadcastManager localBroadcastManager;
    private BroadcastReceiver localActivityReceiver;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
        apiClient = new GoogleApiClient.Builder(this)
                .addApi(ActivityRecognition.API)
                .addConnectionCallbacks(this)
                .addOnConnectionFailedListener(this)
                .build();

        //This just gets the activity intent from the ActivityReceiver class
        localBroadcastManager = LocalBroadcastManager.getInstance(this);
        localActivityReceiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {
            @Override
            public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
                ActivityRecognitionResult recognitionResult = ActivityRecognitionResult.extractResult(intent);
                TextView textView = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.activityText);
                
                //This is just to get the activity name. Use at your own risk.
                textView.setText(DetectedActivity.zzkf(recognitionResult.getMostProbableActivity().getType()));
            }
        };
    }

    @Override
    protected void onResume() {
        super.onResume();

        //Register local broadcast receiver
        localBroadcastManager.registerReceiver(localActivityReceiver, new IntentFilter("activity"));

        //Connect google api client
        apiClient.connect();
    }

    @Override
    protected void onPause() {
        super.onPause();

        //Unregister for activity recognition
        ActivityRecognition.ActivityRecognitionApi.removeActivityUpdates(apiClient, PendingIntent.getBroadcast(this, 0, new Intent(this, ActivityReceiver.class), PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT));

        //Disconnects api client
        apiClient.disconnect();

        //Unregister local receiver
        localBroadcastManager.unregisterReceiver(localActivityReceiver);
    }

    @Override
    public void onConnected(@Nullable Bundle bundle) {
        //Only register for activity recognition if google api client has connected
        ActivityRecognition.ActivityRecognitionApi.requestActivityUpdates(apiClient, 0, PendingIntent.getBroadcast(this, 0, new Intent(this, ActivityReceiver.class), PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT));
    }

    @Override
    public void onConnectionSuspended(int i) {
    }

    @Override
    public void onConnectionFailed(@NonNull ConnectionResult connectionResult) {

    }
}

ActivityReceiver

public class ActivityReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {

    @Override
    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
        LocalBroadcastManager.getInstance(context).sendBroadcast(intent.setAction("activity"));
    }
}

PathSense Activity Recognition

PathSense activity recognition is another good library for devices which don’t have Google Play Services, as they have built their own activity recognition model, but requires developers register at https://developer.pathsense.com to get an API key and Client ID.

Manifest

<application
    android:allowBackup="true"
    android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
    android:label="@string/app_name"
    android:roundIcon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_round"
    android:supportsRtl="true"
    android:theme="@style/AppTheme">

    <activity android:name=".MainActivity">
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

            <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        </intent-filter>
    </activity>

    <receiver android:name=".ActivityReceiver" />

    <!-- You need to acquire these from their website (https://developer.pathsense.com) -->
    <meta-data
        android:name="com.pathsense.android.sdk.CLIENT_ID"
        android:value="YOUR_CLIENT_ID" />
    <meta-data
        android:name="com.pathsense.android.sdk.API_KEY"
        android:value="YOUR_API_KEY" />
</application>

MainActivity.java

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    private PathsenseLocationProviderApi pathsenseLocationProviderApi;
    private LocalBroadcastManager localBroadcastManager;
    private BroadcastReceiver localActivityReceiver;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
        pathsenseLocationProviderApi = PathsenseLocationProviderApi.getInstance(this);

        //This just gets the activity intent from the ActivityReceiver class
        localBroadcastManager = LocalBroadcastManager.getInstance(this);
        localActivityReceiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {
            @Override
            public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
                //The detectedActivities object is passed as a serializable
                PathsenseDetectedActivities detectedActivities = (PathsenseDetectedActivities) intent.getSerializableExtra("ps");
                TextView textView = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.activityText);
                textView.setText(detectedActivities.getMostProbableActivity().getDetectedActivity().name());
            }
        };
    }

    @Override
    protected void onResume() {
        super.onResume();

        //Register local broadcast receiver
        localBroadcastManager.registerReceiver(localActivityReceiver, new IntentFilter("activity"));

        //This gives an update everytime it receives one, even if it was the same as the last update
        pathsenseLocationProviderApi.requestActivityUpdates(ActivityReceiver.class);

//        This gives updates only when it changes (ON_FOOT -> IN_VEHICLE for example)
//        pathsenseLocationProviderApi.requestActivityChanges(ActivityReceiver.class);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onPause() {
        super.onPause();

        pathsenseLocationProviderApi.removeActivityUpdates();

//        pathsenseLocationProviderApi.removeActivityChanges();

        //Unregister local receiver
        localBroadcastManager.unregisterReceiver(localActivityReceiver);
    }
}

ActivityReceiver.java

// You don't have to use their broadcastreceiver, but it's best to do so, and just pass the result
// as needed to another class.
public class ActivityReceiver extends PathsenseActivityRecognitionReceiver {

    @Override
    protected void onDetectedActivities(Context context, PathsenseDetectedActivities pathsenseDetectedActivities) {
        Intent intent = new Intent("activity").putExtra("ps", pathsenseDetectedActivities);
        LocalBroadcastManager.getInstance(context).sendBroadcast(intent);
    }
}