GB2415919A - An exercise monitoring and instruction system - Google Patents

Abstract

An exercise system comprises a display device 3 combined with exercise equipment 27. The technique for performing an exercise is displayed on the screen and the severity of the exercise may be varied according to information on fitness input by the user. Various means of input may be used, including a touch screen 3, hand grips 40 with sensors to monitor the heart rate, card readers or biometric sensors. A proximity sensor also detects the presence of a user.

Description

VIRTUAL TRAINER

The present invention relates to exercising and gymnasium circuit training and more particularly to personal training routines.

With recent trends in the popularity of exercising, many seek to attend classes such as aerobics, boxercise or step classes. Others prefer to exercise under the supervision of a personal trainer. In both situations, the individual seeking to increase their fitness is forced to rely on the expertise of professionally trained instructors in order to exercise effectively and safely.

A routine such as this is inconvenient for working individuals as it forces them to modify their schedule in order to fit in with available classes or appointments of the personal trainer. This creates an awkward situation which in most cases results in the individuals missing out on their desired exercise routine.

There is therefore a need to provide a way for an individual to have the benefit of a personal trainer without needing to rely on another person's timetable.

In order to meet with this need, a first aspect of the present invention provides an apparatus comprising a display device in combination with exercise equipment, wherein the technique for performing an exercise using the exercise equipment is displayed graphically on the screen for emulation by the user of the equipment.

Preferably, an intensity level for completing the exercise is determined and is variable to suit the level of fitness of a user. The intensity level may be automatically altered in accordance with information inputted to the device. The information may be inputted at least in part by a user and may corresponds to the sex, height, weight or age or a combination thereof of the user. Advantageously, the user may input information into the device via a touch screen. The information may also be at least in part inputted by a sensor that is coupled to the exercise equipment such that it monitors the user. Preferably, the intensity level of the exercise is varied modifying the speed of execution of each move, the repetition rate of the moves or the total number of repetitions.

Preferably, the device is operative to display information including any one or more of a heart rate of a user, the cumulative energy expended in performing the exercises, the total number of repetitions of the exercise move being displayed, the rate of repetitions of the moves, and the total time taken to perform the exercise.

Advantageously, the apparatus further comprises a hand grip adapted to supply heart rate of a user to the device.

Preferably, one of the device and the exercise equipment provides a plug and the other of the device and the exercise equipment provides a correspondingly shaped socket.

The apparatus may further comprise a card reader adapted to provide an identification code.

The apparatus may further comprise a biometric sensor for identifying the user.

The apparatus may further comprise a proximity sensor for detecting the presence of a potential user.

The display device is preferably pivotably mounted within a free standing unit.

Advantageously, the display can be pivoted by an electric motor in dependence on the exercise displayed.

In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention there is provided an apparatus for retrieving an animation of an exercise comprising: a server storing an animation of an exercise and associated data; exercise equipment which a user can use to exercise; and a client computer adapted to communicate with the server and exercise equipment; whereby the server can provide a digital stream of the animation and the associate data to the client computer; the client computer being adapted to display the animation and process the associated data.

A specific embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a player terminal; Figure 2 is a schematic illustration of the architecture of a player terminal; and Figure 3 is a schematic illustration of a network which includes three player terminals.

Figure 1 illustrates a player terminal 1, a number of which can be dispersed within a gymnasium. The player terminal 1 is a free standing unit 2 with a touch screen monitor 3.

Each player terminal 1 is able to receive data from a user and in response provide an animation of a particular exercise on the touch screen monitor 3. The data inputted by the user may, for example, relate to the part of the body they wish to exercise or an identification code corresponding to the particular user, which causes previously saved data to be retrieved. The animation provided to the user in response demonstrates the exercise to be performed for the user to emulate.

Figure 2 schematically illustrates the architecture of the player terminal 1 of figure 1 (all the players have similar, if not identical, architectures). It can be seen that each player terminal 1 comprises a processor 10 and Random Access Memory (RAM) 11. The RAM 11 is in use divided to provide a program memory I la and a data memory 1 lb, and the processor 10 is configured to execute instructions specified in programs stored in the program memory lla. The player terminal 1 further comprises a display interface 12 which is connected to a touch screen monitor 3, an input device interface 14 which is connected to a keyboard IS and a mouse 16, and a network interface 17 configured to allow the player to access the Internet. The network interface 17 can either be a device allowing connection to a Local Area Network (LAN) which is itself connected to the Internet, or alternatively a modem which allows a dial-up connection to be established.

The player terminal 1 further comprises a non-volatile storage device 18 in the form of a hard disk drive, a sound card 19 for controlling the output of a pair of speakers 20, a magnetic card reader 21 and corresponding interface 22 and a proximity sensor 23.

Furthermore, the player terminal 1 also comprises an electric control unit (ECU) 24 for controlling a stepper motor 25, the stepper motor being used to control the angle of the touch screen monitor 3. Components of the player terminal are connected together by a bus 26, along which data and instruction can be passed.

The player terminal 1 also incorporates exercise equipment 27 via an equipment interface 28. The exercise equipment 27 in the present embodiment is a step 27a. It will be appreciated that free weights or resistance bands could be used in place of the step 27a.

Furthermore, more complex exercise machines could be adapted to be used with a player terminal 1 by means of a suitable equipment interface 29. To allow the player terminal 1 to be able to be used in combination with different types exercise equipment 27, a universal plug 30 on the end of a retractable lead 31 could be provided by the player terminal 1 with a corresponding socket 32 on different types of exercise equipment 27.

The step 27a is fixed to an abdominal mat 27b to provide a comfortable shock absorbing surface to help prevent injury to a user. The step 27a also houses troughs (not shown) which support free weights for use in different exercises. The step 27a also houses resistance bands. The resistance bands are resilient rubber bands which stretch to provide resistance for the arms and legs of the user during alternative exercises.

The step 27a can contain motion sensors, including an accelerometer and scales, coupled to the bus 26 of the player terminal 1 via the exercise interface 28. The motion sensors allow the player terminal 1 to detect the user stepping onto and off the step. In this way, it is possible for the player terminal 1 to detect, at least superficially, the actions of a user and vary the animation shown to the user in response (i.e. if the user is stepping up and down too slowly, the touch screen monitor 3 can display encouraging statements). A person skilled in the art will appreciate that the motion sensor could also include multiple infrared motion sensors for detecting more accurately the actions of a user. A heart rate monitor 40 can also be provided to allow the player temminal l to obtain further infommation about the physiological changes within a user's body due to the exercise undertaken.

The step 27a, in the present embodiment, is formed so that it can be pulled out away from the free standing unit 2. To ensure that the user can see the touch screen monitor 3, the touch screen monitor is pivotable within the free standing unit 2. In the present embodiment, the player terminal I controls the touch screen monitor 3 via the ECU 24 so that if the user is to exercise lying, sitting down or standing the touch screen monitor 3 is adjusted accordingly. Alternatively, or in addition, multiple monitors can be provided.

Figure 3 is a schematic illustration of a network of player terminals la, lb, Ic within a gymnasium, the network 41 being connected to the remote server 42 via the Intemet 43 and a LAN 44.

The remote server 42 is connected to a non-volatile storage device such as a hard disk drive which stores data in databases, each database relates to a particular exercise. Listing for example the areas of the body on which the exercise will have an effect, the degree of the effect, difficulty of the exercise and complexity of the exercise.

The player terminals la, lb, to are able to download the databases stored on the hard disk of the remote server 42 by appropriate communication between the remote server and the player terminals. Although the embodiment illustrated shows connection of the player terminals la, lb, lo via a LAN 44, it will be appreciated that communication could be by other methods such as via an Intranet.

When a player terminal 1 is not in use, the touch screen monitor 3 displays an idling screen or video. This idling screen or video may be advertising and/or may be used to attract the attention of potential users.

Once a user approaches the player terminal 1, the proximity sensor activates the player terminal 1 and causes a start screen to be displayed. Alternatively, the user could touch the idling screen, causing the start screen to be displayed. The start screen is stored locally on the player terminal, but could be stored on the remote server 42. The start screen presents a choice of modes of operation for the user to select such as "training", "warm-up", "stretch", "pirates", "yoga", "boxing', "karate" and"personal trainer". Each mode of operation allows a user to select a particular type of exercise routine.

If a user selects the "personal trainer", a new screen will be presented requesting the user to input an identification code. The identification code could be the user's gymnasium -I membership number or contained on a card with a magnetic strip, which can be read by the magnetic card reader 21. Other, embodiments could utilise biometric methods of identifying a user.

On entering a valid identification code, the player terminal 1 retrieves data relating to the user's previous and/or current exercise routines from the player terminal's hard disk drive or the remote server 42.

In some modes of operation, the user can enter further details such as how hard the user wants to work, the muscle group(s) the users wishes to work, the degree the user wishes to build muscle or tone muscle and how long a work out the user wishes to undertake.

The player terminal 1 displays one or more suitable exercises from which the user can select.

Once the exercise is selected, the player terminal 1 requests from the remote server 42, an animation of the exercise. Alternatively, or in addition, the animation may be stored on the hard disk drive 18 of the player terminal 1. The animations are stored in the form of data stream compressed using the MPEG 2 or MPEG 4 standard (created by the Motion Pictures Expert Group). Other suitable formats such as an Audio Video Interleaved (avi), mov (a format created by Quicktime (RTM)), Advanced Streaming format (asf) or Windows (RTM) Media Video (wmv) could alternatively be used. The animation is displayed to the user for emulation. Tips regarding the posture of the user during the exercise and other related information could also be displayed.

The intensity level of the exercise routine is determined from information entered by the user before commencing the exercise and from sensors forming part of the exercise equipment 2.

The heart rate monitor 40 (see figure 1) may be a hand grip adapted to be held by the user throughout an exercise routine. The hand grip may also provide an emergency stop function, whereby if the user becomes distressed, or wishes to sup the exercise routine quickly, the hand grip can be pulled causing the player terminal to pause.

At the end of each exercise, the database is used to calculate the energy the user has expended or the amount of power the user has generated.

The animation shown may be a computer generated image, a video of a person performing an exercise, a cartoon animation or a combination thereof. In use, the animation moves as required for the exercise to be performed properly. This may include showing the animation from several different perspectives, allowing the user to mimic the animation as closely as possible.

In order to act as a virtual trainer, the image moves at the correct pace for the intended exercise intensity level.

Similarly, the other options available to the user can allow the user to select the type, length and intensity of the exercise routine to be performed.

A hidden pad may also be provided by the start screen, such that a systems administrator can change options and settings on the player terminal. The hidden pad may be activated by touching the corners of the screen in a predetermined order. The hidden pad may then be displayed requesting a pin or password. Once the pin or password has been successfully inputted the administrator is able to access system configuration options of the player terminal 1. The system configuration options allow the administrator to alter for example the brightness of the touch screen monitor 3, the sounds which are made by the speakers 20, or run a system diagnosis in the event of a player terminal 1 failing.

A printer 50 is provided to allow a user to obtain a summary of their exercise routine and/or previous exercise routines including energy used, heart rate, the exercises completed and the energy expended. The user is also able to select a summary of the change of intensity level achieved over a period of time so that, for example, the user can identify how many sit ups they have performed during each exercise routine over a prolonged period, showing the way in which they have improved, or not, their fitness level. f

Claims (17)

I CLAIMS

1. An apparatus comprising a display device in combination with exercise equipment, wherein the technique for performing an exercise using the exercise equipment is displayed graphically on the screen for emulation by the user of the equipment. I

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein an intensity level for executing at least a part of the exercise is variable to suit the level of fitness of a user.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the intensity level is automatically altered in accordance information inputted to the device.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the information is inputted at least in part by a user and corresponds to the sex, height, weight or age or a combination thereof of the user.

5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein the user inputs information in to the device via a touch screen.

6. An apparatus as claimed in any of claims 2, 3 4 or 5, wherein the information is at least in part inputted by a sensor that is coupled to the exercise equipment such that it monitors the user.

7. An apparatus as claimed in any of claims 2 to 6, wherein the intensity level of the exercise is varied modifying the speed of execution of each move, the repetition rate of the moves or the total number of repetitions.

8. An apparatus as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the device is operative to display information including any one or more of a heart rate of a user, the cumulative energy expended in performing the exercises, the total number of repetitions of the exercise move being displayed, the rate of repetitions of the moves, and the total time taken to perform the exercise.

9. An apparatus as claimed in claim 8, further comprising a hand grip adapted to supply heart rate of a user to the device. .

10. An apparatus as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein one of the device and the exercise equipment provides a plug and the other of the device and the exercise equipment provides a correspondingly shaped socket.

11. An apparatus as claimed in any of the preceding claims, further comprising a card reader adapted to provide an identification code.

12. An apparatus as claimed in any of the preceding claims, further comprising a biometric sensor for identifying the user.

13. An apparatus as claimed in any of the preceding claims, further comprising a proximity sensor for detecting the presence of a potential user.

14. An apparatus as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the display device is pivotably mounted within a free standing unit.

15. An apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the display can be pivoted by an electric motor in dependence on the exercise displayed.

16. An apparatus for retrieving an animation of an exercise comprising: a server; exercise equipment which a user can use to exercise; and a client computer adapted to communicate with the server and exercise equipment; wherein either the server or the client computer stores an animation of an exercise and associated data, whereby the client computer being adapted to display the animation and process the associated data. s

17. An apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.