GB2454705A

GB2454705A - Wearable personal activity monitor and computer based coaching system for assisting in exercise

Info

Publication number: GB2454705A
Application number: GB0722466A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Ognjen Bataveljic; Simon Edward Jackson; Christopher Edward Tomkins
Original assignee: MILIFE COACHING Ltd
Current assignee: MILIFE COACHING Ltd
Priority date: 2007-11-16
Filing date: 2007-11-16
Publication date: 2009-05-20
Also published as: GB0722466D0

Abstract

A wearable personal activity monitor 95 has an accelerometer to sense extent of movement of a user and a wireless communication module to receive data from physiological data gathering devices (e.g. weighing scales 120, body composition analysis monitor 121, blood pressure monitor 122). Data may also be received from exercise equipment 123. The monitor 95, which may be worn on the wrist or ankle, stores movement data and physiological data over a period of time and can transmit the data over the internet 92 to a computer based coaching system 90 on a server 91. The coaching system interacts with the user, via web pages. The user can input data relating to physical or mental condition, and plan a schedule of activities and lifestyle. The system provides suggestions, hints, tips and recommendations as to forms of exercise and lifestyle. Links to other users of the system are provided. The system displays a commitment meter.

Description

METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR ASSISTING IN EXERCISE AND

HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

The present invention relates to computer-based systems for assisting users to plan, achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle, for example by planning, managing and recording physical activities, dietary behaviour, physiological changes and the like.

Recently, internet-based applications have become available which offer assistance to users in modifying their behaviour patterns so as to adopt a more healthy lifestyle. An exemplary computer-based system is described in detail in WO 2007/070062. That system assists a user to identify barriers to implementing a behavioural change, e.g. starting andlor maintaining a specific exercise regime.

The system makes suggestions of ways to overcome those barriers. The user is then invited to make one or more suitable commitments to, for example, an exercise regime. The system offers scheduling assistance with the exercise regime, including maintaining an on-line diary, as well as providing automated text alerts, telephone alerts or e-mail alerts, providing motivational reminders and providing :. buddy systems linking to other users. The system also provides a monitoring function for providing feedback indicative of the performance of the user, e.g. on S...

an "achievement web page". This may be by logging attendance at exercise *.* . . . . * sessions and feeding back data from the various items of exercise equipment in a S.....

* * gym, for example. * S *

A potential disadvantage of the feedback or monitoring systems such as proposed S.....

* 25 in WO 062 is that they are unable to obtain quantitative data from many types of exercise, e.g. walking, running, swimming, cycling, rowing and other activities not based on an exercise machine having electronic control or monitoring functions.

Furthermore, it is tedious for a user to have to manually enter data during or after exercise with the result that much data is potentially lost or inaccurately provided.

Furthermore, there is no automated mechanism for entering physiological data of the user useful for integrating with other monitored data for generating feedback to the user. To obtain maximum benefit in providing assistance to a user in ( maintaining a healthy lifestyle, it is important to provide a comprehensive, accurate and responsive feedback on progress.

It is an object of the present invention to provide further forms of monitoring and feedback to the user relating to the progress of that user in their chosen lifestyle plans and to provide a more comprehensive set of feedback data without substantially increasing the burden on the user to manually input data from many sources. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a user with feedback indicating a level of commitment to a planned set of activities and lifestyle changes.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a wearable personal activity monitor comprising: an accelerometer adapted to sense movement data indicative of an extent of movement of a user wearing the monitor; a wireless communication module adapted to receive physiological data relating to the user from one or more physiological data gathering devices; a memory adapted to store said movement data and said physiological data :..::: overaperiod of time; and S...

a communication module adapted to transmit said stored movement data * : and said stored physiological data to a computing device.

S..... * S

*:: : According to another aspect, the present invention provides a computer-based personal coaching system comprising: *0**** * 25 a plurality of tools for interacting with a user, each tool comprising at least one of (i) a user input tool for receiving user input relating to the user's physical or mental condition, (ii) a planning or scheduling tool for enabling the user to plan and / or schedule activities and lifestyle, (iii) a recommendation tool for providing suggestions, hints, tips and / or recommendations as to forms of exercise and lifestyle, and (iv) a community tool for providing links to other users of the system; a user input module for receiving input from a user to effect use of selected ones of said plurality of tools; a counter for determining a measure of the user's use of said tools; and 1' a commitment meter for displaying said measure of the user's use of said tools.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a home web page of an on-line, computer-based personal coaching system; Figure 2 shows an activity web page of an on-line, computer-based personal coaching system; Figure 3 shows an activity scheduling web page of an on-line, computer-based personal coaching system; Figure 4 shows an activity solutions web page of an on-line, computer-based personal coaching system; Figure 5 shows an exercise personality questionnaire web page of an on-line, computer-based personal coaching system; Figure 6 shows a nutrition web page of an on-line, computer-based personal coaching system; :. Figure 7 shows a physiological data web page of an on-line, computer- :..::: based personal coaching system; Figure 8 shows an extras web page of an on-line, computer-based personal coaching system; Figure 9 shows a schematic diagram of components of an on-line, :. computer-based personal coaching system; and Figure 10 shows a personal activity monitor of an on-line, computer-based * 25 personal coaching system.

Figure 1 shows an exemplary home page 10 for an on-line personal coaching system. This home page 10 provides the user with an overview of their personal data and progress. For example, field 11 reminds the user of his or her overall goal. Field 12 reminds the user of his or her chosen targets, such as body weight, amount of exercise per week and calorie intake per day. Field 13 shows a graphical presentation of user activity sessions over a previous or current period, in this example the last seven days. Field 14 shows a graphical presentation of user ( weight readings over a previous period or current, in this example the last seven days. Field 15 shows a graphical presentation of user calorie intake over a previous or current period, in this example the last seven days. It will be understood that other periods of time for such graphical presentations may be user selectable. The home page 10 also provides the user with a measure of his or her present levels of commitment by way of a commitment meter 16, to be described in detail later. The home page 10 also provides links 18 to other pages for setting up, maintaining and viewing progress of parts of the user's lifestyle plans.

For example, the link "My activity" activates the web page 20 shown in figure 2.

This web page 20 allows the user to access many functions or tools relating to planning his or her exercise activities, using links 21 on the left hand side. The right hand side of the page also summarises, in field 22, the user's exercise target, plan, progress, pledge and solution. The commitment meter 16 is again displayed on this page 20.

The links 21 provide access to functions or tools such as the activity plan web page :. 30, as shown in figure 3. This tool enables a user to plan multiple activities over a period of time, e.g. each week as shown. This plan could be electronically *..

synchronised to a user's electronic diary, scheduler or the like on a PC, PDA, mobile telephone or the like. The links 21 also provide access to functions or tools such as providing solutions to activity barriers on web page 40 (figure 4) and :. exercise personality profiler on web page 50 (figure 5), to name but a few.

a.....

* 25 The links 18 on the home page 10 also provide access to other functions or tools such as a nutrition planner web page 60 (figure 6), a body monitor web page 70 (figure 7) and an extras web page 80 (figure 8).

Collectively, all of these web pages provide a user with a plurality of functional tools for: (a) analysing a user's personal physical and mental profile and the user's attitude to various activities and lifestyle options; (b) facilitating choices of activities and lifestyle options; (c) planning activities and lifestyle options, (d) motivating user performance in those selected activities and lifestyle options; (e) recording user performance in those activities and lifestyle options and outcomes therefrom; and (f) displaying progress of activities and lifestyle options and the outcomes therefrom.

It will be clear that regular updating of all the information required to maintain these personal coaching web pages would be an arduous activity were it all to be performed manually.

Referring now to figure 9, the computer-implemented personal coaching system 90 comprises a server 91 which may be accessed over the internet 92 or other suitable data transmission network by a user using a suitable web browser. In a preferred embodiment, the web browser is loaded onto a personal computer 93 although using a PDA, internet-enabled mobile phone or the like is also envisaged.

The computing device 93 is also provided with a communication channel 94 to a personal activity monitor 95 that is wearable by a user of the personal coaching system 90. The communication channel 94 is preferably a wireless communication :. channel using, for example, a short range wireless protocol such as Bluetooth, WiFi, infra-red or the like. However, a temporary wired link is also possible, e.g. S..

using a cradle connection. A cradle connection can usefully be combined with a : : battery charging function. It is also possible to use a temporary wired link to provide a battery charging function (e.g. via a computer's USB port). S..

With reference to figure 10, the personal activity monitor 95 comprises a motion * 25 sensor 100, preferably comprising at least three accelerometers 101, 102, 103 for sensing acceleration along three orthogonal axes, e.g. labelled x, y and z. The motion sensor 100 may also include three further accelerometers 104, 105, 106 for sensing angular motion about the three orthogonal axes, x, y and z. In this latter case, the motion sensor is capable of detecting movement with six degrees of freedom. It will be understood, however, that different numbers of accelerometers in different configurations could be used. A processor module 108 is configured to receive data from each of the accelerometers 101 -106, pre-process the data and store it in a memory 109, preferably together with a suitable timestamp indicating the date and time of all data acquired.

The personal activity monitor 95 also includes a power supply 110 preferably in the form of a rechargeable battery, and an input / output module 111 for communication with the PC 93 or other processing device in communication with the server 91. The input / output module 111 also serves to communicate with one or more data gathering systems 120, 121, 122, 123 (figure 9) for obtaining data relating to the user's physiological condition and / or the user's performance on activity equipment, such as electronically-enabled exercise equipment.

For example, with further reference to figure 9, data gathering system 120 may comprise a weighing scale for determining the body mass of a user. Data gathering system 121 may comprise a body composition analysis monitor, which may be combined with the weighing scale 120. Data gathering system 122 may comprise a blood pressure monitor. Other items of data gathering equipment may include heart rate monitors and other electronic medical instruments. The processor :. module 108 (figure 2) is configured to receive data from such data gathering systems 120 to 123, via the input / output module 111, and store it in the memory S.... 109.

* ..*.* * S Examples of electronically-enabled exercise equipment 123 may include rowing machines, treadmills, steppers and weight lifting apparatus capable of : electronically recording weights lifted and number of repetitions, etc. S..... * 25

The personal activity monitor 95 is enabled to communicate with the one or more data gathering systems 120 -123 by way of one or more communication channels 125, 126, 127, 128, respectively. These communication channels are preferably wireless communication channels using, for example, a short range wireless protocol such as Bluetooth, WiFi, infra-red or the like. Although illustrated as separate links, it will be understood that each of the communication channels 94 and 125 - 128 could be implemented with a single wireless link. (

The personal activity monitor 95 is provided with a suitable means for attaching the monitor to the human body. In one preferred arrangement, the monitor 95 is provided with a wrist strap for attachment to the user's wrist. In another preferred arrangement, the monitor 95 is provided with an ankle strap for attachment to the user's ankle or head band for attachment to the user's head. The wrist strap and ankle strap may be a common strap arrangement so that the same means for attachment serves both purposes. in another arrangement, the monitor 95 is provided with a clip or other arrangement for clipping or otherwise attaching the monitor to a user's belt, shoe, waist band or other location.

Preferably, the monitor 95 is provided with a shock resistant or shock proof casing so that it is suitable for use in a vigorous exercise environment. Preferably, the monitor 95 is encapsulated or provided with a water resistant or water proof casing so that it is suitable for use in sweaty or wet environment, e.g. when the wearer is running or swimming.

in one arrangement, the monitor 95 may be provided as a small module which can : be transferred between different types of means for attachment to the user's body.

:: :: For example, the module may be capable of releasably engaging with or into a separate wrist strap, ankle strap, belt clip, shoe clip or the like. The various straps or clips may be provided in different colours or styles as a fashion accessory so that a user may select one of a range of possible means for attachment to suit mood, mode of activity or other clothing.

S.....

* 25 In use, the monitor 95 provides a means for gathering data related to the movement of the user. In one simple aspect, the data gathered is sufficient to detect whether the user is engaged in a level of physical activity above a certain threshold. In another aspect, the activity sensor may gather data that is sufficient to detect an intensity of exercise in which the user is engaged. The intensity of exercise may be related to an exercise type, e.g. walking, running, swimming, cycling, rowing, step aerobics, pilates, yoga, weight lifting, In some cases, it may be appropriate for the user to wear the activity sensor on a different part of the body in order to optimise the data gathered. For example, it may be appropriate for the user to wear the activity sensor on the ankle when engaged in walking, running, cycling or swimming activities while it may be appropriate for the user to wear the activity sensor on the wrist when engaged in running, swimming, cycling and rowing activities.

The personal coaching system 90 is provided with a data processing module 108 andlor 1 08a which analyses the activity or movement / acceleration data to determine the exercise intensity. This data processing module may be located in the personal activity monitor 95 (e.g. processor 108), the user PC 93 and/or the server 91 (e.g. processor 1 08a) or any combination thereof The data processing module may be implemented in the personal activity monitor 95 as software in a general processing chip or as firmware in a custom integrated circuit or a combination of both. It will be recognised that the personal activity monitor 95 is preferably a small battery powered device and therefore may have limited processing power and limited memory capacity. The amount of data pre-processing performed by the activity monitor 95 may be limited to that which provides sufficient data compression so as to enable the storage of a reasonable amount of activity data, e.g. enough for a day or two of exercise. The rest of the :: :"* data processing is preferably carried out within the server 91, although some intermediate processing could be carried out by the user PC 93. * S

*: It will be understood that the data gathered by the personal activity monitor 95 is conveyed in some form to the server 91 in such a manner that the relevant user activity information can be applied to the various activity charts such as that a.....

* $ 25 displayed in field 13 of home web page 10. In preferred aspects, the activity data is sufficient for the data processing module to determine the intensity of that activity so that realistic assessments of energy expended and / or calories burned may be made. Such assessments may be made with reference to standard calibration tables for all types of user or calibration tables specially customised to the physiological profile of the user.

Another important function of the personal activity monitor 95 is to provide a data gathering conduit between the various physiological data gathering systems 120, 121, 122, 123 and the server 91. It is inconvenient for a user to always be in the vicinity of an internet-enabled computing device 93 when obtaining physiological data gathering devices such as weighing scales 120 and body composition analysis equipment 121. Such systems 120, 121 may well be provided in a bathroom or gym changing room and systems 122, 123 may be in a gym. Thus, the personal activity monitor 95 is configured to automatically communicate with such systems when in use and to store the user's physiological data gathered thereby together with the activity data. Similarly, the personal activity monitor 95 is configured to automatically communicate the gathered data to the user PC or other internet-enabled computing device 93 when the user operates the PC, e.g. when logging into the personal coaching web site. in this way, when the user logs in to the personal coaching web site, the server 91 is able to extract the data gathered by the personal activity monitor 95 and update not only the various activity charts 13 but also weight data as displayed in field 14 and other physiological data used by the personal coaching system 90.

It is preferred that the action of data gathering by the personal activity monitor 95 is as automatic as possible so that the user is not burdened with control operations when concentrating on exercise and other beneficial activities. Thus, the personal * *S.

activity monitor may be provided simply with an on switch and inactivity time out *: shut off, or an on-off switch, and rely on automatic handshaking and data transfer connection whenever a communication link with a suitable other device is found.

However, limited set up control functions may be provided. A separate control for : initiating transfer of data to the computing device 93 may be provided if required.

* **.** * 25 A control interface for initiating the action of data acquisition of physiological data from physiological data gathering systems 120, 121, 122 may be provided, particularly if required to avoid conflict with other devices, e.g. to confirm an electronic handshake with a local physiological data gathering system. Other control functions for the personal activity monitor 95 may be downloaded automatically from the server 91. The personal activity monitor may be provided with a selector switch so that the user can select a predetermined type of activity, e.g. walking, running, swimming, cycling, rowing etc. Another important feature of the personal coaching system 90 is the provision of motivational and guiding feedback as to progress of the user in their selected lifestyle options. The feedback may take various forms, such as the display of previous activity levels in field 13, previous body mass readings in field 14, previous calorie intake in field 15, personal progress such as amount of exercise taken in the current week in field 22, calorie intake in the current period, to name but a few.

Also provided is a visual display of the user's current level of commitment to arid / or engagement with the features of the personal coaching system. This visual display preferably takes the form of a bar graph or graphical "meter", described herein as the commitment meter 16. The commitment meter is preferably displayed on at least the home web page 10, but also preferably on many of the other web pages as well, as a frequently viewed reminder of progress. The commitment meter may also be displayed on a range of distributed client applications such as RSS widgets' running on users' computers. Although preferably displayed as a graphical indication of a level of commitment, it will be understood that the conmiitment meter could be displayed as a numeric figure or as S.. * a descriptive measure indicative of a level, such as low', medium', high', or * 20 more preferably in an emphatically positive range of descriptor options such as S.....

* ok', good', great', brilliant'.

*S S,, * S *::: In the preferred option shown in the various web pages 10, 20, 30 etc, the .. commitment meter 16 comprises a coloured or shaded pseudo-analogue bar meter (similar to a thermometer or to a battery level meter on an electronic device) extending from left to right and superimposed on a quantised, progressive scale of positive descriptors ok', good', great', brilliant'. The expression pseudo-analogue' is intended to encompass displays that give the overall impression of a continuously variable analogue display despite the condition that the display in use, or the numeric score driving the display, is effectively quantised by virtue of limitations on pixel size of the display or by limited numeric resolution of the numeric score (e.g. a resolution of 1% or 5% in 100%).

The commitment meter 16 provides a score or quantitative measure which indicates how many of the tools in the personal coaching system 90 have been or are being used within a current coaching session. Preferably, the commitment meter weights the feedback based on a personalised list of tools and on the history of use for each tool by the user.

The personalised coaching system assigns to each user a personalised recommendation of which tools to use. This personalised recommendation may be based on responses to questions to the user during personal profiling sessions, user selections of activities and lifestyle choices and the like.

In a preferred system, tools are grouped into a number of tool categories such as: (i) Must-Do Tools' that must be completed in a weekly feedback; (ii) Should-Do Tools' that are recommended by the coach but are not compulsory; and (iii) Could-Do Tools' that comprise all other tools in the system. The categories of tool may be global to all users or, more preferably, may be customised to specific users or to specific user types, based on the user profiles established during personal profiling sessions. * *** * *

The user commitment is preferably calculated as a percentage score. Each tool * S *S..

: category group contributes to a fixed percentage of this score, e.g. all Must-Do **S. .* * S tools may account for 25% of the total score and if all Must-Do tools have been * used then a maximum of 25% will be applied to the commitment meter. All the ** S : relevant Could-Do tools might be allocated a total of a further 50% of the score

S

and all the relevant Could-Do tools might be allocated a total of 25% of the score, accounting for 100% if all the relevant tools are used.

The tools within a tool category group are preferably given equal weighting or scores. The total score is the sum of the tool scores for all tools that have been used in the last or current session or in a current period. The score thereby represents commitment to the personal coaching plan established by the system for that user at any given time.

The commitment meter 16 is preferably positioned (at least in some web pages of the personal coaching system) adjacent to a list of recommended tools from the Could-do list. The commitment meter 16 is preferably positioned in the lower half of the web page and more preferably in the lower right hand corner of a web page.

It has been found that this positioning affords greater impact with users and avoids the meter being overlooked simply as a logo or banner. It has also been found to be preferable for the commitment meter 16 to be labelled immediately above it, e.g. with "My commitment" or similar.

The personal coaching system uses a ToolManager' software module 130 to maintain a measure of tool use. This may comprise a TimeBetweenUse' variable and a TimeSmceLastUse' variable for each tool. These variables are used to count the number of tools that have been used in a measurement period. A typical measurement period is one week.

Duplications between the MustDo and ShouldDo tool categories may be ignored.

The commitment meter may also take into account a number of logins during a measurement period. Different weightings may be given to different tools within categories and / or across all categories. Each tool may be associated with a threshold level of use required before use is registered as such for contribution to ** SSs.

* : the commitment score. For example, it might be necessary only to use a ****..

* personality profile tool once to gather relevant user data, for the use of that tool to * :. be counted towards the commitment meter, whereas it might be determined to be *. * *....: necessary to use a food diary entry tool at least three or four times per week for the S * use of that tool to count towards the commitment meter. In one implementation, use might not be counted unless a value of time-since-last-use' is less than a threshold required-time-between-use' value. In an alternative arrangement, a frequency-of-use' value may be used to increase the commitment meter score while a time-since-last-use' value may be used to decrease the commitment meter score.

The commitment meter is preferably positioned adjacent to a "recommended tools to use" field or "to-do list" showing all or only selected unused tools or insufficiently used tools that should or could be used to increase the user's commitment score. This list of unused tools is preferably varied between user login sessions so that the user is not continuously presented with the same list of unused tools each time the commitment meter is viewed. This variation of unused tools displayed may be made on a strategic basis in order of importance or on a random basis.

The commitment meter 16 is preferably accompanied by a link which activates an explanation of its purpose and / or functionality.

The personal coachmg system 90 tools generally comprise tools for receiving user input relating to the user's personality, emotional and physical condition, current lifestyle, views on various forms of exercise and lifestyle and preferred options for diet and exercise, to name but a few. The system tools also generally comprise tools for activity planning and lifestyle planning, such as for scheduling exercise activities and events, planning diet and calorie intake etc. The system tools also generally comprise recommendation tools in which the system makes suggestions, :... hints, tips and / or recommendations as to forms of exercise and lifestyle suited to *** improving the user's wellbeing. The system tools also generally comprise community links for enabling or facilitating engagement with other persons using ***SS.

* the personal coaching system, e.g. for the purposes of implementing buddy *S**I.

* systems or group activities. **.* * * * ** S

*....: Other embodiments are within the scope of the appended claims. *

Claims

1. A wearable personal activity monitor comprising: an accelerometer adapted to sense movement data indicative of an extent of movement of a user wearing the monitor; a wireless communication module adapted to receive physiological data relating to the user from one or more physiological data gathering devices; a memory adapted to store said movement data and said physiological data over a period of time; and a communication module adapted to transmit said stored movement data and said stored physiological data to a computing device.

2. The personal activity monitor of claim i in which the accelerometer comprises sensors adapted to detect movement in multiple dimensions and gather data sufficient to discern a level of exercise intensity.

3. The personal activity monitor of claim 2 in which the level of exercise intensity may be discerned for at least two or more of walking, running, *...

swimming, cycling, rowing, step aerobics, pilates, yoga, weight lifting.

*

4. The personal activity monitor of claim 1 further comprising means for ****.

* attaching to a wrist and / or ankle of the user. **** * . S ** S

*:*

5. The personal activity monitor of claim 4 further comprising means for releasably engaging with said means for attaching to the user.

6. The personal activity monitor of claim 1 in which said wireless communication module is further adapted to receive exercise data relating to user activity on an electronically-enabled exercise device.

7. The personal activity monitor of claim 2 in which the accelerometer is adapted to gather data sufficient to discern a level of intensity for a predetermined form of exercise.

8. A personal coaching system comprising: a personal activity monitor according to claim I and at least one physiological data gathering device, the physiological data gathering device including a wireless communication module adapted to transmit physiological data to said personal activity monitor.

9. The personal coaching system of claim 8 in which the physiological data gathering device comprises one or more of a weighing scale, a body composition analysis device and a blood pressure monitor.

10. A computer-based personal coaching system comprising: a plurality of tools for interacting with a user, each tool comprising at least one of (i) a user input tool for receiving user input relating to the user's physical or mental condition, (ii) a planning or scheduling tool for enabling the user to plan and I or schedule activities and lifestyle, (iii) a recommendation tool for providing suggestions, hints, tips and / or recommendations as to forms of exercise and : lifestyle, and (iv) a community tool for providing links to other users of the system; I...,. a user input for receiving input from a user to effect use of selected ones of said plurality of tools; * *Ie,.

* a counter for determining a measure of a userts use of said tools; and **** ** * a commitment meter for displaying said measure of the user's use of said :. tools.

S *

11. The personal coaching system of claim 10 in which the commitment meter is an analogue or pseudo-analogue bar meter indicating said measure of the user's use of said tools.

12. The personal coaching system of claim ii in which the bar meter is superimposed on a quantised progressive scale of descriptors.

13. The personal coaching system of claim 10 in which the system tools are grouped into tool categories and each category is allocated a maximum predetermined proportion of overall score contributing to the displayed measure of use on the commitment meter.

14. The personal coaching system of claim 13 in which each system tool in a given tool category is given equal weighting to other system tools in that tool category when determining its contribution to the measure of use displayed on the commitment meter.

15. The personal coaching system of claim 10 in which the system tools are each given a weighting determining a magnitude of the contribution that use of each system tool makes to the displayed measure of use on the commitment meter.

16. The personal coaching system of claim 10 in which the measure of the user's use of the tools is a function of a frequency of use.

17. A method of obtaining user exercise and physiological data comprising the steps of: attaching a personal activity monitor to a user; using an accelerometer in the personal activity monitor to sense movement data indicative of an extent of movement of the user wearing the monitor and * S storing said movement data in the monitor; * receiving, by the personal activity monitor over a wireless communication :. channel, physiological data relating to the user from one or more physiological ** * *....: data gathering devices and storing said physiological data in the monitor; and * S transmitting, from said personal activity monitor, said stored movement data and said stored physiological data to a computing device.