The present invention relates to an exercise management unit, and more particularly to a combined exercise management and entertainment unit.
With the rapidly developed society and the largely upgraded living quality, people's food has been largely diversified. Generally, most people in the modern society have too much or inadequate diet, busy works, and insufficient exercise to result in degraded body functions, fatness, and illness.
However, in recent years, people start paying attention to their health condition and the benefit of doing exercise, and various kinds of exercise equipment and instruments good for the health have been developed and introduced into market. Since most people doing exercise want to accurately control the amount and intensity of exercise, and to clearly know their body physical state during exercise, many exercise management devices have been developed to meet this demand. These exercise management devices include many detecting devices designed to reflect the user's body state during exercise, such as heartbeat/pulse sensor, blood pressure monitor, body mass index (BMI) measuring meter, pedometer, etc.
On the other hand, there are also many people pay a lot of attention to their entertainments after work. Various kinds of entertainment products have also been developed. Entertainment products that can be conveniently carried along with the user, such as walkman, portable music player, etc., are particularly welcome among consumers.
However, in the currently commercially available products, the music players and the exercise and body signal detecting devices are independently produced. That is, there is not any product that combines an exercise management device and a music player.
While there are various kinds of exercise management devices available in the market, these devices are simply designed to detect the user's body condition during exercise. And, while these exercise management devices may accurately measure the user's body state during exercise, they do not interact with the user or provide any good recommendation when the user finishes doing exercise.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a combined exercise management and entertainment unit, which allows a user to select a digital musical data for listening during exercise while the selected musical data has a specific rhythm corresponding to the intensity of an exercise item being done.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an exercise management unit capable of showing adequate exercise recommendations according to a user's health condition when the exercise is finished.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an exercise management unit adapted to emit a sound reminder or warning when a user's heartbeat during exercise has reached a preset frequency or exceeded a preset load.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide an exercise management unit adapted to provide recipes, so that a user may check and calculate calorie contents of different foods, as well as receive many different diet menus.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide an exercise management unit that may be linked with a second exercise management unit at a remote location by connecting the first unit to a computer apparatus via a data transmission interface, and connecting the computer apparatus to the second unit via the Internet, such that two users of the present invention may contest with each other during exercise.
To achieve the above-mentioned objectives, in accordance with the present invention, a combined exercise management and entertainment unit includes a sensor for sensing a user's body state during exercise and producing an exercise signal to a microprocessor, so as to calculate the user's calorie consumption during exercise each time and the accumulated calorie consumption; a personal characteristics database for storing data of a user's body physical characteristics; an exercise course memory for storing exercise courses set by the user, including the time period, item, and duration of an exercise to be done; a setting unit for the user to set the data of body physical characteristics to be stored in the personal characteristics database; and a play unit having an entertainment information memory for storing a plurality of entertainment information entries, which correspond to the exercise items set by the user and may be selectively played corresponding to the exercise item being done.
Unlike the prior art, the present invention combines a play unit with an exercise management unit, and digital musical data of different rhythms may be selectively played corresponding to a user-selected exercise item of a specific intensity, so that the user may entertain himself or herself while doing exercise. The present invention also allows the user to set exercise courses meeting personal body requirements, so as to help the user to do exercise regularly and know his or her exact health condition, such as heartbeat rate, body fat distribution, etc.
When the user finishes doing exercise, the present invention also provides the user with suitable exercise recommendations according to the user's body condition. The present invention also plan for the user effective solutions of weight loss, dietary intake control, including the provision of information about calorie consumption, calorie contents of different foods, calculation of personal required calories, etc., and diet menus, so as to improve the user's body functions and help the user to maintain good health condition.
The combined exercise management and entertainment unit of the present invention may be linked with a computer apparatus via a data transmission interface, so as to transmit or receive different entertainment information. The present invention also allows the user to store personal exercise data in a computer and to track these data via a network. The user of the present invention may contest with a remote user during exercise through linking the two exercise management units via the Internet. In the present invention, game software may be utilized in the exercise course, so as to attract and encourage the user to keep doing exercise regularly through good interaction with the unit. In brief, the unit of the present invention not only enables users to entertain themselves and interact with the unit, but also helps the users to effectively obtain the effect of weight loss, and is therefore a commercially very practical product with excellent added value.
The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein
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The personal characteristics database 22 stores data of the user's body physical characteristics. The exercise course memory 23 stores different exercise courses set by the user, and each of the exercise courses includes data about the time period, the item, and the duration of each exercise to be done, and the projected Calorie (Cal) consumption. The diet recipe database 24 stores information on the calorie contents of different foods and diet menus.
The play unit 25 includes an entertainment information memory 251, an entertainment information decoding circuit 252, and a digital to analog converter 253 (D/A converter). The entertainment information memory 251 stores a plurality of entries of entertainment information, which separately correspond to a different exercise item stored in the exercise course memory 23. When the user is doing one exercise item, one of the entertainment information entries corresponding to that exercise item is decoded by the entertainment information decoding circuit 252 and converted by the digital to analog converter 253, so as to be played via a play device 5.
The unit 100 further includes an exercise signal processing circuit 26, which is also electrically connected to the microprocessor 21. When the exercise signal sensor 1 senses the user's heartbeats during exercise, information about the detected heartbeats is processed by the exercise signal processing circuit 26 to produce an exercise signal s1, which is then sent to the microprocessor 21. The exercise signal processing circuit 26 may includes an amplifier, a filter circuit, and a signal shaping circuit that are known to the art.
The microprocessor 21 calculates the calorie consumption in each exercise item each time and the accumulated calorie consumption, based on the exercise signal s1, the data of body physical characteristics stored in the personal characteristics database 22, and the exercise item in the exercise course being executed. The calculated information on the calorie consumption is then stored in an exercise information record database 27 electrically connected to the microprocessor 21. The exercise information record database 27 stores information about the exerciser's heartbeat count during exercise each time, the highest record of the exerciser's heartbeat count, the calorie consumption during exercise each time, and the accumulated calorie consumption up to date.
The setting unit 3 allows a user to set data of personal body physical characteristics for storing in the personal characteristics database 22, the exercise courses for storing in the exercise course memory 23, and musical data corresponding to the exercise items set in the exercise course memory 23.
The display 4 displays different exercise information and the user's body state during exercise, including the exercise signal s1, personal body physical characteristics, exercise courses, exercise item being done, and calorie consumption during exercise as calculated by the microprocessor 21. The display 4 further includes a zone 41 particularly for displaying exercise recommendations, which are made based on the calorie consumption during exercise calculated by the microprocessor 21 and provided as a reference for the user.
The microprocessor 21 of the unit 100 further includes a sounding unit 28. When the exercise signal sensor 1 detects the user's heartbeat count during exercise, a sound is emitted by the sounding unit 28 to remind or warn the user that his or her heartbeat count has reached, exceeded, or not reached a desired value. Meanwhile, a proper exercise course previously set by the user is timely recommended to the user.
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The exercise recommendations I1, I2, I3, and I4 may include, for example, the required time for recovery, the dietary intake, the daily calorie consumption, and the estimated duration for weight loss. Moreover, such exercise recommendations I1, I2, I3, and I4 may also provide the user with effective weight-loss program, diet menus, and exercise time table according to the user's current health condition.
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Via the Internet 7, the user of the unit 100 may contest with another user who uses another unit 100a connected to the remote computer apparatus 8, making the exercise more interesting and allowing an interaction between two units 100 and 100a. A proper contest among different users of the combined exercise management and entertainment unit of the present invention may advantageously drive the users to do exercise constantly and actively while enjoy music at the same time.
Before doing exercise, a user may utilize the unit 100 to arrange some required exercise courses, set projected calorie consumption, and establish a time table. When the unit 100 is worn on the user's body and turned on, one of the expression icons 411 is shown in the exercise recommendation zone 41, allowing the user to clearly know from the simple and easily understood expression icon 411 whether the user's currently accumulated exercise intensity and calorie consumption are in a good, normal, or insufficient condition, and therefore accurately controls personal exercise state. Moreover, the user may select musical data of a specific rhythm corresponding to the intensity of the selected exercise item to enjoy exercise and entertainment at the same time.
As soon as the user starts doing exercise, the unit 100 senses the user's heartbeats and automatically records the calorie consumption in each exercise item each time, the accumulated calorie consumption, the heartbeat frequency, etc. The unit 100 automatically provides such data according to the user's body condition during exercise for the user's reference.
After the exercise is finished, information about the required time for recovery/rest, the suggested dietary intake, the calculated calorie consumption, etc. is automatically shown in the exercise recommendation zone 41 on the display 4 of the unit 100. A target plan of weight-loss is also designed for the user's reference. Therefore, with the combined exercise management and entertainment unit 100 of the present invention, the user may timely monitor personal health condition before, during, and after exercise, and to most effectively achieve the purpose of losing weight.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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95113072 A | Apr 2006 | TW | national |
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5067710 | Watterson et al. | Nov 1991 | A |
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7189191 | Dugan | Mar 2007 | B2 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20070243974 A1 | Oct 2007 | US |