1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to health and exercise equipment, and more particularly to computer networked systems including health or exercise equipment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Good health is a fundamental requirement for a happy and long life. A multi-billion dollar health and fitness industry has grown to help individuals meet this requirement. For example, there are a great many gymnasiums which provide facilities and equipment for aerobic and musculature development, and there are hundreds, if not thousands, of weight loss and diet centers and programs. The goals of these many programs typically includes weight loss and/or maintenance, the improvement of aerobic fitness, improved circulation, increased strength, and body building or shaping.
There are several problems encountered with the use of gymnasiums, fitness centers, and diet centers. For one, they tend to be fairly expensive due to the need to maintain the facilities, pay rent and payroll, buy equipment, etc. In addition, these centers tend to be inconvenient in that they require a special trip to the center by individuals wishing to use their facilities. Both the price and the inconvenience tend to discourage use of these centers over time, allowing the individuals to lose incentive and drop out of their fitness or diet program.
A partial solution to this problem is home exercise and health equipment. Again, a large industry has arisen to provide exercise and health equipment for the home. This equipment tends to be more of the aerobic type, e.g. stationary bicycles, rowing machines, “step” machines, etc., although weight lifting apparatus, sometimes referred to as “resistance trainers,” are also widely used in the home. These types of home exercise and health equipment increasingly use sophisticated electronics, such as microprocessors, to monitor the level of exercise and to provide exercise programs for the user.
Unfortunately, even well designed home exercise and health equipment often fall into disuse over time. This is because individuals, even in their own home, often lack the incentive to exercise when there are other, more enjoyable, activities available. Also, since there is typically not the camaraderie often found in a health club, diet center, etc., it is easier for users, as individuals, to discontinue their exercise or diet program.
Personal trainers have been used both at fitness clubs and in the home. Personal trainers are individuals who usually have a fitness training background and who typically provide personal training services to an individual customers. Personal trainers can be very effective in that they provide personal motivation and feedback to an individual in the exercise program, and thus often foster a more effective and longer-lasting exercise program. The downside of personal trainers is, particularly in the home setting, their relatively high cost. It is not unusual for a personal trainer to charge hundreds of dollars per month for their services. Therefore, while these personal trainers are very effective, they tend to be used by only a small percentage of the population.
The present invention provides an exercise and health system which is convenient, affordable, and effective. The system includes computerized exercise and/or health equipment (the “local system”) that can provide feedback and encouragement to the user, i.e. can serve as a “virtual personal trainer.” In addition, the system includes a remote computer system communicating over a bi-directional data channel with the exercise and health equipment. Still further, the system can include a server computer system that is in communication with the remote computer systems to provide bi-directional data communication with the remote computer systems.
Since the exercise and health equipment can communicate with the user, it is possible for the health equipment to provide incentive and motivation to the user much in the same fashion as a human personal trainer. In addition, the health and exercise equipment can store data and other parameters concerning the exercise or other activities which can be used to monitor the progress and to vary the exercise program or script. In this way, the local system can serve as a “virtual personal trainer.”
The remote system computer is preferably associated with a number of exercise and health locations. The remote system computer can be considered to be the communication tool of a human personal trainer, as opposed to the “virtual personal trainer” emulated by software in the local system computer. For example, the remote system computer can be associated with one hundred local systems (used by one or more individuals in, for example, their homes), and can be used to upload information from the exercise and health equipment of a local system to be analyzed by the personal trainer at the remote computer. The personal trainer can then call the individual user to provide additional instruction, encouragement, and cautions, and the remote system computer can download new exercise scripts or programs to the local system computer to implement these changes.
The server system computer serves a number of remote system computers. For example, while a remote system computer might serve one hundred local system computers, the server system computer might serve as one hundred remote system computers. The server system computer can communicate with other server system computers (“peer” servers), or with a yet higher order server system computers for the consolidation, storage, processing, and exchange of data. The server system computer can be used to communicate with the remote system computers for the uploading of data concerning the remote system computer and the local system computers that the remote system computer is in contact with, and it can also download new programs and other data and information to the remote system computers. For example, a server system computer or peer system computer might design a dietary program for a particular user which is then downloaded into the remote system computer for subsequent communication to the individual user of a local system.
The systems, methods, and apparatus of the present invention therefore can provide an effective exercise, dietary, and health program for a great number of individuals. The computerized health equipment provides incentive and encouragement to stay in the program, due to the “virtual personal trainer” of the local system, the human personal trainer of the remote system, and by the various services provided by the enterprise as a whole as supported by the server systems, peer systems, etc. For example, a variety of services of products can be offered to the users of the system to further their health and fitness goals.
These and other advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon the rating of the following descriptions and the study of the figures of the drawings.
a, 8b, and 8c are three examples of data analysis performed in the “PROCESS DATA” step 176 of
In
The local system 12 includes one or more health or fitness devices such as a stationary bicycle 18, a weight or “resistance trainer” 20, a scale 22, etc. Associated with a local system 12 is a computer 24 which, in this preferred embodiment, is integrated into the stationary bicycle 18. A stationary bicycle as a “base unit” is given merely by way of example, as any piece of equipment (a rowing machine, a step machine, etc.) could house the computer 24, or the computer 24 could be housed separately. The computer 24 can serve as a “local server” for other health and fitness devices at local system 12, such as the weight trainer 20 and the scale 22. Alternatively, a separate local server 26 can be used to control and/or support various devices in local system 12 via data and control lines 28, and communicate with the remote system 14 via a telephone line 30 and a modem 32. However, in the present preferred embodiment, the assumption is that the local server 26 and modem 32 are not required and that the computer 24 will serve not only to control the operation and data gathering function of the stationary bicycle 18, but will also provide these functions for the weight trainer 20 and the scale 22. Of course, the weight trainer 20 and the scale 22 may include their own computer systems for local control purposes.
The stationary bicycle 18 includes a housing 34 which, as stated previously, preferably houses the computer 24, a crank 36 provided with a pair of pedals 38, a seat 40 supported by a seat stem 42, handle bar 34 supported by handle bar stem 46, legs 48, and feet 50. The various components of the stationary bicycle 18 are typically attached to a rigid frame that is internal to the housing 34.
The weight trainer 20 is preferably a resistance-type weight trainer, such as a bench press machine, a biceps curl machine, a squat machine, etc. Typically the use grasps a bar connected to a cable that is attached to a resistance device. This resistance device can be weights, or can be an active resistance device such as a motor, or a passive resistance device such as an electrically actuated brake. In any event, the amount of resistance to movement of the bar is preferably under the control of the computer 24 and the script that it is running. The scale 22 preferably provides an electrical connection to the computer 24 through an I/O port to allow the computer 24 to monitor the weight of the person standing on the scale.
The computer 24 is coupled to a variety of input/output (I/O) devices including a brake 52, a sensor 54, a display 56, a heart rate monitor (HRM) 59, a loudspeaker 58, an interface 60, a modem 62, and a voice board 64. In this fashion, the computer 24 can control and monitor the various functions of the stationary bicycle 18.
More particularly, computer 24 can, under software and hardware control, control the electrically actuated brake 52 which is coupled to the crank 36 of the stationary bicycle. In this fashion, the pedaling force that must be exerted on pedals 38 to cause the crank 36 to rotate at a given speed can be varied under computer control. This electrically actuated brake can be electric/mechanical brake, electric/magnetic brake, etc. as it is well known to those skilled in the art. The sensor 54 is typically used to determine the rotations-per-minute (RPM) of the crank 36. In this way, the computer 24 can receive information concerning the level of effort being exerted by a user of the stationary bicycle 18. Rotation sensors are well known those skilled in the art. The sensor 54 can also measure other parameters such as the force (torque) being applied to pedal 38, again to provide information to the computer as to the level of effort being exerted by the user of the bicycle.
The computer can provide an output on a display 56 that can be viewed by an individual user sitting on seat 40. This display can be a simple light display, e.g. a series of light emitting diodes (LEDs) or it can be a full video display. A preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a full video display to provide instructions and encouragement to a user of the stationary bicycle. For example, an image of a “virtual personal trainer” can be provided on the video display 56. This image is preferably the image of the human personal trainer who is in charge of the remote system 14.
The loudspeaker 58 provides another important communication medium to the user of the stationary bicycle 18. For example, under computer 24 control, the user can be told with either a digitally synthesized or digitally recorded voice to pedal faster, pedal slower, that they are doing a good job, etc. Of course, analog recording techniques can be used as well, but are considered to be less flexible and desirable. Preferably, the voice being used is that of the personal trainer associated with the remote system 14 that oversees that local system 12. Both voice synthesis and digital voice recording on computer systems 24 are well known to those skilled in the art.
A local interface 60 can be used to couple the computer 24 to additional health and fitness devices. In this instance, the local interface 60 is coupled to the weight trainer 20 and to the scale 22. This additional health and fitness systems can either “dumb” systems with limited digital computation and storage capabilities, or they can include full fledged computer system such as the computer system 24. In the present embodiment, the weight trainer 20 and scale 22 include digital control circuitry (e.g. a microcontroller) which can communicate with the more powerful computer 24 of the stationary bicycle 18. The various I/O devices, such as the loudspeaker 58 can be used in conjunction with these other devices 20 and 22, e.g. the weight detected by the scale 22 can be announced on the loudspeaker 58 along with an indication that this is an increase or decrease in weight from the last session. Also, as mentioned previously, the weight trainer 20 can include the equivalent of the electrically control brake 52 which allows the resistance of the weight bar or handle to be varied to provide resistance (“weight”) training. This control of the break within the weight trainer 20 can be controlled by a “script” of the computer 24.
The computer 24 is also coupled to a modem 62 for communication over a telephone line 30. Alternatively, the computer 24 can be coupled to the remote computer 14 by other communication linkages, such as ISDN digital transmission line, via a local area network, or via a wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet. In other words, the telephone line 30 represents only one type of data communication channel between the local systems 12 and the remote system 14. The present embodiment also includes a voice board 64 which can bypass the modem such that the loudspeaker 58 can be driven directly to the telephone line 30 in an analog fashion. Combination modem/voice boards are commercially available for personal computer systems, and are well known to those skilled in the art.
The remote system 14 includes, for example, a remote system computer 66 which is coupled to the telephone line 30 by a modem 68. In addition, a telephone 70 can be coupled to the line 30 by a voice board 72. Alternatively, the telephone 70 can be coupled to a separate telephone line so that simultaneous telephone and data links can be made. Still further alternatively, it is known to those skilled in the art that a single telephone line can be made to support both voice and data transmission. In any event, the telephone 70 can communicate directly with the loudspeaker 58 of the stationary bicycle 18 over the standard analog telephone line 30. Alternatively, the telephone 70 can communicate with the computer 66 as indicated by the broken line 74 and the computer 66 can communicate digital voice data via modem 68, telephone line 30 and modem 62, to the computer 24. The computer 24 can then store or pass through the digital voice data and play the voice input to the user of local station 12 via speaker 58.
As noted above, the computer 66 is used to communicate with the local system 12 via computer communication link such as the telephone line 30 or an equivalent. This communication can include the downloading of data and instructions to the computer 24, and can include the uploading of information from the computer 24 to the computer 66. This allows for interactive communication between the remote system 14 and the local systems 12.
The server stations 16 are used to further consolidate information from multiple remote system 14 and to provide a variety of services to the remote systems 14. While the remote system 14 maybe housed in human personal trainer homes or work sites, the server system(s) 16 are preferably more regional or national in origin. In this way, the main office of the enterprise can access each of the server systems 16 to provide upgrades for software, exercise programs, exercise equipment scripts, etc., as well as receiving information from the remote computers 66 that can be used for further analysis and for providing further services. Part of this analysis can be on the general and specific level of fitness of various individual users of the local system 12, as well as marketing information that can be used to offer product and services particularly tailored for the various users of the local system 12. The performance of the human personal trainers at remote stations 14 can also be monitored. It should be noted that the server 16 can include direct connect server 76 and peer server 78 that can either be direct server itself (like server 76) to a number of remote stations 14, or which can be a specialized server (such as a dietary analysis server) coupled to one or more direct connect servers 76. In addition, higher-level servers can be used to further consolidate data from the direct connect servers 76 and/or the peer servers 78. For example, the direct connect servers 76 can be regional in scope, while higher level servers can be national or international in scope.
In
In
In
Next, in a selection step 110, the user decides whether he wants to select his own training program for that session or if he would like the system 12 to select the program. If the user selects the program, he creates a user “script” of what kind of exercise program he would like to perform that day. For example, if the user wishes to simply bicycle at a fixed resistance for thirty minutes, that can be entered in step 112. Alternatively, more complex “scripts” can indicate that he would like to bicycle with interval training for thirty minutes, and then do five repetitions on the weight trainer 20.
If, however, the user allows the system 12 to select the section type, step 114 controls the script selection. This is the preferred mode for using the local station 12 in that the script can be influenced not only by the local station 12, but also by the human personal trainer at the remote system computer 66. For example, data concerning the user's previous performances and the personal trainer's guidance can be stored in mass storage 88 (e.g. on a hard disk) so that a custom-tailored, interactive exercise program can be provided.
As noted above, the exercise program preferably proceeds according to “scripts.” A script is simply a sequence of exercise or other health-related events that are performed in fixed or variable sequences. The order and structuring of the script can be modified based upon monitoring the user's performance or by other user feedback. For example, if it is detected that the user is getting tired due to a slowing of the exercise repetition rate, the steps or parameters of the exercise script can be modified accordingly. In other words, certain script steps can be skipped or the parameters concerning the steps can be modified. For example, if a user is determined to be tiring by the local system 12, and if the script says the next exercise event is to be ten repetitions on the weight trainer 20, that step could be skipped. Alternatively, the weight training step could still be done, but the resistance parameters could be modified. For example, instead of doing ten repetitions at a hundred pounds resistance on the weight trainer 20, eight repetitions at eighty pounds of resistance might be called for. The script therefore provides a general framework of a desired exercise session which can be varied based upon human personal trainer input from remote system 14, user input at local station 12, and detected user performance at local station 12.
Once the script has been initiated in either steps 112 or 114, a step 116 detects and records user activity and provides feedback to the user. This step will be discussed in greater detail subsequently. Such parameters as the rotations per minute (RPM) of the crank 36, the timing and speed of the resistance weight repetitions of weight trainer 20, the detected weight on the scale 22, etc. can all be recorded in the mass storage 88 of the local system computer 24. In addition, user feedback is provided. For example, if the person is cycling too slow on the stationary bicycle 18, the computer 24 can generate a encouragement on speaker 58 that the person should pedal faster. Alternatively, if it is determined that the user is over-exerting, such as pedaling too fast, a cautionary warning can be issued on speaker 58 to slow down. Another important input is the heart rate monitor (HRM) 59 which detects if the heart (pulse) rate is rising too high.
Next, in a step 118, it is determined whether the session is a modifiable session. Most sessions are preferably be modifiable, unless the user selects, in a step 112, a non-modifiable session. If the session is modifiable, the session is modified in a step 120 based upon the selected script and upon user activity or other input. For example, if the heart rate monitor 59 detects that the pulse rate is too high, the resistance on the crank 36 can be reduced via a signal to the brake 52. Next, in a step 122, it is determined whether the session is completed. This is usually based on the script, although the user can always terminate a session. If the session is not completed, process control is returned to step 116 to repeat the loop. If the session is completed, the session records are updated in the mass storage 88, as are the scripts, as indicated in step 124. The process 100 is then completed at step 126.
In
Next, in a step 132, it is determined whether encouragement is needed. An example of encouragement being needed is when the person is slowing down below the suggested repetition rate or speed in the script or, for example, has stopped exercising entirely. In such circumstances, encouragement is given in a step 134. Again, this encouragement can be auditory via speaker 58, or visual via display 56, a combination of the two, or in any other suitable fashion. Next, in a step 136, it is determined whether a caution is needed. If so, the caution is given in a step 138 either through auditory, visual, or other ways. Caution might be needed if the user is exercising faster than that suggested by the script or if a dangerous physical condition is detected, such as by the HRM 59. Next, in a step 140, it is determined if a script preview should be provided. If yes, a step 142 provides an auditory, visual or other type of preview of upcoming script events. For example, the system 12 could be taking a user on a imaginary bicycle ride through the country. The script preview would then, in a step 142, indicate something like “We are now approaching a hill. You will note an increased resistance to pedaling in a few seconds which will steadily increase until we reach the crest of the hill in about one and a half minutes.” These steps 134, 138, and 142 are further examples of the local system 12 serving as a “virtual personal trainer.” The process 116 is completed at step 144.
In
A second type of local system activity would be housekeeping. For example, in a step 152, diagnostics can be run to check the operability and calibration of the various components of local system 12. Also, in a step 154, data compression, hard disk compaction, and data preparation can be accomplished.
A third example of local system activity detected by step 148 is a local communication within the local system 12. For example, the weight trainer 20 or the scale unit 22 might be communicating to the computer 24 via the interface 60 or vice-versa. A step 146 processes the data from the local unit accordingly and can provide commands to the local unit for the exercise or health session. Process control is then returned to step 148 after the completion of steps 150, 154, and 156.
In
Since the systems 12 are typically home based, the user may wish to use a single telephone line for both normal telephone needs and for use by the system 12 for step 160. It would, of course, be simpler to have an additional telephone line installed simply for the system 12, but this may be impractical from a cost point of view. If the system 12 is sharing the telephone line with the other telephones and devices in the household, mechanisms and/or processes are preferably provided to prevent interference with normal telephone usage. If the local system 12 initiates the call to the server 66, it would simply need to detect whether the telephone line was available so as not to interfere with other use of the telephone line. It can help ensure this availability by calling at unusual times, such as the middle of the night or when it is known that the user is away from the home, e.g. at work.
However, with incoming calls from a computer 66 to the computer 24 on a single home line, some way of distinguishing between calls for the local system 12 and other kinds of telephone calls should be preferably provided. Again, this could be time-based such that it is implied that a telephone call in the middle of the night is for the local system 12. The RTC 87 could be used for timing purposes in this situation, or the computer could simple start a counter. In this instance, the modem 62 would pick up the telephone quickly before other devices, such an answering machine for a facsimile machine, would have a chance to pick it up. Alternatively, the local system 12 could allow a number of “rings” before picking up the line. For example, the local system 12 could allow the telephone line 30 to ring six times before modem 62 picks up the line. In a still further instance, the computer 66 might be calling a local computer 24 and have the phone line picked up by the user or by another device (like a telephone answering machine) coupled to the telephone line 30. In this instance, the computer 66 could hang up the line and call back a second time. Since the computer 24 can monitor the line via modem 62, it could know that a call back within, for example, thirty seconds of a hang up is for the computer 24. Alternatively, it could listen to the line on the first call to determine if it was computer 66 calling, and then pick it up the line 62 immediately on any call back, or call back the remote system computer 66 itself when the telephone line was free. Again, RTC 87 can be used for timing purposes, or counters can be used, as is well known to those skilled in the art.
Information being uploaded can include parameters and data stored in the mass storage 88 concerning the exercise sessions by the user(s) of the local system 12. It can also include other system information used for diagnosing or improving the operation of the local system 12. In addition, information can be downloaded to the local system 12 from the remote system computer 66 to, for example, change exercise scripts for a user, provide upgrades for the software running on the local system computer 24, etc.
In
If step 170 detects a single system activity type, a step 174 connects the remote system computer 66 to a single local system 12 for uploading and/or downloading as described previously. If an activity type “PROCESS DATA” is detected by step 170, a step 176 prepares data on the computer 66 for storage, processing, communication, and/or analysis. Examples of some types of analysis of the data will be discussed subsequently with referenced to
In
In
In
As noted, the analysis of the data is preferably accomplished at the site of the human personal trainer, i.e. the site of the remote system computer 66. However, this analysis can also be accomplished at upstream or downstream computers. As mentioned previously, the computer 24 of the local system 12 is perfectly capable of making these types of analysis and displaying the on the display 66. Also, a simple printer I/O port can be provided in the stationary bicycle 18 to allow a printout of the graphs and charts that were shown by way of example in
In
If step 184 detects a “PROCESS DATA” activity type, the data for multiple remote system computers 66 (which includes data from multiple local system 12) is prepared for storage, processing, communication, and/or analysis in a step 190. If a step 184 determines that there is to be a peer-to-peer connection with a peer server 188, a step 192 makes the connection with the peer server to pass data back and forth. Of course, there are other activity types that can be performed by the process on server system computer 76, these four being by way of example. After the completion of steps 186, 188, 190, or 192, process control is returned to step 184 to detect another activity type.
While this invention has been described in terms of several preferred embodiments, it is contemplated that alternatives, modifications, permutations and equivalents thereof will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the specification and study of the drawings. It is therefore intended that the following appended claims be interpreted as including all such alternatives, modifications, permutations and equivalents as fall within the true spirit and scope of the present invention.
This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/657,701, entitled EXERCISE EQUIPMENT WITH REMOVABLE DIGITAL SCRIPT MEMORY, filed Jan. 23, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,713,171 which is incorporated herein by reference and which is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/729,356, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REMOTE INTERACTIVE EXERCISE AND HEALTH EQUIPMENT, filed Dec. 5, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,575,536, which is incorporated herein by reference and which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/690,701, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REMOTE INTERACTIVE EXERCISE AND HEALTH EQUIPMENT, filed on Oct. 16, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,808,472, which is incorporated herein by reference and which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/273,591, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REMOTE INTERACTIVE EXERCISE AND HEALTH EQUIPMENT, filed on Mar. 22, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,193,631, which is incorporated herein by reference and which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/766,513, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REMOTE INTERACTIVE EXERCISE AND HEALTH EQUIPMENT, filed on Dec. 13, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,059,692, which is incorporated herein by reference and which claims the benefit of U.S. application Ser. No. 60/008,603, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REMOTE INTERACTIVE EXERCISE AND HEALTH EQUIPMENT, filed on Dec. 14, 1995.
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