Walking exercise supporting device

• US 20100022352A1
• Filed: 09/29/2009
• Published: 01/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Kanno, Hiroshi, Kasama, Kouichirou
• Granted Patent: US 8,021,271 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 482/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence

Abstract

A device can search for an appropriate walking route with an exercise condition such as of the calorie consumption and the walking speed. When a user enters information at least on the walking time, calorie consumption, walking speed, and distance as the exercise condition, the exercise condition is stored in a data storage unit of the device. When the user enters position information on the walking start point and the walking end point, the position information is also stored in the storage unit of the device. Map information is also previously stored in the data storage unit. A route searching unit of the device searches for the walking route and determines it according to the stored exercise condition, the position information and the map information. The determined walking route is presented to the user through a presenting unit of the device.

Claims

1. A walking exercise supporting device for supporting a walking exercise of a user, comprising:

an exercise condition acquiring unit for acquiring information on at least a walking time, calorie consumption, walking speed, and distance as an exercise condition and storing the same in storage unit;

a walking start point/walking end point acquiring unit for acquiring position information on a walking start point and a walking end point and storing the same in the storage unit;

a walking route searching unit for searching for and determining a walking route to be presented to the user based on the walking condition stored in the storage unit, position information on the walking start point and the walking end point, and map information previously stored in the storage unit; and

a presenting unit for presenting a walking route determined by the walking route searching unit to the user.

2. The walking exercise supporting device according to claim 1, wherein

the walking route searching unit:

determines a walking route search range based on the distance, position information on the walking start point and the walking end point, and the map information stored in the storage unit;

calculates a walking time, calorie consumption, and distance corresponding to each walking route within the search range based on the walking time, distance, and map information stored in the storage unit; and

determines a walking route whose calculated walking time, calorie consumption, and distance are respectively consistent with the walking time, calorie consumption, and distance stored in the storage unit as the walking route to be presented to the user.

3. The walking exercise supporting device according to claim 1, wherein

the exercise condition acquiring unit further sets priorities for the respective pieces of information on the walking time, calorie consumption, and distance entered as an exercise condition, and

the walking route searching unit:

determines a walking route search range based on the distance, position information on the walking start point and the walking end point, and the map information stored in the storage unit;

calculates a walking time, calorie consumption, and distance corresponding to each walking route within the search range based on the walking time, distance, and map information stored in the storage unit;

selects a search criterion from the walking time, calorie consumption, and distance stored in the storage unit based on the set priorities; and

determines a walking route corresponding to a walking time, calorie consumption, or distance consistent with the selected search criterion as the walking route to be presented to the user.

4. The walking exercise supporting device according to claim 1, wherein

the exercise condition acquiring unit acquires information on at least a walking time, calorie consumption, walking speed, distance, and maximum gradient of a walking route as the exercise condition, and

the walking route searching unit:

determines a walking route search range based on the distance, position information on the walking start point and the walking end point, and map information stored in the storage unit;

calculates a walking time, calorie consumption, distance, and maximum gradient corresponding to each walking route within the search range based on the walking time, distance, and map information stored in the storage unit; and

determines a walking route whose calculated walking time, calorie consumption, distance, and maximum gradient are respectively consistent with the walking time, calorie consumption, distance, and maximum gradient stored in the storage unit as the walking route to be presented to the user.

5. The walking exercise supporting device according to claim 1, wherein

the exercise condition acquiring unit acquires information on at least a walking time, calorie consumption, walking speed, distance, and maximum gradient of a walking route as the exercise condition, and sets priorities for the respective pieces of information on the entered walking time, calorie consumption, distance, and maximum gradient, and

the walking route searching unit:

determines a walking route search range based on the distance, position information on the walking start point and the walking end point, and the map information stored in the storage unit;

calculates a walking time, calorie consumption, a distance, and a maximum gradient corresponding to each walking route within the search range based on the walking time, distance, and map information stored in the storage unit;

selects a search criterion from the walking time, calorie consumption, distance, and maximum gradient stored in the storage unit based on the set priorities; and

determines a walking route corresponding to a walking time, calorie consumption, distance, or maximum gradient consistent with the selected search criterion as the walking route to be presented to the user.

6. The walking exercise supporting device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a route information acquiring unit for acquiring information on a walking route from a walking start point to a walking end point, and extracting, from map information previously stored in the storage unit, information on the latitude, longitude, and height of respective reference points on the entered walking route and storing the same in the storage unit; and

a calorie consumption calculating unit for calculating gradients between respective reference points based on the information on the latitude, longitude, and height of respective reference points stored in the storage unit, and calculating, based on the calculated gradients between the respective reference points and respective walking speeds obtained by varying the value of a predetermined walking speed, the calorie consumption of the user when walking the walking route entered by the route information acquiring unit for each of the walking speeds, wherein

the presenting unit further presents the calculated calorie consumption for each walking speed to the user.

7. The walking exercise supporting device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a position information acquiring unit for acquiring position information on a walking user at predetermined time intervals, and based on the acquired position information on the user per predetermined time intervals, calculating a walking speed of the walking user; and

a judging unit for judging whether the acquired position information on the walking user is consistent with a walking route determined by the walking route searching unit, and judging whether the calculated walking speed of the walking user is consistent with the walking speed stored in the storage unit by the exercise condition acuiring unit, wherein

the presenting unit further presents the respective judgment results by the judging unit to the walking user.

8. The walking exercise supporting device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a body condition acquiring unit for acquiring information on the body condition of a walking user;

a body condition judging unit for comparing the acquired information on the body condition of the walking user with a predetermined threshold and, based on the comparison result, judging the body condition of the walking user; and

a guidance information generating unit for generating guidance information in accordance with the judgment result of the body condition of the walking user, wherein

the presenting unit presents the generated guidance information in accordance with the judgment result of the body condition of the walking user to the user.

9. The walking exercise supporting device according to claim 8, wherein

the body condition judging unit updates the exercise condition of a walking user based on the judgment result of the body condition of the walking user, and

the walking route searching unit further re-searches for a walking route to be presented to the user using the updated exercise condition of the user.