SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROMOTING AND TRACKING PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AMONG A PARTICIPATING GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS

• US 20130102439A1
• Filed: 02/14/2012
• Published: 04/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Andrew Greenberg, Christian Ludwig, Frank Napolitano
• Original Assignee: Andrew Greenberg, Christian Ludwig, Frank Napolitano
• Inventors: Greenberg, Andrew, Ludwig, Christian, Napolitano, Frank
• Granted Patent: US 8,900,100 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 482/8
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/002 Monitoring the patient using a local or closed circuit, e.g. in a room or building A61B5/0017 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1113 Local tracking of patients, e.g. in a hospital or private home
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6829 Foot or ankle
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/23 Recognition of whole body movements, e.g. for sport training
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/30 relating to physical therapies or activities, e.g. physiotherapy, acupressure or exercising
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation

Abstract

A system and method of tracking physical activity of a person in order to help motivate that person to add more exercise to their lives. Each participant is provided a motion sensor that detects forces incurred by the participant. The motion sensor creates electronic data that corresponds to the forces detected. The data is analyzed to determine whether or not exercise has been performed. The analysis can also determine the type of exercise performed, when the exercise was performed, and the duration of the exercise performed.

Claims

1. A system for tracking physical activity, comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having encoded thereon computer executable instructions for receiving, via at least one network connection, participant information, wherein the participant information comprises at least one identification code of the participant, a participant location, a participant title, and a participant affiliation;

a rules engine communicatively connected to said computer readable instructions, and comprising a plurality of rules to generate at least one challenge for a plurality of the participants uniquely in accordance with the participant information of each of the participants;

at least one tracking means associated with each of the participants and coupled to the rules engine for correlating the tracked progress of each of the participants, by the participant information, with the at least one challenge.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one challenge is a physical activity.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one challenge is between at least two participants.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one challenge is virtual.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one reward is provided to a participant upon completion of at least one challenge.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one reward is provided to a participant based upon the performance of the participant.

7. The system of claim 3, wherein at least one participant is declared a winner of the at least one challenge.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one challenge is virtual.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one reward is provided to a participant upon completion of at least one challenge in accordance with the information.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one reward is provided to a participant based upon the performance of the participant.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the information maybe provided to at least one social network associated with the participant.

8. A system for tracking physical activity, comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having encoded thereon computer executable instructions for receiving, via at least one network connection, participant information, wherein the participant information comprises at least one identification code of the participant, a participant location, a participant title, and a participant affiliation;

a rules engine communicatively connected to said computer readable instructions, and comprising a plurality of rules to generate at least one challenge for a plurality of the participants uniquely in accordance with the participant information of each of the participants;

at least one portable monitoring unit associated with the at least one identification code; and

at least one remote transceiver communicatively optionally coupled to at least one portable monitoring unit and coupled network connection;

wherein information from the at least one portable monitoring unit is correlated with at least one challenge and is indicative of a performance of the participant in the at least one challenge.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one challenge is a physical activity.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one challenge is between at least two participants.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein at least one participant is declared a winner of the at least one challenge.