Exercise equipment locator

• US 6,949,052 B2
• Filed: 11/27/2001
• Issued: 09/27/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/27/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Peter Millington, Ralph Galetti
• Original Assignee: Peter Millington, Ralph Galetti
• Inventors: Galetti, Ralph, Millington, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Richman, Glenn E.
• Application Number:
  US09/994,243
• Publication Number:
  US 20030100406A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,400 Days
• Field of Search: 482 1- 9, 482900-902, 482/51, 482/54
• US Class Current: 482/8
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 21/0726 Dumb bells, i.e. with a central bar to be held by a single hand, and with weights at the ends
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 21/4035 for operation by hand
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/40 Acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/15 with identification means that can be read by electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/50 Wireless data transmission, e.g. by radio transmitters or telemetry
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 71/0036 Accessories for stowing, putting away or transporting exercise apparatus or sports equipment A63B47/00, A63B55/00, A63B60/56 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 482/90 Ergometer with feedback to load or with feedback comparison

Abstract

The present invention is directed to devices, systems, and methods for intelligent or ‘smart’ exercise equipment to indicate the location, the intent to use, and/or the amount and/or type of use of a piece of exercise equipment. More specifically, one embodiment of the invention may be used to locate or indicate the location of a portable piece of exercise equipment. Such an indicator may also indicate to other users, a particular user'"'"'s intent to use the piece of equipment such that other users will not attempt to use the equipment or the current user may end their use of the equipment and pass it to the intended user. In a further embodiment, the indicator may not be activated if the piece of exercise equipment is already in use by a current user. In another embodiment of the invention, the amount of use of, e.g., repetitions done on, a piece of exercise equipment may be indicated to the user or may be logged for later viewing, downloading, or transmission. Similarly, another embodiment of the invention may determine, indicate, store, display, download, and/or transmit the type of exercise done on a piece of equipment. Any of the above embodiments may include electronic devices or systems mounted in or on the exercise equipment itself. Those systems and/or devices may be rechargeable at a recharging unit within the mounting location for that piece of equipment.

Claims

1. A system for tracking exercise completed by a user, comprising:

a. a portable piece of exercise equipment;

b. a device adapted to communicate a unique identification signal, the identification signal correlated to a particular user of the exercise equipment;

c. an in-use sensor mounted to each portable piece of equipment, the in-use sensor having an output; and

d. a controller mounted to each portable piece of equipment and responsive to the identification signal and the output of the in-use sensor, wherein the controller is adapted to record the use of the exercise equipment associated with the user identification signal and discern an exercise pattern of the portable piece of equipment being used by the user.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the in-use sensor comprises an accelerometer.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the in-use sensor comprises multiple accelerometers.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the in-use sensor comprises accelerometers adapted to sense acceleration along different axes.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the in-use sensor comprises an inclinometer.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the in-use sensor comprises a position sensor.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the in-use sensor comprises a contact sensor.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the portable piece of exercise equipment comprises a hand-held weight.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller stores the type of exercise done in a storage device.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the controller stores the type of exercise correlated with a particular user.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is responsive to the output of the in-use sensor such that a counter of the controller counts the repetitions of the use of the portable piece of exercise equipment.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

a re-set button in communication with the counter.

13. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

a count indicator device.

14. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

a count transmitter adapted to transmit the number of repetitions to a central processor.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the number of repetitions transmitted to the central processor is stored in a database of equipment use in a storage medium.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the central processor associates the unique user identification signal with each stored count of the portable piece of exercise equipment.

17. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a wireless tag adapted to communicate the unique user identification signal.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the wireless tag is embedded in a workout glove.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the wireless tag is embedded in a weight belt.

20. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

e. an indicator mounted to the portable piece of exercise equipment;

f. a transmitter adapted to send an actuation signal and remotely located from the portable piece of exercise equipment;

g. a receiver assembly mounted to the portable piece of exercise equipment, the receiver assembly responsive to the actuation signal and having receiver output;

wherein the controller is responsive to the receiver output of the receiver assembly such that the indicator is initiated when the receiver assembly receives the actuation signal.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the indicator includes a light.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the light includes at least one light emitting diode.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the at least one light emitting diode includes a plurality of light emitting diodes mounted within a clear sheath, the sheath mounted to a surface of the exercise device.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the sheath is mounted to a hand grip of the exercise device.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the indicator remains initiated for a predetermined period of time after the indicator is initiated.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the light, having an intensity, is initiated to have a low intensity, the intensity increasing over the predetermined period of time.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the controller deactivates the receiver assembly while the indicator is initiated.

28. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a power unit mounted to the portable piece of exercise equipment and electrically coupled to the in-use sensor and the controller.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the power unit is at least one battery.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the at least one battery is rechargeable.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the power unit further comprises at least one contact ring mounted to a periphery of the portable piece of exercise equipment and adapted to contact a recharging unit.

32. The system of claim 31, further comprising:

a storage rack having a storage mount for storing the portable piece of exercise equipment, wherein the recharging unit is mounted to the storage rack in the storage mount.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the at least one contact ring includes two pairs of contact rings, each pair of contact rings including a positive contact ring and a negative contact ring, each pair of contact rings being symmetrically mounted on opposite sides of the portable piece of exercise equipment, the recharging unit adapted to contact only one positive and negative contact ring pair at a time.

34. The system of claim 31, wherein the recharging unit includes a spring mounted positive contact and a spring mounted negative contact adapted to electrically communicate with the rechargeable power unit when the spring mount is depressed by a determined mass weight.

35. The system of claim 1, wherein the portable piece of exercise equipment is a plurality of pieces of exercise equipment and the output signal also comprises a unique identifier correlated to an individual portable piece of exercise equipment within the plurality of pieces of exercise equipment.

36. The system of claim 1, wherein the exercise pattern is a curl.

37. The system of claim 1, wherein the exercise pattern is a press.

38. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is adapted to discern multiple exercise patterns.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein the multiple exercise patterns include curls and presses.

40. A method of tracking exercise completed by a user, the method comprising:

communicating a unique identification signal to a controller, the identification signal correlated to a particular user of a portable piece of exercise equipment;

communicating an output from an in-use sensor mounted to the portable piece of equipment to the controller;

recording with the controller the use of the exercise equipment associated with the user identification signal; and

discerning with the controller an exercise pattern of the portable piece of equipment being used by the user.

41. The method of claim 40, further comprising:

storing the type of exercise done in a storage device.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the controller stores the type of exercise correlated with a particular user.

43. The method of claim 40, further comprising:

counting repetitions of the use of the portable piece of exercise equipment.

44. The method of claim 40, wherein the unique user identification signal is communicated from a tag worn by the user.

45. The method of claim 40, further comprising:

transmitting an actuation signal to the portable piece of exercise equipment from a remote location;

receiving the actuation signal with a receiver assembly mounted to the portable piece of exercise equipment; and

outputting an output signal with an indicator mounted on the portable piece of exercise equipment.

46. The method of claim 40, wherein discerning an exercise pattern comprises discerning an exercise pattern associated with a press.

47. The method of claim 40, wherein discerning an exercise pattern comprises discerning an exercise pattern associated with a curl.