SELECTING ROUTES

• US 20190017829A1
• Filed: 07/09/2018
• Published: 01/17/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Project X Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Project X Ltd.
• Inventors: NAYLOR, David
• Granted Patent: US 10,591,302 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 24/0062 Monitoring athletic performances, e.g. for determining the work of a user on an exercise apparatus, the completed jogging or cycling distance
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 24/0075 Means for generating exercise programs or schemes, e.g. computerized virtual trainer, e.g. using expert databases
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/30 relating to physical therapies or activities, e.g. physiotherapy, acupressure or exercising

Abstract

A method of providing route information to a plurality of users by means of a data processing device is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises: receiving a first location and a second location; analysing mapping services and/or geographical or other databases or information and thereby determining a pair of routes, each route comprising a start point, an end point and a defined path from the start point to the end point, the step of analysing comprising determining the routes such that (a) a first one of the routes is in the vicinity of the first location and a second one of the routes is in the vicinity of the second location and (b) the routes are of comparable difficulty for the users to complete; and providing the first route to a first one of the users and providing the second route to a second one of the users. These and other embodiments are disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A method of providing route information to a plurality of users by means of a data processing device, the method comprising:

receiving a first location and a second location;

analysing one or more databases selected from the group comprising mapping services, geographic databases and other databases and thereby determining a pair of routes, each route comprising a start point, an end point and a defined path from the start point to the end point, the step of analysing comprising determining the routes such that (a) a first one of the routes is in the vicinity of the first location and a second one of the routes is in the vicinity of the second location and (b) the routes are of comparable difficulty for the users to complete; and

providing the first route to a first one of the users and providing the second route to a second one of the users.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of analysing comprises estimating the physical difficulty of each route and determining that the estimated physical difficulty of the routes are within a predetermined threshold of each other.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the physical difficulty of a route is represented as an estimated level of effort or time to complete that route.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of analysing comprises estimating the physical difficulty of each route and estimating based on data defining one or more personal characteristics of the users that the first one of the users will take a time to complete the first route that is within a predetermined threshold of a time that the second one of the users will take to complete the second route.

5. A method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the personal characteristic(s) comprise one or more of the following characteristics:

sex, weight, resting pulse, VO2 max, maximum heart rate, physical condition, physical ability, home altitude and age.

6. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of determining that the routes are of comparable difficulty for the users to complete comprises estimating the physical difficulty of each route by summing weighted estimates of one or more characteristics of that route.

7. A method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the characteristics of the route comprise one or more of distance, ascent, altitude and a value representing terrain.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of determining that the routes are of comparable difficulty for the users to complete comprises estimating the physical difficulty of each route by means of data gathered from them and/or other users who have previously completed the routes or parts of them and/or devices employed along the specified routes.

9. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of determining that the routes are of comparable difficulty for the users to complete comprises estimating the physical difficulty of each route by averaging one or more performance metrics gathered from other users in completing the routes or parts of them.

10. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the performance metrics include one or more of:

average effort and/or time among a group of other users to complete the route or part of it, average speed among a group of other users in completing the route or part of it and average cadence among a group of other users in completing the route or part of it.

11. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of analysing comprises determining the routes to be comparable by the steps of:

determining a first candidate route;

determining a second candidate route;

comparing the candidate routes and if they are not the same or within acceptable levels of similarity;

subsequently

determining a sub-part of one of the first and second candidate routes that is comparable to the other of the first and second candidate routes; and

selecting the sub-part of one of the first and second candidate routes as the first route and selecting the other of the first and second candidate routes as the second route.

12. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of analysing comprises determining the routes to be comparable by the steps of:

determining a first candidate route;

determining a second candidate route;

comparing the candidate routes and if they are not the same or within an acceptable level of similarity;

subsequently

modifying either or both of the first and second candidate routes so that they are the same or within an acceptable level of similarity; and

selecting the candidate routes after appropriate modification to either or both of them.

13. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of analysing comprises determining the routes to be comparable by the steps of:

determining a first candidate route;

determining a second candidate route;

comparing the candidate routes and if they are not the same or within an acceptable level of similarity;

subsequently

modifying either or both of the first and second candidate routes so that they are the same or within an acceptable level of similarity; and

selecting the candidate routes after appropriate modification to either or both of them;

wherein the step of modifying involves processes aimed not simply at identifying comparable routes in terms of difficulty but comparable routes optimised for greatest convenience, safety or other benefits for or goals specified by users.

14. A method as claimed in claim 1, comprising the steps of:

the first user completing the first route; and

the second user completing the second route.

15. A method as claimed in claim 14, wherein during the said steps of completing the routes the first user and the second user travel on at least parts of their respective routes simultaneously.

16. A method as claimed in claim 14, wherein during the said steps of completing the routes the first user and the second user start travelling on their respective routes simultaneously.

17. A method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the first user completes the first route before the second user starts travelling on the second route.

18. A method of providing performance information to a first user, the method comprising:

estimating by means of a transceiver device local to the first user the location of the first user at a series of times;

transmitting from the transceiver device to a data processing device remote from the first user location data representing the estimated location of the first user at a series of times;

estimating at the data processing device, in dependence on the location data, the effort expended by the first user;

comparing the estimated effort expended by the first user with the effort expended by a second user and thereby forming result data representing the result of that comparison;

transmitting the result data from the data processing device so the transceiver device; and

presenting the result data to the first user by means of the transceiver device local to the first user.

19. A method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the method comprises estimating by means of a second transceiver device local to a second user the location of the second user at a series of times;

transmitting from the second transceiver device to the data processing device second location data representing the estimated location of the second user at a series of times;

estimating at the data processing device, in dependence on the second location data, the effort expended by the second user; and

wherein the step of comparing comprises comparing the estimated effort expended by the first user with the estimated effort expended by the second user.

20. A method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the step of comparing comprises comparing the estimated effort expended by the first user with pre-stored data representing the estimated effort expended by the second user.

21-29. -29. (canceled)