Exercise support instrument

• US 6,705,972 B1
• Filed: 06/16/2000
• Issued: 03/16/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hudson Group (Dufry AG)
• Original Assignee: Hudson Group (Dufry AG)
• Inventors: Takano, Toshiya, Nagayama, Yutaka, Demura, Takahiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Richman, Glenn E.
• Application Number:
  US09/485,423
• Time in Patent Office: 1,369 Days
• Field of Search: 482/1-9, 482/51, 482/54, 482/67, 482/900-902
• US Class Current: 482/8
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2208/12 specially adapted for children
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/17 Counting, e.g. counting periodical movements, revolutions or cycles, or including further data processing to determine distances or speed
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 24/00 Electric or electronic controls for exercising apparatus of preceding groups; Controlling or monitoring of exercises, sportive games, training or athletic performances
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 71/06 Indicating or scoring devices for games or players , or for other sports activities
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 71/0622 Visual, audio or audio-visual systems for entertaining, instructing or motivating the user
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8058 Virtual breeding, e.g. tamagotchi
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 3/006 based on simulated virtual individual or collective life forms, e.g. social simulations or particle swarm optimisation [PSO]

Abstract

An exercise assisting meter that enables the user to enjoy physical exercises and to perform a proper long-term management of exercises by enumerating the amount of repetitive exercises of the user and displaying the result of assessment on the exercises with an image information (character) of virtual organism representing different assessment grades. This meter manages the days of practice from the start of an exercise and makes the character evolve or grow as the days go on. Further, it increases or decreases a life-gauge for managing the healthy state of a character according to daily target achievement existence, and changes the figure (shape of body) of the character to a healthy, obese or sick form according to the life-gauge. Further, it includes a wellness meter for managing the wellness of the character according to the rate of target achievement on the previous day, and changes the expression and action of the character according to the wellness meter.

Claims

1. An exercise assisting meter comprising:

an exercise-amount enumeration unit for enumerating amount of repetitive exercise of a user;

a memory for storing image information on virtual organisms of a plurality of grades;

a controller for managing a relative period, which extends from a reference time, and retaining a target value of an amount of exercise to be attained within one relative period and, by judging whether or not the goal has been attained, evaluating continuously the amount of exercise enumerated by said exercise-amount enumeration unit in regard to each relative period and selecting a virtual organism of a corresponding grade; and

a display unit for reading image information on said selected virtual organism out of said memory and displaying this image information on a screen.

2. An exercise assisting meter according to claim 1, wherein the memory stores image information of a plurality of grades relating to species, forms, expressions and/or motion of virtual organisms.

3. An exercise assisting meter according to claim 2, wherein the controller causes the species of a selected virtual organism to evolve or causes the form of the selected virtual organism to grow with a continuous evaluation.

4. An exercise assisting meter according to claim 1, wherein the controller enumerates a cumulative value of amount of exercise performed over a predetermined period of time and obtains a target value based upon a calculation (cumulative value)×

[(one relative period)/(predetermined time period)].

5. An exercise assisting meter according to claim 3, wherein the controller manages a life gauge that is for controlling selection of a species or form of a virtual organism and causes the life gauge the next time to be incremented or decremented in accordance with the judgment, made in each relative period, as to whether or not a goal has been attained.

6. An exercise assisting meter according to 1, wherein the controller retains one, two or more goal attainment rates that extend back in time from the present, causes the target value the next time to increase in a case where said one, two or more goal attainment rates exceed a first predetermined threshold value that is greater than 1, and causes the target value the next time to decrease in a case where said one, two or more goal attainment rates fall below a second predetermined threshold value that is less than 1.

7. An exercise assisting meter according to claim 3, wherein the controller retains one, two or more goal attainment rates that extend back in time from the present and causes the selection of the virtual organism the next time to mutate to a species of a superior grade in a case where said one, two or more goal attainment rates exceed a third predetermined threshold value that is greater than 1.

8. An exercise assisting meter according to claim 2, wherein the memory stores image information indicating that a virtual organism is sleeping, and the controller manages actual time and, from a first predetermined time of the previous night to a second predetermined time of the following morning, causes the image information indicative of sleeping to be displayed instead of image information indicating that the virtual organism is awake.

9. An exercise assisting meter according to claim 2, wherein the memory stores image information indicating the conduct of a virtual organism, and the controller manages actual time and, in a case where amount of exercise greater than a predetermined amount is detected within a predetermined period of time at night, the controller causes the image information indicative of said conduct to be displayed by inserting the information or superimposing it at an appropriate timing.

10. An exercise assisting meter according to claim 4, wherein the controller retains date of birth of the user, information representing a comfort index that conforms to the season and/or a mood index that conforms to the time, and manages actual time, actual date and a wellness meter for controlling selection of expression or motion of a virtual organism being displayed on the screen;

and said wellness meter is obtained at a suitable timing by a weighted evaluation of a combination of any one, two or more of an evaluation regarding goal attainment rate at the present time and/or on a day in the past, a biorhythm at the present date obtained from said date of birth, said comfort index conforming to said actual date, said mood index conforming to said actual time, and a random number.

11. An exercise assisting meter according to claim 4, further comprising an interaction key for interaction with a virtual organism;

wherein the memory stores a plurality of items of image information abstractly represent good and bad moods of a virtual organism;

the controller retains date of birth of the user, a comfort index that conforms to the season and/or a mood index that conforms to the time, and manages actual time, actual date and a wellness meter for controlling selection of an interaction response screen; and

said wellness meter is obtained at the time of an input from said interaction key by a weighted evaluation of a combination of any one, two or more of an evaluation regarding goal attainment rate at the present time and/or on a day in the past, a biorhythm at the present date obtained from the date of birth, said comfort index conforming to said actual date, said mood index conforming to said actual time, and a random number; and

image information abstractly representing said moods corresponding to said wellness meter is displayed on the said response screen.

12. An exercise assisting meter according to claim 9, further comprising an interaction key for interaction with a virtual organism;

wherein the memory stores a message conversion table in which season, date and time and/or evaluation of goal attainment rate at the present time and/or on a day in the past serve as conditions and in which message information regarding greetings, words of encouragement and/or praise, etc., are made to correspond to respective ones of these conditions; and

the controller manages the actual time and actual date and, in response to an input from said interaction key, extracts, and displays on said interaction response screen, message information from said message conversion table, said message information conforming to the present date, present time and/or evaluation of goal attainment rate at the present time and/or on a day in the past.

13. An exercise assisting meter according to claim 1, further comprising a prescribed key;

wherein the controller is adapted so as to be capable of activating or deactivating the enumerating operation of the exercise-amount enumeration unit in response to an input from said prescribed key.

14. An exercise assisting meter according to claim 1, wherein the exercise-amount enumeration unit detects time intervals at which a signal relating to the amount of repetitive exercise of the user is generated, evaluates said time intervals by a predetermined threshold value and separately counts signals, which belong to different time intervals, as amounts of exercise of different categories.

15. An exercise assisting meter according to claim 9, wherein the controller is provided with a prescribed game processing function and causes the life gauge or wellness meter to be incremented if the user has won a game.

16. An exercise assisting meter according to claim 4, further comprising a prescribed key;

wherein the controller provides a plurality of personal files for managing the relative period, target value and life gauge of the user and changes over a personal file that is the object of management in accordance with an input obtained by operating said prescribed key.

17. An exercise assisting meter according to claim 1, further comprising signal input means coupled to an external exercise measuring device by wire, light or radio, for inputting a signal indicative of detection of repetitive amount of exercise of a user measured by said external exercise measuring unit.