U.S. patent application number 15/411432 was filed with the patent office on 2017-07-27 for system and method for linking oscillating movements of exercise equipment to a user of the exercise equipment in a database.
The applicant listed for this patent is Sony Mobile Communications Inc.. Invention is credited to Henrik BENGTSSON, Christer FLETCHER, Anders LINGE, Johan NYMAN.
Application Number | 20170209743 15/411432 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 55315300 |
Filed Date | 2017-07-27 |
United States Patent
Application |
20170209743 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
BENGTSSON; Henrik ; et
al. |
July 27, 2017 |
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR LINKING OSCILLATING MOVEMENTS OF EXERCISE
EQUIPMENT TO A USER OF THE EXERCISE EQUIPMENT IN A DATABASE
Abstract
A system includes a first device adapted to be attached to a
user and having a user ID, and a second device adapted to be
attached to a piece of exercise equipment and having an equipment
ID. The system is arranged for linking oscillating movements of the
exercise to the user of the exercise equipment in a database.
Inventors: |
BENGTSSON; Henrik; (Lund,
SE) ; FLETCHER; Christer; (Dosjebro, SE) ;
LINGE; Anders; (Kavlinge, SE) ; NYMAN; Johan;
(Lund, SE) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Sony Mobile Communications Inc. |
Tokyo |
|
JP |
|
|
Family ID: |
55315300 |
Appl. No.: |
15/411432 |
Filed: |
January 20, 2017 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63B 2071/0663 20130101;
A63B 2220/40 20130101; G06K 9/00342 20130101; A63B 21/0724
20130101; A63B 2225/20 20130101; A63B 2220/805 20130101; A63B
2071/0683 20130101; A63B 2220/833 20130101; G16H 20/30 20180101;
A63B 2220/62 20130101; A63B 2220/20 20130101; G01D 3/10 20130101;
A63B 2225/50 20130101; A63B 2024/0068 20130101; A63B 24/0003
20130101; A63B 71/0686 20130101; A63B 2220/836 20130101; A63B
2225/15 20130101 |
International
Class: |
A63B 24/00 20060101
A63B024/00; A63B 71/06 20060101 A63B071/06; A63B 21/00 20060101
A63B021/00; A63B 21/072 20060101 A63B021/072 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jan 21, 2016 |
EP |
16152235.4 |
Claims
1. A system for linking oscillating movements of an exercise
equipment to a user of the exercise equipment having an equipment
ID in a database, the system comprising: a first device adapted to
be attached to the user, the first device comprising a user ID, the
first device being arranged for extracting data pertaining to an
oscillating movement of the first device, a second device adapted
to be attached to the exercise equipment, the second device
comprising the equipment ID, the second device being arranged for
extracting data pertaining to an oscillating movement of the second
device, and a third device connected to the database and arranged
for: receiving said data pertaining to an oscillating movement of
the first device, the user ID, the equipment ID and said data
pertaining to an oscillating movement of the second device, and
calculating a correlation between said data pertaining to an
oscillating movement of the first device and said data pertaining
to an oscillating movement of the second device, comparing the
calculated correlation to a first threshold, and if the calculated
correlation exceeds the first threshold, linking said oscillating
movement of the exercise equipment to the user ID in the database
using the equipment ID.
2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the first device
comprising: a first sensor arranged for measuring movements of the
first device and for producing movement data pertaining to the
measured movements, and a first microcontroller arranged for
receiving the movement data from the first sensor, and for
extracting data pertaining to the oscillating movement of the first
device, and wherein the second device comprising: a second sensor
arranged for measuring movement of the second device, and a second
microcontroller arranged for receiving movement data from the
second sensor, and for extracting data pertaining to the
oscillating movement of the second device.
3. The system according to claim 2, wherein the second sensor is a
battery driven accelerometer having a first and a second state,
wherein the first state is a low energy state wherein the
accelerometer is arranged for detecting a movement exceeding a
threshold and in a response thereto configuring itself in the
second state wherein the accelerometer is arranged for measuring
movements of the second device and for producing movement data
pertaining to the measured movements.
4. The system according to claim 2, wherein the oscillating
movement of the first device and the second device comprises two
extremes of displacement, wherein the first microcontroller is
arranged for time-stamping at least one of the two extremes of
displacement of the first device and wherein said data pertaining
to an oscillating movement of the first device comprises the time
stamp of the at least one of the two extremes of displacement of
the first device, and wherein the second microcontroller is
arranged for time-stamping at least one of the two extremes of
displacement of the second device and wherein said data pertaining
to an oscillating movement of the second device comprises the time
stamp of the at least one of the two extremes of displacement of
the second device.
5. The system according to claim 2, wherein the first and second
sensors are accelerometers and wherein the movement data from the
first and second sensors comprises data from the respective
accelerometer, wherein first and second microcontroller are
arranged for extracting data pertaining to a single oscillating
movement from the movement data from the first and second sensors
respectively, and using this data as the data pertaining to an
oscillating movement of the first and second device
respectively.
6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the third device is a
part of the first or the second device.
7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the third device is a
separate device from the first and the second device.
8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the system further
comprises a fourth device being wirelessly connected to the first
and second devices, and further being connected to the third
device, wherein the fourth device being arranged for receiving said
data pertaining to an oscillating movement of the first device, the
user ID, the equipment ID, and said data pertaining to an
oscillating movement of the second device and for transmitting said
data pertaining to an oscillating movement of the first device, the
user ID, the equipment ID, and said data pertaining to an
oscillating movement of the second device to the third device.
9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the fourth device
comprises an ID of a gym wherein the exercise equipment is located,
wherein the fourth device is further arranged for transmitting the
ID of the gym to the third device.
10. The system according to claim 1, wherein the first and second
device comprises a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radio arranged for
transmitting the data pertaining to an oscillating movement of the
first and second device respectively.
11. The system according to claim 1, wherein the third device is
arrange for linking said oscillating movement of the exercise
equipment to the user ID in the database by incrementing a
counter.
12. The system according to claim 1, wherein the third device is
further arranged for receiving data pertaining to a current setting
of the exercise equipment, and for adding said data pertaining to a
current setting of the exercise equipment to the database when
linking said oscillating movement of the exercise equipment to the
user ID in the database.
13. A method for linking oscillating movements of an exercise
equipment to a user of the exercise equipment in a database, the
method being performed in a system, comprising a first device
adapted to be attached to a user and comprising a user ID, a second
device adapted to be attached to the exercise equipment and
comprising an equipment ID of the exercise equipment, and a third
device connected to the database, the method comprising the steps
of: extracting, by the first device, data pertaining to an
oscillating movement of the first device, extracting, by the second
device, data pertaining to an oscillating movement of the second
device, calculating, by the third device, a correlation between
said data pertaining to an oscillating movement of the first device
and said data pertaining to an oscillating movement of the second
device, comparing, by the third device, the calculated correlation
to a first threshold, and if the calculated correlation exceeds the
first threshold, linking, by the third device, said oscillating
movement of the exercise equipment to the user ID in the database
using the equipment ID.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the oscillating movement of the
first device and the second device comprises two extremes of
displacement, wherein said data pertaining to an oscillating
movement of the first device comprises a time stamp of the at least
one of the two extremes of displacement of the first device, and
wherein said data pertaining to an oscillating movement of the
second device comprises a time stamp of the at least one of the two
extremes of displacement of the second device.
15. The method according to claim 13, wherein the oscillating
movement of the first device comprises data from an accelerometer
of the first device pertaining to a single oscillating movement of
the first device as detected by the accelerometer of the first
device, and wherein the oscillating movement of the second device
comprises data from an accelerometer of the second device
pertaining to a single oscillating movement of the second device as
detected by the accelerometer of the second device.
Description
RELATED APPLICATION DATA
[0001] This application claims priority to European Patent
Application No. 16152235.4, filed Jan. 21, 2016, the disclosure of
which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] The invention relates generally to a system and a method for
linking oscillating movements of an exercise equipment to a user of
the exercise equipment in a database.
BACKGROUND
[0003] The market for connected devices, e.g. internet of things,
is increasing. The areas of use are continuously developing.
Connected devices may facilitate automation of activities that
previously were done manually by a person. One such activity that
may be automated is the activity of registering training activities
of a person. For example, a smart phone with a suitable application
may be used for measuring e.g. distance and speed of a running
workout, and storing such data for later retrieval.
[0004] In a gym environment or similar, such automatic registration
of exercise activities requires knowledge of which user is using
which exercise equipment. One solution is to employ a log on system
where the user logs on to the exercise equipment that he/she is
using and then logs of when he/she has finished the exercise.
However, this may be difficult for a user to remember while
exercising. An alternative solution would thus be beneficial.
SUMMARY
[0005] In view of the above, an objective of the invention is to
solve or at least reduce one or several of the drawbacks discussed
above. Generally, the above objective is achieved by the attached
independent patent claims.
[0006] According to a first aspect, the present invention is
realized by a system for linking oscillating movements of an
exercise equipment having a equipment ID to a user of the exercise
equipment in a database, the system comprising: [0007] a first
device adapted to be attached to a user, the first device
comprising a user ID, the first device being arranged for
extracting data pertaining to an oscillating movement of the first
device, [0008] a second device adapted to be attached to the
exercise equipment, the second device comprising the equipment ID,
the second device being arranged for extracting data pertaining to
an oscillating movement of the second device, [0009] a third device
connected to the database and arranged for: [0010] receiving said
data pertaining to an oscillating movement of the first device, the
user ID, the equipment ID and said data pertaining to an
oscillating movement of the second device, [0011] calculating a
correlation between said data pertaining to an oscillating movement
of the first device and said data pertaining to an oscillating
movement of the second device, comparing the calculated correlation
to a first threshold, and if the calculated correlation exceeds the
first threshold, linking said oscillating movement of the exercise
equipment to the user ID in the database using the equipment
ID.
[0012] By the term "oscillating movements" should, in the context
of present specification, be understood a repeating movement or a
periodic motion, back and forth over a range of positions. Such a
movement may for example be when the user is stretching and
retracting his arms over his head, e.g. when doing a shoulder press
exercise with a dumbbell.
[0013] By calculating a correlation between an oscillating movement
of a first device attached to a user, and an oscillating movement
of a second device attached to an exercise equipment (e.g. attached
to a part of an exercise machine such as a rowing machine, to a
dumbbell or to a barbell), the oscillating movement of the exercise
equipment may be linked to the user wearing the first device.
Consequently, the repetitions performed by the user on the exercise
equipment may be registered to the user in a database. The training
activities of the user may thus be automatically registered, and
the user may focus on the training instead remember to manually
print down and log each exercise. Moreover, with the present
system, the user does not need to log on to the equipment that
he/she intends to use.
[0014] In a second aspect, the present invention provides a method
for linking oscillating movements of an exercise equipment to a
user of the exercise equipment in a database, the method being
performed in a system comprising a first device adapted to be
attached to a user and comprising a user ID, a second device
adapted to be attached to the exercise equipment and comprising an
equipment ID of the exercise equipment, and a third device
connected to the database, the method comprising the steps of:
[0015] extracting, by the first device, data pertaining to an
oscillating movement of the first device, [0016] extracting, by the
second device, data pertaining to an oscillating movement of the
second device, [0017] calculating, by the third device, a
correlation between said data pertaining to an oscillating movement
of the first device and said data pertaining to an oscillating
movement of the second device, [0018] comparing, by the third
device, the calculated correlation to a first threshold, and,
[0019] if the calculated correlation exceeds the first threshold,
linking, by the third device, said oscillating movement of the
exercise equipment to the user ID in the database using the
equipment ID.
[0020] The second aspect may generally have the same features and
advantages as the first aspect.
[0021] Other objectives, features and advantages of the present
invention will appear from the following detailed disclosure, from
the attached dependent claims as well as from the drawings.
[0022] Generally, all terms used in the claims are to be
interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the technical
field, unless explicitly defined otherwise herein. All references
to "a/an/the [element, device, component, means, step, etc]" are to
be interpreted openly as referring to at least one instance of the
element, device, component, means, step, etc., unless explicitly
stated otherwise.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0023] Examples of embodiments herein are described in more detail
with reference to attached drawings where the same reference
numerals will be used for similar elements, wherein:
[0024] FIG. 1 shows a user wearing a first device and a second
device attached to a exercise equipment according to embodiments of
the invention,
[0025] FIG. 2 shows a user performing a exercise activity,
[0026] FIG. 3 shows a first and/or a second device according to
embodiments of the invention,
[0027] FIG. 4 shows a system for linking oscillating movements of
an exercise equipment to a user of the exercise equipment in a
database according to a first embodiment,
[0028] FIG. 5 shows a system for linking oscillating movements of
an exercise equipment to a user of the exercise equipment in a
database according to a second embodiment,
[0029] FIG. 6 shows data of sensors arranged for measuring
movements of the first and second device,
[0030] FIG. 7 shows data sent to the third device and data stored
in the database which links an oscillating movements of an exercise
equipment to a user according to embodiments of the invention,
[0031] FIG. 8 shows a method for linking oscillating movements of
an exercise equipment to a user of the exercise equipment in a
database according to embodiments of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0032] FIG. 1 shows by way of example a person 100. A first device
102a is attached to the wrist of the person. A further first device
102b is attached to the foot of the person. These placements of the
first devices 102a-102b is merely by way of example, other
placements are equally possible. It should also be noted that
according to some embodiments, only one, or more than two first
devices 102 is/are attached to the user. By having a plurality of
devices attached to the person, different exercises may be logged
using the invention, since e.g. some exercises involves movement of
the arms of the person 100 while others involve movement of the
legs.
[0033] FIG. 1 further shows an exercise equipment 110, in this case
an exercise machine 110. The exercise machine 110 comprises a
handle 114 for pulling a weight 116 up and down. The exercise
machine 110 comprises a second device 112a-b, positioned on a part
of the machine 110 which while the machine 110 is in use, will be
oscillating. The second device 112a-b may in this example be
positioned on the handle 114, and/or on the weight 116. Other
positions are equally possible, for example on the wire connecting
the handle 114 to the weight 116, or on one of the wheels 118 of
the exercise machine 110.
[0034] The first 102a-b and second devices 112a-b are both arranged
for extracting data pertaining to an oscillating movement of the
respective device. The devices 102a-b, 112a-b may for example
comprise accelerometers, or gyroscopes. This will be further
described below.
[0035] FIG. 2 shows a person 100 (user etc.) which is exercising
using an exercise equipment 110 (in this case a barbell 110). Since
the user 100 is wearing a first device 102 on the wrist and a
second device 112 is attached to the barbell 110, the data
extracted by the first and second device 102, 112 pertaining to an
oscillating movement of the respective devices will be similar, and
a correlation calculation between the two data should yield a high
value.
[0036] FIG. 3 describe by way of example the design of a first 102
and second 112 device. The device 102, 112 may comprise a sensor
202 arranged for measuring movements of the device 102, 112 and for
producing movement data pertaining to the measured movements. The
sensor may for example be an accelerometer or a gyroscope. The
accelerometer may be of any suitable type, e.g. an optical or a
piezoelectric accelerometer.
[0037] The device 102 may further comprise a battery 206 for
powering the device. According to some embodiments, it is important
that the second device 112 (arranged to be attached to the exercise
equipment) has a low power consumption, e.g. such that the battery
can last for more than a year. This reduces the need of
recharging/replacing the battery. In order to achieve this, the
sensor 202 of the second device 112 may be arranged to have a first
and a second state. The first state may be a low energy state where
the sensor 202 is running at the lowest possible power and only
arranged to detect a movement exceeding a threshold. When such a
movement is detected, the sensor 202 may in response thereto
configure itself in a second state in which the sensor 202 is
arranged for measuring movements of the second device 202 and for
producing movement data pertaining to the measured movements. Using
this setup, the sensor may run at 10 microAmps when being in its
first state, which with a 1000 mAh battery means 100 000 hours of
battery time when the device is only in the first state. The
battery time will obviously decrease when the sensor is in the
second state, but generally, an exercise equipment is only used for
a minor part of the day, and not used at all during the night. In
some embodiments, when the sensor 202 has not detected any movement
for a threshold amount of time, the sensor 202 will configure
itself in the first state again.
[0038] Such a setup may not be needed in the first device 102 since
this device generally may be recharged after each workout session
and the battery 206 of the first device 102 thus only need to last
for e.g. 3 hours. Of course, in order to reduce the need of
recharging, also the sensor 202 of the first device 102 may be
arranged as described above with a first and second state.
[0039] The device 102, 112 may further comprise a microcontroller
or microcontroller unit (MCU) 208 arranged for receiving the
movement data from the sensor 202, and for extracting data
pertaining to the oscillating movement of the device 102, 112. This
data may then be transmitted from the device 102, 112 by using a
Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radio 204. Other ways of transmitting
the data are equally possible such as regular Bluetooth, Wi-Fi,
Cellular data service such as 3g/4g etc. It is also possible that
the devices 112 attached to the exercise equipment transmit the
data via a wired connection, especially if they are attached to an
exercise machine which generally is not moved around in a gym
environment.
[0040] The data transmitted from the BLE radio (or similar) 204 of
the devices 102, 112 are then received by a third device 402 which
is connected to a database 404. An example of this setup is shown
in FIG. 4. In this example, the third device, e.g. a server, 402 is
connected (wireless or wired as described above) to a plurality of
first devices 102a-n and a plurality of second devices 112a-n. When
receiving data from the devices 102a-n, 112 a-n, the third device
402 is arranged for calculating a correlation between data
pertaining to an oscillating movement received from a first device
102a-n and data pertaining to an oscillating movement from a second
device 112a-n in order to calculate which of the first devises
102a-n are attached to the user which causes a second device 112a-n
to oscillate. This is done by calculating a correlation between
data pertaining to an oscillating movement of a first device 102a-n
and data pertaining to an oscillating movement of a second device
112a-n and comparing the calculated correlation to a threshold. In
case the calculated correlation exceeds the threshold, it is
determined by the third device 402 that the two oscillating
movements are connected. Since the third device also is receiving a
user ID from the first device 102a-n and the equipment ID, this
user ID can be linked to the oscillating movement of the exercise
equipment in the database 404. Consequently, an exercise activity
of the exercise equipment having the equipment ID is automatically
registered to the user having the user ID. The first device 102a-n
may be configured with the user ID in any suitable way, e.g. by
some central log in system at the gym, or by the user inputting a
user name into the first device 102a-n when starting to use the
first device 102a-n at the gym. Similarly, the second device 112a-n
may be configured with the equipment ID in any suitable way such as
configuring the second device with the equipment ID when attaching
it to the exercise equipment.
[0041] The first device 102 a-b may for example be a smart phone,
or a smart watch. The first device may according to some
embodiments comprise an NFC-reader for configuring the first device
with a user ID.
[0042] The second device 112a-b may be based on any type of data
chip comprising the required features, and to which a sensor for
measuring movements of the second device and for producing movement
data pertaining to the measured movements can be connected. The
data chip should also be easily connected to a power source, e.g. a
battery. The chip should e.g. be suited for Bluetooth low energy
and ultra low-power wireless applications and be built around a CPU
with a flash memory and/or RAM memory for improved application
performance. The chip should comprise a transmitter/transceiver
which may support both BLE and/or Wi-Fi. Such a design may also be
used for the first device 102 a-b.
[0043] The calculation of correlation performed by the third device
may be carried out by a processor of the third device running
software for calculating a correlation between two data sets.
[0044] In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the third device 402 is a
separate device from the first and the second device. However, it
is envisaged that the third device may also be part of the first or
second device. In this embodiment, either the first or second
device is connected to the database. The device that is connected
to the database is further arranged to receive the data pertaining
to an oscillating movement from the other device (i.e. first or
second), calculate the correlation, and in case the correlation
exceeds the first threshold, linking said oscillating movement of
the exercise equipment to the user ID in the database using the
equipment ID.
[0045] FIG. 5 shows another possible setup, wherein the system 500
further comprises a fourth device 502a-b being wirelessly connected
to the first and second device, and further being connected to the
third device 402. This embodiment may be advantageous in the case
where the third device 402 (server) is used for registering
training activities for users for multiple gyms or locations.
[0046] The fourth devices 502a-b may thus be used for
retransmitting the data received from the first and second devices
of the gym where the fourth device is located, e.g. as shown in
FIG. 5 where the fourth device 502a is connected (wireless or
wired) to first devices 102a-n and second devices 112a-n while the
fourth device 502b is connected (wireless or wired) to first
devices 102o-z and second devices 112o-z.
[0047] According to some embodiments, a first device and a second
device may be sending its data to more than one fourth device. For
example if a single fourth device cannot cover the entire area of a
gym, two or more fourth devices may be installed in the gym. In
this case, the third device 402 may be configured to filter
received data such that such duplicates will be removed. For
example, if it receives data simultaneously from more than one
fourth device, where more than one instance of data have the same
user id or equipment id, the third device may use only one instance
of data (of the more than one instance of data with the same user
id or equipment id) when performing a correlation calculation and
disregard the other instances.
[0048] According to some embodiments, the fourth device 502a-b may
be any type of device which can receive data from the first/second
device, e.g. equipped with a BLE/BT/Wi-Fi receiver and comprising a
transmitter (e.g. WiFi) for retransmitting the data to the third
device 412. The fourth device may for example be a laptop, or
stationary computer. Other off the shelf-products such as an Intel
Edison may be used, which according to one embodiment is connected
to the first/second devices via Bluetooth (e.g. BLE) and connected
to the third device 402 via Wi-Fi.
[0049] In order to reduce the risk of inadvertently logging a user
id from one gym with an exercise equipment from another gym, the
fourth device 502a-b may comprise an ID of a gym wherein the
exercise equipment (i.e. the connected second devices) is located,
wherein the fourth device is further arranged for transmitting the
ID of the gym to the third device 402. This ID may then be used by
the third device in a filtering step of the received data
pertaining to an oscillating movement of the first devices/second
device such that only data originating from the same gym may be
correlated.
[0050] FIG. 6 schematically shows different oscillating movements
measured by the first/second devices.
[0051] As mentioned above, an oscillating movement is a repeating
movement or a periodic motion, back and forth over a range of
positions, for example measured by an accelerometer. Such movements
are plotted in the graph of FIG. 6, where e.g. the vertical
position of the first/second device is plotted on the y-axis and
where the time is plotted on the x-axis. The graph comprises three
different movements 602, 604, 606, thus occurring at the same time.
For example, the movement 602 may originate from a first device
102, while the two other movements 604, 606 may originate from two
different second devices 112.
[0052] At the x-axis, the time points for the two extremes of
displacement for each single oscillating movement, i.e. one time
back and forth over a range of positions, are marked t1-t7. As
visible on the graph, two of the oscillation movements 602, 604
share such time points, i.e. t1, t3, t5, t7, while the remaining
oscillating movement 606 has other time points, i.e. t2, t4,
t6.
[0053] According to some embodiments, the microcontrollers of the
first 102 and second devices 112 are arranged for time-stamping at
least one of the two extremes of displacement of the first device.
Such time stamps may then be included in the data sent to the third
device 402. According to some embodiments, the data pertaining to
an oscillating movement of the first 102 and second devices 112
comprises the time stamp of the at least one of the two extremes of
displacement. Such embodiment is shown in FIG. 7.
[0054] In FIG. 7, data 720 sent from the first device (e.g. via
BLE) to the third device 402 is shown. In this data 720, data 704
pertaining to an oscillating movement of the first device is
included. This may be calculated by a sensor in the first device
being arranged for measuring movements of the first device and for
producing movement data pertaining to the measured movements (the
movement 602 in FIG. 6), which is then sent to the microcontroller
in the first device which is arranged for receiving the movement
data from the sensor, and for extracting data 704 pertaining to the
oscillating movement of the first device. In the example of FIG. 7,
the microcontroller in the first device is arranged for
time-stamping both of the two extremes t1, t3 of displacement of
the first device and including such time stamps in the data 720
pertaining to an oscillating movement of the first device. The user
ID 702 of the user wearing the first device is also included in the
data 720 sent from the first device to the third device 402.
[0055] Also in FIG. 7, data 722 sent from the second device (e.g.
via BLE) to the third device 402 is shown. In this data 722, data
706 pertaining to an oscillating movement of the second device is
included. This may be calculated by a sensor in the second device
being arranged for measuring movements of the second device and for
producing movement data pertaining to the measured movements (the
movement 604 in FIG. 6), which is then sent to the microcontroller
in the second device which is arranged for receiving the movement
data from the sensor, and for extracting data 706 pertaining to the
oscillating movement of the second device. In the example of FIG.
7, the microcontroller in the second device is arranged for
time-stamping both of the two extremes t1, t3 of displacement of
the second device and including such time stamps in the data 722
pertaining to an oscillating movement of the second device. The ID
707 of the equipment onto which the second device is attached is
included in the data 722 sent from the second device (e.g. via BLE)
to the third device 402. According to some embodiments, also a
current setting 708 of the exercise equipment onto which the second
device is attached is included in the data 722 pertaining to an
oscillating movement of the second device. Such setting 708 may
include e.g. a weight setting of an exercise machine onto which the
second device is attached, the weight of the barbell onto which the
second device is attached or a resistance setting of rowing machine
onto which the second device is attached.
[0056] In a similar way, data 724 is extracted from the measured
movements (the movement 606 in FIG. 6) of a further second
device.
[0057] The third device (e.g. a server) 402 which is connected to a
database 404 is thus arranged for receiving the data 704 pertaining
to an oscillating movement of the first device, the user ID 702,
the equipment ID 707, and the data 706 pertaining to an oscillating
movement of the second device. Optionally, the third device 402 is
further arranged for receiving data 708 pertaining to a current
setting of the exercise equipment onto which the second device is
attached.
[0058] The third device 402 may at any given moment receive data
from a plurality of first and/or second devices. In FIG. 7, the
third device is also receiving the data 710 pertaining to an
oscillating movement of the further second device, the equipment ID
711, and optionally the data 712 pertaining to a current setting of
the exercise equipment onto which the further second device is
attached.
[0059] As understood by the person skilled in the art, the third
device 402 may further receive data from more first/second devices,
but this is excluded from FIG. 7 for the ease of description.
[0060] When receiving data from at least one first device, and at
least one second device, the third device is arranged for
calculating a correlation between the data pertaining to an
oscillating movement of the first device and the data pertaining to
an oscillating movement of the second device. The third device may
be arranged for looking for e.g. the user ID 702 having a certain
format to distinguish data 720 received from a first device from
data 722, 724 received from a second device. Any other means for
distinguishing data may be employed, such as setting a specific bit
in the data as a one or a zero depending from which type of device
(first or second) that it originates from.
[0061] When receiving data from more than one first and/or second
devices, for example as shown in FIG. 7, the third device 402 may
be arranged to calculate a correlation for all possible
combinations of data from a first device and data from a second
device. According to other embodiments, the third device may be
arranged to stop the correlation calculation as soon as a
calculated correlation that exceeds the matching threshold is
found.
[0062] In case a fourth device is included in the system for
linking oscillating movements of an exercise equipment to a user of
the exercise equipment in a database as shown in FIG. 5, and the
fourth device is arranged for transmitting the ID of gym where it
is located to the third device, the third device may use this ID
when determining between which of the received data a correlation
should be calculated as described above.
[0063] For example, in the example of FIG. 7, the calculation of
the correlation may comprise comparing the first and second time
stamps 704 of the data 720 received from the first device with the
first and second time stamps of the two data 722, 724 received from
the second devices, and if they match for one of the two second
devices (possibly within some predetermined difference such as 0.05
sec, 0.1 sec, 0.5 sec etc), the calculated correlation is
determined by the third device 402 to exceed the threshold. So in
FIG. 7, the correlation between the data 704 pertaining to an
oscillating movement of the first device and the data 706
pertaining to an oscillating movement of the second device is
determined to exceed the threshold while the correlation between
the data 704 pertaining to an oscillating movement of the first
device and the data 7010 pertaining to an oscillating movement of
the further second device is determined to not exceed the
threshold.
[0064] Subsequent to the correlation calculation, any match (i.e. a
correlation exceeding the threshold) between oscillating movements
of a first device and a second device is linked and stored in the
database. For example, using the received ID of the first device
and the received equipment ID, the third device may increase a
counter in a data entry which belongs to the user ID 702 and the
exercise equipment having the equipment ID 707. Incrementing a
counter means that repetition is counted. By including the current
setting of the exercise equipment onto which the second device is
attached, this can be included in the stored registry of the
exercise performed by the user having the user ID 702 on the
exercise equipment having the equipment ID 707, e.g. user X has
performed Y repetition on machine Z with the weight N.
[0065] In the example of FIG. 7, only the time stamp of the at
least one of the two extremes of displacement of an oscillating
movement is included in the data 720, 722, 724 sent from the
first/second devices to the third device. This reduced the amount
of data sent to the third device, which also reduces the power
consumption of the first/second device. However, it should be noted
that this is just an example embodiment. According to some
embodiments, the microcontrollers of the first/second devices are
arranged for extracting data pertaining to a single oscillating
movement from the movement data (e.g. movement data 602, 604, 606
in FIG. 6) from the sensors of the respective device, and using
this data as the data pertaining to an oscillating movement of the
respective device. In other words, instead of just sending the time
stamps of one or both extremes of displacement of an oscillating
movement, the first/second device may be arranged to extract
accelerometer data pertaining to a single oscillating movement from
the movement data of the device measured by the accelerometer, and
include the accelerometer data of the complete single oscillating
movement in the data sent to the third device. This may increase
the possibility to detect matching movements between a first and a
second device at the third device.
[0066] FIG. 8 shows a method for linking oscillating movements of
an exercise equipment to a user of the exercise equipment in a
database according to some embodiments. The method being performed
in a system as described above (e.g. in FIG. 4-5), i.e. comprising
a first device adapted to be attached to a user and comprising a
user ID, a second device adapted to be attached to the exercise
equipment and comprising an equipment ID, and a third device
connected to the database.
[0067] The method comprises the steps of: [0068] extracting S802,
by the first device, data pertaining to an oscillating movement of
the first device, [0069] extracting S804, by the second device,
data pertaining to an oscillating movement of the second device,
[0070] calculating S806, by the third device, a correlation between
said data pertaining to an oscillating movement of the first device
and said data pertaining to an oscillating movement of the second
device, [0071] comparing S808, by the third device, the calculated
correlation to a first threshold, and, [0072] if the calculated
correlation exceeds the first threshold, linking S810, by the third
device, said oscillating movement of the exercise equipment to the
user ID in the database using the equipment ID.
[0073] The devices (e.g. the first, second, third and/or fourth
device) and methods disclosed hereinabove may be implemented as
software, firmware, hardware or a combination thereof. In a
hardware implementation, the division of tasks between functional
units or components referred to in the above description does not
necessarily correspond to the division into physical units; to the
contrary, one physical component may have multiple functionalities,
and one task may be carried out by several physical components in
cooperation. Certain components or all components may be
implemented as software executed by a digital signal processor,
microprocessor or microcontroller, or be implemented as hardware or
as an application-specific integrated circuit. Such software may be
distributed on computer readable media, which may comprise computer
storage media (or non-transitory media) and communication media (or
transitory media). As is well known to a person skilled in the art,
the term computer storage media includes both volatile and
nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any
method or technology for storage of information such as computer
readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other
data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM,
ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM,
digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage,
magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other
magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to
store the desired information and which can be accessed by a
computer.
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