- “You are No. 4 of 6. You can follow them now.”
- “You are lagged behind, must be faster in next minute.”
- “It is time for you to exceed. Rush!”
- “Run faster in next half minute!”
- “Maybe slow down a bit for a minute to catch your breathe.”

A virtual competition is illustrated inFIG. 5, showing onerunner501 in the USA running during the day and anotherrunner502 running at the same time, such as at night in China. Theserver503 with which theexercise monitoring devices100 on each of the

runner

501,502 communicate compares the performances, and issues prompts or updates to each

runner

501,502. Thus, a virtual but literal competition is held at the same time but in different locations. With real-time exercise sensing and analysis functions, theexercise monitoring device100 is able to record a users'501,502 real-time records and transmit the records to a server503 (not illustrated). Theserver503 processes all the users'501,502 information, and compute some statistics. For instance, the real-time positions of all

users

501,502 are known by the GPS. Thus, theserver503 informs each

user

501,502 of the user's current position and how far he is from the leading the other user, via the voice prompting of theexercise monitoring device100. Furthermore, one user may be informed of processed statistics during a competition of many players, such as who is the leading person in the completion, and the user's position among of all male athletes at specific age groups, or body mass groups, and so on. The skilled man knows that cloud computing or distributed computing are all possible options for realizing such an embodiment and there is no need for detailed elaboration.

The skilled man understands that it is not necessary that all aforesaid physiological parameters have to be monitored for a competition. For example, the heart beat rate need not be monitored during a competition.

After the competition, the records of each competitor may be uploaded into a computer and displayed as an animation. This will allow friends of the competitors to appreciate their performance on a display screen, as illustrated inFIG. 6.

Theexercise monitoring device100 also provides health and fitness monitoring. The values in any two columns of data in Table 1(c) may be charted against each other to trend the relationship between the two types of values.FIGS. 4aandFIG. 4bshows how acceleration may be plotted againsttime401, and heart-rate againstdistance402. Mathematical or statistical manipulation for these matters is known and need no detailed explanation here.

Preferably, theexercise monitoring device100 allows the user to identify the type of exercise he about to perform. For example, the user can type ‘running’, ‘aerobics’, ‘triathlon’ and so on into theexercise monitoring device100 or select the type of exercise from a dropdown list of exercises stored in theexercise monitoring device100. Furthermore, theexercise monitoring device100 also allows the user to input or select information on the ‘level’ of exercise. The ‘levels’ of exercise can be pre-determined in the factory, and differentiated such as by speed or duration of exercise, and means varying levels of exercise programs. For example, in running, there may be different levels of running relating to a run of 10 km, half marathon, full marathon and so on, or different levels of training profiles such as Weight Loss exercise, De-stress exercise etc. Furthermore, ‘levels’ can also be determined by the different purposes involving different parameters targets, such as target heart rate or exercise duration and so on.

Furthermore, the location of the exercise can also be selected from a dropdown list. To do so, the name and features of each exercise location that contribute to sports difficulty are predetermined and stored into theexercise monitoring device100 for selection by the user. For example, the location is named descriptively as a “sport stadium running track”, a “forest track” of a specific place, a “swimming lake” and so on. Subsequently, the physical attributes or features of the locations which affect the exercise, such as the inclination and distance of a running track, the number of steps to be climbed along the running track, the breath of the swimming lake and so on are recorded. Official maps, and the rangers or facility managers of such locations can be consulted to establish this information. Each location recorded is given a difficulty level in advance, according to the location features. Specific details of how this can be done are known to the skilled man and need no elaboration here. The GPS locator in theexercise monitoring device100 may automatically identify the location of the exercise and impose the difficulty level base on the exercise which the user selects to perform there.

The skilled ma understands that in addition to using “time” as the primary key, as in the example here in Table 1(c), the database may also use multiple primary keys as time & acceleration, distance & heart-rate, or time & location & distance, etc. Some data which are not obtained directly from the sensors can also be deduced from the sensor's output. For example, from the user's weight and distance covered in the exercise, the amount of calorie burnt in the exercise can be calculated at any point of time during the run. This helps to provide real time information to the user on how much calories has been burnt at any point in time.

While there has been described in the foregoing description preferred embodiments of the present invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the technology concerned that many variations or modifications in details of design, construction or operation may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention as claimed.

For example, while the described embodiment has many parts, including a screen, a touch pad, a keypad, several sensor modules, the skilled man understands that any of these may be exempted from some embodiments while still achieving the desired invention as claimed.

Thus, although a plurality of physiological and physical parameters has been described, a sole parameter can also be used to monitor the user performance. Correspondingly, it is possible that only one sensor or device is be used.

Furthermore, the skilled man knows that various embodiments may be applied to different forms of exercise such as chin-ups, swimming, walking, running, walking, rowing, biking, rope skipping, number of times of weight lifting, sit-ups, push-ups, pull-ups and so on.

Furthermore, other than voice recognition, other biometric sensors such as fingerprint identification can be used.

Furthermore, the skilled man knows that other applications may be envisaged even though they are not described in detail herein, such as monitoring the performance of racing animals.

Therefore, theembodiment100 includes a method of monitoring the exercise of a user, comprising the step of: using at least one sensor to record at least one performance parameter (given as examples in relation to Table 1(c)) of the user during his exercise; comparing the record of the performance parameter against another record of the same performance parameter; and indicating to the user the how the performance parameter of the user compares to the other record of the same performance parameter.

Therefore, theembodiment100 includes an exercise monitoring device system for remote competition, comprising a host server; a plurality of client exercise monitoring devices in wireless communication with the host server; each client exercise monitoring device having at least one sensor for monitoring at least one performance parameter of a respective user during an exercise; each client exercise monitoring device is capable of sending the performance parameter of the respective user to the host server; the host server is adapted to compare the performance parameter sent from the plurality of client exercise monitoring devices; and the host server is adapted to communicate to each client exercise monitoring device how the performance parameter of each user compares to the performance parameter of another user; wherein the comparative performance of the users in the exercise is indicated to each user.

Therefore, the embodiment includes anexercise monitoring device100 comprising at least one sensor for monitoring at least one performance parameter of a user during an exercise, a controller for comparing the performance parameter of the user to another performance parameter; and an output device for indicating to the user the extent to which the performance parameter of the user differs from the other performance parameter.

The skilled man knows that the performance parameter is one of the following non-exhaustive list of: time, distance, location, track, speed, acceleration, inclination, altitude, temperature, humidity, ultraviolet index, heart beat rate, breath, calorie, SpO2 and any other parameter which is useable to measure, monitor or analyses the physical condition of the user and his performance in an exercise.