WO2001050387A1 - Personal advice system and method - Google Patents

Abstract

A virtual personal advisor (100) provides expert advice to users. The virtual personal advisor (100) may be located at a node in a communications network, including at an Internet web site (101). Users interact with the virtual personal advisor using terminals (120) such as personal computers and wireless mechanisms. The virtual personal advisor (100) acquires specific personal information from the user and creates a personal profile. The virtual personal advisor creates a program plan for execution by the user, including definition of short-, intermediate-, and long-range goals. Using Artificial Intelligence mechanisms, algorithms and computations, the virtual personal advisor provides advice in response to specific inquiries by the user, information provided by the user, or by anticipating events potentially concerning the user. The virtual personal advisor (100) also monitors and coaches the user in execution of the program plan, and provides feedback to the user regarding the user's compliance with the program plan.

Description

PERSONAL ADVICE SYSTEM AND METHOD Related Applications This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 09/214,847, filed January 14, 1999, entitled A METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR EXPERTLY MATCHING PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND CONSUMERS . Technical Field The technical field includes expert systems that provide information to users based on user profiles and user-entered data. Background Personal advisors may provide discrete advice to clients on a variety of topics. Examples of personal advisors include humans who provide personal financial advice, marriage counselors, and personal trainers. Computer systems exist that can provide limited advice to users on discrete topics. For example, computer systems may answer simple questions in much the same manner as looking up a topic in an encyclopedia. These human and electronic systems are not easily adapted to a large customer base having widely varying needs, backgrounds andinterests. For example, a human advisor may be able to provide personal advice to only a very limited number of individuals. In addition, human advisors may be very expensive to use. Current computer systems may serve larger audiences, and may be less expensive than human advisors. However, current computer systems are not easily adapted to the specific needs of a large audience. Summary A personal advisor provides personalized, expert advice to users who connect to the personal advisor. The personal advisor may be located at a node in a communications system, such as an Internet web site, a node in a local area network, or a node in a telephone or television delivery system. Users may operate terminals remote from the node to access the personal advisor. The terminals may include any wired or wireless device capable of communicating with the node, including wired and wireless telephones, computers, and televisions, for example. The personal advisor may provide customized expert advice to each user. The personal advisor may develop and update personal profiles for each user, and may base the personal advice on the existing user profile, current inputs from the user, and external data. The personal advisors may use human expert images, including pre-recorded segments, and human avatars to present the personal advice . Using interactive features, the personal advice may be presented in a manner that best suits the mood, and the physical and emotional state of the user. In particular, the personal advisor uses interfaces, such as graphical user interfaces having active areas (active area interfaces) that receive and display data, including the human expert images and avatars. In an embodiment, a nutrition site provides expert nutritional advice to users. The nutrition site collects personal information of each user and develops a user personal profile. The nutrition site provides default or custom programs that are designed to achieve an overall obj ective, such a losing weight. The nutrition site then allows the user to develop short-, intermediate-, and long-term goals to achieve the overall obj ective. The nutrition site provides daily monitoring of the user ' s activities related to nutrition, and provides periodic advice and feedback. The advice may include suggestions for specific meals and menus, and recommended actions to achieve any of the goals . The feedback may include an analysis of the user's progress toward achieving the goals. another embodiment, a fitness site provides expert advice related to an exercise and fitness program for users. Each user may be provided with a default program or a custom program, based on the user' s current health and overall obj ectives. The fitness site provides for exercise control, monitoring, data recording and feedback. A user may couple two or more personal advisors so that the personal advisors share relevant information. The user may also elect to receive summary information related to two or more personal advisors, rather than accessing each personal advisor individually. Description Of The Drawings The detailed description will refer to the following drawings, in which like numerals refer to like objects, and in which: Figure 1 shows a personal advice system, including a personal advice site; Figure 2a is a block diagram of functions and sub-functions performed by the personal advice site of Figure 1; Figure 2b is a logical diagram of the software modules used by the personal advice site of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a block diagram of the options available to a user of the system shown in Figure 1; Figure 4 is an alternate embodiment of a personal advice system; Figure 5 is a block diagram of a site summary function used with the system shown in Figure 1; Figure 6a - 6d are flow diagrams of processes performed by the site shown in Figure 1; Figure 7a is a block diagram of a fitness site; Figure 7b is a block diagram of an alternate fitness site; Figures 8a and 8b are flow diagrams of the processes executed atthe fitness site of Figure 7a; Figure 9 is ablock diagram showing the personal advice system including a nutrition site; Figure 10 is a diagram of a nutrition site program; and Figures 11-23 are graphical interfaces used with the nutritional site of Figure 9. Detailed Description Figure 1 shows an exemplary personal advice system 100. The system 100 includes a personal advice site 101. The personal advice site 101 may provide personal advice in a number of different topical areas to the users A-n. These areas, or sites, include fashion, banking, employment, tax and financial, health and wellness, diet and nutrition, hobbies and sports, exercise and fitness, emergency situations, educational services, personal relationships and legal advice. Coupled to the personal advice site 101 is a data storage device 110 and a program memory 115. The site 101 also includes a server, or processor 116. Users A-n may connect to the personal advice site 101 using terminals 120i - 120_n. The terminal 120_x connects to the site using a first communications path 112, the terminal 120₂ connects to the personal advice site 101 using a second communications path 113 , and the terminal 120_n connects to the personal advice site 101 using a third communications path 114. The personal advice site 101 may function as a main site to which are coupled one or more sites or subsites (not shown in Figure 1 ) . The subsites may each be directed to a discrete personal advice area, such as those areas listed above. The personal advice site 101 is used to receive information from the users A-n and to present information, including expert advice, to the users A-n. The terminals 120] - 120_n provide an interface or information input/output between the users A-n and the site 101. The terminals 120j - 120_n may include data storage devices 121] - 121_n. The data storage devices 120j may store some or all of the information stored in the data storage device 110 for the i* user, including personal profile information related to the i^th user. The personal advice site 101 may be located at any node in a communication system and may be located remotely from the terminals 120 120_n. Alternatively, the site 101 may be located in whole or in part in one or more of the terminals 120j - 120_n. In an embodiment, the personal advice site 101 may include an Internet web site. In other embodiments, the site 101 may be a node in telephone network, a node in an intranet, and a server in a local area network, for example. The terminals 120 j - 120_n may be any device capable of receiving information from, and providing information to, the personal advice site 101. Theterminals 120j- 120_nmay include a personal computer, an interactive television, a telephone, a wireless telephone, and a wireless personal communication device, such as a wireless Palm Pilot™. Those of ordinary skillin the art will recognize many other alternative configurations for the terminals 120 120_n. The communications paths 112, 113 and 114 may be any communications path capable of transmitting and receiving data from the personal advice site 101. The communications paths 112, 113 and 114 may be telephone lines, including a plain old telephone system, Tl and T3 lines, integrated services digital network (ISDN) lines, and digital subscriber lines (DSL). The communications paths 112, 113, and 114 may also include coaxial cable systems, fiber optic delivery systems and wireless systems. The data storage device 110 may store data related to the users of the system 100. As shown in.Figure 1, the data storage device 110 stores data related to users A-n. The program memory 115 stores various operating programs required to operate the personal advice site 101. The operating programs may include Artificial Intelligence mechanisms, algorithms, data processing routines and communications protocols used in the system 100 to provide personal advice to the system users . Alternatively, the program memory 115 and the data storage device 110 may be combined into a single device. The processor 116 performs operations on the information input from the users A-n based on the available programs, algorithms and other information stored in the program memory 115, and data stored in the data storage device 110. The processor 116 may update entries in the data storage device 110 based on the information input by the users A-n and on the results of the processing performed by the processor 116. The processor 116 may make comparisons, using inferencing, pattern matching, and other Artificial Intelligence mechanisms, may correlate data, and may then generate the information that is personal advice for one or more of the users A-n using any of a number of well-known principles. For example, the processor 116 may incorporate an expert system to perform any of the functions enumerated above. Such expert systems are described in co- pending U.S. Patent Application Serial No.09/214,847, filed January 14, 1999, entitledA METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR EXPERTLY MATCHING PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND CONSUMERS, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. The inferencing and pattern matching techniques used by the processor 116 are known in the art, and are described in detail in, for example, Artificial Intelligence. A New Synthesis. Nils Nilsson, Morgan Kauffinan, San Francisco, 1998, which is hereby incorporated by reference. As noted above, the system 100 shown in Figure 1 may include the personal advice site 101 and any number of additional personal advice sites or subsites. The system 100 may provide any or all of the personal advice sites cited above to any or all of the users A-n. The following table shows one alternative distribution of the personal advice sites 1 -n among the users A-n. Each of the users A-n may access the personal advice site 101 and may select one or more of the personal advice sites. The personal advice sites may be added or deleted by each of the users A-n initially, or at any later time. Where a user has elected to receive advice in more than one area (or from more than one personal advice site), the user may elect to link the multiple areas. For example, if the user selects nutrition and fitness advice sites, the user may allow sharing of data between the fitness advice site and the nutrition advice site. Thus, when the user updates data in a fitness advice database, a nutrition advice database may also be updated.

Personal Advice Site Table

Each site in the system 100, such as the personal advice site 101, may provide a number of common functions . Figure 2a is a block diagram of functions provided by the personal advice site 101. A first time entry function 122 introduces the user to the personal advice site 101 and obtains personal information about the user to customize the user's interactions with the personal advice site 101. A session function 123 obtains current information from the user, and provides for interaction between the personal advice site 101 and the user. The session function 123 may also provide suggestions and may help the user interact with the proj ected events of the personal advice site 101. A summary function 124 provides a summary of the user' s interaction with the personal advice site 101, including progress toward achieving any specified goals or objectives. The first time entry function 122 may include a site introduction sub-function 125 that provides the user with an overview of the site interaction for the user' s first and subsequent sessions. An acceptance ofsite disclaimer sub-function 126 may require that the user receives and accepts any limitations on the suggestions or data provided by the site. A medical clause sub-function 127 may require that the user not participate in site events if the user has specific medical conditions that make participation risky. A personal profile sub-function 128 may obtain personal information from the user in order to customizes the user' s interactions with the personal advice site 101. The personal profile sub-function 128 may also allow the user to select a start date for interacting with the personal advice site 101. For example, the user may select a start day of Monday . In this case, the personal advice site 101 may then inform the user that weekly analysis of progress may be based on a week starting on Monday and ending on Sunday. A program/goal selection sub-function 129 provides the user with one of several standard programs that may be used for interaction with the personal advice site 101. Theuser may then also select goals to achieve during the site interactions. The goals may be expressed as short-, intermediate-, and long terms goals, and may be weekly, monthly, semi-annually, or annually, or any other period. The personal advice site 101 may incorporate additional functions and sub-functions. For example, the personal advice site 101 may include a query sub-function (not shown in Figure 2a) that provides a mechanism for answering questions from users, including questions supplying the following types of information: • general information • what's new • definitions • how much longer a session will be • explanation why a question was asked • help concerning a measurement or other action request • history of interactions • examples Each function or site may employ a human image expert or a computer-generated expert (e.g., an avatar) to help the user interact with the personal advice site. The human image expert and the avatar may adopt a unique personality, based on a personal profile of the user and the operation of the personal advice site. The personality may include a number of traits and styles. The traits and styles may change as the user interacts with the personal advice site. The personality traits include empathic/supportive, wami/extraverted, positive, and humorous, and the opposites of these traits, for example. The functions and sub-functions listed above maybe implemented in software routines operating on the processor 116. Figure 2b is a block diagram showing selected components of such a software program. In Figure 2b, a software program 130 includes an initial module 131 that may be used to introduce a user to the personal advice site 101, provide an interface for the user to sign up for a personal advisor, and provide an interface to bill the user for the personal advisor. Module 132 is an initial consult routine that allows the personal advice site 101 to receive personal profile information regarding the user and to provide initial feedback information to the user. For example, the initial consult module 132 may be used to collect personal information from the user such as the user's age, sex, height, weight, income and other personal profile information. The data input options available in the initial consult module 132 depend on the overall function to be executed by the software program 130. A set goals module 134 may be used to receive inputs from the user regarding the user's expectations and to suggest goals that the user may achieve. The goals may be set on a short-term basis (e.g., one week), an intermediate basis (e.g., on month), and a long-term basis (e.g., six months to one year or longer). The goals may address a specific attribute and may include a level of performance of that attribute to achieve within the short, intermediate and long-term times. A receive inputs module 136 may be used to receive periodic inputs from the user. The user may access the software program 130 on a daily and on a more or less frequent basis, and input data and information related to the function being executed by the software program 130. The receive inputs module 136 may also be used to query the personal advice site 101 concerning recommended future actions. An evaluation module 138 processes information provided using the receive inputs module 136 and other data stored in the database 110,tlιe memory 115, and other information available external to the personal advice site 101. The evaluation module 138 then provides an evaluation that can be displayed for consideration by the user. An inferencing and pattern recognition module 140 may be used in the software program 130 to help with the evaluation process. For example, the inferencing and pattern recognition module 140 may determine how the user' s choices are associated with particular situational variables, and may repeat the determination to see if the same choices are associated with the same situational variable values. Having detected a first pattern, the inferencing and pattern recognition module 140 may then continue to watch for the pattern and observe if and when a new pattern temporarily or permanently replaces the first pattern. A feedback module 141 may be used in conjunction with the program 130to provide specific advice and suggestions. For example, the feedback module 141 can provide one or more alternatives for the user's consideration. An output module 142 may be used in the software program 130 to provide information to the user. The output module 142 can present the results of the evaluation performed by the evaluation module 138, can predict whether the user will achieve any of the short-temi, intermediate-term or long-term goals and may be used to provide other information to the user. Figure 3 is a logical block diagram of interfaces provided by the personal advice site 101. The interfaces may be graphical user interfaces (GUIs), including interfaces with active areas for receiving and displaying data, menu screens, or other data input and display devices . Some interfaces may not be displayed to the user, but instead may operate in a background mode. The interfaces may incorporate audio and visual outputs, and may receive audio information and information "keyed-in" (e.g., by operating akeyboard, mouse, or other data entry device). Operation of selected interfaces may create a virtual room, or active area, in which a personal advice session may be conducted. The personal advice session may include a virtual personal advisor (e.g., a human expert image or a human avatar expert). That is, an interface displayed on a user' s terminal, such as the terminal 120_x shown in Figure 1 , presents the user with all, or most, of the features and functions available from a live personal advisor operating in an appropriate setting. For example, when used with a fitness site, an interface may include a human expert image (virtual personal advisor) that directs the user through a complex exercise routine, records the user's progress toward completing the exercise routine, and converses with the user, including encouraging the user to complete exercises, explaining the function and execution of the exercises, demonstrating the exercises, and receiving feedback from the user related to the completion of the exercises. In the example of a fitness site, the effect is to create a virtual gym, health club, or exercise facility with a virtual personal trainer dedicated to assisting the user. In Figure 3, an overall interface 150 includes a free area 152 that may provide information to visitors to the personal advice site 101. The free area 152 may dispense information that can be used to entice the user to sign up for one or more of the personal advice sites. A select expert interface 154 allows selection of one of the personal advisors available at the personal advice site 101. A diary interface 156 may maintain a running tally of events related to the function selected in the select expert interface 154. A tips interface 158 may dispense generic information or advice to users of the personal advice site 101. The tips provided in the tips interface 158 may be directed to the specific advisor function selected using the select expert interface 154. A database interface 160 may allow access selected infomiation contained in the data storage device 110. A user may be granted limited access to database records related to the user, and to generic records . Access to the database records may be controlled by a personal identification number (PIN), or other secure means. Finally, the database records may be provided on a read-only basis. A profile entry interface 162 may allow entry of personal profile information and review of a user' s current profile. An assessment interface 164 allows selection of a type of assessment the user desires. A monitor execution interface 166 allows the personal advice site 101 to provide real time or near real time feedback to a user based on data inputs from the user. An audio/visual output interface 168 allows the personal advice site 101 to provide additional information to the user, including streaming video and audio information. Together, the monitor execution interface 166 and the audio/visual interface 168 create the active area, or virtual room, in which the user and the personal advice site 101 interact. A synthesize interface 170 allows the site to combine information from outside sources with information provided by the user and information selected from the data storage device 110 and to display the information to the user. A summary interface 172 allows the user to receive selected infomiation from one or more additional personal advice sites that the user has selected. Figure 4 is an alternate embodiment of a system that provides personal advice to users. In Figure A, a system 180 includes the personal advice site 101 , the database 110, the program memory 115 and the processor 116 as shown in Figure 1. In Figure 4, user A receives information from the personal advice site 101 and transmits information to the personal advice site 101 in the same manner as any of the users 120; shown in Figure 1. In this situation, user A operating terminal A 182 relies on all information processing to be carried on at the personal advicesite lOl and not at terminal A 182. User B at terminal B 184 may receive some of the programming required to execute the software program 130 shown in Figure 2b. Thus, terminal B 184 may operate in conjunction with the processor 116 to receive, evaluate, process and display data to user B operating terminal B 184. Also shown in Figure 4 is an external storage device 186 coupled to the personal advice site 101. The external storage device 186 may be any device or database that can be accessed using the personal advice site 101. Thus, the external storage device 186 may be one or more databases coupled to the Internet and to the personal advice site 101. Figure 5 is a logical block diagram of the summary function available through the summation interface 172 shown in Figure 3. In Figure 5, a user at the terminal 120] has selected advice sites 1 -n indicated by references 192i - 192_n from the advice sites available at the personal advice site 101. The terminal 120j may receive information from the personal advice site 101 related to the advice sites 192 , - 192_n using communication path 194. That is, theterminal 120j may receive information that is individualized to each ofthe advice sites 192j - 192_n. The terminal 120 j may also receive a summary ofthe information available for the advice sites 192₂ - 192„. In this alternative, a summation module 190 retrieves selected information related to each ofthe advice sites 192_t - 192_n and packages the information in a manner selected by the user operating the terminal 120^ The information is then provided to the terminal 120₁ using communications path 196. The operation ofthe personal advice site 101 will now be explained with reference to Figures 6a - 6d, which are flow charts that illustrate one embodiment ofthe operation ofthe personal advice site 101. Figure 6a is a flow diagram illustrating the steps of a main program 400 used in conj unction with operation ofthe personal advice site 101. In module 401 , a user accesses the personal advice site 101. Upon accessing the personal advice site 101, the user may be presented with a menu of options such as visit main site 403 , choose specific site from menu 405 and choose site overview subroutine 475. The visit main site 403 presents information such as a description ofthe advice sites available at the personal advice site 101 as well as free information that may be useful to an individual user, such as general information about a healthy diet, fitness routine options and financial infomiation, for example. The site overview subroutine 475 displays information that allows the user to receive summary information from the personal advice site 101. The site overview subroutine 475 will be described in detail later. The user also may select a specific personal advice site using the choose site module 405. The module 405 presents a list of specific personal advice sites that the user may elect, including nutrition advice, fitness advice, tax and financial advice and other personal advice, for example. After the user has selected a specific personal advice site, a choose option module 407 presents options that may include a visit specific site module 409, a sign up module 411 and a cuixent subscriber module 413. The visit specific site module 409 may include additional detailed information aboutthe specific site (advice function), and additional free information that may be available to a visitor. The sign up module 411 presents information that allows the user to subscribe to a specific site, such as the nutrition advice site. The sign up module 411 may include data entry fields for entering the user's name, address, e-mail address, credit card number, and other information necessary to sign the user up as a specific site subscriber. The current subscriber module 413 may be used to verify that the user is a current subscriber by requesting that the user enter a name and identification, such as a personal identification number (PIN) or other access security mechanism. An introduction and data input module 417 may be used after sign up by a user to input personal information used in creating a personal profile for the user. The introduction and data inputs module 417 may also provide introductory information about the functions ofthe site and options that are available to the user. An update personal profile module 415 allows a user to update the personal profile information stored in the data storage device 110. If the user elects to update the personal profile, the introduction and data input module 417 present a data input screen that may be used to update the personal profile. The choose subfunction module 419 is executed after the personal profile is determined to be current. The choose sub-function module 419 displays one or more options for further use ofthe specific personal advice site. The options include set goals subroutine 450, data input module 421, assessmentmodule423,today'splanmodule425 and a create program subroutine 430. The create program subroutine 430 and the set goals subroutine 450 may be used upon initial sign up (at the specific personal advice site) or subsequently to modify a program or set of goals. The data input module 421 may allow input specific data on a periodic basis, such as daily, for example. The data input to the personal advice site 101 using the data input module 421 may include routine information such as current weight and body measurements if the specific personal advice site is either a nutrition advice site or a fitness advice site, for example. Use ofthe data input module 421 will be described in detail later with reference to specific embodiments of personal advice sites. The assessment module 423 processes information provided in the data input module 421 , the introduction and data module 417, and information contained in the data storage device 110 and other external databases to provide an assessment to the user under a variety of conditions. For example, the assessment module 423 may project the user's ability to achieve any ofthe short-term, intermediate-term, or long range goals, and may suggest future actionsto remain onscheduletomeetthegoals. The assessment module 423 may also indicate specific steps for the user to consider. The today's plan module 425 may indicate specific steps or actions the user may consider based on the program created in the create program subroutine 430 and the goals set during the set goals subroutine 450. The today's plan module 425 may operate to start a session, and may create the active area, or virtual room, in which the user and the site interact. A data display module 427 may display any ofthe data fields encountered during operation ofthe program 400, including charts and graphs showing progress towards achieving goals, text information and audio and visual outputs. Upon completion ofvisiting the main site (e.g., the personal advice site 101 shownin Figure 1 ) or a specific personal advice site or after viewing displayed data, the main program 400 may exit at module 429. Figure 6b shows the select program subroutine 430. The subroutine 430 starts in module 431. Module 433 offers the option of choosing a default program or building a custom program. Module 435 displays information and data input screens to create a custom program. The program may be customized according to the type of activities created, the style of interface, the way data is presented (e.g., audio/video/text) and other parameters that are unique for a particular personal advice site. The set program length module 437 allows selection ofthe program length (e.g., six months, one year, eighteen months) and the daily length for operation of a program, if appropriate. The display program module 439 presents a visual, textual and graphic display, as appropriate, showing the various steps in the program, and whether the program is the default program or a program customized by the user. The end program module 441 returns the processing to the main program 400. Figure 6c shows the set goals subroutine 450. The set goals subroutine 450 starts with module 451. A particular personal advice site may allow a user to select one or more goals . Module453 presents an interface that allows selection of atypeof goal. The conflict with other goals module 455 compares the selected goals to determine if any ofthe goals conflict. If a conflict exists, the resolve conflicts module 457 presents the potential conflict to the user and allows the user to resolve the conflict by modifying some feature of one or more ofthe selected goals. The short-term goal module 459, the intermediate-term goal module 461 , and the long-term goal module 463 allow the user to select specific achievement points over a period of time . For example, the short-term goal may be a one week goal, the intermediate- term goal may be a one month goal and the long-term goal may be a six month goal. The check conflicts with other goals module 465 ensures that there are no conflicts based on the length ofthe goals, the obj ectives ofthe goals, or other attributes ofthe goals selected in any ofthe modules 459, 461 and 463. If a conflicts exists, the resolve conflicts module 467 presents the conflict to the user for resolution. Alternatively, the resolve conflicts module 467 may provide suggestions to the user for resolving conflicts, or may resolve the conflicts based on programming and logic at the personal advice site. The select another goal module 469 allows selection of another type of goal or to exit the set goal subroutine 450. In step 471, the set goal subroutine 450 ends and programming returns to the^* main program 400. Figure 6d shows the site overview subroutine 475. The site overview subroutine 475 starts withmodule 477. Module 479 presents the option of accepting default information from personal advice sites to which the user has subscribed. The user may decline to accept the default presentation and instead module 481 presents options to select a new site overview subroutine. The site overview subroutine 475 may be modified at any time to change both the manner in which data is presented, the order in which data is presented and the specific data that is presented. For example, the data may be presented using a speech synthesizing function and a male voice . The user may want the information presented using a female voice, and may therefore request a change to the voice synthesizer function. In module 483 , the site overview subroutine 475 presents a summary of data from each ofthe sites to which the user subscribes. In module 485, the site overview subroutine 475 may allow input any data or information into the user's personal profile or other data portion. Module 487 presents a data input screen. Module 489 presents a display ofthe summarized data showing the current status ofthe user's programs. In module 491, the site overview subroutine 475 ends and processing returns to the main program 400. The various interfaces provided to the user during operation ofthe program 400 may include still or streaming video and synthesized speech or recorded speech. The use of human image experts (e.g., a streaming video of a human expert) in the program 400 helps to personalize the advisor function. To provide such a human image expert addition to the interfaces, the human image expert may be videotaped or otherwise recorded performing a number of discrete actions. To be most effective, the experts should display certain style characteristics . These style characteristics may include: 1) motivation - auser may need the expert to focus the user' s attention on a particular session or exercise; 2) structure - the expert gets the user involved in a series of structured activities to achieve a specific goal by a certain time; 3) personalization - the expert may be most effective if the expert' s personality and style take into account the user' s personality and desires; and 4) positive reinforcement - the experts generally present information to the user in apositive fashion, and always encourage the clients during sessions, summaries, and reviews. An alternative to human image experts includes synthetic computer characters, such as two-dimensional animated graphical representations of humans, which may be used to provide expressiveness similar to that of human image experts. Such characters may be used by having the synthetic characters assume the metaphor of human-to-human conversation as a user interface mechanism. Current synthetic character systems fall into two broad categories: "directed characters" and "autonomous agent characters". Directed characters are those that are under direct and continuous user control. Examples include the various graphical chat- room environments on the Internet and motion picture and television studios specializing in motion-capture generation of cartoon characters. Autonomous agent characters are those that can act and react under their own control. That is, autonomous agent characters are not under direct control of a person. Instead, they are pre-programmed to function as a user interface to a software system. Current systems using autonomous agent characters include Microsoft Agent ("IntiOductionto Microsoft Agent," athttp://www.microsoft.coni/workshop/ prog/agent"). Microsoft Agent provides a very general agent server that allows client programs to launch and control animated characters that can be commanded to execute a named animation sequence, speak atext string, move and resize. JackPresenter ("A Virtual Human Presenter," Tsuhara Noma and Norman I. Badler, IJCAI, 1997) provides an anthropomorphically-correct, three- dimensional animated human that presents specific material. The PPP Persona Proj ect ("The PPP Persona: a Multipurpose Animated Presentation Agent," Elizabeth Andre, Jochen Muller and Thomas Rist, Advanced Visual Interfaces, ACM Press, 1997) uses a planning system to plan tutorial presentations as specified material given over a target time duration for the presentation. The PPP Persona system simply plans and executes a single presentation. Anthropomorphic interfaces allow an individual to use the metaphor of human face-to- face communications to provide, through a personal representative, information to a second individual when actual physical presentation is not possible or convenient. Given the appropriate sensory inputs, the personal representative engages in multi-modal, e.g., speech, text and animation, discourse with users to approximate face-to-face conversations. This also includes the recognition and use of gestures, facial expressions and body postures, and the more traditional verbal channels provided by speech and natural language understanding and synthesis. To be effective, a personal representative should be autonomous. That is, the personal representative must be able to operate independently ofthe individual it represents and must be able to convey information in a complex and dynamic environment. The range of behavior that the personal representative should possess includes providing information about the individual it represents, voicing the individual's opinions, relating and applying the individual's expertise in specific domains, and relaying messages from the individual. A second factor that makes the personal representative effective is that the physical appearance and mannerisms ofthe personal representative closely approximate those ofthe individual it represents. That is, the facial rendering of the personal representative should conform as much as possible to that ofthe individual it represents. In addition, the individual's own personality should be reflected in the personal representative by displaying as closely as possible the range of expressions, for example, that the individual would display in actual face-to- face communications. This last criteria can be closely satisfied by incorporating into a personal representative standard expressions that would ordinarily accompany face-to-face communications. For example, the personal representative could include quizzical looks such as raised eyebrows or could register dissatisfaction by frowning. Thus, the combination of these facial expressions, body motions and an accompanying script can be used by the represented individual to convey meaning in much the same way as would occur during face-to-face communications. Following is a description of a specific site or function that may be used to provide personal advice to one or more users. Referring to Figure 7a, a fitness advice site 500 may exist as a sub-site ofthe main site 101. Alternatively, the fitness site 500 may exist as a standalone site. The fitness site 500 may be accessed using the Internet, where the fitness site 500 exists as a web site. Alternatively, as will be described later, the fitness site 500 may exist as a node in any communications system, including the public switched telephone network (PSTN), a LAN, and a wireless network, for example. Users may access the fitness site 500 using the terminals 120j - 120_n. The teπninals 120_t - 120_n may be wired or wireless terminals and may incorporate video, audio and text displays. Theterminals 120 - 120_n may also be used for data input and may include a keypad, a mouse, or other key entry devices, and voice recognition and pattern recognition data input features. The fitness site 500 may include a fitness site database 503 having information about specific exercises, for example. The fitness site database 503 may be used by the fitness site 500 and may be accessible by the user. Information in the fitness site database 503 may be considered when developing a fitness program or for planning a periodic fitness session. The fitness site database 503 may have the following information associated with each exercise. • an expected duration; • an intensity rating; • a complexity rating; • a muscles-worked list; • a list of other exercises that this exercise works particularly well with; • a chronology ofthe times the user has performed exercise, along with the durations or repetitions and weights for those times as well as the ratings of how hard it was; and • a rating of how well the user likes the exercise. The fitness site 500 may be used to plan an exercise program customized for each user and which lasts for a sustained period, such as six months. The program may be organized into multi-week units composed of, for example, 3-6 week weekly groups of 3-7 daily sessions: multi-week (e.g., monthly) units maybe composed of weekly groups, which are in turn composed of daily sessions. The fitness site 500 may include support for particular sport training in which multi-week units could be organized into higher-level phases, such as for skiing or basketball - a pre-season phase, a season phase, and a post-season phase. A fitness session may include a sequence of exercises, which, with warm-up and cool- down, may take from 15 to 60 minutes to complete, for example. The exercises within a session may be chosen to satisfy a set of criteria for achieving balance among the various types of exercises. The session may be designed so that at no time should the user experience pain or exhaustion, physical or mental distress, or failure to comprehend instructions. A weekly group may be constructed of daily sessions so that, at the end of a week, there is not only a balance among the various types of exercises, per provided criteria, but also there is a balance to be achieved in a group between the exercises and the personal care activities, per provided criteria. In the course of completing a weekly group, users may experience novelty in the form of new exercises and variants and in the manner and pacing of the exercises and personal care activities. The fitness program may have a default bias to maintain an appropriately assigned load for a strength training exercise for about a week, in which case there may be no load or duration changes for exercises within a weekly group. However, the difficulty of sessions may vary up or down, while the trend of session difficulty will typically be to increase gradually within a weekly group. The program may be designed so that in the very first few weekly groups, the user experiences continual success and progress (as measured in a weekly evaluation described below) . Each unit may incorporate maj or shifts in loads and intensities for exercises as well as shifts towards more complex exercises. Within a unit, the fitness site 500 may expect to see significant improvements in the fitness and health ofthe users. The fitness site 500 may be designed to achieve certain general goals for users over a specific time period, such as eighteen months, for example. The general goals may specify certain attributes and a scale indicating the level of achievement desired for each attribute. The general goals may include the following: lean -a high-percentage ofthe total body weight being composed of lean muscle mass (and correspondingly low body fat) as measured either in terms of the BMI (body-mass index) being ~24 or less, or the percentage of body fat being ~24% or less as measured by the three-spot sum-of-fat-folds method. fit— relative to a user' s age and gender, being at least "good" on the 4-point rating scale of "poor, fair, good, excellent" for the attribute of power and also the following five attributes -flexibility, endurance, agility, tone, and strength. healthy-the state of being at a"good", level of one's maximum capacity primarily physically, but also in terms of mental alertness and ability, emotional stability and positiveness, and spiritual satisfaction. The fitness site 500 may allow a user to select a target goal to achieve for each of d e above three attributes over time. For example, a user may elect the default setting for each of the attributes associated with the fit goal, may select a body fat BMI of 18% for the lean goal and a good level for the healthy goal. Because of potential liability issues, the fitness site 500 may incorporate a liability waiver provision, and may ask the user to answer specific questions regarding the user ' s current medical condition. Users may be accepted at the fitness site 500 if they warrant that they have discussed the fitness site programs with a physician who has approved their participation in the program, per a description supplied about the program by the fitness site 500 for the doctor. In any event, the users may be asked to execute a general waiver of liability before accessing the programs provided by the fitness site 500. The fitness site 500 may permit users to specify and prioritize any ofthe following particular personal goals and have the fitness program tailored over the long-term (months) to emphasize these according to their priority to the user. • get lean • lose weight • reduce problem fat areas • get stronger • have more endurance (for specific muscular activities or for cardio) • have more flexibility • have more coordination or agility • have substantially better body tone (specific muscles can be selected - e.g., triceps) • have more energy • sleep better • speed up metabolism • reduce stress • look better/younger • have a better sex life • counter osteoporosis • have more "explosive power" capability • feel more "balanced" - in terms of subjective ratings of "healthiness" related to the four factors of "mental", "physical", "emotional", and "spiritual" health • feel happier • have a better sense of well-being The fitness site 500 may permit the user to choose two or more ofthe above long- tenn personal goals, and the fitness site 500 may detect and resolve any conflicts associated with multiple goals. The fitness site 500 is ideally suited for a user operating a terminal in the user' s home, or other primary non- work environment. The fitness site 500 may ascertain what exercise equipment the user already possesses and may recommend a minimum set of equipment to permit a fitness program. The fitness site 500 may define the space(s) needed to accomplish the various aspects ofthe fitness program and may help the user identify appropriate space in the user ' s environment. The fitness site 500 may determine whether the user has adequate exercise space contiguous to the terminal to permit the user to easily witness the exercise demonstrations and then to hear the auditory output instructing the user into the exercise positionand controlling the exercise pace. If such contiguous space is not available, then the fitness site 500 may suggest alternatives for interacting remotely with the system, such as purchasing an infrared mouse or working from written instructions, for example. The fitness site 500 may incorporate a fitness expert, such as Kacy Duke, to guide the user through the exercises. Kacy may be presented as a moving video clip with voice overlay. Alternatively, a Kacy avatar may be used. Finally, the fitness site 500 may allow the user to select a customized avatar (e.g., a Jane Fonda avatar). Auser can access the fitness site 500 to obtain information and leani about particular topics. The fitness site 500 may include three corresponding sources of information: (1) a frequently asked questions (FAQ) database of questions accessible by an index or by the questions themselves; (2) a table of all the different types of exercises and personal care activities, with their features (e.g., muscles worked, type, duration) and general descriptions, accessible by name, type, and muscles worked; and (3) short (1-2 minute) videotaped segments of Kacy talking about various topics, accessible by an index of content descriptors and by segment titles. Talk segments may include the following topics: • Kacy biographical, personal segments • Kacy stories of her clients and their difficulties • myths (e.g., if a woman exercises too much she will develop big muscles and look like a man, large movements are better, more is better, faster is better) • motivational, committing to the work, honoring their bodies and themselves, empowering • about balance • about meditation • about fitness • about the body • about the relationship of exercise and nutrition • about aerobics • famous guests talking about their exercise experiences • what is your body saying to you, where is the tension • picking exercise equipment • doing the gym Selected functions ofthe fitness site 500 may be made available to the user in an offline session. In this alternative, the user may download a specific session, including session information (e.g., list of exercises, repetitions, length of session) and programming to a storage device, and may replay the session at a later time, or at a location remote from the user' s normal exercise location. In yet another alternative, the user may printout or download an offline session evaluation form, which may then be used to record the results of an offline fitness session. The fitness site 500 may include a link to other personal advice sites, such as a nutrition site, so that if the user has finished an exercise session, this fact may be noted in a nutrition site calendar automatically, without the user's interaction within the nutrition site. The functions of a fitness site 500 may also be made available in a local area network or intranet. One such example of a local area network fitness site is shown in Figure 7b. In Figure 7b, a fitness system 510 includes a health club site 511 , a health club database that stores data related to users ofthe system 510, a program memory 512 that stores programs and other data related to operation ofthe fitness site 511 and a processor 521 that processes data inputs form users ofthe fitness system 510. The fitness system 510 also includes one or more terminals 515 that the users operate to make inputs and to receive outputs. The terminals 515 may comiect to the fitness site 511 using the communications paths 519. The communications paths 519 may use any of several well known communications mechanisms including wired and wireless communications. The fitness site 511 may communicate with other databases such as the databases 186 and 110 and personal advice sites such as the main site 101, using a communications path 517 that may be a wired or wireless communications path. The fitness site 511 may be established in a commercial gym or health club, and may be used by health club patrons while they work out, or visit the health club . The health club may be part of a local or national chain, or may be a standalone facility . If part of a national chain, the health clubs in the chain may each include a fitness site, with all such fitness sites linked. In this way, a health club patron who visits a health club in a distant city will have access to his or her own data, fitness program and fitness goals, and can maintain periodic inputs and receive information related to progress toward achieving various goals and other information. The fitness site 511 may be used in several other venues, such as a professional sports team exercise facility, an Olympic training facility, and a university or high school athletic program facility. Returning to Figure 7a, the functions ofthe fitness site 500 may include: Firsttime entry, which provides an introduction to the user about the fitness site 700 and obtains some personal information about the user to customize the fitness site' s interaction with the user. Interactive session, which allows review of auser's performance, update ofthe user's personal profile information or diary, and review exercises contained in the fitness site database 503. Exercise session, which is a preplanned event that is based on the user' s fitness goals and a self-assessment ofthe user' s fitness level. The exercise session may be modified to account for a user' s special day situation. The exercise session itself is a sequence of exercise, stretch, meditation and evaluation events that could be conducted either online or offline depending on the user's capability to execute the exercise session. Upon entering the fitness site 500 for the first time, the user will be presented with agreements and will be asked to provide information that allows the fitness site 511 to fulfill the user' s special exercise needs. The first time entry function may include the following sub- functions: A site introduction sub-function provides an overview ofthe fitness site interaction for both the first day's session and future sessions. An acceptance ofthe site disclaimer sub-function ensures that the user receives and accepts the limitations ofthe fitness site 500. A medical clause sub-function restricts participation if the user has a specific medical condition that makes participating risky. A personal profile sub-function obtains personal and fitness information about the user. An exercise goal sub-function presents a series of life-situation models that specifying characteristics that may be obtained or developed through exercise. The exercise goal sub- function allows selection of select amodel and specification of auser's fitness rating relative to the model. A week start day selection sub-function indicates that periodic (e.g., weekly) analysis will be based on a week starting on Monday and ending on Sunday. The week start day sub- function allows selection of an alternate start day. The start day becomes part of auser's personal profile. The interactive fitness session function may include the following sub-functions : conduct a site tour, update user personal information, update program/goals, read/update diary, access fitness site database, review a pro ided weekly summary, conduct a performance review of multiple weeks, view the site ' s disclaimer or input data from an offline exercise session. The site tour sub-function provides an overview ofthe fitness site 500 and gives answers to a set of predefined questions about the operation ofthe fitness site 500. The update personal profile sub-function provides the ability to modify/update personal profile information including the user ' s personal, demographic and fitness information. The update program/goals sub-function allows updating a fitness program or goal, or selection of alternate life situation models that the fitness site 500 provides. The read/update diary sub-function allows review and update of daily diary entries. The daily diary includes records made by the fitness site 500 of each exercise completed and the user's performance and responses about each exercise. The recorded data may also include auser' s weekly summaries automatically generated by the fitness site 500. Entries in the daily diary may approximate what a real person might enter in a daily diary, involving full sentences, bullet lists, sentence fragments, and possibly tables. Daily diary entries are dated and may be time-stamped. The access database sub-function allows access to the fitness site database 503. As noted above, the fitness site database 503 may include data related to exercises and personal care activities, including exercise features (e.g., muscles worked, type, duration) and a general exercise description. The data may be accessible by exercise name, type, and muscles work. If the fitness site 500 previously determined that a specific user does not want to use a particular exercise, such an election will be recorded in the fitness site database 503. The fitness site 500 provides the option to reverse the decision for this exercise using the access fitness site database sub-function. After each calendar week, the fitness site 500 may automatically generate a weekly summary recording the user' s progress through the week. If the user requests the weekly summary prior to the end ofthe next week, the fitness site 500 will present the user ' s progress and obtain the user's performance self-evaluation. The performance review sub-function provides quantitative and qualitative infomiation collected and provided in the weekly reviews, over a specified number of weeks, or since the user began the fitness program. The reviews are provided in the form of graphs. For some measures, the fitness site 500 may report how long it has been since the user expressed a certain (negative) rating on aparticular scale (e.g., "It's been 9 weeks now since you've rated yourself anything below 'moderately happy' ) . Other such ways of reporting on performance status or trends include speech synthesis, text messages, and use of human image experts or avatar experts . When the user requests a performance review, the results are summarized and inserted into the user's diary. The disclaimer sub-function periodically may display the disclaimer that the user agreed to during the first entry function ofthe fitness site 500 and may then require the user to again agree to the limitations expressed in the disclaimer. The offline session feedback sub-function provides for data entry following an offline exercise session. The data may have first been manually entered on an offline session evaluation form. The offline session evaluation form may be downloaded from the fitness site 500 and printed. The exercise function directs and controls execution of an exercise session. The fitness site 500 may receive a request from a user to execute the preplanned exercise session Alternatively, the fitness site 500 may receive arequest for a "special day session." Special day sessions are described in detail later. Finally, the fitness site 500 may receive arequest for an offline exercise session. The fitness site 500 allows execution ofthe next preplanned exercise session upon user entry every day (after an program exists). The preplanned exercise session is composed of a session overview discussion, a series of exercise events, and a session feedback interaction with the user. The fitness site 500 includes a special day session function that provides for changing the preplanned fitness session to account for special circumstances. To execute this function the user may specify one of several conditions, or special needs, and the fitness site 500 will generate a special fitness session that takes those special needs into account. The user may then elect to complete the special fitness session, generate a different special fitness session (by specifying different needs, for example), or return to the preplanned fitness session. The special day session function permits the user to specify any one or more ofthe following special needs : • the user is depressed • the user is tired • the user is bored • the user is suffering from cramps • the user is stressed, anxious, or angry • the user has less time than the preplanned session allows • the user has more time than the preplanned session requires • the user wants to be taught something new • the user wants to change the preplanned exercises, or substitute meditation or stretching If the user cannot or chooses not to execute the preplanned fitness session on line, the user may download a takeaway product for the current exercise session. This offline package may be required because the user lacks the required space around the computer or the computer' s/line speed capability is not sufficient to support a fully interactive exercise session. Whatever the cause, the user may download and/or print a package that summarizes the session, provides a checklist of exercises to be complete, and provides a feedback form used to record the user' s accomplishments for later data entry. In another alternative, the user may be provided with a video clip or audio clip ofthe fitness session. The fitness session may be composed of a sequence of exercises; interspersed with pauses, talk segments, meditation or musical interludes, etc. The concept is that the site is in positive control ofthe session at all times, with the human expert image (e.g., Kacy) talking at least every couple of minutes, for example. Except for when the user has to interrupt and leave the session (e.g., to answer the phone), the session is planned and under the site' s initiative. The user may pause any exercise event. The fitness site 500 may ask if the user wants to resume from the pause (i.e., to continue where the fitness session left off), skip the current exercise sequence, or end the current fitness session. The following set of (roughly sequential) interactions may be involved in an overall daily fitness session: The fitness site 500 provides an easy way of getting immediately to the fitness session - for example, the user invokes a macro/script on a terminal, which signs on to the fitness site 500 and goes directly to a daily session module. The fitness site 500 tells (voice or text) the user what the plan is for the session if the user were to start then. The fitness site 500 may ask if the user wants to start later or has a special request. If a special request, the fitness site 500 generates anew session plan on the spot, for approval. If the user wants to start later, the fitness site 500 will compute if this causes any changes to plan and shows the user the plan. Otherwise the fitness site 500 may use apre- planned session. Thefitness site 500 provides an overview ofthe fitness session, including how long the session is planned for and generally what will happen (unless this is a "surprise me" request). To keep the user' s interest up, the fitness site 500 may not show the user the detailed session plan. The fitness session plan normally is composed of a sequence of exercises, interspersed with pauses, talk segments, meditation or musical interludes, for example. The concept is that the fitness site 500 is in positive control ofthe session at all times, with Kacy talking at least every couple of minutes. Except for when the user has to interrupt and leave the session (for example, to answer the telephone), the fitness session is planned for and under the fitness site' s initiative. The fitness site 500 includes elements that are motivational, supportive, and challenging (e.g. , Kacy-talk). In particular, the exercise site 500 is motivational - saying that user can meet goals, will learn to do the exercise, will get better; and supportive - acknowledging user ' s difficulties, validating the user ' s experience, challenging - pushing the user to do more, faster. Kacy may talk to users in an age-appropriate manner: 18-21 : growth, maturity, independence 22-29: twenty-something, just starting out, learning the ropes 30-34: career involvement 35-39: want to be in control, happy, this is my life 40-48 : mid-life problems 49+: right of passage, rejuvenation, seeker Kacy may also alter the style of presentation based on the user ' s gender. If the user is woman with children, Kacy may be sympathetic, and may ask about depression. If user is depressed or unhappy, Kacy may be sympathetic, ask what bothers the user, has life got the user down, whether energy level is low, whether the user has eaten too much, feels guilty, bored, for example. Using the fitness session function, the fitness site 500 invokes the first (next) exercise, completes it, and completes any filler, continuing until the end ofthe daily plan or until terminated by the user. The fitness site 500 may re-plan in real time at any point during execution ofthe fitness session, based on inputs from the user (for example, daily changes, user injured, does not want to do the next exercise, had difficulty with an exercise). The fitness site 500 may make a record of each exercise and filler completed and the user's performance and responses about each. This is to be filed within the system and, depending on user's choice, entered into the user's diary. Entries in a user's diary may approximate what a real person might enter in a daily diary, involving full sentences, bulletized lists, and sentence fragments, and tables. Diary entries may be date- and time- stamped. At the conclusion of the session, the fitness site 500 may ask when the user will want another session, may advise the user her on general things to do during the next workday, finds positive motivational tilings to say about the fitness session, and signs off, returning the user to the fitness main menu or GUI. The fitness site 500 may summarize the achievements ofthe session. At the end of a week, a weekly evaluation may be added to the session. This is an interaction in which die user' s progress is summarized and presented and new information is collected. For subjective states, such as emotions and energy, the fitness site 500 may ask how the user is faring that week (to be reviewed next week). In particular, the fitness site 500 may ask the user to rate the user' s energy level, state of happiness, state of being under stress, sense of being healthily balanced, the user' s attitude toward the user' s own body, the extent to which people have made comments about the user' s appearance, and other questions. The user also may enter her height and weight, body measurements (e.g., hips, waist), and other information. The user's progress is assessed in terms of various attributes or measures that can be varied each week, . The measures may number 6-8 or more in each fitness session and may include: • number of repetitions user can do now for a particular exercise vs. before • how long user can do the cardios • how much the weights have increased • how much stronger user is now • how user does not tire so quickly • how much endurance • figure lines, definition ofthe muscles • smaller body measurements - waist, hips • weighs less • feeling less soreness • stretching is easier • much more energy • good feeling about completing the fitness program • total amount of pounds lifted • distance traveled in aerobics (cross-country) An exercise, when executed under the control ofthe fitness site 500, may have five phases, or modules: A description phase involves the description and demonstration ofthe exercise. The user faces the computer screen to attend to a video of Kacy briefly characterizing the exercise and then demonstrating the three parts ofthe exercise -the start, the intermediate, and the final positions - and the following stretch if provided. A ready phase uses voice control to free the user from having to be in sight of and oriented towards the terminal. The fitness site 500 tells the user to go to where the exercise will be done and talks the user into the start position, with a quick review ofthe total exercise and the number of repetitions (or temporal duration) and sets. Optimally, the user should be positioned to hear Kacy's voice from the terminal, which may require that the exercise space and terminal be near each other. If this is not possible, the fitness site 500 may suggest solutions, such as extending the wire on the speaker(s), or providing a printed output ofthe exercise positions and information. An execution phase directs the user through the exercise for the first set. The first set may be followed by a short rest, and then one or more additional sets. The fitness site 500 will signal the beginning and end of each set and the rest periods. The user begins execution ofthe exercise itself with the fitness site 500 providing an audible timing/cadence signal to time the user' s movements. The timing signal may be by the beat of music or by oral instructions (e.g., "ready ... lift it ... hold ... lower it -not too fast! ... that's one ... and lift"). During exercise execution, the user may communicate the need to interrupt the exercise and then restart the exercise, or to increase or slow the cadence. In an embodiment, voice recognition is used. Alternatively, the user may communicate using a keyboard at the terminal or other manual device such as a portable hand-held wireless device. An evaluation phase may occur after all repetitions of an exercise are completed, once per set, to obtain feedback on how the user experienced doing an exercise. The evaluation may involve asking the user one or more questions. Because these questions may need to be so frequently asked, the number may be kept to a minimum. There are, however, two pieces of information that may be acquired for each set of a strength training or cardio exercise E: ( 1 ) how many repetitions were performed, or what was the duration, and (2) how difficult was it accomplishing this number of repetitions or duration, the extent X. The same two pieces of information may also be obtained for stretches . However, for this type of exercise, a metric may permit users to estimate the extent X to which they performed the stretch. Typically, performance of a stretch is characterized by the extent to which a specified end state is achieved, as measured in terms of inches short of or beyond the target state (e.g., touching one's toes), or degrees rotation short of or beyond the target state (e.g., rotating one's head 90 degrees to one side). The question about how difficult it was to accomplish X for E may be phrased so that the question applies appropriately for all types of exercises. The question also may be phrased such that the repetition maximum (RM) for the weight being used, for strength training exercises, can be estimated. This in turn allows the fitness site 500 to suggest appropriate adjustments if the weight is too light or too heavy for a typical range of 8-12 repetitions. To ask the difficulty question, the fitness site 500 may use a general format that satisfies the above requirements, such as the following 5-part multiple choice question: "You just finished performing {E}. How difficult was it to do this for {X} {repetitions/minutes/inches/degrees} ?: (1) very easy, I could easily have done at least half-again as much (50%) (2) easy, I could have done at least 1/4^ more (25%) (3) about right, I probably could not have done much more (4) hard, I had to work to get finish where I did, I probably cheated, and my form was not the best, or I pushed so hard I could have inj ured myself, so probably I should have done about l/4^th less (-25%) (5) very hard, I worked enormously hard, cheated, my form was poor, I hurt myself, so probably I should have done about Vi less (-50%) For example, for a biceps curl exercise performed with 30 pounds for X = 12 repetitions, and a response of (2) on the above question, it can be estimated that 16RM =30; assumingthat 16RMis58.5%of 1RM, 12RMis68.5%of 1RM, and 8RM is 78.5% of 1RM, it can be estimated that for this user 12RM would be 10% greater than 30 pounds, or 33 pounds, while 8RM would be 20% greater or 36 pounds . Thus, increasing the weight to 36 the next time this curl is performed should mean that the user would be able to do about 8 repetitions, giving a rating of (3) on hardness, exactly what an exercise designer would hope to accomplish. This general format and example having been presented, it is clear that instead of a multiple choice format, the user could be asked explicitly what X should have been, X' , to have been accomplished in good form, without cheating, and without risking inj ury, so that X' is the reasonable maximum extent for that E and the user' s state of health and conditioning. For example, if a user performed a biceps curl with 30 pounds for X = 12 times and estimated that X' = 18, 8RM could be estimatedas 37.5 pounds; while if X' = 10 (equivalentto 10RM= 30 pounds), 8RM could be estimated as 31.5 pounds. Being able to estimate from the difficulty and extent questions a fixed RM, such as 8RM, permits the fitness site 500 to track the estimated strength level for a particular E, even though the repetitions and weights are changing; and the estimates can be verified at any time by asking tiie user to perform the estimate 8RM exercise and see how close the resulting X was to that predicted (and, over time, revise the estimation formulas). Another factor about each exercise E that may be assessed is the extent to which the user "likes" E. The "likability" of E may assist the fitness site 500 in learning what substitutes for E might be preferable or acceptable, and also where the user might need additional instruction. The likability factor may be assessed after the user has experienced E 2-3 times, for example . Likability of exercises may be made up of three components : how much fun E is, how effective in achieving an exercise goal E is, and how comfortable the user is in performing E. Thus, users could be asked to rate E, on a 5 -point scale, for these three components, after the first 2-3 experiences, and occasionally thereafter (perhaps at an interval of 3 -6 further experiences). The questions can be asked ofthe user by voice, by screen text, or on a printed form. The user may input a response by typing the response P. The fitness site 500 may also incorporate speech recognition of at least limited, pre-defined alternatives. Alternatively, a method of responding that permits the user to answer without using a keyboard may be used, such as click-encoding using a mouse. An optional stretch phase may be provided as a stage for each exercise (but essential at the beginning ofthe session and recommended at the end). If an exercise has an associated stretch that Kacy feels should be done as part ofthe exercise (or perhaps at the user' s option), then the stretch will use the description and execution phases of a regular exercise. The fitness site 500 may incorporate a voice output for difficult exercises. The voice- output may be pre-recorded by Kacy. Alternatively, the voice output could be constructed on- the-fly using a voice output database. The fitness site 500 may incorporate intelligent, natural-language-understanding and language-generating and -speaking avatars. Where it makes sense, or where it is necessary in the fitness site 500 to have text produced dynamically, a desirable approach would be to use a talking head or full avatar body, along with synthesized speech. As noted before, such techniques are known in the art. The fitness site 500 uses Artificial Intelligence methods, such as inferencing and pattern recognition, to tailor the application uniquely to each user. For example, in the fitness site 500, pattern matching is used to dynamically develop a fitness plan based on the user's information and inputs as well as the user's performance and progress to date. The inferencing and pattern matching techniques used by the fitness site 500 are known in the art, and are described in detail in, for example, Artificial Intelligence, A New Synthesis. Nils Nilsson, Morgan Kauffinan, San Francisco, 1998, which is hereby incorporated by reference. Operation ofthe fitness site 500 may be explained with reference to the flowcharts shown in Figures 8a and 8b. Figure 8a shows a program 600 for overall operation ofthe fitness site 500. The program starts at module 601. In an introductory module 602, the program 600 present the user with introductory information regarding the fitness site 500. The information may include free information for visitors to the fitness site 500. The introduction module may also provide general explanations for operation ofthe fitness site 500. Following the introduction, a screening and disclaimer module 604 may provide the user with a statement disclaiming liability based on the user following any ofthe advice presented at the fitness site 500. The screening and disclaimer module 604 may also require that the fitness site 500 have on file a written assent to the waiver, and/or a doctor' s certification that participation in the fitness site programs will not harm the user. The written assent/certification may be supplied by a separate communications channel (e.g., a letter), or may be provided electronically. The fitness site may require the user to supplythe written assent on aperiodic basis (e.g., every six months) while the user participates in a fitness site program. An options module 606 provides a number of menu choices for accessing various functions ofthe fitness site 500. The user may elect a question & answer module 608, an update module 610 and a performance review module 612. The question & answer module 608 provides access to one or more databases, including databases external to the fitness site 500. The user may then search on the databases, or ask specific questions. The user may ask questions or design searches using voice recognition software or keys (e.g., a keyboard, mouse, track ball, and other pointing devices, including touch-sensitive screens) . The fitness site 500 may present the user with responses to the search/question using speech synthesis, text, audio files, and any other data display device. The update subroutine 610 may input information related to the user ' s performance under a fitness program into the fitness site 500. For example, if the user just completed a three mile run in twenty minutes, the user may enter this information into the fitness site 500. The update subroutine 500 may also be used to enter data related to each performance of an exercise in a workout session. Alternatively, the performance information may be entered using a daily subroutine 623, which will be described later. The performance review module 612 may be used to provide information to the user regarding the user's progress in completing a fitness program, for example. The review module 612 may present a graphical display ofthe user' s progress compared to a program goal. The review module 612 may use other displays to indicate progress, such as a digital rendering, or an avatar of the user, showing initial condition, projected intermediate and final conditions, and current condition. A long-range exercise plan module 614 may present a default or customized exercise and fitness plan. The fitness plan may be based on goals or objectives specified by the user, such as lose weight, decrease abdominal measurement, and lower body fat, for example. The fitness plan may include intermediate- and short-range plans that together make up the long- range plan. The user may modify any ofthe fitness plans using the long-term-exercise plan module 614. The long-term goals module 616 allows the user to quantify specific long term goals based on the chosen fitness program or plan. For example, the user may select loose twenty poundin 12months. The long-term goals module 616 includes guidelines that prevent the user from selecting a goal that could be harmful. The long-term goals module 616 may also provide suggestions for a user who is not sure how to select goals. A user personalization module 618 allows the user to personalize the presentation of information, plan execution interfaces, such as the monitor execution interface 166 shown in Figure 3, and other aspects ofthe program 600. For example, the user may elect to have all exercise demonstrations provided by Kacy. Alternatively, the user may elect to have the demonstrations provided by a different fitness expert, or a fitness expert avatar. The user may elect to use voice input to enter data into the fitness site 500 during exercise program execution. Other aspects ofthe program execution may also be personalized by the user with the user personalization program 618. A monthly planner module 620 may be used in addition to or in lieu ofthe long-term exercise plan to develop an interim plan, such as a monthly plan, for example. A daily planner module 622 may be used to set up corresponding daily plans. Finally, a daily session subroutine 623 may be used to set up and control each fitness or exercise session. Figure 8b shows the daily session subroutine 623 , which starts at 627. A change daily session module 629 may be used to alter a planned daily exercise session, for example. The change daily session module 629 may present the user with one or more questions to determine whether to suggest a change to the daily session. The user may be asked to indicate the user ' s mood (e.g., depressed, happy), availability (e.g., normal time available for session, less than normal time available), and physical status (e.g., tired, sore hamstring), for example. Based on these and other inputs, the change daily session module 629 may define an alternate daily session for approval by the user. The change daily session module 629 may also suggest a surprise session for the user. A surprise session may include an exercise routine that the user does not know about in advance. A single exercise control module 631 provides the initial control features for each exercise specified for the daily session. These features may include background information such as the purpose ofthe exercise, how long the exercise should take, and other information. The functions provided by the next seven modules 633 through 645 shown in Figure 8b previously have been described. A weekly evaluation module 647 may provide a summary ofthe exercise sessions completed for a specific week. The summary may include information related to progress toward achieving goals and specific exercise successes, for example. A grapher module 649 may generate graphical outputs associated with the weekly evaluation or to show results of a daily session. A diary entry and review module 651 receives user entries in a diary format for storage at the fitness site database 503. The diary entry and review module 651 may also be used to provide an entry point into the fitness site to review user data in the fitness site database 503 , and to review specific programs, goals, and progress toward achieving both. A meditation planner 653 may be used to incorporate meditation into any ofthe daily sessions. Meditation may be used to achieve better relaxation and to relieve tension, for example. Meditation may be planned as part ofthe long-term plan. A personal care activity planner 655 maybe included in the daily session subroutine. The personal care activity planner may be used to plan, execute and review other fitness activities such as massage, whirlpool treatment, and other routines. The daily session subroutine ends at module 657, and programming returns to the main program 600. Figure 9 shows the personal advice system 100 incorporating anutrition advice site 700. All other features ofthe system 100 shown in Figure 9 are the same, or similar to the features shown in Figure 1. Users may contact the nutrition site 700 either directly, or by first accessing the main site 101. Users may access the nutrition site 700 by any known telecommunications means including wired and wireless communications . Thus, users may receive nutritional advice in mobile settings, or when away from their normal location for accessing the nutrition site 700. The basic operation ofthe nutrition site 700 is similar to the operation ofthe fitness site 500 shown in Figure 7a. The nutrition site 700 includes interactive modules that allow the user to enter data, ask for advice, receive advice, set and revise goals, and viewprogress toward achieving those goals. The nutrition site 700 may use any data presentation means, including canned video clips of anutrition expert, other video and still images, text, graphics, and audio information. The nutrition site 700 may also incorporate the use of avatars to present predetennined information sequences, or to operate on the fly, for example, in response to user questions and requests for advice. The nutrition site 700 uses Artificial Intelligence methods, such as inferencing, to tailor the application uniquely to each user. For example, in the nutrition site 700, the user's personal profile information and inputs are used to deduce user characteristics. These user characteristics serve as patterns that are then matched to a set of classes that provides the basis for feedback and advice about food substitutions and behavior modification as well as meal planning. The inferencing and pattern matching techniques used by the nutrition site 700 are known in the art, and are described in detail in, for example, Artificial Intelligence. ANew Synthesis, Nils Nilsson. Morgan Kauffman, SanFrancisco, 1998, whichis hereby incorporated by reference. The nutrition site 700 may employ a personalized nutrition expert (human image or avatar, for example) to convey information. The nutrition expert is personalized in that the nutrition expert may adopt a manner and style that is appropriate for the personal profile ofthe user. For example, when showing progress toward nutrition goals, the nutrition expert may present the data in a manner that conveys emotions (j oy at achieving a goal, disappointment at lack of progress), empathy and encouragement. The nutrition site 700 may allow the user to choose the nutrition expert, or the nutrition site may provide a default nutrition expert. Similarly, the nutrition avatar may be a default avatar, or may be chosen or created by the user. For example, as shown in Figure 16, a nutrition expert 1051 may be represented by a moving or still image of nutrition expert Denise Doerman. Alternatively, the user may select another nutrition expert from a database of nutrition experts. In this embodiment, each nutrition expert may have on file in the data storage device 110, one or more video or still image that may be used in conjunction with the nutrition site 700. The user may also elect to have a nutrition avatar present information in place ofthe nutrition expert. The nutrition avatar may be a representation of any ofthe nutrition experts from ti e database of nutrition experts. Alternatively, the nutrition site 700 may create a unique nutrition avatar. hi an embodiment, the nutrition site 700 receives information regarding the user' s eating habits, actual food consumption, and other health-related data, and provides an output in terms of progress toward a defined goal. In this embodiment, the user may be required to make several daily entries to record food consumption, and to provide other data. The nutrition site 700 can ease the burden on the user through a number of mechanism. For example, the nutrition site may devise specific menus for the user to follow. The nutrition site 700 may then ask the user (visually or audibly) to indicate if the default menu was followed. The nutrition site 700may also allowtheusertoenterresponsesthroughspeechrecognitionprograms. Finally, the nutrition site 700 may be designed to limit data submission events (e.g., mouse clicks) until some other required server interaction, such as sign off, occurs . Thus, the nutrition site 700 is designed to ease the data entry burden on the user. The nutrition site 700 incorporates short, intermediate and long term goals. Shortterm goals may be for a week, intermediate goals for a month, and long term goals for six months, for example. Even longer long term goals (e.g., 18 months) are possible. The nutrition site 700 also incorporates a number of nutrition programs. For example, one program may be directed to achieving a balanced diet, reducing fat in the diet, losing weight, reducing cholesterol, reducing salt or sugar intake, reducing or increasing certain body part measurements, or a combination of any ofthe above. Combining the programs with the goals produces a user-specific program. For example, a user may devise a user-specific program to loose ten pound in six months. The nutrition site 700 includes safeguards to prevent the user from requesting, and receiving a program that could be injurious to the user's health. Thus, the nutrition site 700 will not provide a weight loss program that exceeds established norms for weight loss. Because the nutrition site 700 provides advice related to the user' s health, the user may be asked to verify that the user's current state of health will permit adherence to the user- specific program. The nutrition site 700 may require the user to certify certain aspects ofthe user's health, such as current age, weight, height, heart condition, and other medical information. The nutrition site 700 may also require a certification from a medical doctor that the user-specific plan is safe for the user to follow. The nutrition site 700 incorporates a number of interactive features to increase its functionality and acceptance by the user. For example, the nutrition site 700 may include a feature to make daily or more frequent changes to the nutrition program, based on the user' s changing circumstances, including travel, business meals, parties, and other events at which menu control is difficult. The nutrition site 700 may also mcorporate features that elicit mood information, activity information, and other information from the user, with a corresponding program change if appropriate. For example, upon access to the nutrition site 700, the user may be asked to enter information regarding the user's mood (happy, sad). If the user. indicates a sad mood, the nutrition site 700 may modify the day ' s menu to provide menu suggestions that in the past, the user has indicated are among the user ' s favorites . Alternatively, the user may be asked to indicate if the user completed any scheduled exercise for the day. If the user did not complete the scheduled exercise, the nutrition site 700 may suggest smaller portions when presenting the day's menus. The specific functions ofthe nutrition site 700 include: First-time entry, which provides an introduction to the user about the nutrition site and obtains some personal information about the user to customize the nutrition site' s interaction to the user's nutrition goals. Daily food recording, which provides the functionality for obtaining information about the user' s daily meals and provides immediate feedback on the day ' s meals relative to the user ' s nutrition goals . Progress reporting, which provides the user with an assessment ofthe user' s eating habits based on a week' s worth of recorded meals and the user' s nutrition goals. Daily suggestions, which provides suggestions for dealing with the user' s proj ected events or current well being. Th e daily suggestions functionality also tracks the user ' s ability to adhere to the suggestions. Upon entering the nutrition site 700 for the first time, the user may be asked to agree to certain disclaimers and to provide information that allows the nutrition site 700 to fulfill the user's special nutrition needs. The disclaimer function includes the following sub-functions: Site introduction, which provides an overview ofthe site interaction for both the first day's session and future sessions. Acceptance ofthe site disclaimer, which ensures that the user receives and accepts the limitations on the suggestions and data provided by the nutrition site 700. Medical clause, which requires that the user not participate with the nutrition site 700 if the user has a specific medical condition that makes participating risky. Personal profile, which obtains the user' s physical characteristics and other information height, weight, chest size, waist size, hip size, neck size and physical activity level, for example. The personal profile function provides hiformation and education about the user' s Body Mass Index (BMI) and any health risks associated the user's current personal profile. Nutrition objective, which obtains the user' s nutrition objective such as losing weight, eating a healthier diet, eating a low-fat diet, lowering serum cholesterol, restricting sugar or salt intake, fitting into clothes better, or looking and feeling better. For the nutrition obj ective of losing weight ,this function will help the user identify a target weight, calorie and fat intake, for example. Short-term goal selection, where short-term goals (foe example, no more than two) that the user would like to address during the next week are selected. The short-term goal selection function first obtains information about the user ' s eating habits, then requests the user select one or two goals to focus on, and then negotiates the parameters of each goal. For the obj ective of losing weight, the goals may include: • increase physical activity, • eat fewer restaurant or prepared meals per week, • eat regularly to manage your appetite, • eat more fruits and vegetables, • eat lighter dinners, • eat fewer high-calorie snack foods, • decrease added fats, and • eat fewer fatty meats and cheeses. The week start day selection, where the user is informed that weekly analysis will be based on a week starting on Monday and ending on Sunday and is given opportunity to select a different week start day. User's start day then becomes part of user's personal profile. The nutrition site 700 provides for daily meal recording by the user. During the typical daily session, the user will record meals for the day, can have the meals analyzed and can have the day analyzed. The food recorder may provide an easy and least time-consuming method for the user to enter daily meal information. The food recorder permits selection ofthe day the user wants to edit and the event (within that day) to be edited (i.e., breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks). If the user attempts enter days out of order, the food recorder will query the user about missing meal information. The user may enter the time of each meal, meal preparation location, and a description of each meal by selecting foods and portions from the following sources: • a list of foods the user often eats (which is created under user control when selecting items from the other lists), • a list of custom combinations previously identified by the user, • a list of restaurant foods contained in a restaurant database, • a list of standard recipes provided by the recipe database, or • a complete search ofthe customized USDA database of food items (which can be used to create custom combinations for later use). The nutrition site 700 may assist the user in meal planning and data recordmg. For example, during the food recording session, the user can obtain help from a demonstration of the food recording session or from directions provided from a help session. A food recording form can be printed that will make the daily record effort easier and more effective. The nutrition site 700 may provide an analysis of a specific user's meal, which will assess the meal items based on portion size, calories and fat content, for example. Food substitutions will be recommended for meal items that are less healthful. The nutrition site 700 may analyze a day's food consumption and other nutrition-related activities for a user. The nutrition site 700 may compare this information to the user's short-term goals. In addition to the food recording function of a typical day, the user will occasionally be offered an analysis of their progress toward meeting his/her obj ective and goals. Three levels of progress reporting are available depending on the state of food recordmg and the amount of time elapsed from the previous progress review. A first level review is an interim progress review that is offered after the user has supplied at least three days of recorded meals since the last review. The first level review compares the current eating pattern to the short-term goals and makes recommendations about how to adjust the user' s behavior toward meeting the short-term goal by the end ofthe week.

A second level review is offered at the end of each week, after at least four days of recorded meals are available during the week. The second level review mcludes an analysis of the user' s short-term goal(s) and assesses the user' s performance toward achieving the goals. Depending on the success in achieving the goals, the user is given the opportunity to adjust the parameters ofthe goals to make the goals more or less aggressive, or to replace the goals with new goals for the next week. A third level review is offered at the end of every other second level review. The third level review analyzes the progress toward obtaining the user' s nutrition obj ective over a defined period, such as two weeks, for example. For the obj ective of losing weight, the third level review notes the user' s weight change over time, shows the user' s eating patterns with respect to the chosen short-term goals, and provides observations about the user's eating patterns. A daily suggestions function provides suggestions for dealing with the user' s proj ected events or current well being. The daily suggestions function also tracks the user ' s ability to adhere to the suggestions. The user is presented a variety of circumstances representing anticipated food-related challenges. Based on the user's selections, a variety of tips are available for suggesting howto deal with the challenges. The categories and specific challenges addressed by this function are contained in the Daily Suggestions Table below. Where possible, the nutrition site 700 will track the user' s performance relative to the tips provided, check whether the user followed the suggestions offered and provide feedback directly to the user.

Daily Suggestions — Outline of Topics Covered

Category Event Category Event

As an example ofthe use ofthe above table, the user may be presented with the challenge of eating outside the home. Under the category of "Challenging Eating Situations", several events are provided. The user selects one or more events for analysis. Then, based on the user' s personal profile and the selected events, the nutrition site 700 provides one or more suggestions (e.g., meals options) related to the events. Other challenge categories (e.g., "How I Am Feeling") function in a similar manner.

Other than the nutrition site' s primary functions described above, there are additional functions offered to the user depending on the state ofthe user (i.e., what data has the user provided, what part ofthe nutrition site 700 has the user already visited, and under what conditions did the user exit the nutrition site 700). The functions include: Denise's nine strategies, the site library, a site tour, a status report, personal profile update, portion help, disclaimer review, customized entrance and exit messages, modify goals and program and progress and obj ective reviews. These functions may be selected by the user by accessing a nutrition site menu (nutrition home module or menu), and then selecting the desired function.

Selecting the Denise' s nine strategies function from the nutrition home module provides the basic principles that underlie how Denise will work with the user and what Denise has learned about helping people make long-lasting dietary changes. The library function, accessible from the nutrition home module, provides the user access to any relevant information that the site has provided in the current session or in previous sessions that may be of interest for reference or review. The site tour function, accessible from the nutritionhome module, provides an overview ofthe site and allows the user to see answers to a set of predefined questions about the operation of the nutrition site. The status report function, accessible from the nutrition home module, provides a review ofthe user' s current nutrition obj ective, short-term goals, and the parameters ofthe short-term goals (e.g., target weight and daily calories). The update personal profile function is accessible from the nutrition home module. The update function allows the user to provide or update information about the user' s height, weight, chest size, waist size, hip size, neck size and physical activity level. The user can also change the week start day. The portion help function provides portion help and is accessible from the Nutrition home during the food recordmg function. The portion help function provides a tutorial on the methods for measuring food portions and guidance for selecting good portion sizes. The tutorial also provides a quiz to test the user' s knowledge of food portions. The disclaimer review function, accessible from the nutrition home module, displays die disclaimer that the user agreed to during the first entry function ofthe nutrition site 700. The entrance message function, provided automatically upon entry to the nutrition site 700, gives a message specifically designed to direct the user to the most likely site function, given the state ofthe nutrition site 700 that the user left on a previous visit. The exit message function, provided automatically upon an exit request from the nutrition site 700, gives a message specifically designed to summarize the visit and to indicate the next available nutrition site activity upon the user's return. The modify short-term goals function, accessible from the nutrition home module, displays the user' s current short-term goals and allows either the parameters ofthe goals to be changed, or new goals to be selected. The choose/modify obj ective (program) function, accessible from the nutrition home module, allows the user to choose, at any time, a different long-term nutrition objective. The progress review function, available from the nutrition home module when a first or second level review is available but has not yet been displayed allows for display of the progress review. The obj ective review function provides access from the nutrition home module to the most recent obj ective review presentation. The user can view the obj ective review function at any time until a new objective review is available. An example of one ofthe operational modules ofthe nutrition site 700 is shown in Figure 10. For each module, or state, in Figure 10, the nutrition site 700 may present a unique graphical user interface, or screen, for viewing. Referring to Figure 10, a food recording program 800 receives information from a user related to foods d e user has or will consume. The food recording program 800 includes a link to a nutrition home module 807 that determines processing when a user accesses the nutrition site 700. Associated with the nutrition home module may be a nutrition home menu or interface. From the nutrition home module 807, the processing may move to a daily summary module 801 that receives data from the user and guides the user to other program modules. From the daily summary module 801 , the processing may branch to an add snack module 803 that receives inputs from the user to add a snack to a list of foods maintained by the nutrition site 700. Processing may also branch to a change date module 811 , for changing a date being used for data entry, a delete meal module 827 for deleting a meal from a user' s list of meals, and an exercise module 804 for receiving information related to a user' s exercise program. The daily summary module 801 also connects to external processing modules (i.e,modules external to the food recording program 800), such as a calendar module 805 that tracks the day being analyzed, an evaluate meal module 829 that evaluates a user' s meal, and an analyze day module 809 that analyzes all nutrition-related activities of a user for a particular day. Each ofthe modules listed above may also have an associated interface, such as a graphical user interface, that the nutrition site 700 uses during data entry and display. A meal contents module 815 may also be accessed from the daily summary module 801. The meal contents module 815 receives information related to a specific meal. From the meal contents module 815, processing may branch to a change quantity module 819 for changing a quantity of a specific meal item, and to a delete single item module 817 for deleting a specific meal item. A search module 823 provides a search function to search the nutrition site database 701. A foods by category module 821 includes the function of receiving food items for entry based on food categories. The food categories may be provided in the nutrition site database 701, with food items arranged into food groups and cuisines, which are in turn arranged in alphabetical order, for example. For example, the food groups may include baked good, ballpark foods and breakfast items. Each ofthe food groups may have one or more associated food items. A suggest an item module 825 may be used to receive information for a new food item that may not be included in the nutrition site database 701. Each of these modules may have associated with it, one or more interfaces. For example, the search module 823 may have an input interface that receives a search request, and a search results interface that displays the search results. A recipe list module 833 is used to display the recipes, menus and foods that a particular user has defined. An add new food module 851 receives a new recipe from the user, and prompts the user to enter a list of food items or ingredients. An add new menu module 835 receives information related to a new menu for a specific user. A specify nutrients module 853 receives nutritional information for food items received by operation ofthe add new food module 851 andthe add new menu module 835. A delete single item module 843 receives information to be deleted form a specific user's list of food items. Finally, a searchmodule 855 and a food by category module 857 function similar to the search module 823 andthefoods by category module 821 , respectively. As before, each of these modules may have associated with it, one or more interfaces. A recipe contents module 837 displays contents of specific menus and recipes. Food items may be added to the menu or recipe using the foods by category module 845 or the search module 843. Single items may be deleted from the recipe or menu, or quantities changed, using the delete single item module 841 andthe change quantity module 839. One or more interfaces may be associated with each of these modules. Finally, the food recording program 800 may include a help module (not shown) that provides help information related to the entry of information and processing of the food program 800. Operation ofthe food recording program 800 will now be explained with reference to Figure 10 and Figures 11 - 23. In Figure 10, the food recording program 800 begins with the daily summary module 801 , with a corresponding screen, or daily summary graphical user interface (GUI) 870 shown in Figure 11. The daily summary module 801 allows the user to select a date (the active date) that is used throughout the processing of information by the nutrition site 700. For example, the date entered in the daily summary module 801 is used throughout the food recording process. Food records may be displayed and modified for the date that is selected using the daily summary module 801. Upon initial entry using the daily summary module 801 , the date displayed will be the current system date. The daily summary module 801 may also be entered from the calendar module 805, and in this case, the date displayed will be the date selected in the calendar module 805. The user may change the date usingthe daily summary module 801 orthe calendar module 805. Ifthe user changes the date, other information display using the daily summary module 801 and the daily summary GUI 870 will be changed. As shown in Figure 11, the daily summary GUI 870, displayed under control ofthe daily summary module 801 includes indications for exercise, wake up time, meal display and selection, add a new snack and change date. The daily summary GUI 870 also includes links to other modules including return to nutrition home, look at calendar, evaluate this day and a look at directions, or help function. Finally, the daily summary GUI 870 includes a day complete indicator that indicates that all foods for the active date have been entered. The exercise indicator show the current state ofthe user's exercise record for the active date. There are three possible states : the user has indicated that he has exercised on this date (yes), or the user has indicated that he has not exercised on this date (no), or the user has not specified whether or not he has exercised (blank). The user may select either yes or no but not both. Alternatively, the user may indicate an entry by audible command using voice recognition programming. If the user has previously specified a wake up time for the active date (stored in the user's record for the date), then that tune should be used as a current value for drop-down time fields. Drop-down fields allow the user to select hours and minutes for the wake up time. A list of meals and snacks may be displayed. Each entry in the list may be selected by clicking or audible command. Once selected, the nutrition site 700 updates the exercise and wake up entries (if changed), sets the active meal to the selected entry and branches to the meal content. The meal contents module 815 allows for meal display and selection. The meal contents module 815 may produce a meal contents GUI 900 as shown in Figure 12. The meal contents module 815 displays a list of all meals and snacks. Meal entries may be displayed in chronological order of breakfast, lunch, dinner and first and second snacks, for example. For any meal or snack, if the user's record includes any data for that meal or snack, then the displayed entry may be extended to include the time ofthe meal and the number of items listed for that meal. Returning to Figure 11 , the user may use the daily summary GUI 870 to add a new snack. Ifthe user elects to add a new snack, the daily summary module 801 transitions to the add snack module 803. The add snack module 803 presents the user with the option of electing a time entry for a snack. From the add snack module 803 , the program 800 may transition to the meal contents module 815 to select the contents ofthe snack. The daily summary module 801 also includes an exercise today field. The user may indicate yes or no as an entry using the exercise today field. Alternatively, at the user ' s election, the daily summary module 801 may acquire daily exercise information from the fitness site 500. The user may elect to change the date using the daily summary module 801. In this event, the program 800 transitions to the change date module 811. The change date module 811 then allows the user to select a future or past date. Ifthe current date is selected, and all entries have not been completed for the current date, the change date module 811 may present the user with a number of suggestions to encourage completion of data entries for the current date. These entries may be in the form of text messages or may be audible messages that are played to the user. For example, the change date module 811 may provide atext message: "I recommend that you finish entering all of your foods for this date before going on to another day." As noted above, the daily summary module 801 allows the user to select one of a number of action items from the daily summary GUI 870. For example, the user may elect "evaluate this day." Ifthe user so elects, any updated exercise and wake up entries will be changed or made in the user's record. If neither the exercise box nor the day complete indicator are selected and the user has exercised one ofthe user's short-term goals, then the program 800 transitions to the exercise module 804 to query the user about exercise. Otherwise, the program 800 transitions to the analyze day module 809. Following completion ofthe daily summary module 801, the program 800 may transition to the meal contents module 815. Using the meal contents GUI 900, the meal contents module 815 displays the active meal selected during operation ofthe daily summary module 801. The selected meal and time ofthe meal is displayed in the meal time field 901. If no time is entered for a particular meal, a default value may be used. A preparation field 902 is used to enter and display whether the meal was home prepared or not. A food list 903 displays the contents ofthe current meal shown in the field 901. An action block 904 shows actions that maybe completed from the meal contents module 815. The action block 904 includes evaluate this day, calendar and help. A second action block 905 allows the item quantity to be changed or the selected item to be deleted. Using the action buttons shown in the action blocks 904 or 905, the user can cause the program 800 to branch to a number of sub-modules including the delete single item module 817, the change quantity module 819, delete meal module 827 and the evaluate meal module 829. The meal contents module 815 includes a past food filter for all foods in the nutrition site database 701. The filter can be used to display foods from the entire nutrition site database 701 or only from foods that have been selected by the user for past meals. The foods by category module 821 displays a list of food categories and cuisines. Associated with the foods by category module 821 is a foods by category GUI 930, shown in Figure 13. The user can select the setting ofthe filter using the buttons shown in the field 931. The options available are displayed in a food categories list 932. The food categories list 932 may be apredefined list of food groups and cuisines arranged in alphabetical order. Once a food category or cuisine selection is received, the foods by category module 821 may display food items corresponding to the category or cuisine, using the foods by category GUI 940 shown in Figure 14a. The foods by category GUI 940 shows classes of food items 941. Each ofthe classes 941 displays the food items from the nutrition site database 701 that a specific user has selected. As shown in Figure 14a, the user has selected Chinese food as a cuisine and a number of classes 941 are displayed, including appetizers, main courses and side dishes. In this example, when the user selects the Chinese cuisine category, the nutrition site database 701 is searched for entries that have Chinese in the cuisine field and each ofthe three entries above in a sub-cuisine field, or class. This creates three food lists, one for each class. Each list is displayed in a corresponding scrolling field 941 inthe foods by category GUI 940. A a foods by category GUI may display the results of selecting the food category snacks, sweets and desserts. Returning to Figure 14a, once a user has selected a food item in one of the subcategories 941 , a food quantity field 942 is displayed in the foods by category GUI 940. The values in the field 942 depend on the specific food item. Each food item in the nutrition site database 701 may have one or more units of measure, one of which will be marked as a default value. The default value may be displayed initially. The user may then select a quantity from thelist942. The foods by category module 821 also allows the user to initiate certain action sequences using the action buttons 943 shown in Figure 14a. For example, the user may select the add this item action button, and a confirmation message 944 may be displayed for the selected food including the food item quantity and units. This food information then may be po sted to the user's record along with any change by the user to the mealtime or preparation fields. The foods by category module 821 may then redisplay the foods by category GUI 940 with no class selection. The user may also selectthe action button suggest new item. The program 800 may then transition to the suggest item module 825 and a GUI (not shown) may be displayed that allows the user to enter the suggested food item by, for example, typing in the entry. The search module 823 allows the user to search for aparticular food item from the nutrition site database 701. Associated with the search module 823 is a search GUI 950 showninFigure 15a. The search GUI 950 allows the userto interface withthe nutrition site 700 to enter a desired food item in search field 951. A text message 953 may be presented to guide the user . A search button 952 initiates the search. The search module 823 may use the selected food category, the text string and the past foods filter to select items from the nutrition site database 701. If the search returns no results, an error message may be displayed. Ifthe search returns a result, the program 800 will display the results in on the search GUI 950. An alternate search GUI with a search result for tuna sandwich may display results in a search results field. A quantity field allows the user to enter the quantity and food type consumed (if applicable). Action buttons allow the selected food item to be added to the user' s record in the nutrition site database 701 , or allow the user to suggest a new food item. The search module 823 may also display a message indicating the food item has been added to the user' s record in the nutrition site database 701. Following completion of entries using the meal contents module 815, the program 800 maybranchto the recipe module 833. The recipe module 833 allows the user to add a new menu or recipe, add a new food or to define a single food item and its nutrients, and to choose a menu or recipe and to modify or delete its contents. Associated with the recipe module 833 is arecipe list GUI 960 shown hiFigure 16. The recipe list GUI 960 includes apersonal recipe list 961 , a menu/recipe detail field 962, and action links 963. Using the recipe list GUI 960 in conjunction with the recipe module 833, the user may select any menu or recipe and have displayed the contents ofthat menu or recipe. The actionlinks 963 may be used to linkthe recipe module 833 to other modules including the add new food module 851 , the add new menu module 835 and the delete item module 834. Ifthe user elects to add anew menu or recipe, the program 800 may display another GUI (not sho n) with a data entry field in which the user may enter text inf brmation related to the recipe or menu, including a title and the contents ofthe recipe or menu. Ifthe user elects to add a new food, the program 800 may move to the add new food module 851 and display another data (text) entry screen (not shown). Using this text entry screen, the user may enter the appropriate data. The program 800 may also move to the specify nutrients module 853 and require the user to enter nutritional information related to the recipe or the menu before the recipe or menu is added to the nutrition site database 701. From the add new food module 851 , the program 800 may also move to the search module 855 and afoodby category module 857. The searchmodule 855 performs functions similar to those performed by the search module 823 , previously described. The food by category module performs functions similar to those performed by the foods by category module 821, previously described. Ifthe user elects to add a new menu, the program 800 moves from the add new menu module 835 to the recipe contents module 837. Associated with the recipe contents module 837isarecipecontents GUI970 showninFigure 17. The recipe contents GUI 970 mcludes amenu or recipe contents field 972 that displays the content ofthe selected menu or recipe. The recipe contents GUI 970 also includes a menu or recipe name field 972 that displays the name ofthe menu or recipe. Finally, the recipe contents GUI 970 includes action buttons 973 and show me buttons 974 to link the recipe contents module 837 to other modules ofthe program 800. Using these buttons, the user may link to the searchmodule 843, the foods by category module 845, the delete single item module 841 and the change quantity module 839. The search module 843 and the foods by category module 845 perform functions similar to the search module 823 and the foods by category module 821, respectively. The specify nutrients module 853 allows the user to add a new food item by specifying the nutritional content ofthe food item. A specify nutrients GUI 1020 associated with the specify nutrients module 853 is shown in Figure 18. The specify nutrients GUI 1020 includes a food name field 1021 , a food category field 1023 , a food subcategory field 1024 and a nutrition facts field 1022. Also included are action buttons 1025 that link the specify nutrients module 853 to othermodules ofthe program 800. The nutrition facts field 1024 may include mandatory and optional sub-fields. Mandatory fields must be completed before the new item is added to the nutrition site database 701. The specify nutrients module 853 may also incorporate error checking features such that clearly erroneous entries are rej ected, with a corresponding error message. The program 800 may include links to other programs and routines that run at the nutrition site 700. Included in these additional programs are personal profile, evaluation, summary, suggestion and feedback programs . For example, a user may be presented with a social situation that could impact the user ' s nutrition plan, such as attendance at a business dinner, a party, or a sporting event. In this case, the user may access the nutrition site and request information about best choices, taking into account the user' s personalized plan and goals. Figures 19-23 illustrate graphical user interfaces that allow the user to interact with the nutrition site 700 to obtain nutritional advice and to register personal profile information. Figure 19 shows daily analysis GUI 1026 that may provide the results of a daily analysis performed by the analyze day module 809 shown in Figure 10. The analysis results are based on a daily food recording session completed by a user . The daily analysis GUI 1026 includes a chart 1029 showing calories and fat consumed by the user for each ofthe meals the user recorded. An explanatory message 1027 helps the user understand the information provided in the chart 1026. A feedback message 1028 indicates potential problems with the user' s daily food consumption, in this case, a suggestion that the user has not consumed enough calories. Figure 20a illustrates a further feedback GUI that requests information and provides suggestions based on the daily analysis results shown in Figure 19. Figure 20a shows a feedback GUI 1030 that notes the low calorie consumption and asks ifthe user is hungry . Another feedback GUI suggests the user eat more, and consider adding snacks to the daily meal list. Yet another feedback GUI notes the user went too long between meals, and suggests that the user space meals more evenly throughout the day . Finally, another feedback GUI suggests the user incorporate a calorie-burning activity into the next day's activities to help the user lose weight. Figure 21a illustrates a daily suggestions GUI 1050 that provides daily nutrition suggestions for a user who may be going out for entertainment or a business meal. The daily suggestions GUI 1050 may include a still or moving image of a nutrition expert 1051. The nutrition expert image 1051 may be animated, and subsequent suggestions may be provided in one or more oftext, audio and video. The nutrition expert image 1051 may also be replaced with a nutrition expert avatar, or may be replaced with a different nutrition expert according to the user's preferences. The daily suggestions GUI 1050 includes anumber of navigational features such as the link, or button, 1053. Figure 22 is a personal profile GUI 1110 that may be used in conjunction with the nutrition site 700 to develop a personal profile of a user. The personal profile GUI 1110 includes an image of a nutrition expert 1111. The nutrition expert may be a still or moving video, or may be replaced with a different nutrition expert or an avatar, hi the example shown in Figure 22, the personal profile GUI 1110 is asking the user to indicate general information about food items stored at the user's home by presenting a default list 1112 of food items. Figure 23 is another personal profile GUI 1140 that is used to gather personal profile information. The personal profile GUI 1140 includes the nutrition expert 1111. The personal profile GUI 1140 also includes a statement and a list of food items 1141. The statement is designed to elicit information from the user regarding the user' s eating habits under certain physiological conditions. The personal profile GUI 1140 also includes a separate question and answer block that addresses a particular type of eating disorder. By gathering the above information, the fitness site 700 can better plan for the health of its users, and can make suggestion related to foods to eat and foods to avoid. In the illustrated embodiments, the processors, such as the processor 116, may be implemented as a single purpose integrated circuit (ASIC) having a main or central processor section for overall, system-level control, and separate sections dedicated to performing various different specific computations, functions and processes under control ofthe central processor section. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the processor can also be implemented using a number of separate dedicated or programmable integrated circuits or devices. The processor may also be implemented using a suitably programmed general purpose computer. In general, any device or assembly of devices on which a finite state machine capable of implementing the flowcharts shown in Figures 6a - 6d and 8a and 8b, for example, can be used as the processor. The illustrated embodiments are meant to show specific applications ofthe personal advisor system and method, and the personal advisor system and method is not intended to be limited to these embodiments. Those of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize other applications for the personal advisor system and method, as defined in the following claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A personal advisor, comprising: a data storage device that stores personal profile information related to a user of the personal advisor; a processor that uses the stored personal profile information for inferencing to generate personal advice for the user; and an active area interface that receives user-specific data and outputs the personal advice, wherein the active area interface is displayed at the terminal.

2. The personal advisor of claim 1 , wherein the personal advisor is located at a remote site, and wherein users ofthe personal advisor access the remote site using terminals operably coupled to the remote site, the personal advisor further comprising: a program module that provides suggestions for a personal advice program and receives a selection for the personal advice program; and a set goals module that provides suggestions for one or more personal advice goals and receives selections for the one or more personal advice goals.

3. The personal advisor of claim 2, wherein the active area interface receives user program performance data and wherein the personal advisor further comprises an evaluation module that compares the user program performance data and the one or more personal advice goals and provides an output.

4. The personal advisor of claim 3, wherein the personal advisor further comprises a feedback module, and wherein the feedback module provides the output to the user.

5. The personal advisor of claim 4, wherein the output includes one or more of still video, moving video, audio, text and graphical information.

6. The personal advisor of claim 4, wherein the feedback module comprises a video of a personal advice expert, the personal advice expert presenting the output.

7. The personal advisor of claim 6, wherein the personal advice expert is a human image.

8. The personal advisor of claim 6, wherein the personal advice expert is an avatar.

9. The personal advisor of claim 6, wherein the personal advice expert presents the output in a personality and a style that is individually adapted to each user ofthe personal advisor.

10. The personal advisor of claim 9, wherein each user selects the personality and the style.

11. The personal advisor of claim 9, wherein the personality and the style are based on the user' s personal profile.

12. The personal advisor of claim 3 , wherein the feedback module provides the output to the set goals module, the set goals module suggesting one or more modified personal advice goals.

13. The personal advisor of claim 2, wherein the program module provides a periodic plan to execute the personal advice program.

14. The personal advisor of claim 13 , wherein the program module modifies the periodic plan based on an input from the user.

15. The personal advisor of claim 14, wherein the periodic plan is one of a daily plan, a weekly plan and a monthly plan.

16. The personal advisor of claim 2, wherein the remote site further comprises a demonstration module, comprising: a personal advice expert; an execution module, wherein the personal expert coaches the user in execution ofthe program plan; and an evaluation module, wherein the personal expert receives an indication from the user related to a degree of success in completing ofthe program plan, and wherein the personal expert receives the indication by one or more of pattern recognition, voice-to-data conversion, and key operation.

17. The personal advisor of claim 1 , further comprising : a first personal advisor, wherein the first personal advisor provides first personal advice on a first topic; and one or more subsequent personal advisors, wherein the one or more subsequent advisors provide personal advice on one or more subsequent second topics, respectively.

18. The personal advisor of claim 17, wherein the user receives the first and the one or more subsequent personal advice.

19. The personal advisor of claim 17, wherein the first and the one or more subsequent personal advisors share information related to the user.

20. The personal advisor of claim 19, further comprising a summary module that presents a summary output to the user based on first and the second personal advice.

21. The personal advisor of claim 1 , wherein the remote site is a nutrition site, the nutrition site providing personal dietary and health advice to the user.

22. The personal advisor of claim 21, wherein the nutrition site comprises: a daily summary module; a meal contents module; a food search module; an add food module; a recipe module; a recipe contents module; a foods by category module; an evaluate meal module; and an analyze day module.

23. The personal advisor of claim 22, wherein the personal profile includes eating habits ofthe user.

24. The personal advisor of claim 23 , wherein die eating habits mcludes one or more of foods stocked at home, and foods eaten based on a mood ofthe user.

25. The personal advisor of claim 1 , wherein the remote site is a fitness site, the fitness site providing exercise and health advice to the user.

26. The personal advisor of claim 25 , wherein the fitness site is included in a commercial health club system, the health club system including one or more health clubs.

27. The personal advisor of claim 26, wherein the user receives the personal advice at any ofthe one or more health clubs.

28. The personal advisor of claim 25 , wherein the fitness site is included in a sports training facility.

29. The personal advisor of claim 25, wherein the fitness site comprises; an introduction module; a screening and disclaimer module; a performance review module; a long-term exercise plan module; a long-term goals module; a user personalization module; a monthly planner; a daily planner; and a daily session module.

30. The personal advisor of claim 29, wherein the daily session module comprises: a change daily session module; a single exercise control module; an exercise coordination module; an in-session talk planner module; a single exercise description module; a ready phase of exercise module; an execution module; an evaluation module; a stretch component module; a weekly evaluation module; a diary entry module; a meditation planner module; and a personal care activity planner.

31. The personal advisor of claim 1 , wherein the personal advisor is located at an Intemet web site.

32. The personal advisor of claim 1 , wherein the personal advisor is located at an intranet site.

33. The personal advisor of claim 1, wherein the personal advisor is accessed by a terminal, and wherein the terminal is one of a wired telephone, a wireless telephone, a television, a personal computer, a personal data device.

34. The personal advisor of claim 1, wherein the personal advice is provided over one or more of a wired telephone system, a wireless telephone system, a cable television system, a local area network, and a satellite television system.

35. The personal advisor of claim 1, wherein the active area interface comprises; a personal advice expert, wherein the personal advice expert includes a personality and a style based on one or more ofthe personal profile information and a desire ofthe user; a data input mechanism, wherein the user provides measurements and other data to the personal advisor; and an information output mechanism including one or more of an audio output, a video output, and a text output.

36. A personal advice site that provides personal advice to users, comprising: an input interface that receives personal information from a user; a data storage device that stores the received personal information as a personal profile ofthe user; a processor that processes the personal profile using Artificial Intelligence techniques including use of inferencing and pattern matching, and calculations and algorithms to produce personal advice that is unique to the user; and an output that displays the personal advice.

37. A personal advice system, comprising: one or more terminals, wherein a user operates one ofthe one or more terminals to access the personal advice system; and a remote site operably coupled to the one or more terminals, the site comprising: a processor that processes information received from the user to create a personal profile ofthe user and to produce an output includmg personal advice to the user, and a data storage device that stores the personal profile and the personal advice.

38. A computer program operating on a processor for providing personal advice to users, the program, comprising : an introduction module that introduces a user to the computer program; a program selection module that lists programs available to the user, receives the user' s selection, and develops a custom program for the user; a data gathering module that receives and processes information related to the custom program; a personal profile module that receives personal information related to the user and produces a personal profile ofthe user for use with the custom program; a program goal module that receives an input from the user and produces a custom program goal; a suggestion module that provides personal advice to the user based on the custom program and the custom program goal; a daily plan module that generates an active area interface between the user and the program; and a feedback module that indicates progress toward achieving the custom program goal.

39. The computer program of claim 38, wherein the active area interface comprises: a personal advice expert, wherein the personal advice expert may be one of a human expert, an avatar expert, and a computer-generated expert, and wherein the personal advice expert includes a personality and a style based on the personal profile ofthe user; a data input area that receives measurements and other data from the user during a personal advice session; and an information output area that provides instructions and other information to the user for completing the personal advice session.

40. A method in a computer system for providing expert personal advice from a personal advisor to a user, comprising: receiving personal information related to the user; processing the personal information to produce a personal profile ofthe user; storing the personal profile; receiving measurement data from the user; processing the stored personal profile information using Artificial Intelligence techniques including inferencing and pattern matching, and calculations and algorithms to produce personal advice that is unique to the user; and providing the personal advice to the user.

41. The method of claim 40, further comprising: creating an active area as an interface between the user and the personal advisor; providing the user with instructions and information during an operation ofthe active area; receiving the measurement data in the active area; and displaying the personal advice in the active area.

42. The method of claim 40, further comprising: receiving a personal advice program plan definition from the user; receiving short-, intermediate-, and long-range goals from the user; resolving conflicts between the goals and the plan definition; and preparing a program plan based on the plan definition and the goals.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the program plan includes a daily plan and a long- range plan.

44. The method of claim 43, further comprising: receiving update information from the user; and revising the daily plan and the long range plan based on the update information.

45. The method of claim 43, further comprising: monitoring execution ofthe daily plan; and providing feedback to the user based on the monitoring.

46. The method of claim 40, wherein the personal advice is presented using one or more of audio, video, graphical and text information.

47. The method of claim 40, wherein measurement data are provided using a voice input to the personal advisor.

48. The method of claim 40, further comprising: providing an personal advice expert; receiving a personality and a style selection for the personal advice expert; and providing at least some ofthe personal advice using the personal advice expert.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein the personal advice expert is one of a human expert and an avatar expert.

50. The method of claim 40, wherein the personal advice is nutritional advice.

51. The method of claim 40, wherein the personal advice is exercise and fitness advice.

52. The method of claim 40, further comprising providing the personal advisor at an Internet web site.

53. The method of claim 40, further comprising providing the personal advisor at a node in a local area network.

54. The method of claim 40, further comprising providing the personal advisor at a node in a communications network.

55. A method for providing expert personal fitness advice, comprising: receiving personal fitness information from a user; receiving a fitness program selection from the user; receiving fitness goals from the user; creating a user personal profile from the personal fitness information; generating a fitness program for the user based on the personal profile and the program selection and the goals, wherein the fitness program includes daily sessions, and short-, intermediate-, and long range plans and goals; monitoring and coaching execution of d e fitness program including the daily sessions; and providing feedback to the user based on success in achieving the goals.

56. Ηiemethodof claim 55, wherein the generating step comprises processing the personal profile information using Artificial hitelligence techniques including inferencing and pattern matching, and calculations and algorithms to produce personal advice that is unique to the user.

57. A method for providing expert nutritional advice, comprising: receiving personal health and nutrition information from a user; receiving a nutrition program selection from the user; receiving nutrition goals from the user; creating a personal profile for the user from the personal health and nutrition information; obtaining a waiver of liability from the user; generating a nutrition program for the user based on the personal profile and the program selection and the goals, wherein the nutrition program includes daily sessions, and short-, intermediate-, and long range plans and goals; monitoring execution ofthe nutrition program including the daily sessions; and providing feedback to the user based on success in achieving the goals.

58. The method of claim 57, wherein the generating step comprises processing the personal profile information using Artificial Intelligence techniques including inferencing and pattern matching, and calculations and algorithms to produce personal advice that is unique to the user.

59. A virtual personal advisor, comprising: a personal profile interface that receives personal profile information related to a user ofthe virtual personal advisor; a processor that processes the personal profile information and user inputs using Artificial InteUigence techniques including inferencing and pattern matching, and calculations and algorithms to produce personal advice that is unique to the user; and an active area interface that receives user-specific data and outputs the personal advice, wherein the active area interface is displayed at the terminal.