WO2003099389A1

WO2003099389A1 - Method and device for exercise bonus system

Info

Publication number: WO2003099389A1
Application number: PCT/US2003/015672
Authority: WO
Inventors: Henrik Ahlen; Yngve Naswall
Original assignee: Alfa Bravo Inc.
Priority date: 2002-05-22
Filing date: 2003-05-20
Publication date: 2003-12-04
Also published as: AU2003241499A1

Abstract

The method is an exercise bonus system that has a base sensor (20) and stationary sensors along the path of a user (24) that carries a portable sensor (26). Each stationary sensor transmits a signal (28) containing identification information (30) and time information (32) to the portable sensor (26) as the user (24) passes stationary sensor after stationary sensor. The user (24) eventually passes the base sensor (20) that triggers the user's portable sensor (26) to transmit its stored information about its previous passage of the stationary sensors to the base sensor (20). A server calculates a point score for the user. The user (24) is rewarded for the points earned.

Description

METHOD AND DEVICE FOR EXERCISE BONDS SYSTEM

Technical Field

The invention relates to a method and device for an exercise bonus system to encourage people such as employees to be more physically active in their daily life, in order to reduce their number of sick days and improve their general health and personal energy.

Summary and Background of the Invention A majority of the population in the industrialized countries are not physically active enough in their daily life. The technical developments in modern society has removed many of the earlier needs for daily physical efforts, such as using cars and buses instead of walking, using elevators and escalators instead of stairways etc. Also, many types of work are now desk-bound, causing the employee to sit still for most part of the workday. This reduction of daily exercise has reduced the general health of the population and the average personal weight is increasing. This is a particular problem for employers that need to have a healthy and efficient work force to be profitable. The increasing number of employee sick days is becoming a serious problem for employers, insurance companies and governments . Many efforts have been made to encourage employees to exercise more to reduce the amount of sick leave. For example, many employers have tried to inform the employees about the advantages of regular exercise, or sponsor memberships at gyms etc. However, these methods are not motivating enough to make people start exercise regularly. There is a need for a method and device that would stimulate the employees to increase their daily physical activity level in order to make them healthier. There is also a need for a system that is reliable and automatically registers the employees' exercise at low administration costs. There is a need for a system with a mechanism for recording detailed information about the physical activity carried out by employees and others .

The present invention provides a solution to the problems outlined above. More particularly, the method of the present invention is an exercise bonus system that comprises one or several base sensors and an unlimited number of stationary sensors and portable sensors. Each user carries a small portable sensor. The user passes the stationary sensors by walking or running. There is an automatic, wireless data communication between each stationary sensor and the portable sensor carried by the user. The data signal has identification information about the stationary sensor. The portable sensor stores identification and time information about all the stationary sensors that has been passed. The time information is not actual clock time, but a relative, internal, per sensor (and user) time stamp.

When the user passes the base sensor, it sends a signal including type information that triggers the portable sensor to send a report signal including the previously stored information to the base sensor.

The base sensor sends this information to a computer system that based on the information received calculates the actual clock time for the user's passing of the stationary sensors, and a point score for each user, based on passed stationary sensors and the distance, total amount of movement duration, height or general transport labor required to move between the stationary sensors. The server sends the user a report with the status of points earned. The user is rewarded for the points earned.

Brief Description of the Drawing

Fig. 1 is a schematic flow diagram of the system of the present invention.

Detailed Description

With reference to Fig. 1, the system 10 of the present invention has a set of stationary sensor devices (here numbered 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 and 22) that may be used to register when a user 24 carrying a portable wireless sensor 26 is passing the sensor devices 12-22. It should be understood that the number of stationary and portable sensors may be any number that is suitable for the particular application. As is explained in detail below, the exercise pattern of the user 24 is registered and used in a bonus system to encourage the user 24 to exercise more.

The stationary sensors 12-22 may be any suitable sensor devices that can communicate with the wireless sensor 26, typically at ranges between 1 and 60 ft. The stationary sensors may be placed in stairways, corridors and hallways of buildings, along walking/running paths or any other suitable place. As explained in detail below, the wireless data communication between the portable sensor 26 and the stationary sensors 12-22 is fully automatic, so that the user 24 may score points to register the fact that the user 24 has moved between the sensors 12-22. The points are stored in a database and then presented to the user 24 and others.

The portable sensor 26 that is carried by the user is small enough to be carried in a pocket or purse, and has an identification code that is unique and assigned to the user 24. The portable sensor 26 may have a radio transmitter/receiver or portable telephone that is equipped with a wireless short range communication technology such as Bluetooth or any other suitable wireless communication technology. When the portable sensor 26 is passing one of the sensors, such as the sensor 14, the sensor 26 registers that the sensor 14 has been passed within a predetermined distance. This can be adjusted to various types of locations by configuring the signal strength of the sensors.

The sensor 14 may be designed to continuously emit a registration signal 28 that may be passively picked up by the sensor 26. The system may also work the other way around, where the portable sensor 26 may be designed to continuously emit a registration signal 28 that may be passively picked up by the sensor 14, causing sensor 14 to activate its data transmission.

The sensor 26 may be designed to be activated only when its built-in motion detector notes that it is moving, for example when the user is walking or running, in order to save on the battery of the sensor 26. The movement sensor may also be used to register the total duration of time that the portable sensor 26 has been in motion. Registering of movement duration may be done in portable sensor 26, both as a total duration sum and as an accumulated duration sum when passing each stationary sensor. The signal 28 may include, but not be limited to, an information package 29 including information such as identification 30 of the sensor 14, the relative time 32 when the user 24 passed the sensor 14, battery level 34 of the sensor 14 batteries, and sensor type 36. The sensor 14 may be connected to an external power source, eliminating the need for batteries. The sensor type data 36 indicates whether the sensor 14 is a stationary, portable or base sensor. In this way, the stationary, portable and base sensor may use the same hardware, thereby reducing the production costs. The information in the signal 28 is preferably stored in the sensor 26, together with the relative time of sensor 26, and possibly together with personal information about the user like the number of walking or running steps taken since last stationary sensor, the accumulated duration of movement when passing the stationary sensor and the current heart rate of the user. In general, when the user 24 has moved from the sensor 12 to the sensor 14, the user 24 may score one point or any other reward system, depending on distance, height or transport labor involved. There are software-based methods to prevent the user 24 from scoring more than one point at a time by moving the sensor 26 back and forth by the sensor 14, as explained below.

An important feature of the system is that the pickup and storage of the information in the signal 28 is fully automatic and no action is required by the user 24. When the user 24 approaches the sensor 16, the sensor 26 picks up the information package 38 in a signal 37 from the sensor 16. The package 38 may include, but not be limited to, information such as such as identification 40 of the sensor 16, time of passage 42, battery-level 44 of the batteries of the sensor 16 and sensor type 46. A similar information package signal is received from the sensor 18 to identify the sensor 18 when the user 24 is passing the sensor 18.

Another important feature of the present invention is that no processing of the stored information takes place until the stored information is downloaded at a base sensor. This makes the system simple and no sophisticated processing devices are required at the stationary and portable sensors.

Another advantage of this concept is that there is no need to connect the stationary sensors to a network, which greatly decreases the installation costs.

When the portable sensor 26 passes a stationary sensor 20 of type 56 (which indicates that sensor 20 is a base type sensor) , the sensor 26 is triggered by signal 49 to report its stored information to the base sensor 20. This transfer of information only takes place if both the base sensor 20 and the portable sensor 26 recognize each other as belonging to the same application (organization) . The base sensor 20 may be located in the employer's reception area so that the information stored in the sensor 26 is automatically transferred by wireless technology to the sensor 20 when the user walks through the reception, the main entrance or any other suitable place.

More particularly, when the sensor 26 determines that the sensor type 56 is a base sensor, the sensor 26 is triggered to send a report signal 57 that includes the previously received information packages such as the information packages 29, 38 and 48.

When the sensor 26 receives an acceptance signal 61 from the base sensor 20 in response to the report signal 57, the previously received and stored information packages may be automatically erased in sensor 26. If no acceptance signal 61 is received by the sensor 26, the information packages are erased at the next base sensor that accepts the report signal.

The report signal 57 has an information package 58 that may be segmented into groups 60, 62, 64 and other groups according to the number of stationary sensors that have been passed by the user 24. The groups are slightly different from the information packages in that the groups have additional information and the sensor type information has been removed. For example, the group 60 may include, but not be limited to, identification 30, time 32 and battery level 34. The group 60 also has identification 66 of the portable sensor 26, relative time 68 the user passed the sensor 14 and may also contain other information 70 such as heart rate, report location, or number of steps completed, accumulated movement duration when passing a stationary sensor, distance to a stationary sensor, signal strength from a stationary sensor, aggregated by portable sensor 26.

The group 62 may include the identification 40, time 42, battery level 44 and identification 72, time of passage 74 and other information 76. Similarly, the group 64 may include the identification 50, time 52, battery level 54 and identification 78, time of report 80 and other information 82. The report signal 57 may also include information about the battery level of the portable sensor 26. The base 20 receives the information package 58 in the signal 57 and forwards this information in a signal 84 to a mediation server 86 that handles and sorts incoming information signals. The server 86 may receive the signal 84 via IP, W- AN, GSM or GPRS mobile data, RS232 or any other suitable communication link.

All processing of data is done in the server 86, this eliminates the need for data processing in the portable and stationary sensors. This concept makes the sensors cheaper and the functionality of the system easy to upgrade and maintain. Thus, the server 86 may calculate the user's velocity, direction and distance covered, based on the received information. For example, server 86 analyzes the information in the package 58, such as controlling the time that has elapsed between the passage of the user 24 between the sensors 12, 14, 16 and 18. If the time elapsed is shorter than a predetermined minimum level, thereby indicating that the user 24 has moved between the sensors at a speed greater than walking or running, the report signal is filtrated/discarded or not included. The server 86 may also analyze the sequence of the report signals. This also enables the server 86 to only evaluate and approve passages between stationary sensors when the user has actually walked or run the whole distance from one stationary sensor to another. If data indicates that the user has passed by the same stationary sensor more than once in a row without passing any other stationary sensor within a configurable time span, the result is discarded and no points will be awarded in the later processing by application server 90.

Additionally, the server 86 calculates the actual clock time of the' passage of user 24 between the sensors 12,

14, 16 and 18 by comparing the relative time recorded for each passage of the sensors with the actual internal clock time of the server 86 and the relative time of transmission between sensor 26 and base 20, stored by sensor 26 (the exact clock time is accessible to the server 86 since it is connected to Internet) . This concept eliminates the need for continuously adjusting the actual clock time in all the sensors, and thereby the time calculation becomes more reliable.

The server 86 may send an alarm signal 87 to the system administration when one of the battery levels 34, 44, 54 is below an acceptable level. The system may be set up so that the sensor 86 must receive low battery level signals from two or more separate users to trigger the alarm signal. A decreased signal level in information 70, 76 and 82 may also trigger an alarm to the system administrator. If one of the stationary sensors fails to send signals, (due to hardware failure, theft etc) the server 86 can detect and report this failure when analyzing the information in the package 58 of several users .

The server 86 sends preprocessed information 88 to a local application server 90 that contains a database for each individual user. The database ties the user 24 to the portable sensor 26. The server 90 receives the information 88 and calculates the points earned by the user 24 and other users that may be included in the signal 88, based on preprocessed information from server 86.

The server 90 sends a report 92 to a central application server 94. It should be understood that the servers 86, 90 and 94 could be the same computer unit. The server 94 may be used to distribute information about the points earned by the participating users. The points may be distributed via distribution channels 99, such as by the employer's intranet 96, email 98, SMS 100, regular mail 102 or any other suitable distribution method. The information in the channel 99 may be sent to the user 24 in a signal 104. The user 24 may view his/her point scores in a personal web page that could be protected with a personal password. The server 94 may also send other information to the user via the distribution channels 99, for example informing the user that it is time to charge the battery of his/her portable sensor, or that the user is close to reaching a specific exercise goal. The personal web page may also have information about the long term development of the user's physical activity habits, or the physical activity habits of other employees to create a competitive environment. This competitive environment may encourage the employees to increase their physical activity levels.

The web page may also show available bonus prices at certain point levels. External suppliers may provide discounts to the employees that reach the desired point levels. The exercise habits of the user 24 and other employees may also be reported to the employer.

In this way, the employer of user 24 may monitor the person's physical activity levels over a certain time period. The person may also receive a bonus from the employer such as paid days off from work, discounts at participating companies/suppliers, presents, free health-spa treatment etc. Each employer may set up an individual bonus program according to the age, weight and health status of the employees. The employer may send congratulation messages to the employee when he/she is reaching pre-defined physical activity goals. The employer may also send reminders or enquiry messages when the employee is not reaching pre-defined physical activity goals.

The system may also be used in fitness centers so that the members of the fitness center may score points in this system when attending the fitness center. For example, the system may keep track of the amount of time the person is exercising at the fitness center. It is also possible to mount sensors on the physical exercise equipment to monitor the amount of specific exercises that are carried out by the user. The system may allow the user to determine what information is distributed in the channels 99. For example, the information may be encrypted so that only the amount of points scored or any other pre-selected information, are reported, but not when and where the user passed the sensors, or when and where the exercises were carried out. An important feature of the system is that only the portable sensor 26 stores the exercise information that is later transferred to the base station 20 for further transfer to servers. However, the exercise information may also be stored by the stationary sensors 12 - 22, as sent by sensor 26, and later sent by wired or wireless technology to central servers for monitoring and calculation of points .

While the present invention has been described in accordance with preferred compositions and embodiments, it is to be understood that certain substitutions and alterations may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the following claims .

Claims

We claim:

1. A method of an exercise bonus system, comprising: providing a base sensor 20, a plurality of stationary sensors 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 and 22 and a portable sensor 26 carried by a user 24; the user 24 moving from sensor 12 to sensor 14, for each sensor passed a wireless information exchange is automatically carried out between the stationary and the portable sensors; the stationary sensor 14 sending a signal 28 to the portable sensor 26, the signal 28 having identification information 30 and time information 32 about the sensor 14; the user 24 moving to the base sensor 20; the base sensor 20 sending a signal 49 to the sensor 26, the signal 49 having identification information 50, time information 52 and type information 56 about the base sensor 20; the portable sensor 26 receiving the signal 49 and the type information 56, triggering the sensor 26 to send a report signal 57 to the base sensor 20, the report signal 57 comprising identification information and time information of the signals received and stored from the stationary sensors 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 and 22, and time information 52 of the sensor 20; the base sensor 20 receiving the signal 57 and sending a report signal 84 to a mediation server 86; the server 86 calculating actual clock times for the user 24' s passages of the stationary sensors, based on the stored internal relative time of sensor 26 when passing the stationary sensors and the stored internal relative time of sensor 26 when transmitting information to base 20; the server 86 preprocessing transport labor information based on the information 58 and after processing point scores by servers 90 and 94; the user 24 receiving a report signal 104 via distribution channels 99 with status of points earned; and the user 24 being rewarded for the points earned.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the method further comprises the sensor 14 automatically sending the signal 28 to the sensor 26 when the user 24 is passing the sensor 14.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the method further comprises the servers 86, 90, 94 analyzing an order of information of an information package 58 of the report signal 57.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the method further comprises- the server 86 analyzing an elapsed time period for the user to pass between the stationary sensors to determining a velocity and direction of the user.

5. The method according to claim 3 wherein the method further comprises the server 86, 90, 94 filtering information when an elapsed time period for the user's passage between sensors is below a minimum value, or when the portable sensor 26 has registered a contact with the same stationary sensor multiple times in a row indicating that the user 24 has not moved between two different stationary sensors but only passed multiple times near a stationary sensor within a specified period of time.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein the method further comprises a transmitter in sensor 26 being activated only when a built-in motion detector of the sensor notes that sensor 26 is moving.

7. The method according to claim 1 wherein the method further comprises the sensor 26 erasing the information package 58 when an acceptance signal 61 is received from the base sensor 20.

8. The method according to claim 1 wherein the method further comprises the server 86 issuing an alarm signal 87 to the system administration when one of the battery levels 34, 44, 54 is below an acceptable level.

9. The method according to claim 1 wherein the method further comprises the server 86 analyzing information in a package 58 and issuing an alarm signal 87 when one of the stationary sensors fails to send signals.