Exercise assistant system and method for managing exercise strength in conjunction with music

Abstract

An exercise assistant system and method for managing an exercise pattern in conjunction with music is provided. The exercise assistant system builds a reference exercise schedule on the basis of user information; designates at least one music file for the reference exercise schedule; stores the reference exercise schedule and the music file; outputs guidance information and the music file in sound on the basis of the reference exercise schedule; displays a reference exercise pattern and an actual exercise pattern in a form of graph; and resets the reference exercise schedule and the music file on the basis of a biological change of the user during exercise. The exercise assistant system and method enables adjustment of the exercise amount and level according to the user's exercise achievement and physical variation during the exercise, such that it is possible to effectively assist the user's exercise. Also, in the exercise assistant system, the music files are selected automatically on the basis of the predetermined designated conditions making possible user enjoyment of the music in various sequences.

1 . An exercise assistant device comprising:
 an exercise schedule unit which builds a reference exercise schedule on the basis of user information;   a music designation unit which designates at least one music file for the reference exercise schedule;   a storage unit which stores the reference exercise schedule and the music file designated for the reference exercise schedule;   a control unit which retrieves the reference exercise schedule and the music file designated for the reference exercise schedule, generates guidance information for retrieval of the music file corresponding to the reference exercise schedule, and resets the reference exercise schedule and re-designates the music files on the basis of an actual exercise pattern and a biological change of a user while exercising in accordance with the reference exercise schedule;   a speaker which outputs the guidance information and the music file; and   a display unit which displays a reference exercise pattern and an actual exercise pattern.   
   
   
       2 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the reference exercise schedule includes a predetermined number of exercise periods divided in time, with each exercise period being featured by a reference exercise pattern. 
   
   
       3 . The device of  claim 2 , wherein the user information includes:
 body dimension information such as height, weight, age, and gender;   target exercise information such as target exercise amount, target exercise time, target distance, maximum exercise amount, and maximum movement distance;   exercise amount information such as accumulated exercise amount, elapsed exercise time, and accumulated movement distance;   exercise strength information such as speed, footstep frequency, pace, and weight distribution;   biological information such as pulse rate, body temperature, and blood pressure; and   preference information such as preferred exercise period size, a preferred number of music files per exercise period.   
   
   
       4 . The device of  claim 2 , wherein the music designation unit directly designates at least one music file to each exercise period. 
   
   
       5 . The device of  claim 4  further comprising a music file storage unit which stores the music files to be played back at respective exercise periods. 
   
   
       6 . The device of  claim 4  further comprising a network interface for connecting to an external storage device storing the music files designated to the exercise periods, the music files stored in the external storage device being requested for respective exercise periods. 
   
   
       7 . The device of  claim 2 , wherein the music designation unit checks an exercise pattern of each exercise period and configures a designated condition in accordance with the exercise pattern. 
   
   
       8 . The device of  claim 2 , wherein music designation unit decides an exercise pattern of each exercise period and configures a designated condition on the basis of at least two of the actual exercise pattern, an accumulated exercise amount and elapsed exercise time, and biological information. 
   
   
       9 . The device of  claim 7  further comprising:
 a music file storage which stores the music files for play back at respective exercise periods; and   a music file analysis unit which retrieves at least one music file satisfying the designated condition,   wherein the control unit controls selection of the music file from the music file storage and output of the selected music file.   
   
   
       10 . The device of  claim 7  further comprising:
 a music file storage which stores the music files for play back at respective exercise periods; and   a network interface for connecting to a music file analysis device which retrieves at least one music file satisfying the designated condition,   wherein the control unit controls request of the music file satisfying the designated condition to a music file analysis device through the network interface for receipt of the music file to be output.   
   
   
       11 . The device of  claim 7 , wherein the exercise pattern is defined by a variation of exercise amount over time and includes an abrupt increment, an increment, a maintenance, a decrement, and an abrupt decrement. 
   
   
       12 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the storage unit includes a table having an exercise pattern identifier field, a target exercise amount field for storing accumulated exercise amount value, and an exercise amount list field for storing a list of exercise amount values for respective exercise patterns. 
   
   
       13 . The device of  claim 12 , wherein the exercise amount list field contains information on a period identifier, exercise pattern, target exercise amount, exercise time, exercise distance, and designated music file. 
   
   
       14 . The device of  claim 2 , wherein the control unit selects the music file of which playback time is similar to an exercise period time if more than one music file is designated to an exercise period. 
   
   
       15 . The device of  claim 2 , wherein the control unit controls play of music files in a sequential order if more than one music file is designated to an exercise period. 
   
   
       16 . The device of  claim 2 , wherein the control unit resets the reference exercise schedule and the music file if the current exercise period is not ended when music file playback ends. 
   
   
       17 . The device of  claim 2 , wherein the control unit resets the reference exercise schedule and the music file if an actually taken exercise pattern differs from the reference exercise pattern after the current exercise period ends. 
   
   
       18 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the control unit resets the reference exercise schedule and the music file if user biological information is outside a predetermined tolerance range. 
   
   
       19 . The device of  claim 1  further comprising a music contribution information storage which stores information on influences of the music files contributed to an exercise achievement or a biological status of the user and weight values of the music files calculated on the basis of the influences, wherein the music designation unit uses the weight value for selecting the music file. 
   
   
       20 . The device of  claim 19 , wherein the music contribution information storage includes a table having a music file identifier field, a biological signal storage field, an exercise achievement rate field, a playback frequency field, and a weight value field. 
   
   
       21 . The device of  claim 20 , wherein the control unit controls selection of the music file having a highest weight value if more than one music file is designated to an exercise period. 
   
   
       22 . A method for managing an exercise assistant device comprising:
 building a reference exercise schedule based on user information;   designating at least one music file for the reference exercise schedule;   storing the reference exercise schedule and the music file;   outputting guidance information and audibly outputting the music file based on the reference exercise schedule;   displaying a reference exercise pattern and an actual exercise pattern; and   resetting the reference exercise schedule and the music file on the basis of a biological change of the user during exercise.   
   
   
       23 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the step of building the reference exercise schedule includes:
 dividing the reference exercise schedule into a predetermined number of exercise periods; and   deciding exercise patterns and times of the respective exercise periods.   
   
   
       24 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein user information includes: body dimension information such as height, weight, age, and gender; target exercise information such as target exercise amount, target exercise time, target distance, maximum exercise amount, and maximum movement distance; exercise amount information such as accumulated exercise amount, elapsed exercise time, and accumulated movement distance; exercise strength information such as speed, footstep frequency, pace, weight distribution; biological information such as pulse rate, body temperature, and blood pressure; and preference information such as preferred exercise period, duration and a preferred number of music files per exercise period. 
   
   
       25 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein the step of designating at least one music file includes assigning at least one unique music file to each exercise period. 
   
   
       26 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein the step of designating at least one music file includes:
 deciding exercise patterns for the respective exercise periods; and   configuring designated conditions for the exercise patterns.   
   
   
       27 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein the step of designating at least one music file includes:
 deciding exercise patterns for the respective periods;   configuring designated conditions of each exercise period on the basis of any of or a combination of at least two exercise patterns, the accumulated exercise amount and elapsed exercise time, and biological information.   
   
   
       28 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the exercise patterns are defined by a variation of exercise amount over time, and includes an abrupt increment, an increment, a maintenance, a decrement, and an abrupt decrement. 
   
   
       29 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein the step of outputting guidance information includes selecting a music file having playback time similar to the exercise period if more than one music file is designated to each exercise period. 
   
   
       30 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein the step of outputting guidance information includes playing back music files in a sequential order if more than one music file is designated to each exercise period. 
   
   
       31 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the step of resetting the reference exercise schedule and the music file includes:
 determining whether the current exercise period ends when the music file playback ends; and   changing the reference exercise schedule and the music file to be played back if it is determined that the current exercise period is not end when the music file playback ends.   
   
   
       32 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the step of resetting the reference exercise schedule and the music file includes:
 determining whether a difference between a user selected exercise pattern and the reference exercise pattern is outside a predetermined tolerance range; and   changing the reference exercise schedule and the music file to be played back if it is determined that the difference is outside the tolerance range.   
   
   
       33 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the step of resetting the reference exercise schedule and the music file includes:
 determining whether a value of the biological change is outside a predetermined tolerance range; and   changing the reference exercise schedule and the music file to be played back if it is determined that the value of the biological change is outside the tolerance range.   
   
   
       34 . The method of  claim 22  further comprising storing information on influences of music files contribution to an exercise achievement or a biological status of the user and weight values of the music files calculated on the basis of the influences, the weight value being used for designating music files to the respective reference exercise periods. 
   
   
       35 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein the weight value is used for resetting the music files for respective reference exercise periods. 
   
   
       36 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein the step of outputting the guidance information includes selecting the music file having a highest weight value if more than one music file is designated to the exercise period.