System and method for promoting and tracking physical activity among a participating group of individuals

Abstract

A system and method of tracking physical activity of a person in order to help motivate that person to add more exercise to his/her life. Each participant is provided a motion sensor that detects forces incurred by the participant. The motion sensor creates electronic data that corresponds to the forces detected. The data is analyzed to determine whether or not exercise has been performed. The analysis can also determine the type of exercise performed, when the exercise was performed, and the duration of the exercise performed.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for tracking physical activity, comprising:
 at least one computing system comprising at least a processor and computing code resident in a non-transitory memory;   a user interface instantiated by the at least one computing system and at least partially accessible over a computer network responsive to an instruction to said user interface as indicated by the processor, wherein at least two participants are each assigned at least one identification code associated with at least one challenge provided to the user interface, wherein the identification code is indicated to the user interface by at least one administrator;   at least one portable monitoring unit respectively associated with each of the assigned identification codes in at least the non-transitory memory of the computing system; and   at least one remote transceiver communicatively coupled to the at least one portable monitoring unit and coupled to the at least one computing system over the computer network;   wherein data from the at least one portable monitoring unit is uploaded via the at least one remote transceiver, correlated with the associated assigned identification code and the challenge, and is thereby indicative of performance of the participant having the associated assigned identification code in the challenge.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one challenge is a physical activity. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one challenge is between at least three participants. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one challenge is virtual. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein at least one reward is provided to a participant upon completion of the at least one challenge. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein at least one reward is provided to a participant based upon the performance of the participant. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein at least one participant of the at least three participants is declared a winner of the at least one challenge. 
     
     
         8 . A system for tracking physical activity, comprising:
 at least one computing system comprising at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium having encoded thereon computer executable instructions for providing a user interface accessible over at least one computer network, wherein at least one participant is assigned at least one identification code associated with at least one challenge at least partially over the at least one computer network;   at least one portable monitoring unit respectively associated with the at least one assigned identification code; and   at least one remote transceiver communicatively and optionally coupled to each of the at least one portable monitoring unit and coupled to the at least one computing system over the at least one computer network;   wherein from the at least one portable monitoring unit is uploaded to the at least one computing system via the at least one remote transceiver, correlated with the at least one challenge and the assigned identification code, and is indicative of a performance of the participant associated with the identification code in the at least one challenge.   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the at least one challenge is a physical activity. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the at least one challenge is between at least two participants. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the at least one challenge is virtual. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein at least one reward is provided to a participant upon completion of the at least one challenge in accordance with the data. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein at least one reward is provided to a participant based upon the performance of the participant. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein at least one participant is declared a winner of the at least one challenge. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the data maybe provided to at least one social network associated with the participant. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein each of the participants is assigned at least a second identification code. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein one of the at least one portable monitoring units is associated with the at least one assigned second identification code. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein at least one reward is provided to a team comprising at least two of the participants upon completion of the at least one challenge by the at least two of the participants in accordance with the data. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the at least one reward is provided to the team based upon the performance of a portion of the at least two participants. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein at least one team is declared a winner of the at least one challenge.