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GB2546084A - Fitness tracking system and method - Google Patents

Fitness tracking system and method Download PDF

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Publication number
GB2546084A
GB2546084A GB1600267.7A GB201600267A GB2546084A GB 2546084 A GB2546084 A GB 2546084A GB 201600267 A GB201600267 A GB 201600267A GB 2546084 A GB2546084 A GB 2546084A
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Prior art keywords
fitness
data
universal
client
related data
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GB201600267D0 (en
Inventor
Jonathan Brown Neil
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Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe Ltd
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Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd
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Priority to GB1600267.7A priority Critical patent/GB2546084A/en
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Publication of GB2546084A publication Critical patent/GB2546084A/en
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    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61BDIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B5/00Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
    • A61B5/0002Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network
    • A61B5/0015Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network characterised by features of the telemetry system
    • A61B5/0022Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63BAPPARATUS FOR PHYSICAL TRAINING, GYMNASTICS, SWIMMING, CLIMBING, OR FENCING; BALL GAMES; TRAINING EQUIPMENT
    • A63B24/00Electric or electronic controls for exercising apparatus of preceding groups; Controlling or monitoring of exercises, sportive games, training or athletic performances
    • A63B24/0062Monitoring athletic performances, e.g. for determining the work of a user on an exercise apparatus, the completed jogging or cycling distance
    • GPHYSICS
    • G16INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR SPECIFIC APPLICATION FIELDS
    • G16HHEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA
    • G16H20/00ICT specially adapted for therapies or health-improving plans, e.g. for handling prescriptions, for steering therapy or for monitoring patient compliance
    • G16H20/30ICT specially adapted for therapies or health-improving plans, e.g. for handling prescriptions, for steering therapy or for monitoring patient compliance relating to physical therapies or activities, e.g. physiotherapy, acupressure or exercising
    • GPHYSICS
    • G16INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR SPECIFIC APPLICATION FIELDS
    • G16HHEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA
    • G16H80/00ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring
    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61BDIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B5/00Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
    • A61B5/02Detecting, measuring or recording for evaluating the cardiovascular system, e.g. pulse, heart rate, blood pressure or blood flow

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  • Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Medical Informatics (AREA)
  • General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Public Health (AREA)
  • Biomedical Technology (AREA)
  • Pathology (AREA)
  • Biophysics (AREA)
  • Epidemiology (AREA)
  • Primary Health Care (AREA)
  • Physical Education & Sports Medicine (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Heart & Thoracic Surgery (AREA)
  • Molecular Biology (AREA)
  • Surgery (AREA)
  • Animal Behavior & Ethology (AREA)
  • Veterinary Medicine (AREA)
  • Information Transfer Between Computers (AREA)

Abstract

A fitness tracking server 100 comprises: storage means for storing account IDs for one or more users; receiving means for receiving, over a network, fitness-related data from a plurality of different client sources 200 relating to a respective user, and processing means adapted to generate consolidated fitness tracking data in a universal format for the respective user from the received fitness related data; a fitness tracker client 200, comprises obtaining means operable to obtain fitness related data for a respective user, and transmission means, operable to transmit the fitness related data to a universal fitness tracking server 100 separate from a fitness tracking server specific to the particular type of the fitness tracker client 200, the universal fitness tracking server consolidating fitness related data from multiple clients 200. The fitness data may include calories burned, distance travelled, type and duration of activity.

Description

FITNESS TRACKING SYSTEM AND METHOD
The present invention relates to a fitness tracking system and method.
Fitness tracking devices have recently become very popular. Devices are manufactured by a wide variety of companies, including FitBit ®, Jawbone ®, Moov ®, Nike ®, Garmin ®, Withings ® and Sony ®, among others.
Many of these devices rely on interaction with a smart phone to provide an adequate user interface for configuring the device and viewing measurements obtained from the device.
Hence each company provides a separate ecosystem for its device and associated app.
However, this can make it difficult for a user to monitor their full range of activities. For example, a user may have a first fitness tracker for running, but this is not waterproof and so the user requires a second fitness tracker for swimming. Meanwhile both of these devices may be relatively large, and so the user would prefer a third tracker for sleep monitoring.
This results in the user having to consult different devices or apps to review different aspects of their daily life.
The present invention seeks to mitigate or alleviate this problem.
In a first aspect, there is provided a fitness tracking server in accordance with claim 1.
In another aspect, there is provided a fitness tracker client in accordance with claim 8.
In another aspect, there is provided a fitness tracker system in accordance with claim 12.
In another aspect, there is provided a method of fitness tracking for a fitness tracking server in accordance with claim 13.
In another aspect, there is provided a method of fitness tracking for a fitness tracker client in accordance with claim 14.
Further respective aspects and features of the invention are defined in the appended claims.
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a fitness tracking system in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.
Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a fitness tracking server in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.
Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a fitness tracker client in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.
Figure 4 is a flow diagram of a method of fitness tracking for a fitness tracking server in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.
Figure 5 is a flow diagram of a method of fitness tracking for a fitness tracker client in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. A fitness tracking system and method are disclosed. In the following description, a number of specific details are presented in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to a person skilled in the art that these specific details need not be employed to practice the present invention. Conversely, specific details known to the person skilled in the art are omitted for the purposes of clarity where appropriate.
Referring now to Figure 1, a fitness tracker system comprises a fitness tracking server 100 operable to communicate with one or more different fitness tracker client sources 200A, 200B, ... 200N.
The fitness tracker client sources may be dedicated hardware devices such as wearable devices or biometric monitoring devices, or may be software such as apps on a smart phone, tablet or other device. The fitness tracker client will be discussed in more detail later herein.
The fitness tracking server may be a central server operable to communicate with client sources associated with numerous remote users in multiple locations, or may be a domestic device such as a videogame console (for example, the Sony PlayStation 4®), which may also be able to communicate with client sources associated with numerous remote users in multiple locations, but more typically will communicate with client sources associated with a single user or a small group of users (for example, members of a family).
Referring now to Figure 2, the fitness tracking server 100 comprises storage means 110 (such as a hard drive, solid-state drive, RAM or other storage medium) for storing respective universal account IDs for one or more users. A universal account ID provides a unique ID for each user and allows for data from a plurality of client sources to be associated with a respective user.
The fitness tracking server 100 also comprises receiving means 120 (such as a Bluetooth ®, WiFi® and/or Ethernet® connection) for receiving, over a network such as the internet, a Bluetooth® link or WiFi Direct ®, fitness-related data from a plurality of different client sources relating to a respective user.
As noted above, different client sources may include network enabled hardware (for example a wearable fitness tracker with Bluetooth® that can pair with the PlayStation 4), or software in the form of an app (for example an app on a smart phone that is paired with a wearable fitness tracker, which receives data from the wearable fitness tracker, and may then use the networking capabilities of the phone to communicate with the server).
The fitness tracking server also comprises processing means 130 (such as one or more central processing units), adapted to generate consolidated fitness tracking data in a universal format for the respective user from the received fitness related data.
Consolidation may take different forms depending on the data; for example, calorie counts from two different devices may be added together to give a total, and similarly distances travelled as measured by two different devices may be added together.
In a refinement, where the data includes a timestamp or time history indicating when the calories or distances were accumulated, and these overlap, then one or more sets of data may be adjusted to remove the overlap. If a time history is received for calories or distances from one source but only a total is received from the other source, then in the event of an overlap the less detailed data set is adjusted, for example by determining the proportion of the time that overlaps and adjusting the total based upon this proportion. The then provides the more reliable overall data set. Alternatively, the overlapping portions may be averaged or likewise analysed together to improve (or compare) accuracy.
Meanwhile for other data, this may be concatenated to form a more complete record; for example heart monitoring data from several devices or GPS tracking data from several devices may be concatenated. Alternatively or in addition, where the data is not contiguous in time, the data may be framed within a time history where the respective data is positioned according to its real time within the history. Again, where records overlap in time, optionally data from plural sources may be truncated to form a contiguous set, or may be averaged or likewise analysed together to improve (or compare) accuracy.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the different client sources all send their data to the fitness tracking server in the universal format.
The universal format comprises a predetermined data structure for identifying different activities and readings and for storing respective values for those readings.
As a non-limiting example, data sent in the universal format may comprise a packet comprising a header with an address for the fitness tracking server, and fields or a payload comprising descriptor information defining what data fields are included within the data (or defining what fields are populated if a predefined set of fields is required by the format), thereby specifying the overall data structure. The descriptor information may take the form of predetermined words, numbers, and/or flags in a predetermined order indicating the presence, absence or populations of certain data fields, as applicable.
Non-limiting and non-exhaustive examples of such data fields include: calories burned: this may take the form of a total and/or a time history; the description information may specify which. In the case of a time history, the length of the time history data may also be specified in the descriptor. distance travelled: this may take the form of a total or a time history, and/or GPS data. Again in the case of a time history or GPS data, the length of this data may also be specified in the descriptor. type of activity: this may indicate one of a predetermined set of activities and/or may comprise a free text field; hence for example data relating to calories burned and distance travelled may also comprise a field comprising the descriptor ‘jogging’ or ‘swimming’, or an indicator of one of these activities. Alternatively or in addition the type of activity may be more generically described in terms of cardiovascular, fat burning or the like, or in terms of its relation to a specific muscle group. time of activity: where appropriate, whether or not the data comprises a time history, a start time and a duration and/or end time may be included. count of activity: some types of activity may be characterised by a frequency or count, for example steps, bench presses, star jumps, or lengths in a pool. Other measures such as calories burned or distance travelled may also be recorded, but often an activity count provides an easy way for a user to measure progress and challenge themselves to improve upon a previous count. client source of data: this may be an indicator for predetermined sources and/or a free text field indicating the device and/or application from which the data originated. This may be used to annotate the consolidated fitness tracking data the user can see where respective part of the data so that a user can see where respective portions of the consolidated data came from. This may be useful either for identifying the relative accuracy of different client sources, or identifying what client source(s) could beneficially be used at a different time to fill in any gaps in the consolidated data, or conversely what client source(s) may be redundant.
Other data fields will be apparent to the skilled person. Examples include weight and/or body mass index measurements, dietary data, and environmental data such as temperature, humidity and/or altitude, each of which may affect how fitness activities relate to various health aspects such as calories burned, hydration and the like.
Meanwhile persistent data may also be associated with a user’s universal account ID, such as gender, age, and height, body mass index, blood pressure, and body fat. Other data persistent data may be included, such as stride length, which may be used to compute a distance from a count of steps, or such information may be computed from other persistent and/or received data.
In another embodiment of the present invention, one or more of the different client sources does not send their data to the server in the universal format, but instead sends the data in a proprietary format, typically unique to the client source.
This may be for example because the client source is a hardware device that was sold before introduction of the fitness tracking server of the present invention, and consequently is only capable of outputting data in its existing proprietary format. Similarly it may be for example because a software app has not been updated to use the universal format, or an updated version is only available for a version of the smartphone operating system that is not currently installed on the user’s phone.
In such cases, the fitness tracking server is adapted to translate received fitness-related data of different proprietary formats into the universal format for consolidation.
Accordingly, in an embodiment of the resent invention the fitness tracking server comprises look-up tables or other parsing means such as respective data decoders for converting data in one or more proprietary formats to data in the universal format, which may then be consolidated with other data in the same universal format.
For similar reasons, such data sources may not be able to store, use or transmit their user’s universal ID. consequently, in an embodiment of the present invention, the storage means of the fitness tracking server comprises ID correspondence data (such as a look-up table) associating a respective universal ID with one or more IDs corresponding to one or more different client sources relating to a respective user.
Hence for example, an account ID associated with a particular client source, which the client source normally reports as a matter of course to a server of the client source supplier, may be associated with the universal ID on the fitness tracking server. Where a device or app does not provide a user ID of its own, then other identifying evidence may be associated with the universal ID, such as for example a static IP address, a device identifier of the smart phone, a username, or a combination of these or other identifying evidence.
It will be appreciated that for example in the case of an existing username, users of devices or apps from different suppliers may have the same username; this username may be unique within the systems of the respective suppliers but are not unique within the universal ID scheme. However, where these are reliably associated with other identifying evidence such as an IP address, a GPS position (or a geographical region corresponding to a variety of GPS positions, such as a tower or county), and/or a device identifier of a smart phone, then whilst each individual piece of evidence may not be unique, the particular combination of evidence is more likely to be unique within the universal ID scheme, thereby enabling use of the corresponding data.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the fitness tracking server (for example, using processing means 130) may be adapted to generate an internet accessible output for display to a respective user of the consolidated fitness tracking data of that respective user. For example, the consolidated fitness tracking data may be converted into extensible markup language (XML) or some other format, which may then be placed on a web-facing portion of the server (or passed to an associated web server) for access by the user.
This access may take the form of a webpage and/or data for display by an app on a client device of the respective user.
In the case of the webpage, a user may access it at a predetermined web address by entering their universal ID and optionally a password. The data is then formatted for presentation in a web browser.
Run In the case of an app, this may be loaded on a client device such as a smart phone and have access either to the universal ID or a separate ID associated with the universal ID as described previously herein. The app then similarly accesses a predetermined web address and presents credentials necessary to access the data; for example an ID and password. The password may be manually entered by the user or may be stored by the app. The data is then transmitted to the app, for example in XML, and the app then presents some or all of data using its own interface.
Such an app may be a dedicated app for accessing consolidated fitness tracking data, or may be one of the plurality of data sources that originally uploaded part of the subsequently consolidated fitness tracking data, such as an app associated with a particular wearable device or other health monitoring system (for example, an entirely software-based diet recording app).
Consequently in this latter case, the user can choose which of potentially many disparate apps to view the consolidated data in, for example because the user prefers a particular interface provided by one of the apps. Alternatively, the user can choose one of the apps at random, and each app is capable of providing the consolidated data.
It will be appreciated that to avoid redundancy of downloads, the dedicated app for accessing consolidated fitness tracking data may download the data once, and then make it accessible to each different app on the smart phone or other hosting device.
The above scheme assumes that the different apps or devices (typically corresponding to the different data sources) are capable of parsing and presenting the consolidated fitness tracking data as provided in the universal format.
However, it will again be appreciated that some devices or apps may only be compatible with a proprietary format, for example for the reasons given previously herein.
Consequently, in an embodiment of the present invention the fitness tracking server (for example, using processing means 130) may be adapted to translate the consolidated fitness tracking data from the universal format into one or more different proprietary formats corresponding to one or more different client sources of data for the respective user.
In this way, different data sources can access the consolidated data using their own proprietary format, and display at least those portions of the consolidated data that their user interface supports.
Alternatively, the dedicated app for accessing consolidated fitness tracking data may download the data, and using the host device’s processor, translate the consolidated fitness tracking data from the universal format into one or more different proprietary formats corresponding to one or more different client sources of data for the respective user. The dedicated app may then make the resulting proprietary data available to the or each corresponding app on the host device. This approach again reduces redundancy in downloading the data, since it needs to be downloaded in the universal format once on a device such as a smart phone, before being translated into one or more proprietary formats for one or more proprietary apps on the smart phone.
Furthermore this may reduce the overall processing overhead, since translation will only be necessary for those particular proprietary apps on the smart phone, saving the need for speculative translation at the server if the server does not have a complete indication of desired proprietary formats for the respective user.
The description above has made reference to fitness tracker client sources 200A..N, which may variously be hardware devices, software apps, or a local system comprising the two.
Referring now to Figure 3, in an embodiment of the present invention, such a fitness tracker client comprises obtaining means 210 operable to obtain fitness related data for a respective user, and transmission means 220, operable to transmit the fitness related data to a universal fitness tracking server separate from a fitness tracking server specific to the particular type of the fitness tracker client, the universal fitness tracking server consolidating fitness related data from multiple clients.
As noted previously, within hardware of a fitness tracker client, the obtaining means may comprise one or more fitness tracking sensors such as a heartbeat monitor, GPS positioning tracker, step detector, temperature detector, blood pressure detector, blood oxygenation detector or the like.
Meanwhile, alternatively or in addition, for an app within a smart phone or the like, the obtaining means may comprise a network reception mechanism such as a Bluetooth ® or Wi-Fi Direct ® link to hardware of the type described above.
In either case, the obtaining means may also be associated with storage means such as RAM (not shown) and/or processing means (not shown) for processing of raw sensor data.
In either case, the transmission means may be a network transmission mechanism such as a Bluetooth ®, Wi-Fi ®, Wi-Fi Direct ® or Ethernet ® link to a local or remote universal fitness tracker server.
Notably, the universal fitness tracking server is physically or logically separate from a fitness tracking server specific to the particular type of the fitness tracker client. Consequently the fitness tracker client may communicate its fitness data to both the universal fitness tracking server and its own proprietary server, or where it does not communicate with a proprietary server, then to the universal fitness tracking server only.
Again as suggested previously, transmission of the fitness data to the universal fitness tracking server may be performed natively by a piece of hardware or an app, or in an embodiment of the present invention, where native hardware or software is only capable of outputting data in a proprietary form,
The tracking client comprises processing means 230 adapted (for example by a helper app) to translate obtained fitness-related data in a proprietary format of the fitness tracker client into a universal format for transmission to the universal fitness tracking server. In the manner described previously for the server, this new facilitated by any suitable selection of look-up tables, parsing rules and the like.
Meanwhile, in addition to transmitting its own data, in an embodiment of the present invention the fitness tracker client comprises reception means (such as the above-mentioned Bluetooth ®, Wi-Fi ®, Wi-Fi Direct ® or Ethernet ® link to a local or remote universal fitness tracking server) for receiving consolidated fitness tracking data, the consolidated fitness tracking data comprising fitness-related data from the fitness tracker client and also one or more different fitness tracker clients.
Subsequently, as mentioned previously, the fitness tracker client may have a native capability (for example in an app) to display some or all of the consolidated fitness tracking data, or may comprise processing means (adapted for example by a helper app) to translate the consolidated fitness tracking data from the universal format into one or more different proprietary formats corresponding to one or more different client sources of data for the respective user.
The proprietary data may then be provided to proprietary hardware or software in a manner compatible with that hardware or software so that it may use and/or present some or all of the consolidated fitness tracking data through its own user interface.
This will allow a user to interrogate the consolidated data through their favourite app or apps. For example, it may be that an app that specialises in recording jogging and running activities is able to integrate with mapping software to provide a more complete view of the users activities, whereas an app that specialises in calorie, heartbeat and body mass tracking would not have this facility but may provide dietary advice. Hence apps with different specialisms are able to make use of a broader range of captured data than they may have access to normally.
It will be appreciated that the fitness tracking server and the fitness tracker client together operate as a fitness tracker system. The system may be distributed in the case of a remote server, or may be local in the case where the server is a home PC, videogame console or the like.
Referring now to Figure 4, a method of fitness tracking for a fitness tracking server comprises: in a first step S 401, storing respective universal account IDs for one or more users; in a second step S 402, receiving, over a network, fitness-related data from a plurality of different client sources relating to a respective user; and in a third step S 403, generating consolidated fitness tracking data in a universal format for the respective user from the received fitness related data.
It will be apparent to a person skilled in the art that variations in the above method corresponding to operation of the various embodiments of the apparatus as described and claimed herein are considered within the scope of the present invention, including but not limited to: - translating received fitness-related data of different proprietary formats into a universal format for consolidation; - the universal format of fitness-related data comprising data fields for one or more selected from the list consisting of: calories burned; distance travelled; type of activity; time of activity; count of activity; and client source of data; - the storage step comprises storing ID correspondence data associating a respective universal ID with one or more IDs corresponding to one or more different client sources relating to a respective user; - translating the consolidated fitness tracking data from the universal format into one or more different proprietary formats corresponding to one or more different client sources of data for the respective user; - generating an internet accessible output for display to a respective user of the consolidated fitness tracking data of that respective user, wherein optionally - the internet accessible output is one or more selected from the list consisting of: a webpage: and data for display by an app on a client device of the respective user.
Meanwhile, referring to figure 5, a method of fitness tracking for a fitness tracker client comprises: in a first step S 510, obtaining fitness related data for a respective user; and in a second step S 520, transmitting the fitness related data to a universal fitness tracking server separate from a fitness tracking server specific to the particular type of the fitness tracker client, the universal fitness tracking server consolidating fitness related data from multiple fitness tracker clients.
It will again be apparent to a person skilled in the art that variations in the above method corresponding to operation of the various embodiments of the apparatus as described and claimed herein are considered within the scope of the present invention.
It will be appreciated that the above described apparatuses and methods may be further adapted to provide additional functions and services, non-limiting examples of which are given below.
Progress based on some or all of the consolidated fitness tracking data may be represented in one or more different ways, including by the provision of a health trophy/achievement system accessible from one or more applications which may or may not also be fitness tracking client sources. For example, fitness oriented videogames may access this system to display trophies and achievements, and optionally may calibrate themselves for a suitable difficulty of play based upon some or all of the data.
Having a health trophy/achievement system based on consolidated data allows the user to continue striving for trophies and achievements across a plurality of games; advantageously this allows a user to maintain interest in the overall goal of exercise even if their interest in a particular game ends. This allows the user to switch between games and maintain their enjoyment of game related exercise whilst not having to lose all previous or intervening progress.
The system could extend to gym equipment so that running machines, rowing machines cycling machines and the like operate as client data sources; have typically these are found at a gym and hence are not uniquely associated with a particular user; however most devices comprise a keyboard for setting personal data such as weight, and so may allow the entering of a pin or unique numerical ID for a user that may be related to the universal ID as described previously. Alternatively or in addition, the machine may have a swipe card reader, NFC reader or similar enabling the user to provide their universal ID via a swipe card, or their smart phone or the like.
Optionally, groups of friends could form teams, and consolidated fitness data for teams may be generated. This may be used either to enable motivating comparisons between team members in absolute or relative terms, or to allow teams to compete against each other, or to enable teams to achieve a group goal - for example a total number of calories burned or distance travelled within a period of time as a sponsored charity event.
Optionally, diet for example in terms of calories and/or a breakdown of carbohydrates proteins etc., could also contribute to the consolidated fitness data, for example via a diet diary app, and contribute to health advice or enable a user to monitor calories in versus calories out. In a similar manner to the use of public equipment at a gym, public health and diet monitoring such as that supplied by or at a diet club could also be provided in association with the user’s universal ID or an associated proprietary ID.
The fitness tracking server, or a helper app or native app on a fitness tracker client, may analyse the consolidated fitness data to provide a number of additional functions and services such as providing advice and recommendations on how much exercise to do and/or what exercises to consider, for example as a function of calories input and/or as a function of which muscle groups are under-represented in existing tracked exercise. This may for example be indirectly indicated by much higher use of a cycling machine compared to a rowing machine. Such advice may be modified by the setting of goals, which may provide preprogrammed training regimes such as training up for a marathon or a 10,000m run, or swimming 100 lengths or similar. The trophy/achievement system may be adapted to reflect the particular training regime and may issue trophies that are exclusive to a particular training regime, such as for example running more than 5,000m each day for five consecutive days.
Other functions or services may relate to setting goals and monitoring progress towards those goals, comparing exercise with diet and recommending changes in diet, showing long-term trends in various health indicators, and preparing records suitable for healthcare professionals to review when the user goes for a health checkup or seeks an insurance discount.
It will be appreciated that the above methods may be carried out on conventional hardware suitably adapted as applicable by software instruction or by the inclusion or substitution of dedicated hardware.
Thus the required adaptation to existing parts of a conventional equivalent device may be implemented in the form of a computer program product comprising processor implementable instructions stored on a non-transitory machine-readable medium such as a floppy disk, optical disk, hard disk, PROM, RAM, flash memory or any combination of these or other storage media, or realised in hardware as an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) or an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or other configurable circuit suitable to use in adapting the conventional equivalent device. Separately, such a computer program may be transmitted via data signals on a network such as an Ethernet, a wireless network, the Internet, or any combination of these or other networks.

Claims (15)

1. A fitness tracking server, comprising: storage means for storing respective universal account IDs for one or more users; receiving means for receiving, over a network, fitness-related data from a plurality of different client sources relating to a respective user; and processing means adapted to generate consolidated fitness tracking data in a universal format for the respective user from the received fitness related data.
2. The fitness tracking server of claim 1, comprising: processing means adapted to translate received fitness-related data of different proprietary formats into a universal format for consolidation.
3. The fitness tracking server of claim 1 or claim 2, in which the universal format of fitness-related data comprises data fields for one or more selected from the list consisting of: i. calories burned; ii. distance travelled; iii. type of activity; iv. time of activity; v. count of activity; and vi. client source of data.
4. The fitness tracking server of any one of the preceding claims, in which: the storage means comprises ID correspondence data associating a respective universal ID with one or more IDs corresponding to one or more different client sources relating to a respective user.
5. The fitness tracking server of any one of the preceding claims, comprising: processing means adapted to translate the consolidated fitness tracking data from the universal format into one or more different proprietary formats corresponding to one or more different client sources of data for the respective user.
6. The fitness tracking server of any one of the preceding claims, comprising: processing means adapted to generate an internet accessible output for display to a respective user of the consolidated fitness tracking data of that respective user.
7. The fitness tracking server of claim 6 in which the internet accessible output is one or more selected from the list consisting of: i. A webpage: and ii. data for display by an app on a client device of the respective user.
8. A fitness tracker client, comprising: obtaining means operable to obtain fitness related data for a respective user; and transmission means, operable to transmit the fitness related data to a universal fitness tracking server separate from a fitness tracking server specific to the particular type of the fitness tracker client, the universal fitness tracking server consolidating fitness related data from multiple clients.
9. The fitness tracker client of claim 8, comprising: processing means adapted to translate obtained fitness-related data in a proprietary format of the fitness tracker client into a universal format for transmission to the universal fitness tracking server.
10. The fitness tracker client of any one of claims 8 or 9, comprising: reception means for receiving consolidated fitness tracking data, the consolidated fitness tracking data comprising fitness-related data from the fitness tracker client and also one or more different fitness tracker clients.
11. The fitness tracker client according to claim 10, comprising: processing means adapted to translate the consolidated fitness tracking data from the universal format into one or more different proprietary formats corresponding to one or more different client sources of data for the respective user.
12. A fitness tracker system, comprising: a fitness tracker server according to any one of claims 1-7; and a fitness tracker client according to any one of claims 8-11.
13. A method of fitness tracking for a fitness tracking server, comprising the steps of: storing respective universal account IDs for one or more users; receiving, over a network, fitness-related data from a plurality of different client sources relating to a respective user; and generating consolidated fitness tracking data in a universal format for the respective user from the received fitness related data.
14. A method of fitness tracking for a fitness tracker client, comprising the steps of: obtaining fitness related data for a respective user; and transmitting the fitness related data to a universal fitness tracking server separate from a fitness tracking server specific to the particular type of the fitness tracker client, the universal fitness tracking server consolidating fitness related data from multiple fitness tracker clients.
15. A computer program for implementing the steps of any preceding method claim.
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