WO2018151749A1

WO2018151749A1 - System and method for incentivizing a user for performing physical activities

Info

Publication number: WO2018151749A1
Application number: PCT/US2017/038062
Authority: WO
Inventors: Mohammad Alkuran
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2017-02-20
Filing date: 2017-06-19
Publication date: 2018-08-23
Anticipated expiration: 2019-08-20

Abstract

Presented is a system and method for allowing a user by way of physical exercise access to content provided by an electronic device. The system includes a monitoring device adapted for monitoring a physical exercise related information associated with the user; a decision making module communicatively coupled with the monitoring device, the decision making module having a set of customizable rules defined by an administrator and/or the user, the decision making module receives the physical exercise related information from the monitoring device, and analizes the physical exercise related information to generate incentives for the user; and a control unit communicatively linked to the electronic device, and the user, wherein the control unit receivs the incentives earned by the user from the decision making module to control accessibility of the content provided by the electronic device to the user.

Description

TITLE

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INCENTIVIZING A USER FOR PERFORMING PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.62461105, filedon Feb 20,2017, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF INVENTION

[002] The present invention relates in general to physical exercise based controlled access to content provided by electronic devices, such as TV set, computers, smartphones,tablets, video games and the like. More particularly, the present invention is related to a system and method for incentivizing users for performing physical exercise. According to various embodiments, the incentives provided to users are in the form of controlled access provided to gain access to the content over the electronic devices.

BACKGROUND

[003] It is well known that regular physical activities is beneficial for the maintainance of a good health and to remain physically fit. Unfortunately, children and young adults often avoid exercise for various reasons, and instead spend long hours watching television, playing video games, or engaging to other computer-related activities.

[004] The studies perfomed in the past shows "the more TV children watch, the more likely they are to gain excess weight"(sources: Harvard T H Chan, School of public health).

[005] Further, an article published in NCBI, US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health with reference CMAJ. 2014 Mar 4; 186(4): 258-266; PMCID: PMC3940572 states that "There was an increased odds of obesity and diabetes with the ownership of any 1 household device compared to no device ownership".

[006] Lack of physical activities especially regular exerciseis identified as a leading cause of obesity and serious illnesses in users, specially children and young adults. The users often exercise as and when they have time available to devote for exercise. Exercising has become a matter of choice. Most of the time, users spent time receiving content from various the electrical or electronic devices for example, TV sets, computers, mobile phones, video games and so on.

[007] Although, several types of exercise equipments are available for household use such as stationary bicycles, treadmills and rowing machines etc. Such equipments typically require repetitive movement and require certain time to be devoted by the exercising users. The users are often found not using them on a regular basis because of either lack of suitable motivationor because most of their time is consumed interacting with the electrical or electronic devices.

[008] Various solutions have been proposed in the past for motivating children and young adults to utilize various household exercise equipments effectively. Such systems generally allow the users to earn by way of exercise access to content on their electrical or electronic devices, such as watching television. Examples of a prior art device may be seen in U. S. Pat. No. 4,298,893 to Hohnes which proposed a solution useful in limiting the amount of "junk" T.V. watched by children. In this patent, an exercise bicycle is caused to generate sufficient electricity to power a television set.

[009] U.S. Pat. No. 6, 179,746 to Delman discloses a system wherein a bicycle, when operated at a predetermined intensity level, enables a user to watch a TV set. As disclosed, the system requires that the TV set to be in front of the bicycle for viewing, and requires an electrical connection between the bicycle and the TV set. Such systems only rewards the exercisers by permitting TV viewing while they are exercising at a predetermined intensity.Further, such devices work only during exercise and allows access to the electrical or electronic devices to which the proposed system is directly connected. Further, such proposed systems are dependent upon the use of indoor exercise equipments such as bicycles. [010] In the past, inventors have also envisioned incentivizing the users for use of an exercise device.Examples of a prior art device may be seen in U. S. Pat. Pub. No. 20020077219 to Cohen that discloses about a method of incentivizing users based on their use of an exercise device at fitness centers. The major intent of this patent disclosure is directed towards motivating the users to return to the fitness centers and exercise regularly and enable the users to accumulate or acquire usage points based on time spent exercising. Further as disclosed in the application, the usage points accumulated by the users are exchangeable or redeemablefor services, products, and discounts on the products and services.

[011] U.S. Pat. No. 7,955,219 to Birrell discloses an exercise system that provides incentives for individuals by providing either a collective exercise goal or a sponsored exercise reward. As disclosed in the patent, based on the individual fulfilling the desired exercise goal, various sponsors such as hotels, social networks, health clubs may reward directly to the individual. The rewards may be in the form of health care insurance premium reduction, frequent flyer miles or other product bonus or cost reduction.

[012] As seen, although Cohen and Birrell did envision incentive based motivation for the users to enhance their interest towards regular exercise or performing physical activities, but it is to be noted that such incentives are only linked to the desire for motivating the users for the physical activities and such proposed incentives are purely in the form of financial rewards. Such solutions may help in motivating the users towards physical activities such as performing exercise, but can't help the users balance their lives and overcome the consequences they have to face resulting out of their long run continous engagement with their household electrical or electronic devices mentioned above.

[013] Additionally, there exist systems today for controlling content from the electrical or electronic device, especially for minors by their legal guardians. The admin of the systems (for example, parents) can sometimes control for how long the user (for example, children) can access the content from the electrical or electronic device. However, such control systems are not directly related automatically to the level of physical activities that the user performs. [014] Thus, in the light of above discussion, it should be evident that there remains a need for a system and method for incentivizing a user for performing physical activities or exercise. The present system and method proposes incentives for the users in the form of controlled accessibility to their household electrical or electronic devices, such as TV set, computer, smartphones, tablets, video games and the like. Next, the proposed system helps the users to balance their physical fitness or health with consequences arising out of their continous uses of their household electricalor electronic devices.

BRIEF SUMMARY

[015] According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system (100) for allowing a user(102) by way of physical exercise access to content provided by at least one electronic device (112). The system includes a monitoring device (104) adapted for monitoring a physical exercise related information associated with the user (102). The monitoring device (104) comprises of a sensor that detects the physical exercise related information associated with the user (102). The monitoring device (104) may be configurable onto an exercise equipment (122). The monitoring device (104) may be wearable by the user (102). The physical exercise related information comprises of at least one of: a type of physical exercise performed by the user (102); and a time duration of physical exercise performed by the user (102).

[016] According to the same aspect, the system includes a decision making module (106) communicatively coupled with the monitoring device (104), the decision making module (106) having a set of customizable rules defined by at least one of: an administrator (108), an the user (102), wherein the decision making module (106) receives the physical exercise related information from the monitoring device (104), and analizes the physical exercise related information to generate one or more incentives for the user (102). The decision making module (106) is communicatively coupled with the monitoring device (104) either directly or via at least one intermediate device (114,116) comprising of: an interpreter device (114) that interpretes the physical exercise related information received form the monitoring device (104) to a useful form that can be inputted to the decision making module (106); and a storage device (116) adapted for storage of the interpreted useful form of the physical exercise related information received from the interpreter device (114) for later retrieval. The decision making module (106) is configurable in an electronic form manually operable by the administrator (108) and/or the user (102) for setting up the set of customizable rules that governs generation of the one or more incentives earned by the user (102) by way of the physical exercise. The decision making module (106) may be configurable in the form of a computer-readable application embodying the set of customizable rules defined by the user (102) and/or the administrator (108) that governs the generation of the one or more incentives earned by the user (102) by way of the physical exercise.

[017] Accordig to the same aspect, the incentives earned by the user (102) are in the form of reward points usable against accessing the content provided by the electronic device (112). The incentives in the form of the reward points earned by the user (102) are immediately usable or accumulated for later use in order to access thecontent provided by the electronic device (112). The incentives earned by the user (102) in the form of the reward points are selectively transferable to other users.

[018] According to the same aspect, the accessibility of the content provided to the user is determined based on the set of customizable rules defined by the administrator (108) and/or the user (102). The content provided by the electronic device (112) is at least one of an analog content, or a digital content.

[019] According to the same aspect, the system includes a control unit (110) communicatively linked to at least one of: the electronic device (112), and the user (112), wherein the control unit (110) receives the incentives earned by the user (102) from the decision making module (106) to control accessibility of the content provided by the electronic device (112) to the user (102).

[020] According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method (500) for allowing a user (102) by way of physical exercise access to content provided by at least one electronic device (112). The method includes monitoring, a physical exercise related information by a monitoring device (104) associated with the user (102); receiving, by a decision making module (106), the physical exercise related information from the monitoring device (104) communicatively coupled with the decision making module (106), wherein the decision making module (106) having a set of customizable rules defined by at least one of: an administrator (108), and the user (102); analyzing, by the decision making module (106), the physical exercise related information from the monitoring device (104) to generate one or more incentives for the user (102); and receiving, by a control unit (110), the incentives generated by the decision making module (106) for controlling accessibility of the content provided to the user (102) by the electronic device (112).

[021] Additional objects and aspects of the present invention would appear and become clear as the detail description proceeds with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[022] The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, will be better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. There is shown in the drawings example embodiments, however, the application is not limited to the specific system and method disclosed in the drawings.

[016] FIG.lshowsa block diagram representing a system that allows a user by way of physical exercise access to content provided by at least one electronic device, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[017] FIG.2 illustrates another block diagram representing the systems shown in FIG.l, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[018] FIG.3 shows an examplary implementation of the present invention, where a user by way of physical exercise or physical activities is enabled to access content provided by the electronic device, by an administrator.

[019] FIG.4 shows another example implementation of the present invention, where a user by way of physical exercise or physical activities is able to access content provided by the at least one electronic device. [020] FIG.5 shows a flow diagram representing a method that allows a user by way of physical exercise access to content provided by at least one electronic device, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[021] FIG.6 showsa more detailed implementation of the method shown in FIG.5, where auser by way of physical exercise or physical activities is enabled to access content provided by the electronic device,by an administrator.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[022] Some embodiments, illustrating their features, will now be discussed in detail. The words "comprising," "having," "containing," and "including," and other forms thereof, are intended to be equivalent in meaning and be open ended in that an item or items following any one of these words is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of such item or items, or meant to be limited to only the listed item or items. It must also be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Although any methods, and systems similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of embodiments, the preferred methods, and systems are now described. The disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary.

[023] The various features and embodiments of a system and method for allowing a user by way of physical exercise access to content provided by at least one electronic devicewill now be described in conjunction with FIGS. 1-6.

[024] Referring to accompanying drawings, specifically to FIGS.1-2, there is shown a system (100) that includes a monitoring device (104) adapted for monitoring a physical exercise related information associated with the user (102). The physical exercise related information comprises of a type of physical exercise performed by the user (102), and a time duration of physical exercise performed by the user (102).As used herein, the term 'user' may refer to any person/individual who intend to gain access to content(may be in an analog or a digital form) provided by one or more electronic device (112). The one or more electronic devices (102) may comprise of general household electronic devices such as TV set, video games, computers, and so on, or the electronic devices (102) may comprise of wireless computing or communication devices,for example but not limited to, tablets, smart phones, laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and so on.

[025] According to the embodiment, the monitoring device (104) comprises of a sensor capable of detecting the physical exercise related information associated with the user (102). The seonsor may include photo- sensors, pressure sensor, piezoelectric sensors, proximity sensor, thermocouples, electro-chemical sensors, vibration sensors, temperature sensors, hydration sensors, moisture sensor, EEGs, EKGs, or any combination thereof. Broadly, any type of sensor (may be one or more) can be used as long as it is able to detect physical exercise related information associated with the user (102), for example, time spent by the user (102) doing exercise or type of exercise the user (102) performs etc.

[026] According to the embodiment, the monitoring device (104) may be configurable onto an exercise equipment (122). The exercise equipment (122) may include but not limited to a bicycle, a treadmill, free weights, barbells, an abdominal bench,a calf machine,stability Ball or even non stationary exercise equipments such as a soccer ball.According to another embodiment, the monitoring device (104) may be wearable by the user (102). The wearables my include but not limited to wristbands, headbands, belts, or any other form of wearable that may be worn on the body by the user (102).

[027] According to the embodiment, the system further includes a decision making module (106) communicatively coupled with the monitoring device (104).The monitoring device (104) and the decision making module (106) may be communicatively linked using wired communication protocols and/or wireless communication protocols known in the art. The wirelss communication protocols may include but not limited to Bluetooth, Internet and so on. According to the embodiment, the decision making module (106) is communicatively coupled with the monitoring device (104) either directly as best shown in FIG.l. According to another embodiment, the decision making module (106) may be communicatively coupled with the monitoring device (104) via at least one intermediate device (114,116) as best shown in FIG.2. [028] The intermediate device (114,116) may comprise of an interpreter device (114) that interpretes the physical exercise related information received form the monitoring device (104) to a useful form that can be inputted to the decision making module (106) and a storage device (116) adapted for storage of the interpreted useful form of the physical exercise related information received from the interpreter device (114) for later retrieval.

[029] According to the embodiment, the decision making module (106) comprises of a set of customizable rules defined by at least one an administrator (108) and/or the user (102). The set of customizable rules may comprise various criteria that the administrator (108) and/or the user (102) is able to customize as and when needed. The example for the set of customizable rules (may be referred to as 'rules' for simplicity) may comprise but not limited to, the user (102) is allowed to access the content (the digital or the analog content) provided by the electronic device (112) for 'X' minutes when the user (102) performs the physical activities or exercise for Ύ' minutes. The valude for 'X' and Ύ' can be any positive numbers that may be defined by the user (102) or the administrator (108) while setting up the system (100). For example, the administrator (108) (parent for example) might set rule as to allow the user (102) (child for example) access to the content (a TV program or a TV channel) receivable on the electronic device (112)(TV set for example) for 30 minutes for physicalexercise of 60 minutes.

[030] Further, according to the embodiment, the decisionmakingmodule (106) may be configurable in an electronic form manually operable by the administrator (108) and/or the user (102) for setting up the set of customizable rules. According to another embodiment, the decision making module (106) may be configurable in the form of a computer-readable application embodying the rules defined by the user (102) and/or the administrator (108). The decision making module (106) in the form of the application is configurable on an administrator related communicattion device, and/or a user related communicattion device. The administrator related communicattion device, and/or the user related communicattion device may comprise of, for example a smart phone or a tablet and the like devices. Although, it is not detailed herein, but it should be understood that the administrator related communicattion device, and/or the user related communicattion device comprises of one or more memories, processing units and other associated components for storage and porcessing of computer-readable application (set of instructions) embodying the rules.

[031] Acccording to the embodiment, the decision making module (106) receives the physical exercise related information from the monitoring device (104) directly or via the intermediate device (114,116). The decision making module (106) upon receiving the physical exercise related information, analizes the physical exercise related information to generate one or more incentives for the user (102). The incentives earned by the user (102) may be in the form of reward points usable against accessing the content (the analog or the digital content) provided by the electronic device (112).

[032] According to the embodiment, the incentives in the form of the reward points earned by the user (102) may be immediately usable or accumulated for later use in order to access the content provided by the electronic device (112). For this, the user (102) may be able to create an account to accumulate the reward points. The incentives earned by the user (102) in the form of the reward points may be selectively transferable to other users who may also desire to gain access the content from the electronic device (112). The accessibility of the content provided to the user (102) may be a partial accessibility or a full accesssibiity or no accessibility (if the accessibility rules defined in the decision making module (106) are not satisfied). The accessibility of the content provided to the user (102) is determined based on the customizable rules defined by the administrator (108) and/or the user (102).

[033] According to the embodiment, the system further includes a control unit (110) communicatively linked to at least one of: the electronic device (112), and the user (112). The communicative linkage between the control unit (110) and the at least one of: the electronic device (112), and the user (112) may be established using wired communication protocols and/or wireless communication protocols known in the art. The wirelss communication protocols may preferably include but not limited to Bluetooth, Internet and so on. The control unit (110) receives the incentives earned by the user (102) from the decision making module (106) to control accessibility of the content provided by the electronic device (112) to the user (102). [034] Referring to FIG.3 shows an examplary implementation of the present invention, where theuser (102) by way of physical exercise or physical activities is enabled to access content provided by the electronic device (112),by an administrator (108). Just for simplicity of understanding, one can assume the administrator (108) to be a parent, and the user (102) to be a child. In this particular example, the system (100) is shown configured using wireless communication protocols. The preferred wireless communication protocol may include but not limited to internet, bluetooth.

[035] As shown, the child (102) may intend or desire to access the content provided by the electronic device (112), say a tablet. The content for example may be a movie played on the tablet (112). In the current scenario, the decision making module (not shown) may be configured in the form of the computer-readable application embodying the rules defined by the the parent (108). The application may reside in the administrator related communication device (118), for example an smart phone. The application may be made to communicate with the tablet (112) via the control unit (not shown). The control unit may be physically interfaced with the tablet (112) or the control unit may be configrued in the form of software application residing on the electronic device or tablet (112) that can correspond or communicate with the decision making module of the communication device (118) related to the parent (108).

[036] In the example shown, the parent (108) is enabled to set or define the rules as he/she wishes, for example, the administrator or parent (108) may chose to define a rule stating the child (102) can gain access of movie on the tablet (112) for 30 minutes, if the child (102) does physical exercise or activities for 60 minutes.

[037] Althogh, in the example implementation, it is shown and described that the decision making module may be configured in the form of the computer-readable application on the administrator device (118). According to another embodiment, the decision making module (106) may be configurable in an electronic form manually operable by the administrator/parent (108) for setting up the rules. In that case, the administrator/parent (108) will be able to directly customize the set of rules though the hardware electronic form of decision making device. [038] As shown, the monitoring device (102) including one or more sensors may be present in the form of a wearable (103), say a headband or a wristband worn by the child (102). Such werables (103) will be helpful while the child (102) is doing physical activities for example running/walking outdoors, playing soccer balls or doing any other physical activities.Alternatively, the monitoring device (102) including the one or more sensors may be configrued on an exercise equipment (122), for example a bicycle, the user is supposed to exercise on. Such configuration will likely be used when the child (102) is supposed to exercise indoor.

[039] In the example shown, the monitoring device (102) initially detects the physical exercise related information associated with the child (102). The physical exercise related information may include type of exercise perfomed by the child (102) and/or the time duration for which the child (102) does the exercise.

[040] Upon detecting the physical exercise related information, the monitoring device (102) transfers the physical exercise related information to the decision making module residing on the parent device (118). As discussed in FIGS.1-2, the physical exercise related information may be routed either directly to the decision making module or may be routed to the decision making module via the intermediate device, namely, the interpreter device (114), and the storage device (116). If the physical exercise related information is stored in the storage device (116), then the same can be retrieved or received by the decision making module for later use.

[041] Upon receiving the physical exercise related information related to the child (102), the decision making module compares the received physical exercise related information with the set of rules defined by the parent (108), analizes, and processes the information.

[042] Upon finding, the rules defined by the parent (108) satisfying with the physical exercise related information associated with the child (102), the decision making module generate one or more incentives for the child (102). The incentive may be in the form of reward points that enables the child (102) to access the movieon the tablet (112). The incentives in the form of the reward points earned by the child (102) may be immediately usable or can be accumulated for later use in order to access the content provided by the eltablet (112). According to an embodiment, the incentives earned by the user (102) is selectively transferable to other users by the user or child (102) if he/she so desires. The accessibility of the content provided to the user may be partial access, a full access to the content or no accessibility. Further, if the user (102) choses to accumulate the reward points for later use, the user (102), may be able to use the points in relation to same or any other electronic device or combination of electronic devices.

[043] Referring to FIG.4 shows another example implementation of the present invention, where theuser (102) by way of physical exercise or physical activities is able to access content provided by the at least one electronic device (112). In particular, the example illustrates a scenario where the electronic device (112) is a TV set, and the user (102) desires to access the content provided by the TV set (112). In the example, the user (102) is enabled to act as the administrator (not shown) such that the user (102) is able to customize the set of rules himself. The control unit (113) is shown to be in an electronic form interfacing the TV set (112) to the user (102) and controlling access to the content based on the incentives generated by the decision making module residing on the user's device (124).

[044] Similar to the explanation with regard to FIG.3 above, in the example scenario, the descision making modulemay be configured in the form of the computer-readable application embodying the rules defined by the the user (102)(as according to the example, the user (102) is enabled to customize the set of rules for accessibility of the content provided by the TV set (112)). The application may reside in theuser related communication device (124), for example a smart phone. Upon setting up the rules through the application residing on the communication device (124), the user (102) may then perform the physical exercise or activities to earn the incentives in the form of reward points that can be used for accessing the content provided by the TV set (112) as described above with respect to FIG.3.

[045] Referring to FIG.5 shows a flow diagram representing a method (500) that allows a user by way of physical exercise access to content provided by at least one electronic device, according to an exemplay embodiment of the present invention. [046] The method (500) starts at step 502. At the step 502, the method (500) describes monitoring a physical exercise related information by a monitoring device (104) associated with the user (102). The monitoring device (104) comprises of one or more sensors that can detect the physical exercise related information associated with the user (102).The monitoring device (104) is configurable onto an exercise equipment (122) or may be wearable by the user (102) as described above with regard to FIG.3.The physical exercise related information comprises of type of physical exercise performed by the user (102), and time duration of physical exercise performed by the user (102).

[047] At step 504, the method (500) describes receiving, by a decision making module (106), the physical exercise related information from the monitoring device (104) communicatively coupled with the decision making module (106). The decision making module (106) have a set of customizable rules defined by an administrator (108), and/or the user (102). The decision making module (106) is configurable in an electronic form manually operable by the administrator (108) and/or the user (102) for setting up the set of customizable rules that governs generation of one or more incentives earned by the user (102) Or the decision making module (106) may be configurable in the form of a computer- readable application embodying the set customizable rules defined by the user (102) and/or the administrator (108) that governs the generation of the one or more incentives earned by the user (102). The decision making module (106) in the form of the computer-readable application is configurable on the administrator related communicattion device (118), and/or the user related communicattion device (124) that can communicatively connect to the control unit (110), as described in the example implementations in FIGS.3-4.

[048] At step 506, the method (500) describes analyzing, by the decision making module (106), the physical exercise related information received from the monitoring device (104) to generate one or more incentives for the user (102). The incentives earned by the user (102) may be in the form of reward points usable against accessing the content provided by the electronic device (112). The incentives earned by the user (102) may be immediately usable or may be accumulated for later use in order to access the content provided by the electronic device (112). The incentives may be selectively transferable to other users by the user (102). [049] At step 508, the method(500) describes receiving, by a control unit (110), the incentives generated by the decision making module (106) for controlling accessibility of the content provided to the user (102) by the electronic device (112). Theaccessibility of the content provided to the user (102) may be partial accessibility, a full accesssibiity, or no accessibility. The accessibility of the content provided to the user is determined based on the set of customizable rules defined by the administrator (108) and/or the user (102). The content provided by the electronic device (112) may be an analog content, or a digital content.

[050] Referring to FIG.6 showsa more detailed implementation of the method shown in FIG.5, where auser by way of physical exercise or physical activities is enabled to access content,by an administrator.

[051] As shown, the method (600) starts at step 602. The method checks if the system (100) is set up and ready for use or not (step 604). If the system (100) is not already set up for use, the administrator (108) sets up the system (100), and defines the set of rules preferably using decision making module embodied or installed on the communication device (118) of the administrator (108) in the form of an application (step 608), however, it should be understood that if the decision making module is configured in an electronic form, then the administrator (108) may be able to update the rules directly operating the decision making module.

[052] Further, If the system (100) is already set up and ready for use (step 606) and the user (102) desires to gain an access to the content provided by the electronic device (112) (step 610), then the decision making module would check for set of customizable rules defined by the administrator (108) for granting access to the content to the user (102) (step 612).

[053] Further, If the user (102) doesn't desire to gain accees to the content then the flow ends at step 614. However, if the user (102) desires to gain an access to the content provided by the electronic device (112) and satisfies the set of rules (step 610 and 616), then the user (102) is granted access to the content provided by the electronic device (112) (step 622) for specific time as long as the user (102) satisfies the set of rules or until next event from user occurs (step 624). [054] If the user (102) desires to gain access to the content but is unable to meet the set of rules defined by the administrator (108)(step 616) then either the method (600) ends(step 614) or optionally, the user (102) may be alerted (step 618) about no accessibility available for him/her until he/she meets the set of rules. Upon alerting the user (102) about the accessibility to the content, the method (600) may update the status for the user (102) (step 620). For example, if the user (102) initially is unble to satify the set of rules (Eg. rule being 60 minutes of exercise enabling 30 minutes of access to the content), then the user (102) may be alterted stating, he/she doesn't meet the rules), and status is updated, for example, amount of incentives (in the form mof reward points) may be accumulated for the user (102) which he/she can retrieve and use or even share with other users. The steps 618, 620 being optional method steps are represented in the dotted form for clarity.

[055] In the foregoing description, certain terms have been used for brevity, clearness, and understanding. No unnecessary limitations are to be implied there from beyond the requirement of the prior art because such terms are used for descriptive purposes and are intended to be broadly construed. Therefore, the disclosure is not limited to the specific details, the representative embodiments, and illustrative examples shown and described. Thus, this application is intended to embrace alterations, modifications, and variations that fall within the scope of the current disclosure

Claims

I Claim:

LA system(lOO) for allowing a user(102) by way of physical exercise access to content provided by at least one electronic device (112), comprising: a monitoring device (104) adapted for monitoring a physical exerciserelated information associated with the user (102); a decision making module(106) communicatively coupled with the monitoring device (104), the decision making module(106) having a set of customizable rules defined by at least one of: an administrator (108), an the user (102), wherein the decision making module (106)receives the physical exercise related information from the monitoring device (104), and analizes the physical exercise related informationto generate one or more incentives for the user (102);and a control unit (110) communicativelylinked to at least one of: the electronic device (112), and the user (112), wherein the control unit (110) receives information on the incentives earned by the user(102) from the decision making module (106) to control accessibility of the content provided by the electronic device(112) to the user (102).

2. The system (100) of claim 1, wherein the monitoring device (104) comprises of a sensor that detects the physical exercise related information associated with the user (102).

3. The system (100) of claim 1, wherein the monitoring device (104) is configurable onto an exercise equipment (122)

4. The system (100) of claim 1, wherein the monitoring device (104) is wearable by the user (102).

5. The system (100) of claim 1, wherein the physical exercise related information comprises of at least one of: a type of physical exercise performed by the user (102); and a time duration of physical exercise performed by the user (102).

6. The system(lOO) of claim 1, wherein the decision making module(106) is communicatively coupled with the monitoring device (104) directly.

7. The system (100) of claim 1, wherein the decision making module(106) is communicatively coupled with the monitoring device (104) via at least one intermediate device (114,116) comprising of: an interpreter device (114) that interpretes the physical exercise related information received form the monitoring device (104) to a useful form that can be inputted to the decision making module (106); and a storage device (116) adapted for storage of the interpreted useful form of the physical exercise related information received from the interpreter device (114) for later retrieval.

8. The system (100) of claim 1, wherein the decision making module (106) is configurable in an electronic form manually operable by the administrator (108) and/or the user (102) for setting up the set of customizable rules that governs generation of the one or more incentives earned by the user(102) by way of the physical exercise.

9. The system (100) of claim 1, wherein the decision making module(106) is configurable in the form of a computer-readable application embodying the set customizable rules defined by the user (102) and/or the administrator (108) that governs the generation of the one or more incentives earned by the user (102) by way of the physical exercise.

10. The system (100) of claim 9, wherein the decision making module(106) in the form of the computer-readable application is configurable on an administrator related communicattion device (118), and/or a user related communicattion device(124) that can communicatively connect to the control unit (110).

11. The system (100) of claim 1, wherein the incentives earned by the user (102) is in the form of reward points usable against accessingthe content provided by the electronic device (112).

12. The system (100) of claim 11, wherein the incentives in the form of the reward points earned by the user (102) is immediately usable or accumulated for later use in order to access thecontent provided by the electronic device(112).

13. The system (100) of claim 11, wherein the incentives earned by the user (102) in the form of the reward points is selectively transferable to other users.

14. The system (100) of claim 1, wheren the accessibility of the content provided to the user is at least one of : a partial accessibility; a full accesssibiity; and no accessibility.

15. The system (100) of claim 14, wherein the accessibility of the content provided to the user is determined based on the set of customizable rules defined by the administrator (108) and/or the user (102).

16. The system (100) of claim 1, wherein the content provided by the electronic device (112) is at least one of an analog content, or a digital content.

17. A method (500) for allowing a user (102) by way of physical exercise access to content provided by at least one electronic device (112), comprising: monitoring, a physical exercise related information by a monitoring device (104) associated with the user (102); receiving, by a decision making module (106), the physical exercise related information from the monitoring device(104) communicatively coupled with the decision making module (106), wherein the decision making module (106) having a set of customizable rules defined by at least one of: an administrator (108), and the user (102); analyzing, by the decision making module (106), the physical exercise related information from the monitoring device (104) to generate one or more incentives for the user (102); and receiving, by a control unit (110), the incentives generated by the decision making module (106) for controlling accessibility of the content provided to the user(102) by the electronic device (112).

18. The method (500) of claim 17, wherein the physical exercise related information comprises of at least one of: a type of physical exercise performed by the user (102); and a time duration of physical exercise performed by the user (102).

19. The method (500) of claim 17 further comprising steps of: interpreting, the physical exercise related information received form the monitoring device (104) to a useful form that can be inputted to the decision making module(106) by an interpreter device (114); and storing, the interpreted useful form of the physical exercise related information received from the interpreter device (114) for later retrieval by a secured storage device (116).

20. The method (500) of claim 1, wherein the incentives earned by the user (102) is in the form of reward points usable against accessingthe content provided by the electronic device (112), or selectively transferable to other users.