Group sports system and individual sports difficulty control method in group sports

Abstract

The present invention relates to a group sport system, which allows multiple sport participants to perform an imitative sport of the same model sport using a sport device of each sport participant during a group sport session, and repeatedly ranks sport performances of all sport participants during the session, characterized in that it comprises a difficulty indication module, which indicates at least one adjustment opportunity during the sport, for each sport participant to adjust the sport difficulty of the sport device for the sport participant to perform the imitative sport according to the ranking of the sport performance of the sport participant at the time, such as lowering the sport difficulty when the ranking is within a predetermined number of the last, or raising the sport difficulty when the ranking is within a predetermined number of the first.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to group exercise, and in particular, to a group exercise system that allows multiple participants to perform the same exercise at the same time, and a method for controlling the difficulty of individual exercise in group exercise. BACKGROUND

[0002] Group exercise is a popular form of exercise training, which can enhance the enjoyment and effectiveness of exercise through the collective context of many people performing the same exercise together. In recent years, a training method of group exercise using stationary bicycles or treadmills and other exercise equipment has emerged. Typically, a group exercise session is led by a personal trainer (e.g., a fitness club instructor) who uses a piece of exercise equipment to demonstrate the exercise, while on-site and / or off-site participants (e.g., fitness club members) follow the demonstration of the personal trainer using the same or similar exercise equipment. Alternatively, a service provider can provide pre-prepared, archived exercise programs on its network platform, allowing dispersed participants to receive and play the selected video content of the exercise programs in streaming mode at the same time, and follow the demonstration in the pre-recorded video to perform the same exercise. In more advanced group exercise systems, all participants can see their own exercise performance (e.g., accumulated exercise mileage or accumulated calorie consumption) ranked in the group through the on-site or personal screen, which has the effect of self-evaluation and self-motivation.

[0003] In principle, when the participants imitate the exercise of the personal trainer, the exercise equipment used by the participants should have the same exercise difficulty (e.g., the pedal resistance of a stationary bicycle, the running belt rotation speed of a treadmill, and the running platform slope, etc.) as the exercise equipment used by the personal trainer as a model, so as to achieve the expected exercise effect of the personal trainer. In the early or simpler approach, the personal trainer will timely verbally ask the participants to adjust the exercise difficulty of the exercise equipment according to the specific instructions, such as "now adjust the resistance to Level 10", and each participant will make the corresponding adjustment through the control interface of his / her own exercise equipment. In a more advanced approach, the exercise difficulty of each exercise equipment can be quantitatively controlled through electronic circuits, and the exercise equipment used by the personal trainer can be connected to all the exercise equipment of the participants through wired or wireless networks, so that the exercise difficulty of all the exercise equipment can be kept synchronized.

[0004] However, in the majority of people, there are inevitably people whose physical level is obviously lower than the average level of the group, or people who are particularly poor at the sport, such as the people who are at the bottom of the aforementioned ranking. If these people are forced to exercise at the same level of difficulty as the majority of people, they may be overburdened and exhausted, or they may be negative or even give up halfway, thus losing the purpose of participation. In the prior art described above, if the participants themselves feel that it is difficult to follow the standard exercise difficulty, they can manually disable the difficulty synchronization function of the exercise equipment before or during the exercise, and then manually set an appropriate exercise difficulty. For example, when the group is led by the exercise guide to exercise at a level of 8, the difficulty can be set to a relatively easy level of 6. When the group is led by the exercise guide to exercise at a level of 10, the difficulty can be increased to a level of 7 or 8, and so on. Conversely, people with relatively good physical abilities in the group may feel that the exercise difficulty used by the majority of people is too low and lacks challenge, and thus they can manually increase the exercise difficulty. Although the above method can make the participation and exercise of the group more flexible, those who do not follow the standard difficulty usually need to pay attention to the changes in the standard exercise difficulty during the exercise, especially during intermittent exercise with high and low exercise intensity, and frequently manually adjust the exercise difficulty used by themselves, which can easily interfere with the focus on exercise. On the other hand, anyone in the group can arbitrarily adjust the exercise difficulty, which may deviate from the predetermined effect of the group exercise. SUMMARY

[0005] In view of the above problems, the main purpose of the present application is to provide a group exercise system, which can enable the participants to obtain exercise training and exercise effects that are in line with their individual physical levels, and maintain or even improve the exercise interest and competitive power during the exercise without being distracted by manually adjusting the exercise difficulty of the exercise equipment used.

[0006] Another purpose of the present application is to provide a personal exercise difficulty control method in group exercise, which can enable the participants to obtain exercise training and exercise effects that are in line with their individual physical levels, and maintain or even improve the exercise interest and competitive power during the exercise without being distracted by manually adjusting the exercise difficulty of the exercise equipment used.

[0007] To achieve the above object, the group exercise system comprises: an exercise guide device having a first electronic device capable of providing a sample exercise information about a sample exercise performed by an exercise guide using a first exercise device, the sample exercise information including an exercise difficulty of the first exercise device for the exercise guide to perform the sample exercise; a plurality of exercise participant devices each having a second exercise device and a second electronic device, the plurality of exercise participant devices capable of allowing an exercise participant to perform an imitated exercise using the second exercise device during a group exercise session, the second electronic device of each of the exercise participant devices capable of instructing the corresponding second exercise device to adjust the exercise difficulty for the exercise participant to perform the imitated exercise, and continuously measuring the exercise performance of the exercise participant during the group exercise session; a performance ranking module capable of repeatedly ranking the exercise performance of all the exercise participants during the group exercise session; and a difficulty instructing module capable of instructing the second electronic device of each of the exercise participant devices to adjust the exercise difficulty of the corresponding second exercise device for the exercise participant to perform the imitated exercise according to the exercise difficulty of the first exercise device for the exercise guide to perform the sample exercise, and capable of instructing the second electronic device of at least one of the exercise participant devices to adjust the exercise difficulty of the corresponding second exercise device for the exercise participant to perform the imitated exercise according to the ranking position of the exercise participant in the ranking at the time of at least one adjustment opportunity during the group exercise session.

[0008] In the technical solution of the present application, the performance ranking module can display the ranking result of each of the exercise participants during the group exercise session, so that each of the exercise participants can know his / her ranking position in the ranking; and the difficulty instructing module can instruct the adjustment of the exercise difficulty according to the ranking position at a regular time during the group exercise session. Thus, the exercise participants can be continuously encouraged to perform the best during the exercise, and the physical fitness level of the exercise participants in the group can be more reasonably reflected, and the exercise difficulty can be more flexibly adjusted.

[0009] In one possible implementation of the present application, the difficulty indicating module is capable of instructing, at at least one of the adjustment opportunities, the second electronic device of the corresponding sports participation apparatus to adjust the sports difficulty of the corresponding second sports device for the follower to perform the imitation sports, lower than the sports difficulty of the first sports device for the leader to perform the example sports, for the sports performance of the follower who belongs to within a predetermined number of last places in the ranking at the time. In this way, the follower with a lower physical fitness level can automatically perform the imitation sports with a relatively lower sports difficulty.

[0010] Preferably, the predetermined number of last places comprises at least the last place and the second last place; and the difficulty indicating module is capable of instructing, at the adjustment opportunities, the second electronic device of the corresponding sports participation apparatus to adjust the sports difficulty lower for the sports performance of the follower who belongs to within the predetermined number of last places in the ranking at the time and who has a lower place. In this way, the follower with a lower physical fitness level can automatically perform the imitation sports with a lower sports difficulty, and the adjustment mechanism is more effective and reasonable.

[0011] Preferably, the example sports information provided by the first electronic device further comprises the sports performance of the leader using the first sports device to perform the example sports; and the difficulty indicating module is capable of instructing, at the adjustment opportunities, the second electronic device of the corresponding sports participation apparatus to adjust the sports difficulty of the corresponding second sports device lower than the sports difficulty of the first sports device, only for the sports performance of the follower who belongs to within the predetermined number of last places in the ranking at the time and who has a lower place than the sports performance of the leader at the same time by a predetermined degree. In this way, because the example sports of the leader is added as a comparison standard, the condition for adjusting the sports difficulty lower is more reasonable.

[0012] In one possible implementation of the present application, the difficulty indicating module is capable of instructing, at at least one of the adjustment opportunities, the second electronic device of the corresponding sports participation apparatus to adjust the sports difficulty of the corresponding second sports device for the follower to perform the imitation sports, lower than the sports difficulty of the first sports device for the leader to perform the example sports, for the sports performance of the follower who belongs to within a predetermined number of last places in the ranking at the time. In this way, the follower with a lower physical fitness level can automatically perform the imitation sports with a relatively lower sports difficulty.

[0013] Preferably, the predetermined top ranks include at least the first and second ranks; and the difficulty indicating module, in the adjusting timing, indicates the second electronic device of the corresponding exercise participant device to adjust the exercise difficulty to a higher level for the exercise performance of the exercise participant whose rank in the ranking at that time is within the predetermined top ranks and whose rank is higher. Thus, the exercise participant with a higher physical level can automatically perform the imitative exercise with a higher exercise difficulty, and the adjusting mechanism is more effective and reasonable.

[0014] Preferably, the example exercise information provided by the first electronic device further includes the exercise performance of the exercise guide using the first exercise device to perform the example exercise; and the difficulty indicating module, in the adjusting timing, indicates the second electronic device of the corresponding exercise participant device to adjust the exercise difficulty of the corresponding second exercise device to a level higher than that of the first exercise device only for the exercise performance of the exercise participant whose rank in the ranking at that time is within the predetermined top ranks and is higher than the exercise performance of the exercise guide by a predetermined degree. Thus, because the example exercise of the exercise guide is used as a comparison standard, the condition for increasing the exercise difficulty is more reasonable.

[0015] In one possible embodiment of the present application, the second electronic device of each exercise participant device can be configured to set whether the corresponding exercise participant wants to accept the adjustment of the exercise difficulty by the difficulty indicating module according to the rank. Thus, the exercise participant can freely choose whether to strictly follow the exercise difficulty of the example exercise for imitative exercise.

[0016] With the above technical solution of the present application, the exercise difficulty of the exercise participant in the group exercise for imitative exercise automatically follows the exercise difficulty of the exercise guide for the example exercise, and can be further adjusted (or not adjusted) according to the ranking objectively reflecting the physical level of the exercise participant in the group, so that the exercise participant can obtain exercise training and exercise effect in line with the individual physical level, and maintain or even improve the exercise interest and competitive power during the exercise, without being distracted by manually adjusting the exercise difficulty of the used exercise device.

[0017] To achieve another object of the present application, the present application further provides a personal exercise difficulty control method in a group exercise, wherein a plurality of exercise participants simultaneously imitate a model exercise performed by an exercise leader using a first exercise device to perform an imitated exercise using a second exercise device during a group exercise session. The control method is characterized in that the exercise difficulty of each second exercise device for the exercise participants to perform the imitated exercise is automatically controlled according to the exercise difficulty of the first exercise device for the exercise leader to perform the model exercise; the exercise performance of each exercise participant performing the imitated exercise is continuously measured during the group exercise session, and the exercise performance of all the exercise participants performing the imitated exercise is repeatedly ranked; at at least one adjustment opportunity in the group exercise session, the exercise difficulty of the corresponding second exercise device for the exercise participants to perform the imitated exercise is automatically adjusted to be lower than the exercise difficulty of the first exercise device for the exercise leader to perform the model exercise for the exercise performance of each exercise participant whose ranking belongs to within a predetermined number of last places in the ranking at the time, and / or the exercise difficulty of the corresponding second exercise device for the exercise participants to perform the imitated exercise is automatically adjusted to be higher than the exercise difficulty of the first exercise device for the exercise leader to perform the model exercise for the exercise performance of each exercise participant whose ranking belongs to within a predetermined number of first places in the ranking at the time.

[0018] Through the above technical solution of the present application, the exercise difficulty of the exercise participants performing the imitated exercise in the group exercise automatically follows the exercise difficulty of the exercise leader performing the model exercise, and the exercise difficulty of the exercise participants with a significantly lower physical level can be automatically adjusted downward and / or the exercise difficulty of the exercise participants with a significantly higher physical level can be automatically adjusted upward according to the aforementioned ranking objectively reflecting the physical level of the exercise participants in the group, so that the exercise participants can obtain exercise training and exercise effects in line with their individual physical levels, and the exercise enthusiasm and competitive motivation during the exercise process can be maintained or even improved, without the need to manually adjust the exercise difficulty of the exercise devices used. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0019] Figure 1 is a partial equipment relative relationship of a group exercise system of a preferred embodiment of the present application;

[0020] Figure 2 is a basic structure of a group exercise system of a preferred embodiment of the present application;

[0021] Figure 3 is a basic structure of a group exercise system of another preferred embodiment of the present application;

[0022] Figure 4 This is the basic structure of a group sports system according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0023] Figure 5 This is an example of a leaderboard display used in team sports when employing the technical solution of this invention;

[0024] Figure 6 This is an example of the temporal changes in standard and adjusted exercise difficulty during group sports using the technical solution of this invention. Detailed Implementation

[0025] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some, not all, of the embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the described embodiments of the present invention are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0026] Please see Figure 1 and Figure 2 As shown, a preferred embodiment of the group sports system of the present invention includes a first sports device 10 (Note: Figure 1 The middle part describes its specific appearance. Figure 2 (The diagram is shown in block form), and several second motion devices 20 (Note: Figure 2 The diagram illustrates an arrangement of multiple second motion devices 20 relative to the first motion device 10 using a block diagram format. Figure 1 (Only three of these are shown as representatives). The first exercise device 10 allows an exercise facilitator to perform a specific type of physical exercise during a group exercise session, and each of the second exercise devices 20 allows an individual exercise participant to perform a specific type of physical exercise during the same group exercise session. Each second exercise device 20 is the same as or similar to the first exercise device 10. Even if the structures are not exactly the same, they at least have the basic same exercise functions. In other words, each exercise participant can use the second exercise device 20 to perform the same type of exercise as the exercise facilitator uses the first exercise device 10.

[0027] In the preferred embodiment, both the first exercise device 10 and the second exercise device 20 are stationary bicycles, more specifically, spinning bikes, which mainly include a seat cushion for a user (e.g., the aforementioned exercise leader or the aforementioned exercise participant) to sit on, a handlebar set for the user to hold, a pedal set for the user to pedal, a flywheel rotatable in connection with the pedal set, and a resistance mechanism (not shown) for changing the resistance of the pedal set, such as an eddy current brake (ECB) or a friction brake, which can apply a desired resistance to the flywheel. In other words, each of the exercise devices 10 and 20 in the preferred embodiment can be used by a user to perform a spinning bike exercise, which basically involves pedaling the pedal set to make it rotate cyclically, and the exercise can have different contents in association with changes in the pedal resistance, pedaling speed (rhythm), riding posture, etc. during the exercise. Among them, the pedal resistance is the exercise difficulty of the exercise device (spinning bike) 10 and 20 in the preferred embodiment for a person to perform an exercise. Incidentally, the "exercise difficulty" in the present application is different from the so-called "exercise intensity", which conceptually refers to the effort level of a human body to perform a certain exercise, usually based on the heart rate of the exerciser.

[0028] Of course, the exercise devices used in the group exercise system of the present application are not limited to spinning bikes or stationary bicycles, and in other possible embodiments, various exercise devices that can change the exercise difficulty through electric control, such as electric treadmills, manual treadmills, elliptical exercise machines, stair machines, step machines, rowing machines, etc. can be used. Correspondingly, the aforementioned exercise difficulty is not limited to the exercise resistance of the pedal set of the bicycle, and other factors such as the running belt rotation speed of the treadmill, the slope / angle of the treadmill or elliptical exercise machine, the stair descent resistance of the stair machine, etc. can represent the difficulty of the corresponding exercise device for a person to perform the corresponding exercise, and can be quantitatively represented and controlled. The basic structure, operation mode and exercise difficulty control of the exercise devices used in the present application belong to the known technology in the field of exercise equipment, and will only be briefly described in the present specification without detailed description.

[0029] For the sake of distinction, in the present application, the exercise performed by the exercise leader using the first exercise device 10 during the aforementioned group exercise period is referred to as the model exercise, and the exercise performed by each exercise participant using the second exercise device 20 during the aforementioned group exercise period is referred to as the imitation exercise. According to the basic mode of group exercise, the exercise leader will basically perform the model exercise according to the plan (mixed with some randomness and contingency), and continuously guide and motivate through speech or shouting, while all the exercise participants will simultaneously imitate the aforementioned model exercise and perform the imitation exercise individually, for example, in the preferred embodiment, the exercise leader will basically perform the same spinning bike exercise as the exercise leader at that time, with the pedal resistance, pedaling speed (rhythm), riding posture, etc. being as similar as possible.

[0030] The front end of each exercise device 10, 20 is provided with an electronic console 15, 25, which serves as a bidirectional human-machine interface between the exercise device 10, 20 and its user. In the preferred embodiment, the console 15, 25 mainly comprises a flat display with a touch screen, which displays various information for the user to view and allows the user to input various commands. The console 15, 20 can respond to the indication of the specified resistance of the pedal set (including the indication of the user himself and the indication from outside, which will be described later) to control the resistance mechanism in an electrically controlled manner, such as controlling the magnets of the eddy current brake to approach or move away from the flywheel, or controlling the friction block of the friction brake to press against or release the flywheel, so as to increase or decrease the resistance required to be overcome by the rotation of the pedal set, thereby determining the difficulty of the exercise device 10, 20. As mentioned above, for example, the control of the resistance mechanism to determine the difficulty of the exercise device 10, 20 is a known technology in the field of exercise equipment.

[0031] Each exercise device 10, 20 is also provided with at least one sensor (not shown in the figure) electrically connected to the console 15, 25, which can cooperate to measure the exercise performance of the user using the exercise device 10, 20. In the preferred embodiment of the fixed bicycle as the exercise device, the exercise performance can be one or a combination of the numerical results of the cumulative riding mileage, the cumulative heat consumption, the average power, etc., and the sensor can be a sensing element and related circuit that can sense the rotation resistance, rotation speed, rotation number, etc. of the pedal set, and the sensing signal is transmitted to the console 15, 25 for operation processing to obtain the numerical exercise performance. Similarly, the use of various sensors and operation processing to measure the exercise performance is a known technology in the field of exercise equipment.

[0032] In the preferred embodiment, the first exercise device 10 and all the second exercise devices 20 are located in the same place, such as a fitness club, or various indoor or outdoor squares. Figure 2 A common arrangement is shown, i.e. each second exercise device 20 is arranged in front of the first exercise device 10 with the front end facing the first exercise device 10, so that when performing group exercise, each participant using the second exercise device 20 can see the condition of the exercise guide using the first exercise device 10, and at the same time, the exercise guide can see all or most of the participants at a glance.

[0033] In front of each second exercise device 20, and also in the rear of the first exercise device 10, there is a large display screen 30, for example, composed of a plurality of flat panel displays, for displaying information pictures viewable by all the exercise participants. There is also a computer device 40 for controlling the content of the aforementioned information pictures displayed on the display screen 30. In other possible embodiments, the display screen 30 is a projection screen, and the computer device 40 controls a projector (not shown in the figure) to project content on the display screen 30, achieving the same purpose.

[0034] The computer device 40 can also communicate with the control consoles 15, 25 at the front ends of the exercise devices 10, 20. In the preferred embodiment, each control console 15, 25 has wireless communication function, and the computer device 40 is electrically connected with a wireless transceiver 45, and can communicate with each control console 15, 25 through wireless communication technology such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. In other possible embodiments, the computer device 40 directly or indirectly forms wired communication with each control console 15, 25. Specifically, the control console 15 at the front end of the first exercise device 10 can transmit corresponding information of the exercise difficulty and exercise performance of the model exercise performed by the exercise guide to the computer device 40, and each control console 25 at the front end of each second exercise device 20 can transmit corresponding information of the personal information (for example, the account name and avatar of the exercise participant who logs in the exercise device) of the corresponding exercise participant, and the exercise difficulty and exercise performance of the exercise performed by the exercise participant for imitation to the computer device 40. On the other hand, the computer device 40 can transmit the relevant information of the model exercise performed by the exercise guide (hereinafter referred to as model exercise information, at least including the exercise difficulty) to each control console 25 at the front end of each second exercise device 20, and can transmit the aforementioned personal information of all the exercise participants and the relevant information of the exercise performed by the exercise participants for imitation to the control console 15 at the front end of the first exercise device 10.

[0035] According to the viewpoint of the present application, the control console 15 and the aforementioned sensor matched with the first exercise device 10, together with the computer device 40 and the wireless transceiver 45, jointly constitute a first electronic device, and further, the first exercise device 10 and the aforementioned first electronic device constitute an exercise guide device. In contrast, each control console 25 and the aforementioned sensor matched with each second exercise device 20 jointly constitute a second electronic device, and further, each second exercise device 20 and the corresponding aforementioned second electronic device constitute an exercise participant device.

[0036] When conducting a group exercise, an exercise guide uses the exercise device 10 of the aforementioned exercise guide device to perform a model exercise, while multiple or a large number (usually from several dozen to several tens of people) of exercise participants respectively use the exercise device 20 of the aforementioned exercise participant device to perform an imitation exercise that imitates the aforementioned model exercise. During the process, if the exercise guide wants to lead everyone to change the exercise difficulty of the exercise device (including the initial exercise difficulty at the beginning of the exercise), the exercise guide will issue an instruction through the control console 15 at the front end of the first exercise device 10 used by the exercise guide, such as directly specifying a specific resistance level, or instructing to increase or decrease the current level by 1 level, etc. In addition to controlling the aforementioned resistance mechanism of the first exercise device 10 according to the aforementioned instruction, the control console 15 will also transmit information about the change of the exercise difficulty to the computer device 40. In principle, the computer device 40 will issue the same instruction to all control consoles 25 of the exercise participant devices, so that each control console 25 controls the aforementioned resistance mechanism of the second exercise device 20 according to the aforementioned instruction, that is, the exercise difficulty used by each exercise participant is kept synchronized with the exercise difficulty used by the exercise guide. Of course, because the exercise guide will continuously guide and encourage through speech or shouting when leading the exercise, when preparing to change the exercise difficulty, the exercise guide usually informs all exercise participants in advance.

[0037] During the aforementioned group exercise period, the second electronic device of each exercise participant device continuously measures the exercise performance of the corresponding exercise participant performing the imitation exercise, and continuously transmits the corresponding information of the aforementioned exercise performance to the computer device 40 of the exercise guide device, such as transmitting updated data every 10 seconds or 15 seconds. It must be pointed out here that even if all exercise participants use the same exercise difficulty to exercise, because the rate or cumulative number of turns of each exercise participant stepping the pedal group is generally not consistent, the exercise performance (such as cumulative calorie consumption) of each person is also not the same, and the difference usually gradually increases over time. The computer device 40 of the exercise guide device continuously collects the exercise performance uploaded by the control console 25 of each exercise participant device, and repeatedly ranks the exercise performance of all exercise participants, such as re-ranking every 10 seconds or 15 seconds, and then displays the latest ranking result on the large display screen 30 for all exercise participants to watch.

[0038] Please refer to Figure 5Fig. 6 shows an information screen displayed by the display 30 at a certain time point during the group exercise session. In the preferred embodiment, the aforementioned ranking result is presented in the form of a leaderboard, i.e. the best performer is ranked at the top (upper left corner of the screen) and the worst performer is ranked at the bottom (lower right corner of the screen) according to the performance. In the leaderboard screen, the brief information (participant information) 31 of each participant is represented by a horizontal row, which includes the name 32, avatar, current performance 33, current actual exercise difficulty 34, and current ranking 35 of the participant. Meanwhile, the brief information (leader information) 36 of the exercise leader is also represented by a horizontal row in the same format, and is inserted at the corresponding position in the ranking according to the performance, but without ranking. Figure 5 The performance 33 in the example is the cumulative expended calories of the participant (or the exercise leader) from the beginning of the group exercise to the current time, which can be calculated from the rotation resistance, rotation speed, and rotation number of the aforementioned pedal set, and the greater the value, the more effort the participant exerts and the better the performance. In other possible embodiments, the performance can be other measured values such as cumulative riding distance or average power, or can be a score synthesized from multiple measured values. For participants whose performance is significantly behind the average level of the group (e.g. the last few ranks), the exercise difficulty of their exercise devices can be relatively high, and vice versa for participants whose performance is significantly ahead of the average level of the group (e.g. the first few ranks).

[0039] In the preferred embodiment, the computer device 40 of the exercise leader device can instruct the control console 25 of at least one participant device to adjust the exercise difficulty of the corresponding second exercise device 20 for the participant to perform the imitation exercise according to the ranking of the corresponding participant's performance at the time at least one adjustment opportunity during the aforementioned group exercise session.

[0040] In the preferred embodiment, the computer device 40 of the exercise leader device can instruct the control console 25 of at least one participant device to adjust the exercise difficulty of the corresponding second exercise device 20 for the participant to perform the imitation exercise according to the ranking of the corresponding participant's performance at the time at least one adjustment opportunity during the aforementioned group exercise session. Figure 5Taking the illustrated state as an example, the exercise difficulty level currently being used by the exercise facilitator is Level 10. In principle, all exercise participants should also use Level 10 exercise difficulty based on the aforementioned synchronization function. However, there is an exception: at the aforementioned adjustment time, the computer device 40 will instruct the control panel 25 of the corresponding exercise participating device to adjust the exercise difficulty of the corresponding second exercise device 20 to be lower than that of the first exercise device 10 for the exercise performance of the participants whose ranking is within the bottom predetermined ranking at that time (in this example, the three from the bottom 37, namely the last, second to last, and third to last). Moreover, for the exercise performance of the participants with lower rankings, the control panel 25 of the corresponding exercise participating device will be instructed to adjust the exercise difficulty to be lower. For example, the exercise difficulty of the last-ranked participant is lowered by 2 levels to Level 8, and the exercise difficulty of the second to last and third to last participants is lowered by 1 level to Level 9.

[0041] At the same time, at the aforementioned adjustment time, the computer device 40 will instruct the control console 25 of the corresponding sports device to adjust the difficulty of the corresponding second sports device 20 to be higher than that of the first sports device 10 for the sports performance of the sports participants whose ranking is within the top predetermined ranking at that time (in this example, the top three in the top 38 ranking, namely the first, second and third place). Moreover, for the sports performance of the higher-ranked sports participants, the control console 25 of the corresponding sports device will be instructed to adjust the difficulty of the sports more. For example, the difficulty of the first place is increased by 2 levels to become Level 12, and the difficulty of the second and third place is increased by 1 level to become Level 11.

[0042] better location (non- Figure 5 (As demonstrated in the example) During the aforementioned adjustment period, the computer device 40 will only instruct the control console 25 of the corresponding exercise device to adjust the exercise difficulty of the second exercise device 20 to be higher than that of the first exercise device 10 for exercise participants whose ranking in the current ranking is within the top predetermined range and is higher than the predetermined level of the exercise performance of the exercise guide at the same time. For example, if even the first-ranked participant's exercise performance is lower than that of the exercise guide, or not higher than the predetermined level (e.g., 10%), the exercise difficulty of their exercise device will not be specially increased, that is, it will be maintained at the same level as the exercise guide's exercise difficulty.

[0043] The same principle, the computer device 40 in the aforementioned adjustment timing, only for the ranking in the name of the end of the time within the predetermined number of sports performance and lower than the same time sports guide sports performance predetermined degree of sports participants, the console 25 of the corresponding sports participant equipment respectively adjust the corresponding second sports device 20 of the sports difficulty, so that it is lower than the sports difficulty of the first sports device 10. For example, assuming that the last place in the ranking of sports performance is higher than the sports performance of the sports guide, or is not lower than the predetermined degree (for example, 10%), will not be particularly low to adjust the sports difficulty of the sports device, that is, to maintain the same sports difficulty as the sports guide.

[0044] Figure 5 The ranking in the above-mentioned ranking is designed to display the basic information of 20 people at the same time, and the example assumes that there are 19 sports participants in this group sports (plus the sports guide, exactly 20), so that the information of each sports participant can be displayed in the above-mentioned ranking. In different conditions, the number of sports participants may be more, so the above-mentioned ranking may display the information of all sports participants in batches by page rotation, or only the information of the top and bottom of the predetermined number (for example, about 10) is displayed. Regardless, since the computer device 40 will display the ranking results (at least partially) on the large display screen 30 that all sports participants can watch, it will also continuously transmit the corresponding information to the console 25 of each sports participant equipment, and each console 25 will display the ranking results on its display for the corresponding sports participant to watch, which may be different from the information displayed on the screen 30. The content usually focuses on the performance level of the sports participant using the sports participant equipment, so that each sports participant can at least know his / her ranking.

[0045] According to the total number of sports participants, the number of people subject to the adjustment of the sports difficulty according to the ranking should also be adjusted accordingly, for example, assuming that there are about 50 sports participants, the top five and / or the last five may be adjusted at the aforementioned adjustment timing. Assuming that there are only about 10 sports participants, the first and / or the last may be adjusted at the aforementioned adjustment timing, and so on.

[0046] Figure 6is an example of the time sequence variation of the standard exercise difficulty and the adjusted exercise difficulty when the group exercise is performed by using the technical solution of the present application. The horizontal axis of the chart represents time, and the vertical axis represents exercise difficulty. The thickest and continuous curve (bent line) in the chart is called the standard difficulty curve 80, which presents the time sequence variation of the exercise difficulty used by the exercise guide when performing the example exercise (and as the imitation standard). T0 at the left end of the time axis represents the start of the group exercise period. T1, T2, T3, and the like from left to right represent the transformation time points, which indicate that the exercise guide leads the transformation of the exercise difficulty at each time point. In the legend, the initial exercise difficulty is Lv.3, which is increased to Lv.4 at the time point T1, increased to Lv.5 at the time point T2, and the like. Each transformation time point divides the group exercise period into several intervals. The exercise difficulty of the standard difficulty curve 80 that is constant in each interval is called the interval difficulty, which is sequentially marked as 81, 82, 83, and the like. On the other hand, C1, C2, C3, and the like from left to right on the time axis represent the preset check time points (corresponding to the aforementioned adjustment time). The intervals of the check time points are usually equal. For example, the first check time point C1 is set at the 5th minute after the start of the group exercise period, and the next check time point is set every 3 minutes.

[0047] When the group exercise session reaches a checkpoint, the computer device 40 will determine whether it is necessary to adjust the exercise difficulty according to the rankings. For example, at the first checkpoint C1, if according to preset rules, the exercise difficulty used by a certain participant should be lowered by 2 levels (e.g., the last ranked participant), lowered by 1 level (e.g., the second to last and third to last ranked participants), raised by 2 levels (e.g., the first ranked participant), or raised by 1 level (e.g., the second and third ranked participants), then after passing checkpoint C1, unlike the exercise facilitator and the majority of participants who use the interval difficulty 84 (equal to Lv.7), the participant will automatically switch to using an interval difficulty 94a (equal to Lv.5) lowered by 2 levels, an interval difficulty 94b (equal to Lv.6) lowered by 1 level, or an interval difficulty 94c (equal to Lv.9) raised by 2 levels. The difficulty level is increased by 1 level to 94d (equal to Lv.8); then, before the next check point C2 arrives, the exercise facilitator changes the exercise difficulty to a new range difficulty of 85 (equal to Lv.10) at the change point T4. At this time, based on the template exercise information continuously transmitted by the computer device 40 and the monitoring mechanism of the control console 25 of each exercise participant device (which may not require special instructions from the computer device 40), the exercise participants using the adjusted exercise difficulty will continue to use the same adjustment range, automatically switching to a range difficulty that is 2 levels lower (equal to Lv.8), 95b (equal to Lv.9), 95c (equal to Lv.12), or 95d (equal to Lv.11), until the next change point or check point.

[0048] Figure 5 The information screen shown has a time point prompt 39 in the lower right corner, which shows the remaining time until the next check time. The same prompt may also be displayed on the console screen of each sports participant's device so that sports participants (especially those at the bottom or top of the rankings) know when the difficulty of the exercise may be adjusted.

[0049] It is worth mentioning that, in Figure 6 In the standard difficulty curve 80, the last interval difficulty 89 is Lv.3. Since the exercise difficulty is already lower than a preset value, at the check point in this interval, the computer device 40 will at most instruct to increase the exercise difficulty of a certain exercise participant (for example, to use the interval difficulty 99c or 99d which is increased by 2 or 1 levels), but will not instruct to decrease the exercise difficulty. That is to say, even the exercise participant with the worst performance at that time will use the standard interval difficulty 89.

[0050] By the above technical solution of the present application, the exercise difficulty of the exercise participants in the group exercise who perform the imitative exercise will automatically follow the exercise difficulty of the model exercise performed by the exercise leader, and can be further automatically adjusted (or not adjusted) according to the ranking which objectively reflects the physical fitness level of the exercise participants in the group, for example, the exercise participants with obviously lower physical fitness level automatically perform the imitative exercise with relatively lower exercise difficulty, and / or the exercise participants with obviously higher physical fitness level automatically perform the imitative exercise with relatively higher exercise difficulty, so that the exercise participants can obtain exercise training and exercise effect in accordance with the individual physical fitness level, and maintain or even improve the exercise interest and competitive power in the exercise process, without being distracted by manually adjusting the exercise difficulty of the exercise device used.

[0051] Further, by the preset rule, the exercise participants with lower physical fitness level automatically perform the imitative exercise with lower exercise difficulty, and / or the exercise participants with higher physical fitness level automatically perform the imitative exercise with higher exercise difficulty, so that the adjustment mechanism is more effective and reasonable.

[0052] Further, by taking the exercise performance of the exercise leader as the comparison standard, the exercise difficulty reduction condition and / or the exercise difficulty increase condition are more reasonable.

[0053] Further, by displaying the ranking result of the exercise participants, and by periodically and not only once indicating the adjustment of the exercise difficulty according to the ranking, the exercise participants can be continuously encouraged to perform the best performance in the exercise process, and the physical fitness level of the exercise participants in the group can be more reasonably reflected, and the exercise difficulty can be more flexibly adjusted.

[0054] Preferably, in the above group exercise system, the console 25 of each exercise participant device can be used by the corresponding exercise participant to set whether to accept the adjustment of the exercise difficulty by the computer device 40 according to the ranking. The aforementioned setting can be performed at any time before or during the group exercise. Therefore, the exercise participant can freely choose whether to strictly follow the exercise difficulty of the model exercise to perform the imitative exercise. For example, in the above embodiment, the exercise participant whose exercise difficulty field displays "M" represents that he / she releases the functions of automatic synchronization and automatic adjustment of the exercise difficulty at that time, and instead, completely manually sets the exercise difficulty used by himself / herself. Incidentally, the exercise participant whose exercise difficulty field displays "10-2" represents that he / she specifies the exercise difficulty used by himself / herself as "follows the exercise difficulty change of the exercise leader, but is always reduced by 2 levels". Figure 5

[0055] In the group exercise system of the present application, the second exercise device 20 used by the exercise participants to perform the imitative exercise does not necessarily need to be located at the same place as the first exercise device 10 used by the exercise leader to perform the model exercise. In another preferred embodiment of the present application, as shown in Figure 3 ​As shown, the live site where the exercise guide performs the sample exercise is provided with a camera 55, which captures the entire exercise performance of the exercise guide and continuously transmits the live video to a computer device 50, which processes the video and uploads the video content to a network (including a local network and a wide area network) 70 in a streaming manner. All or part of the exercise participating devices are located in other sites or scattered in different places (e.g. other floors of a fitness club or private residences of the exercise participants). The consoles 25 of the exercise participating devices can receive the aforementioned video content from the network 70 in a streaming manner and play the video in a live manner, so that the remote exercise participants can follow the same exercise guided by the demonstration of the exercise guide. The exercise performance of the exercise participants can be transmitted to the computer device 40 via the network 70, so that the computer device 40 can rank all the exercise performances of the exercise participants and transmit the ranking results to each of the exercise participating devices and adjust the exercise difficulty of a specific exercise participating device if necessary. The first exercise device 10 and the console 15 used by the exercise guide, as well as the camera 55 and the computer device 50, collectively constitute an exercise guide device, which can provide sample exercise information about the sample exercise performed by the exercise guide using the first exercise device 10, including video content, exercise performance of the exercise guide, and corresponding information about the exercise difficulty.

[0056] In Figure 4 In another preferred embodiment, the operator prepares a plurality of archived exercise courses in advance. The archive of each exercise course records the relevant information about a sample exercise performed by an exercise guide using a first exercise device, including video content, exercise performance, and changes in exercise difficulty. The archives of the exercise courses are stored in a storage device 65, which can be accessed by a computer device 60 connected to the network 70. The exercise participants scattered in different places can receive and play the video content of the selected exercise courses in a streaming manner at the same time, and each of them can perform the same exercise following the demonstration in the pre-recorded video. Similarly, each of the exercise participating devices (equivalent to the second exercise device 20 plus the console 25) can communicate with the exercise guide device (equivalent to the computer device 60 plus the storage device 65) in a real-time and bidirectional manner via the network 70.

[0057] According to the present application, the computer device 40, 50, 60 in each of the above preferred embodiments has an operation processing function with an operation processing module (which can be a computer program in essence) for ranking the performance of all the players in the group sport session repeatedly and displaying the ranking results to all the players. Meanwhile, the computer device 40, 50, 60 also has an operation processing function with an operation processing module for indicating the difficulty level of the corresponding sport device of each of the electronic devices of the sport participating apparatuses according to the difficulty level of the model sport performed by the sport leader, and, if necessary, indicating the second electronic device of a specific sport participating apparatus to adjust the difficulty level of the corresponding sport device according to the ranking position of the corresponding sport participating player in the ranking of the performance of all the players at that time. In other possible embodiments, the console for the first sport device and / or the console for the second sport device in the group sport system can directly or indirectly assume all or part of the functions of the performance ranking module and the difficulty level indicating module.

[0058] According to one of the objects of the present application, a method for controlling the difficulty level of an individual sport in a group sport is provided. In the group sport, a plurality of sport participating players simultaneously perform an imitated sport using a second sport device while imitating a model sport performed by a sport leader using a first sport device in a group sport session. The control method comprises: automatically controlling the difficulty level of the imitated sport performed by each of the second sport devices for each of the sport participating players according to the difficulty level of the model sport performed by the first sport device for the sport leader; continuously measuring the performance of the imitated sport performed by each of the sport participating players in the group sport session and repeatedly ranking the performance of the imitated sport performed by all the sport participating players; and automatically adjusting the difficulty level of the imitated sport performed by the second sport device for each of the sport participating players at at least one adjustment opportunity in the group sport session, so that the difficulty level of the imitated sport performed by the second sport device for each of the sport participating players whose ranking position in the ranking is within a predetermined number of last positions is lower than the difficulty level of the model sport performed by the first sport device for the sport leader, and / or the difficulty level of the imitated sport performed by the second sport device for each of the sport participating players whose ranking position in the ranking is within a predetermined number of first positions is higher than the difficulty level of the model sport performed by the first sport device for the sport leader.

[0059] Through the above technical solution of the present application, the exercise difficulty of the exercise participants in the group exercise who perform the imitated exercise automatically follows the exercise difficulty of the exercise leader who performs the model exercise, and further, the exercise difficulty of the exercise participants with obviously lower physical fitness level can be automatically reduced, and / or the exercise difficulty of the exercise participants with obviously higher physical fitness level can be automatically increased according to the aforementioned ranking which objectively reflects the physical fitness level of the exercise participants in the group, so that the exercise participants can obtain exercise training and exercise effect in accordance with their individual physical fitness level, and the exercise interest and competitive power in the exercise process can be maintained or even improved, without the distraction of manually adjusting the exercise difficulty of the used exercise device. The possible implementation details and corresponding effects of the method can refer to the description of the group exercise system in the foregoing.

Claims

1. A group exercise system comprising: an exercise guide device having a first electronic device capable of providing exemplary exercise information about an exemplary exercise performed by an exercise guide using a first exercise device, the exemplary exercise information including an exercise difficulty of the first exercise device for the exercise guide to perform the exemplary exercise; a plurality of exercise participant devices each having a second exercise device and a second electronic device, the plurality of exercise participant devices capable of allowing an exercise participant to use the second exercise device to perform a follow-up exercise that follows the exemplary exercise during a group exercise session, the second electronic device of each of the exercise participant devices capable of instructing the corresponding second exercise device to control an exercise difficulty of the second exercise device for the exercise participant to perform the follow-up exercise, and capable of continuously measuring an exercise performance of the exercise participant performing the follow-up exercise during the group exercise session; a performance ranking module capable of repeatedly ranking the exercise performances of all the exercise participants performing the follow-up exercise during the group exercise session; characterized in that further comprising: a difficulty instructing module capable of instructing the second electronic devices of all the exercise participant devices to individually control the exercise difficulty of the corresponding second exercise device for the exercise participant to perform the follow-up exercise according to the exercise difficulty of the first exercise device for the exercise guide to perform the exemplary exercise, and capable of instructing the second electronic devices of at least one of the exercise participant devices to individually adjust the exercise difficulty of the corresponding second exercise device for the exercise participant to perform the follow-up exercise according to a position of the exercise participant in the ranking at at least one adjustment opportunity during the group exercise session.

2. The group movement system of claim 1, wherein: The performance ranking module is capable of displaying the ranking results of all the exercise participants during the group exercise session, so that each of the exercise participants can know at least his / her position in the ranking; and the difficulty instructing module is capable of instructing the adjustment of the exercise difficulty according to the position at least once during the group exercise session.

3. The group movement system of claim 1, wherein: The difficulty instructing module is capable of instructing the second electronic devices of the exercise participant devices to individually adjust the exercise difficulty of the corresponding second exercise device for the exercise participant to perform the follow-up exercise to be lower than the exercise difficulty of the first exercise device for the exercise guide to perform the exemplary exercise, for the exercise performances of the exercise participants having a position within a predetermined end position in the ranking at the adjustment opportunity.

4. The group movement system of claim 3, wherein: The predetermined end position includes at least the last position and the second last position; and the difficulty instructing module is capable of instructing the second electronic devices of the exercise participant devices to individually adjust the exercise difficulty of the corresponding second exercise device for the exercise participant to perform the follow-up exercise to be lower, for the exercise performances of the exercise participants having a position within the predetermined end position in the ranking at the adjustment opportunity and having a lower position.

5. A team play system according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that: The first electronic device provides the exemplary motion information further including motion performance of the motion guide using the first motion device to perform the exemplary motion; and the difficulty indicating module only indicates the second electronic device of the corresponding motion participant equipment to adjust the motion difficulty of the corresponding second motion device to be lower than the motion difficulty of the first motion device for the motion guide to perform the exemplary motion, for the motion performance of the motion participant whose ranking belongs to within a predetermined ranking at the time and is lower than the motion performance of the motion guide at the same time by a predetermined degree in the ranking at the time in the adjustment opportunity.

6. The group movement system of claim 1, wherein: The difficulty indicating module indicates the second electronic device of the corresponding motion participant equipment to adjust the motion difficulty of the corresponding second motion device for the motion participant to perform the imitated motion to be higher than the motion difficulty of the first motion device for the motion guide to perform the exemplary motion, for the motion performance of the motion participant whose ranking belongs to within a predetermined ranking at the time in the adjustment opportunity.

7. The group movement system of claim 6, wherein: The predetermined ranking at the front includes at least the first and second places; and the difficulty indicating module indicates the second electronic device of the corresponding motion participant equipment to adjust the motion difficulty to be higher for the motion participant whose ranking belongs to within the predetermined ranking at the front and whose ranking is higher in the ranking at the time in the adjustment opportunity.

8. A team sports system according to claim 6 or 7, wherein: The first electronic device provides the exemplary motion information further including motion performance of the motion guide using the first motion device to perform the exemplary motion; and the difficulty indicating module only indicates the second electronic device of the corresponding motion participant equipment to adjust the motion difficulty of the corresponding second motion device to be lower than the motion difficulty of the first motion device for the motion guide to perform the exemplary motion, for the motion performance of the motion participant whose ranking belongs to within a predetermined ranking at the time and is lower than the motion performance of the motion guide at the same time by a predetermined degree in the ranking at the time in the adjustment opportunity.

9. The group movement system of claim 1, wherein: The second electronic device of each of the motion participant equipment can set whether the corresponding motion participant wants to accept the adjustment of the motion difficulty by the difficulty indicating module according to the ranking.

10. A method for controlling individual motion difficulty in a group motion, the group motion allowing a plurality of motion participants to imitate an exemplary motion performed by a motion guide using a first motion device to perform an imitated motion using a second motion device simultaneously in a group motion period; the method is characterized in that: automatically controlling the motion difficulty of each of the second motion devices for the motion participant to perform the imitated motion according to the motion difficulty of the first motion device for the motion guide to perform the exemplary motion; In the group exercise session, the exercise performances of the exercise participants in the imitation exercise are continuously measured, and the exercise performances of all the exercise participants in the imitation exercise are repeatedly ranked; In at least one adjustment opportunity in the group exercise session, for the exercise performances of the exercise participants whose rankings in the ranking at the time are within a predetermined number of last places, the corresponding second exercise device automatically adjusts the exercise difficulty for the exercise participants in the imitation exercise to be lower than the exercise difficulty of the first exercise device for the exercise leader in the model exercise, and / or for the exercise performances of the exercise participants whose rankings in the ranking at the time are within a predetermined number of front places, the corresponding second exercise device automatically adjusts the exercise difficulty for the exercise participants in the imitation exercise to be higher than the exercise difficulty of the first exercise device for the exercise leader in the model exercise.

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