Cloud Server Synchronizing Video Workout Programs Across Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing exercise machines struggle to synchronize video workout programs across multiple devices and track total workout statistics for mixed modality workouts, leading to unsynchronized conditions and incomplete workout tracking.
Innovation Solution
A method that communicatively couples a server in a cloud network to exercise machines and network devices, allowing the server to provide video workout programs, keep state of the program based on inputs from multiple devices, and generate control commands to control actuators on exercise machines, thereby synchronizing the workout program across devices and tracking mixed modality workouts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If exercise machines operate independently without cloud synchronization, then device complexity is reduced, but the ability to synchronize video workout programs across multiple devices deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
A cloud-based server acts as an intermediary between multiple exercise machines and network devices. The server receives workout program data from the video source, distributes it to multiple devices, and maintains synchronization state without requiring direct peer-to-peer connections between devices. This resolves the contradiction by introducing a central coordinator that enables multi-device synchronization while keeping individual device architectures relatively simple.
Solution Approach 2:
The cloud server performs multiple functions: receiving workout programs, tracking workout state across different devices, managing synchronization timing, and distributing control commands. This multi-functional approach consolidates complexity into a single universal system rather than requiring each exercise machine to implement its own synchronization logic, thereby improving adaptability without proportionally increasing device-level complexity.
2Measurement precision
If workout tracking is limited to single-device machines, then measurement precision requirements are reduced, but the ability to track total workout statistics for mixed modality workouts deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges data from multiple independent exercise machines and network devices into a unified workout tracking database on the cloud server. By combining statistics from treadmill, stationary bike, and other devices, the system achieves comprehensive workout tracking that would be impossible for single-device systems. This merging approach improves measurement precision without requiring each individual device to implement complex tracking capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously receives feedback data from multiple devices about workout progress, compares it against target workout parameters, and uses this information to maintain accurate synchronization and tracking. The feedback mechanism enables precise measurement of total workout statistics by aggregating data from all devices and comparing cumulative progress against the overall workout program objectives.
3Ease of operation
If video workout programs are not synchronized across devices, then ease of operation is improved, but user immersion and workout effectiveness deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The cloud-based synchronization system operates autonomously without requiring manual intervention from users. The system automatically tracks workout state from all devices, determines when synchronization is needed, and distributes updated workout programs without user input. This self-service approach maintains reliable synchronization while keeping the user experience simple and intuitive.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-loading workout programs and pre-synchronizing timing data before the actual workout begins. The cloud server prepares synchronization schedules and buffers workout data in advance, ensuring that when multiple devices are activated, they are already aligned and ready for immediate synchronized operation. This preliminary preparation maintains reliability without adding operational complexity during execution.
Data Source
AI summary
In one aspect of the disclosure, a method that involves keeping state of a video workout program may include communicatively coupling a server in a cloud network to an exercise machine through a first network connection, communicatively coupling the server to a network device through a second network connection, the server providing a video workout program to the exercise machine for execution at the exercise machine to enable a user to perform at 1 east a portion of a workout of the video workout program on the exercise machine, the server keeping state of the video workout program during execution of the video workout program based on inputs from the exercise machine and the network device, and taking an action based on the state. The action may include synchronizing multiple displays, adaptively scaling the video workout program, and/or generating and providing an exercise machine control command to the exercise machine.