Exercise-Based Entertainment And Game Controller To Improve Health And Manage Obesity

Abstract

Monitoring and rewarding of physical activity are carried out by: (1) receiving a measurement of a physical activity from a sensor; (2) processing the measurement of the physical activity to derive a valid extent of the physical activity; and (3) controlling an entertainment device based on the valid extent of the physical activity.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions to:
 receive a first measurement of a physical activity from a first sensor;   process the first measurement of the physical activity to derive a valid extent of the physical activity; and   control an entertainment device based on the valid extent of the physical activity.   
     
     
         2 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , further comprising executable instructions to receive a second measurement of the physical activity from a second sensor that is different from the first sensor, and wherein the executable instructions to process the first measurement of the physical activity include executable instructions to derive the valid extent of the physical activity based on the second measurement of the physical activity. 
     
     
         3 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 2 , wherein the first measurement is a measurement of acceleration, and the second measurement is a measurement of pressure. 
     
     
         4 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 3 , wherein the executable instructions to derive the valid extent of the physical activity include executable instructions to correlate the measurement of acceleration with sufficient pressure applied to at least one area of a foot relative to a threshold pressure value. 
     
     
         5 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the executable instructions to process the first measurement of the physical activity include executable instructions to:
 derive a physical activity template; and   apply the physical activity template to the first measurement to derive the valid extent of the physical activity.   
     
     
         6 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 5 , wherein the executable instructions to apply the physical activity template include executable instructions to:
 derive a cross-correlation between the physical activity template and the first measurement; and   detect a number of peaks in the cross-correlation.   
     
     
         7 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , further comprising executable instructions to receive a second measurement of the physical activity from the first sensor, and wherein the executable instructions to process the first measurement of the physical activity include executable instructions to authenticate an identity of a performer of the physical activity based on the second measurement of the physical activity. 
     
     
         8 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 7 , wherein the first measurement and the second measurement are measurements of acceleration. 
     
     
         9 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 7 , wherein the executable instructions to authenticate the identity of the performer of the physical activity include executable instructions to:
 derive a measured histogram and a template histogram corresponding to the first measurement and the second measurement, respectively; and   derive a similarity score between the measured histogram and the template histogram.   
     
     
         10 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the executable instructions to control the entertainment device include executable instructions to activate the entertainment device based on the valid extent of the physical activity. 
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the executable instructions to control the entertainment device include executable instructions to allot a time budget for the entertainment device based on the valid extent of the physical activity. 
     
     
         12 . A system for monitoring and rewarding physical activity, comprising:
 a processing unit; and   a memory connected to the processing unit and including executable instructions to:
 receive an identification of valid instances of a physical activity by a user; and 
 control access of the user to an entertainment device based on the valid instances of the physical activity. 
   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the memory further includes executable instructions to:
 receive a measurement from a sensor that is applied to the user; and   process the measurement to identify the valid instances of the physical activity.   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the measurement is indicative of multiple, candidate instances of the physical activity, and the executable instructions to process the measurement include executable instructions to identify a subset of the candidate instances as the valid instances of the physical activity. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the executable instructions to process the measurement include executable instructions to compare the measurement with a physical activity template to identify the valid instances of the physical activity. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the measurement is a first measurement, the sensor is a first sensor, the memory further includes executable instructions to receive a second measurement from a second sensor that is applied to the user, and the executable instructions to process the first measurement include executable instructions to identify the subset of the candidate instances as correlated with the second measurement. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the executable instructions to process the measurement include executable instructions to authenticate an identity of the user to whom the sensor is assigned. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the executable instructions to authenticate the identity of the user include executable instructions to:
 derive a measured histogram corresponding to the measurement; and   derive a similarity score between the measured histogram and a template histogram assigned to the user.   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the executable instructions to control access to the entertainment device include executable instructions to activate the entertainment device based on the valid instances of the physical activity. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the executable instructions to control access to the entertainment device include executable instructions to allot a time budget for the entertainment device based on the valid instances of the physical activity.