Interactive Athletic Equipment System

Abstract

Systems and techniques for the collection and display of athletic information. Athletic data relating to a single person or group of people is collected at a central location, and subsequently displayed at a desired remote location so that the person or people can review and critique their performance. In addition, athletic data for multiple persons can be collected at a central location, and subsequently displayed to a user at a desired remote location, so that the user can compare his or her athletic activities to others.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system comprising:
 an athletic performance module configured to receive athletic activity data from a wirelessly-connected sensor worn on a first user, wherein the first user is performing athletic activities at a first location; and   a challenge module configured to:   receive information specifying a challenge, wherein the challenge includes a competition between the first user, and a second user performing athletic activities at a second location, different to, and remote from, the first location;   determine, from the received athletic activity data, a first amount of athletic activity performed by the first user; and   continuously generate and simultaneously communicate in real-time to the first user at the first location and the second user at the second location, an interface indicating progress towards winning the challenge.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the challenge module is further configured to determine whether the challenge has been won based on a comparison of the first amount of athletic activity performed by the first user and a second amount of athletic activity performed by the second user. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the challenge is received from the second user. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the first user is prompted, by the challenge module, to accept the challenge. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the challenge comprises travelling a predetermined distance in a shortest amount of time. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the challenge comprises travelling as far as possible within a predetermined time. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the challenge comprises travelling a predetermined distance in a predetermined time. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the challenge is defined in terms of a common unit used for multiple types of athletic activities. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the challenge is specified in terms of a unit in which the athletic activity is measured. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the challenge includes a competition between a first athletic training facility and a second athletic training facility. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the first and second athletic training facilities correspond to an athletic training facility provider. 
     
     
         12 . A method comprising:
 receiving a prompt inviting a first user to participate in a challenge, wherein the challenge includes a competition between the first user performing athletic activities at a first location and a second user performing athletic activities at a second location different to, and remote from, the first location;   determining an amount of athletic activity performed by the first user based on sensor data received from a sensor worn on the first user;   continuously generating and simultaneously communicating in real-time to the first user at the first location and the second user at the second location, an interface indicating progress towards winning the challenge.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising determining whether the challenge has been won based on a comparison of the first amount of athletic activity performed by the first user and a second amount of athletic activity performed by the second user. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the sensor worn on the appendage of the first user comprises a location-determining sensor. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the sensor worn on the appendage of the first user comprises an accelerometer. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the challenge is received from the second user. 
     
     
         17 . A non-transitory machine readable storage medium comprising machine-readable instructions for causing a processor to execute a method of comparing athletic activity comprising:
 receiving a prompt inviting a first user to participate in a challenge, wherein the challenge includes a competition between the first user performing athletic activities at a first location and a second user performing athletic activities at a second location different to, and remote from, the first location;   determining an amount of athletic activity performed by the first user based on sensor data received from a sensor worn on the first user; and   continuously generating and simultaneously communicating in real-time to the first user at the first location and the second user at the second location, an interface indicating progress towards winning the challenge.   
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of  claim 17 , further comprising determining whether the challenge has been won based on a comparison of the amount of athletic activity performed using the first user to the amount of athletic activity performed by the second user. 
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of  claim 18 , wherein the challenge includes a competition between a first athletic training facility and a second athletic training facility. 
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of  claim 19 , wherein the first and second athletic training facilities correspond to an athletic training facility provider.