Abstract:
An RFID-based exercise behavior management system is disclosed. The system comprises an RFID tag, a front-end subsystem and a back-end subsystem. The RFID tag contains a unique identification for a participant and is carried by or implanted in the participant whose exercise behavior can be recorded automatically when he is engaging exercise in the field where the front-end subsystem is installed. The backend subsystem enables the recorded exercise behavior to be accessed ubiquitously and to be delivered to related personnel. Thus this invention helps any health promoting agent in realizing and developing trackable exercise programs.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The invention pertains generally to an exercise behavior management system. More specifically the invention relates to a radio frequency identification (RFID) based exercise behavior management system. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Various investigations have confirmed that people can gain many physical and mental benefits from engaging in regular physical activity (PA). For instance, regular PA may help decrease the risk of many diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, colon and breast cancers and osteoporosis. It also helps to control weight, contributes to healthy bones, muscles and joints, and reduces falls among older adults (CDC, 1996). Public recognition of the importance of PA has urged for the promotion of PA at national and population levels (WHO, 2007). 
         [0003]    An example of the population level PA promotion is that schools are requested to teach adequate knowledge, provide enough facilities, and devise appropriate policy to promote students&#39; PA behavior. However, exercise behavior is learned and maintained under fairly complex schedules of reinforcement and anticipated future rewards. A longer follow-up period is recommended to determine maintenance effects for future interventions. 
         [0004]    The most common tool for a population-based PA intervention is the Internet-based information system, which can reach large number of people at a low cost. However, the effectiveness of the Internet in health promotion and in retention of users is regarded pessimistically (Evers, 2006). Fortunately the pessimism is solved by objectively measuring the PA engaged by users. 
         [0005]    However, deploying a large number of PA measuring devices to participants is still costly since the measuring device is vulnerable and needs maintenance. This invention combines PA measurement and the Internet technology to form “Exercise Behavior Management System” which is capable of reinforcing, evaluating and continuously monitoring the exercise behavior of its users at an acceptable cost and maintenance. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    One objective of this invention is to employ the RFID technology to record exercise behavior automatically and seamlessly so that defects of the conventional exercise management system such as reporting or measuring errors, lack of promptness, requirement of supervising labor, and lack of exercising time flexibility can be eliminated. Thus this invention does help any health promoting agent in realizing and developing trackable exercise programs. 
         [0007]    Another objective of this invention is to enable the recorded exercise behavior can be accessed ubiquitously and delivered to related personnel. 
         [0008]    Two types of RFID-based exercise behavior management system are embodied to achieve the above objectives. 
         [0009]    The first type of RFID-based exercise behavior management system comprises at least one RFID tag which contains a unique identification and is carried by or implanted in a participant to be identified, a front-end subsystem which includes one or more reading units and is used to record the participant&#39;s exercise engagement, and a back-end subsystem which includes at least a server on which a database software and an exercise managing software are running. The identification data in the RFID tag can be read when the tag is in the reading range of the reading unit. The participant&#39;s exercise engagement can then be recorded and sent to the back-end subsystem for further processing. The database of the back-end subsystem contains the participant&#39;s personal information including physiological data and contacts. The individual physiological data are combined with the individual exercise records to derive the participant&#39;s exercise records and behavior. The exercise records and behavior can be delivered with the contacts in the database. The exercise managing software is used to manage and enable the ubiquitous access to the participant&#39;s exercise records and behavior via the Internet. 
         [0010]    A participant engaging recordable exercise is requested to carry his (her) tag and visit designated site(s) where reading unit(s) is installed. When the participant&#39;s tag is in the reading range of the reading unit, the reading unit reads out the identification of the tag, generates a sonic or visual signal to inform that the tag has been read, and visiting data, which include the identification and the time the identification is read or received are formed. 
         [0011]    In case that only one location is used to record the physical activity, the distance to visit the site from a predefined point can be derived. 
         [0012]    In case that reading units are installed at two or more sites, the distance and the duration the participant need to move from the last visited site to current site is calculated. 
         [0013]    The front-end subsystem is connected to the back-end subsystem so that identification data, visiting data, or the exercise records can be transferred between them. 
         [0014]    The second type RFID-based exercise behavior management system in this invention comprises at least one writable RFID tag which contains a unique identification and is carried by or implanted in the participant to be identified, a front-end subsystem which includes one or more reading/writing units and is used to append the participant&#39;s visiting data into the tag, and a back-end subsystem which includes a reading unit and a server on which a database software and an exercise managing software are running. The identification and other data in the RFID tag can be read/written when the tag is in the reading/writing range of the reading/writing unit. The participant&#39;s exercise engagement data can then be appended into the tag by each reading/writing unit in the front-end subsystem. The reading unit in the back-end subsystem is used to read out all the exercise engagement data stored in the tag. The database in the server of the back-end subsystem contains the participant&#39;s personal information including physiological data and contacts. The individual physiological data are combined with the individual exercise records to derive the participant&#39;s exercise records and behavior. The exercise records and behavior can be delivered with the contacts in the database. The exercise managing software is used to manage and enable the ubiquitous access to the participant&#39;s exercise records and behavior via the Internet. 
         [0015]    A participant engaging recordable exercise is requested to carry his (her) tag and visit designated site(s) where reading/writing unit(s) is installed. When the participant&#39;s tag is in the writing range of the reading/writing unit, visiting data which include the site&#39;s identification and the visiting time are appended into the tag&#39;s data, and meanwhile, the reading/writing unit generates a sonic or visual signal to inform that the visiting data have been appended to the tag. 
         [0016]    When the participant completes the exercise engagement, the visiting data in the tag are readout by the reading unit of the back-end subsystem. 
         [0017]    In case that only one site is used to append the visiting data into the tag, the distance to visit the location from a predefined point can be derived. 
         [0018]    In case that reading/writing units are installed in two or more sites, the distance and the duration the participant spend for two site visits are calculated. 
         [0019]    Thus duration and distance of the exercise engagement is calculated by a series of visiting data. 
         [0020]    The intensity, consumed energy, and information related to the exercise and physiology can thus be derived by incorporating the exercise type for the site visits, the personal data in the database, and the exercise data recorded. 
         [0021]    When these data are stored in database and accumulated for a period, say weeks or months, the exercise behavior of a participant or a group, said accumulated and averaged frequency, intensity, duration, and consumed energy can thus be further computed. 
         [0022]    The exercise managing software is capable of presenting exercise records and behavior by facilitating applications on the Internet or mobile network, including web pages, email, SMS, 3G, and 3.5G etc. 
         [0023]    The above objectives and advantages of the present invention become more readily apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art after reviewing the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, in which: 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0024]      FIG. 1  is the schematic diagram showing a preferred embodiment of the first type RFID-based exercise behavior management system according to the present invention; 
           [0025]      FIG. 2  is the schematic diagram of another preferred embodiment of the first type RFID-based exercise behavior management system according to the present invention; 
           [0026]      FIG. 3  is the schematic diagram of a further preferred embodiment of the first type RFID-based exercise behavior management system according to the present invention; and 
           [0027]      FIG. 4  is the schematic diagram of a preferred embodiment of the second type RFID-based exercise behavior management system according to the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0028]    The present invention is now described in more detail with the preferred embodiments. Note that the descriptions of the embodiments are presented herein for purpose of illustration and description only; they do not intend to exhaust or limit the precise form disclosed. 
         [0029]    Please refer to  FIG. 1 , which is a schematic diagram showing a preferred embodiment of the first type RFID-based exercise behavior management system according to the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the exercise behavior management system  1  comprises one or more RFID tags  14   a  and  14   b,  a front-end subsystem including one or more reading units  11  and  12 , and a back-end subsystem including at least a server  13 . The front-end subsystem is connected to the back-end subsystem through a data communication channel, such as but not limited to a wireless communication channel and a wired communication channel. For example, the reading units  11  and  12 , which are placed geographically apart and on the route on which the exercise is proceeding, are connected to an area network  15  with which the server  13  can access them. In each of the RFID tags  14   a  and  14   b,  a unique identification for each participant is stored. The identification data in the RFID tags  14   a  and  14   b  can be read when the tag is in the reading range of the reading units  11  and  12 . The server  13  on which a database software and an exercise managing software are running is used to receive, retrieve, and store the identification which is sent by or retrieved from the reading units  11  and  12  along with the time point the tag was read. The server  13  can also be used to process and/or record the information of exercising duration, intensity, and frequency of any participant. The database stored in the server  13  contains the participant&#39;s personal information including physiological data and contacts. The individual physiological data are combined with the individual exercise records to derive the participant&#39;s exercise records and behavior. The exercise records and behavior can be delivered with the contacts in the database. The exercise managing software is used to manage and enable the ubiquitous access to the participant&#39;s exercise records and behavior via the Internet. 
         [0030]    In this embodiment, the server  13  is located in the network  15  to which the first reading unit  11  and the second reading unit  12  are connected via a wireless base station  16  so that data can be transmitted between the server  13  and the reading units  11  and  12 . The protocol used by the wireless base station  16  can be but not limited to IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11i or 802.11n. 
         [0031]    Please refer to  FIG. 1  in more detail. The first reading unit  11  includes a first antenna  111 , a first reading module  112 , and a first communication module  113 . In this embodiment, the first antenna  111  is placed or buried underground superficially at a first site  171  of a running field or running track  17 , and is connected to the reading module  112 . The first reading module  112  can communicate with the server  13  wirelessly through the first communication module  113 . Similarly, the second reading unit  12  includes a second antenna  121 , a second reading module  122 , and a second communication module  123 . In this embodiment, the second antenna  121  is placed or buried underground superficially at a second site  172  of the running field or running track  17  and is connected to the second reading module  122 . The reading module  122  can communicate with the server  13  wirelessly through the second communication module  123 . Alternatively, the first communication module  113  of the first reading unit  11  can be integrated into the first reading module  112 . Similarly, the second communication module  123  of the second reading unit  12  can be integrated into the second reading module  122 . 
         [0032]    In another embodiments, as shown in  FIG. 2 , the server  13  is located in the network  15  to which the first reading unit  11  and the second reading unit  12  are directly connected so they can communicate with the server  13 . In some other embodiments, as shown in  FIG. 3 , the first reading unit  11  and the second reading unit  12  are directly connected to the server  13  so they can communicate with the server  13  for further processing and recording. 
         [0033]    Please refer to  FIG. 1  again. A participant who is carrying or implanted with the RFID tag  14   a  is engaging exercise on the running field  17 . When the participant passes the first site  171  where the first antenna  111  of the first reading unit  11  is placed, the RFID tag  14   a  is in the reading range of the reading unit  11  and receives the magnetic wave emitted by the first reading module  112  via the first antenna  111 . Then the modulated identification data stored in the RFID tag  14   a  is reflected back and received by the first reading module  112  via the first antenna  111 , so that the first reading unit  11  reads out the identification data of the RFID tag  14   a,  and meanwhile, the first reading unit  11  generates a sonic or visual signal to inform that the RFID tag  14   a  has been read. The identification data are then transmitted to the server  13  through the first communication module  113  immediately. Thus visiting data including the identification, the site no., and the time point the identification was received are stored for further processing. When the participant keeps exercising on the running field  17  and passes the second site  172  where the second antenna  121  of the second reading unit  12  is placed, the identification data stored in the RFID tag  14   a  are read by the second reading module  122  via the second antenna  121 . The identification data are transmitted to the server  13  through the second communication module  123  immediately. Similarly, the visiting data, including identification, site no., and the time point the identification was received are then stored for further processing. 
         [0034]    In any embodiments, the RFID tags  14   a  and  14   b  can be formed as strips to be carried by the participants, or disposed on, for example, shoes, clothes or belts. 
         [0035]    When the participant keeps exercising on the running field  17 , the visiting data are recorded in sequence continuously. Because that the geographic information such as the distances between any two sites are predefined and that the duration of each journey between the two sites for each participant can be calculated from the visiting data, the exercising intensity, duration, and accomplished distance of the exercise can be obtained. In case that only one site is used to record the physical activity, the distance to visit the site from a predefined point can be derived. Along with the personal data such as weight, height, gender, and age, the energy consumed by the exercise engaged by the participant can thus be calculated by incorporating the exercise type for the site visits, the personal data in the database, and the exercise data recorded. When the exercise information is accumulated for a period, say weeks or months, the exercising frequency, average intensity, and active level can be obtained. In this way, the exercise behavior management system  1  of the present invention can measure, process and record the exercise behavior automatically. Besides, the database of the server  13  can include a table for storing the participant&#39;s identification, physiological data, contacts and exercise behavior. 
         [0036]    Please refer to  FIG. 4 , which is a schematic diagram showing a second type RFID-based exercise behavior management system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the exercise behavior management system  1  includes at least a first reading/writing unit  21 , a second reading/writing unit  22 , a third reading/writing unit  19 , a server  13 , and at least one writable RFID tag  14   a,  which is also readable. The first reading/writing unit  21 , the second reading/writing unit  22 , and the third reading/writing unit  19  can read data from and write data into the RFID tag  14   a.  In this embodiment, the first reading/writing unit  21  and the second reading/writing unit  22  are placed at different sites. Any connections between the first reading/writing unit  21 , the second reading/writing unit  22 , and the server  13  are not necessary. The third reading/writing unit  19  is connected to the server  13  with wired or wireless communication channel. The first reading/writing unit  21  includes a first antenna  211  and a first reading/writing module  212  while the second reading/writing unit  22  includes a second antenna  221  and a second reading/writing module  222 . Similarly, the third reading/writing unit  19  includes a third antenna  191  and a third reading/writing module  192 . 
         [0037]    Please refer to  FIG. 4  again. The RFID tag  14   a  contains identification data for a participant who is carrying or whom is implanted with the RFID tag  14   a.  When the participant passes the first site  171  due to the exercise engagement so that the RFID tag  14   a  is in the reading/writing range of the first reading/writing unit  21 , information which contains the visiting data, i.e. site no. and visiting time, at the first site  171  is appended to the data in the RFID tag  14   a,  and meanwhile, the first reading/writing unit  21  generates a sonic or visual signal to inform that the visiting data have been appended to the RFID tag  14   a.  Next, when the participant passes the second site  172  due to the exercise engagement so that the RFID tag  14   a  is in the reading/writing range of the second reading/writing unit  22 , information which contains the visiting data at the second site  172  is appended to the data in the RFID tag  14   a  again. When the exercise engagement is finished and the RFID tag  14   a  is put in the reading/writing range of the third reading/writing unit  19 , the third reading/writing unit  19  can read out all the information in the RFID tag  14   a  and transmit the information to the server  13 . Please be noted that the data written by the first and the second reading/writing units  21  and  22  can be, but not limited to distance and elapsed time for journeys of two sites during the exercise engagement or any other information with which accumulated distance and elapsed time for that exercise engagement can be computed. Depending on the capacity of the RFID tag  14   a,  the information in the RFID tag  14   a  can or need not be deleted. 
         [0038]    In the above embodiment of the second type RFID-based exercise behavior management system, the first and the second reading/writing units  21  and  22  belong to the front-end subsystem, and the third reading/writing unit  19  and the server  13  belong to the back-end subsystem, wherein the front-end subsystem writes data into the RFID tag  14   a  and the back-end subsystem reads data from the RFID tag  14   a.  Alternatively, the units  21  and  22  included in the front-end subsystem can also be two writing units to write data into the RFID tag  14   a  when the RFID tag  14   a  is in the writing range of the writing unit, and the unit  19  included in the back-end subsystem can be a reading unit to read data from the RFID tag  14   a  when the RFID tag  14   a  is in the reading range of the reading unit. 
         [0039]    The exercise behavior management system  1  enables a program participant or instructing personnel to remotely acquire various information about the exercise behavior such as exercising frequency, intensity, accomplished progress, and consumed energy of participants. Please refer to  FIGS. 1-4  again. The server  13  further includes a web page software, so that the participant or the instructing personnel can ubiquitously use a first personal computer PC 1  that is connected to the network  15  or a second personal computer PC 2  which is connected to the Internet  18  to browse the recorded exercise behavior. In the first type RFID-based exercise behavior management system, neither manipulation of the exercise records nor a third person for exercise supervisory is required for the records to be compiled statistically as the exercise behavior. Neither manual recording of the exercise records nor a third person for exercise supervisory is required for the second type RFID-based exercise behavior management system, except that a step of reading the information in the RFID tag by the third reading/writing unit  19  is required. Because exercise data can be produced only by actual movement of the participant&#39;s body on/in which the RFID tag is carried or implanted, counterfeit of exercise record is eliminated. In this embodiment, the web page software provided by the server  13  is effective to manage the exercise behavior of the participant whose RFID tag, name, gender, age, weight, and height are stored in the database of the server  13 . 
         [0040]    In the exercise behavior management system  1  of the present invention, the placements of reading units  11 ,  12  and reading/writing units  21 ,  22  are not limited to the running field  17 . The swimming pool, the biking route, or any other fields in which the exercise performance is measured in distance, speed, and an arrival at a specific site are all can be recorded by the system in this invention. In addition, to increase the accuracy and reliability of the measurement and recording, the number of the reading (and writing) units or the number of the antennas arranged in a site is not limited to one. Furthermore, the number of the sites in which one or more reading units are placed is not limited to two. In some embodiments, the exercise behavior management system  1  can be applied to the measurement and recording for the exercise behavior at plural fields. For example, it can be applied to the plural fields in the rehabilitation center, so as to measure and record the exercise behavior and exercise quantity of the patient which periodically moves among those specific locations. Furthermore, the exercise managing software is capable of presenting exercise records and behavior by facilitating applications on the Internet or mobile network, including web pages, email, SMS, 3G, and 3.5G etc. In an embodiment, the exercise managing software of the server  13  comprises a web serving program, an email serving program, and/or a short message serving program to serve a web browsing on the Internet, deliver exercising information, and/or send message via mobile network, so that the server  13  can send the information about the exercise behavior, exercise quantity and health index of the participant recorded in the server  13  to a specific receiving device, such as computer, mobile phone or personal digital assistant (PDA) by email or text message. 
         [0041]    In conclusion, the RFID-based exercise behavior management system of the present invention is labor-saving and time-flexible since it can automatically record the periodical exercise behavior of the participant, which solves the inconveniences and defects of the conventional exercise behavior management system. Moreover, the exercise behavior management system of the present invention enables the manager or the participant to easily and conveniently acquire the information of individual exercise behavior or group exercise behavior by the web page through internet, and can set an achievement goal for checking the achieved percentage as a reference. Furthermore, the information of exercise behavior can be used to study the influence of the exercise behavior to the individual health, and the assistant or manager can easily and conveniently acquire the information of the participant&#39;s exercise behavior in a remote end so as to adequately instruct or assist the participant to adjust his exercise habit and exercise quantity. Therefore, the exercise behavior management system of the present invention is advantageous to the manager for exercise management and promotes the participant to maintain the exercise habit, and also, it is beneficial to the promotion of the exercise activity and enables realization and development of the exercise program. 
         [0042]    While the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosed embodiment. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.