Patent ID: 7874964

Claim:
A punching bag system comprising: a punching bag having first and second ends and a longitudinal axis, the punching bag having a neck near its second end; a stand having a bottom face including a ring-shaped contact area; a coupling attached to the bottom face and to the second end of the punching bag, wherein the coupling permits the punching bag to travel between an up position in which a portion of the punching bag is disposed near or in contact with the contact area on the bottom face of the stand and a down position where the portion of the punching bag near or on the generally round body is substantially spaced apart from the bottom face of the stand; light-emitting devices radially positioned on the bottom face of the stand and configured to emit light, wherein the light-emitting devices are radially spaced from the coupling and are spaced from the contact area; light-receiving devices radially positioned on the bottom face of the stand and configured to generate a signal upon receiving light, wherein the light-receiving devices are radially spaced from the coupling and are spaced from the contact area, and wherein light emitted by the light-emitting devices is reflected into the light-receiving devices by a portion of the neck of the punching bag that is not in contact with the stand when the punching bag is in the up position; and a controller configured to measure the signals from the light-receiving devices and determine when the punching bag is in the up position or the down position based on the signals, wherein after determining a cycle of three successive determinations of the punching bag being in the up position and then in the down position, the controller determines that the punching bag has been punched, and wherein the controller outputs a metric based at least in part on the number of instances that the punching bag has been punched over a period of time.