As a person engages in exercise activity, it is useful to the person to be able to know how much energy the person exerted during that activity. Typically, exercise equipment in gyms, such as treadmills and stationary bikes, is capable of calculating and presenting the energy expended by the person during the exercise activity in the form of calories burned data. The user only needs to enter their weight information for the machine to estimate the calories burnt. However, these machines operate in a controlled environment. The type of activity that can be performed on the machine (biking or running) is dictated by the type of machine (bike or treadmill). The speed and elevation (angle of treadmill or resistance on bike) is controlled by the machine and thus known by the machine. Moreover, the “terrain” is uniform on these machines because the exercise surfaces do not change (the walking surface of the treadmill does not change to sand). Thus, it is relatively easy for these machines to calculate the energy expended in these controlled environments. These machines are well suited to report exercise information pertaining to the user however, one drawback is that the information is transient. The information is displayed by the machine for a short while, and in most instances personal logging of information is only possible on a single machine. In more advanced systems at gyms, there can be a logging system that can capture workout information across multiple machines at the gym, however this system is limited to that particular gym location or chain of gyms. It is desirable to be able to log workouts across a variety of machines and in a multitude of locations such as at home or at the gym or while on vacation.
Many people desire exercise outdoors and do not want to be confined to a machine in a gym. Outdoor exercising is fraught with many variables, such as changes in terrain. Moreover, the distance traveled, the speed, and the changes of elevation are not controlled by a machine. This presents a layer of difficulty in determining the energy expended on an outdoor exercise route because these parameters must be measured. With the proliferation of smart, mobile electronic devices, such as smart phones, measuring these parameters has become easier. Smart phones typically have the ability to determine position using GPS modules. Software applications that use the GPS feature of the phones can calculate distance traveled and speed during an exercise route. The software applications can also use the GPS feature to calculate the changes in elevation during the exercise route. If the user enters his or her weight, the software applications can calculate the calories burned during the exercise route.
These existing applications have several drawbacks, however. For example, these systems rely upon GPS to determine changes in elevation. While GPS can determine latitude and longitude relatively accurately, GPS systems are less accurate at calculating elevation. Accordingly, systems that rely upon GPS to determine elevation changes during the exercise route, which is in turn used to calculate calories burned, suffer from accuracy issues. Moreover, these systems are limited to a particular activity, such as running. These systems cannot be used for different activities, such as running, biking, skiing, etc. These systems are also limited in the information about the activity that is considered which can greatly affect the energy expenditure calculations.
The present invention addresses these and other problems.