Fitbit patents audio & video exercises that adapt to the user
Fitbit might soon introduce customized audio and video exercise clips. This is according to a patent which was filed with the USPTO (US Patent and Trademark office).
If you opt for the monthly Fitbit Premium subscription, you’ll have access to more than 200 exercise classes covering all levels of fitness. In addition, you’ll also gain access to guided training programs. This includes Intro to Healthy Habits (one week), Run Training (three weeks), Mindful Eating (one week) and much more.
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Now the company is looking to take this up a notch. Patent number 11,334,620 just approved for Fitbit by the USPTO describes a much more sophisticated system.
Customized audio & video exercise clips
It describes audio content which is dynamically generated. This translates into exercise classes tailored to the individual user – targeting his or her specific needs. Audio clips would be combined with video clips to make custom content. An exercise session could include any number of individual components or segments.
“System, apparatuses, and methods can provide customized exercise sessions and customized videos corresponding to the exercise session. Audio clips can be dynamically selected to make custom audio content for an exercise session.” the patent reads.
“The audio clips and metadata can be obtained, where the audio clips correspond to categories. The exercise session can include one or more components. A destination timeline for a component can include one or more first segments that require audio, and one or more second segments that can optionally have audio.”
Think of it as the next best thing to joining a gym and hiring a personal trainer. Many people don’t have the time or money to do this.
Some don’t like to workout in a public setting, while others don’t like to commit to an inflexible fitness regimen that is delivered via traditional home exercise videos. They might find that out-of-box products don’t really tally up with their level of fitness or health goals. Or that such products are not motivating enough.
The fitness program Fitbit has patented evolves around a user-system feedback loop. It would feature automatic editing to form programs corresponding to varying levels of fitness difficulty.
This would be further customized by tapping into sensor data and providing users with the option to provide feedback. For example, users could mark their favourite clips which would have priority when new programs are created. The video content is designed to be playable on any number of devices, including mobile phones, desktop computers, smart TVs and more.
That is the future
The possibilities are endless and one can create an infinite variety of content from just a small amount of recorded video and audio data. According to the patent, it should not be too difficult to cut and slice recordings allowing the content to be edited to “produce a plurality of visually and aurally seemless looping iterations”. These could be broken down into subject matter and level of difficulty.
Essentially, the content would adapt to the user via the feedback loop rather than providing generic exercise video clips that are meant to work for everyone. One can also imagine this type of content automatically pushing a person to improve their fitness level. Or, perhaps, easing up if the individual has not had enough sleep or is stressed on a particular day.
The technology to make this a reality is already here and Fitbit wants to be first out of the box. Customized audio and video content that seamlessly adopts to a user’s specific needs would certainly make the company’s Premium Subscription more attractive.
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