Exercise support device, exercise support method and recording medium

#1. Field of the Invention

#The present invention relates to an exercise support device and the related arts for supporting a stepping exercise.

#2. Description of the Related Art

#The novel features of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well as other features and advantages thereof, will be best understood by reading the detailed description of specific embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

#FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the entire configuration of an exercise support system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

#FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the cartridge 1 of FIG. 1.

#FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the entire configuration of an exercise support system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, this exercise support system is provided with input instruments 5 which are worn on the left and right legs of a player 100, a cartridge 1 with an imaging unit 17, an adaptor 3 with a cancel key 28, and a television monitor 7. The cartridge 1 is electrically connected into the adaptor 3. Also, the adaptor 3 is connected with the television monitor 7 by an AV cable 9.

#FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the cartridge 1 of FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the cartridge consists of a body in the form of a flat rectangular parallelepiped and the imaging unit 17. The imaging unit 17 is fixed on the upper surface of the body of the cartridge 1. In this case, the imaging unit 17 is fixed in such a manner that the surface thereof inclines by a predetermined angle (e.g., 40 degrees) to the surface of the cartridge 1. The imaging unit 17 is provided with a circular infrared filter 13 which is located in the center of the surface thereof, and there are four infrared light emitting diodes 15 which are located around the infrared filter 13. An image sensor 32 to be described below is located behind the infrared filter 13.

#FIG. 3 is a view showing a wearing condition of the input instrument 5 of FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 3, the each input instrument 5 has a belt-shaped form, e.g., made of nylon. Also, rectangle-shaped retroreflective sheets 11 are attached to the input instruments 5 respectively. A player 100 wears the input instruments 5 just under the knees. In this case, the retroreflective sheets 11 are worn in such a manner that the retroreflective sheets 11 direct at the imaging unit 11. The Velcro (a registered trademark) tapes are attached to the input instruments 5, and thereby the player 100 can easily wear them. Meanwhile, the adaptor 3 into which the cartridge 1 is inserted is placed on the position where the retroreflective sheets 11 are included within an imaging range of the imaging unit 17.