Noise cancelling mechanism in a treadmill

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9767785-B2
Application number	US-201514744370-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 19, 2015
Priority date	Jun 20, 2014
Publication date	Sep 19, 2017
Grant date	Sep 19, 2017

Abstract

A treadmill having a running deck comprising a motor arranged to drive movement of a tread belt, a processor, memory in electronic communication with the processor, and instructions stored in the memory. The instructions are executable by the processor to determine an anti-phase waveform based on waveform attributes of a noise emitted from the treadmill and to cause a sound of the anti-phase waveform to be emitted into a surrounding environment.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A treadmill, comprising:
a running deck comprising a motor arranged to drive movement of a tread belt;
a speaker incorporated into the running deck;
a processor;
memory in electronic communication with the processor; and

instructions stored in the memory, the instructions being executable by the processor to:
determine an anti-phase waveform based on waveform attributes of both a noise emitted from the treadmill and a noise caused by treadmill use; and
cause a sound of the anti-phase waveform to be emitted into a surrounding environment from a speaker incorporated into the running deck.

2. The treadmill of claim 1 , wherein the noise is a motor noise.

3. The treadmill of claim 1 , wherein the noise is generated by a user exercising on the running deck.

4. The treadmill of claim 1 , further comprising a microphone incorporated into the treadmill.

5. The treadmill of claim 4 , wherein the microphone is incorporated into the running deck of the treadmill.

6. The treadmill of claim 1 , further comprising a housing covering the motor;
wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to emit the sound of the anti-phase waveform with the speaker incorporated into the treadmill;
wherein the speaker is incorporated into the housing.

7. The treadmill of claim 1 , wherein the sound of the anti-phase waveform is emitted in the surrounding environment with the speaker that is incorporated into the running deck of the treadmill.

8. The treadmill of claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to determine the waveform attributes.

9. The treadmill of claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to receive the waveform attributes from an independent device.

10. The treadmill of claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to distinguish between motor noise and other types of sounds from the treadmill.

11. The treadmill of claim 10 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to generate the sound of the anti-phase waveform to cancel the motor noise.

12. The treadmill of claim 1 , wherein the sound of the anti-phase waveform has an effect of reducing a volume of the noise.

13. The treadmill of claim 1 , wherein the sound of the anti-phase waveform has an effect of cancelling the noise.

14. A treadmill, comprising
a running deck comprising a motor arranged to drive movement of a tread belt;
a microphone incorporated into the treadmill;
a speaker incorporated into the running deck;
a processor;
memory in electronic communication with the processor; and
instructions stored in the memory, the instructions being executable by the processor to:
determine waveform attributes of a noise emitted from the treadmill and a noise caused by treadmill use and recorded with the microphone;
generate an anti-phase waveform based on waveform; and
cause a sound of the anti-phase waveform to be emitted into a surrounding environment with the speaker incorporated into the running deck.

15. The treadmill of claim 14 , wherein the microphone is incorporated into the running deck of the treadmill.

16. The treadmill of claim 14 , further comprising:
a housing covering the motor;
wherein the speaker is incorporated into the housing.

17. The treadmill of claim 14 , wherein the sound of the anti-phase waveform is directed at a component of the treadmill.

18. The treadmill of claim 14 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to distinguish between motor noise and other types of sounds from the treadmill.

19. The treadmill of claim 18 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to generate the sound of the anti-phase waveform to cancel the motor noise.

20. A treadmill, comprising;
a running deck comprising a motor arranged to drive movement of a tread belt;
a housing covering the motor;
a microphone incorporated into the running deck;
a speaker incorporated into the housing;
a processor;
memory in electronic communication with the processor; and
instructions stored in the memory, the instructions being executable by the processor to:
distinguish between motor noise and other noise caused by treadmill use and other types of sounds from a non-treadmill source recorded with the microphone;
determine waveform attributes of the motor noise and other noise caused by treadmill use;
generate an anti-phase waveform based on waveform attributes; and
cause a sound of the anti-phase waveform to be emitted into a surrounding environment with the speaker, wherein the anti-phase waveform at least reduces the motor noise and other noise caused by treadmill use.

Assignees

• Icon Health & Fitness Inc

Inventors

• Ashby Darren C
• Watterson Eric

Classifications

• A63B2024/0071

  Distinction between different activities, movements, or kind of sports performed · CPC title

• G10K2210/121

  Rotating machines, e.g. engines, turbines, motors; Periodic or quasi-periodic signals in general · CPC title

• G10K11/178 Primary

  by electro-acoustically regenerating the original acoustic waves in anti-phase · CPC title

• A63B2024/0068

  Comparison to target or threshold, previous performance or not real time comparison to other individuals · CPC title

• A63B24/0087

  Electric or electronic controls for exercising apparatus of groups A63B21/00 - A63B23/00, e.g. controlling load · CPC title