Adjustable dumbbell system having a weight sensor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9776032-B2
Application number	US-201414311228-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 20, 2014
Priority date	Jun 20, 2014
Publication date	Oct 3, 2017
Grant date	Oct 3, 2017

Abstract

An adjustable dumbbell system may include a handle assembly, at least one weight, at least one sensor, and a computing device. The at least one weight may be selectively fixedly connectable to the handle assembly. The least one sensor may be positioned on the handle assembly. The at least one sensor may be configured to detect a handle assembly attribute indicative of whether the at least one weight is fixedly connected to the handle assembly. The computing device may be in communication with the at least one sensor and may be configured to receive information regarding the handle assembly attribute from the at least one sensor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An adjustable dumbbell system, comprising:
a handle assembly;
at least one weight selectively fixedly connectable to the handle assembly;
at least one sensor positioned on the handle assembly, the at least one sensor configured to detect a handle assembly attribute indicative of whether the at least one weight is fixedly connected to the handle assembly; and
a computing device in communication with the at least one sensor and configured to receive information regarding the handle assembly attribute from the at least one sensor, wherein:
the at least one weight comprises a plurality of weights and the handle assembly includes a disc that is rotatable into a set of discrete rotational positions, each rotational position corresponding to a different combination of the plurality of weights fixedly connected to the handle assembly;
the at least one sensor is configured to detect the rotational position of the disc, and the computing device is configured to determine which of the plurality of weights are fixedly connected to the handle assembly based on the rotational position detected by the at least one sensor; and
the at least one sensor includes at least one of the following: an optical sensor, a reflective sensor, a mechanical sensor, an inductive sensor, a capacitive sensor, a potentiometer, an accelerometer, or a magnetometer.

2. The adjustable dumbbell system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor is positioned on the handle assembly so as to remain in a fixed position relative to the rotation of the disc.

3. The adjustable dumbbell system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a rotational position encoding feature arranged on the disc so as to encode each of a plurality of disc sectors with a unique binary number, each disc sector corresponding to one of the discrete rotational positions of the disc; and
the at least one sensor comprises a plurality of sensors configured to cooperate with the rotational position encoding feature to detect a different one of the unique binary numbers when the disc is in each of the discrete rotational positions;
wherein the computing device is configured to determine which of the plurality of weights are fixedly connected to the handle assembly based on the unique binary number detected by the plurality of sensors.

4. The adjustable dumbbell system of claim 3 , wherein:
the rotational position encoding feature encodes each disc sector with a unique binary number by encoding each of a plurality of sector subdivisions with either a first binary digit or a second binary digit; and
the plurality of sensors are configured to sense the unique binary number by sensing each of the sector subdivision encodings, each sensor of the plurality of sensors arranged to sense one of the sector subdivisions encodings when the disc is in a particular one of the discrete rotational positions.

5. The adjustable dumbbell system of claim 4 , wherein:
the rotational position encoding feature includes a plurality of tabs arranged around a perimeter of the disc and extending axially outward from the perimeter, a presence of one of the plurality of tabs in a particular sector subdivision corresponding to that particular sector subdivision being encoded with the first binary digit, and an absence of one of the plurality of tabs in a sector subdivision corresponding to that particular sector subdivision being encoded with the second binary digit; and
the plurality of sensors include optical interrupt sensors, each optical interrupt sensor including a transmitter and a receiver disposed on opposing sides of the tabs, the transmitter configured to emit a light beam toward the opposing receiver, each optical interrupt sensor configured to detect that a particular sector subdivision is encoded with the first binary digit by sensing that the light beam emitted by the transmitter is blocked by one of the plurality tabs so as to prevent reception of the light beam by the opposing receiver, and configured to detect that a particular sector subdivision is encoded with the second binary digit by sensing that the light beam emitted by the transmitter is not blocked by one of the plurality of tabs so as to be received by the opposing receiver.

6. The adjustable dumbbell system of claim 4 , wherein:
the rotational position encoding feature includes a plurality of surface features disposed on a surface of the disc, a presence of a surface feature in a particular sector subdivision corresponding to that particular sector subdivision being encoded with the first binary digit, and an absence of a surface feature in a sector subdivision corresponding to that particular sector subdivision being encoded with the second binary digit; and
the plurality of sensors include mechanical sensors, each mechanical sensor movable into a unactuated position by the action of a sensor biasing mechanism when a sensor contact is engaged with one of the surface features, and movable into an actuated position by an application of a mechanical force by the surface of the disc that acts against the sensor biasing mechanism when the sensor contact is not engaged with one of the surface features, each mechanical sensor configured to detect that a particular sector subdivision is encoded with the first binary digit by sensing that the mechanical sensor is in the unactuated position and configured to detect that a particular sector subdivision is encoded with the second binary digit by sensing that the mechanical sensor is in the unactuated position.

7. The adjustable dumbbell system of claim 1 , wherein:
the at least one sensor is configured to detect the rotational position of the disc by detecting a sensible parameter including a substantially continuous range of possible values, the substantially continuous range of values divided into at least one sub-range, each of the at least one sub-range associated with a particular number of the plurality of weights; and
the computing device is configured to determine which of the plurality of weights are fixedly connected to the handle assembly by determining which sub-range of the at least one sub-range is detected.

8. The adjustable dumbbell system of claim 1 , wherein:
the disc includes a contoured perimeter such that points along at least a portion of the perimeter are disposed at a different distance from a center of the disc; and
the at least one sensor includes a potentiometer operatively associated with the contoured perimeter to detect the rotational position of the disc.

9. The adjustable dumbbell system of claim 1 , wherein:
the disc includes a concentric ring of material positioned on a surface of the disc, the material including an electrical property that has a different magnitude at each angular position along the ring;
the at least one sensor includes an electrical sensing portion adjacent to the ring of material, the electrical sensing portion configured to detect the magnitude of the electrical property of the ring of material as the disc rotates; and
the sensor detects the rotational position of the disc based on the detected magnitude of the electrical property.

10. The adjustable dumbbell system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a magnet joined to the handle assembly, the magnet configured to change a direction of the magnetic field as the disc rotates;
the at least one sensor includes a magnetic sensing portion adjacent to the magnet, the magnetic sensing portion configured to detect the direction of the magnetic field of the magnet; and
the sensor detects the rotational position of the disc based on the detected direction of the magnetic field of the magnet.

11. The adjustable dumbbell system of claim 1 , further c

Assignees

• Nautilus Inc

Inventors

• Moran Thomas H
• Petersen Jason Pharis
• Marjama Marcus L
• Anderson Todd D
• Crabb Peter L
• Wooldridge Glen A
• Bush P J M

Classifications

• A63B2225/30

  Maintenance · CPC title

• A63B2220/89

  Field sensors, e.g. radar systems · CPC title

• A63B2220/52

  Weight, e.g. weight distribution · CPC title

• A63B2220/16

  Angular positions · CPC title

• A63B2220/13

  Relative positions · CPC title