Background Art Generally, a jumping rope comprises two hand grips, and a rope rotatably connected to both of the hand grips so as to interconnect the grips.

Such a jumping rope is used such that a user turns the hand grips and jumps the rotated rope simultaneously. The jumping rope does not require a broad space and is very useful in increasing physical strength. However, since the rope is rotated to be higher than a user's height, it is difficult to perform the jumping rope in a home where a ceiling is low or lighting apparatuses are installed on the ceiling.

Further, since the jumping action of the jumping rope creates impacts and causes noise pollution in buildings, the user generally performs the jumping rope outdoors.

Accordingly, the conventional jumping rope is disadvantageous in that it cannot be performed indoors.

Further, since most outdoor areas are paved with cement or asphalt, the jumping action on the paved areas gives the user an impact at his/her knee or articulation, thereby causing damage to a user/s body. Accordingly, the jumping rope is limited in terms of circumstances in which it may be performed.

Moreover, a conventional running machine has only one function of running, thereby being disadvantageous in that it is limited in terms of utilization.

Disclosure of the Invention Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a sporting equipment for both rope-jumping and running exercise, on which a user can perform running exercise and rope-jumping exercise.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a sporting equipment allowing a user to exercise in a rope-jumping manner without any rope.

In accordance with the present invention, the above and other objects can be accomplished by the provision of a sporting equipment provided with a belt continuously rotated against a frame so that an athlete runs thereon, comprising: a rotary beam emitting unit installed at a designated position of the frame for emitting a beam, which is rotated in a vertical direction of the frame.

Preferably, the frame may include a jump detecting unit for detecting a jumping motion of the athlete on the belt and then outputting a signal based on detected results.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the jump detecting unit may include : a first conductive plate installed in the frame facing the belt; an insulating plate installed below the first conductive plate, and provided with a plurality of holes for receiving parts of the first conductive plate when it is depressed due to the weight of the athlete ; and a second conductive plate installed below the insulating plate and wired to the first conductive plate in order to output a signal based on whether or not the first conductive plate contacts the second conductive plate through the holes of the insulating plate.

Preferably, the sporting equipment may further comprise: a pair of rotary rod bodies, each including a hand lever extended to a designated length such that the athlete grips the hand lever with his/her hands, and a rotary member rotatably connected to one end of the hand lever, for detecting the rotation of the rotary member and then wirelessly discharging detected results ; and a control unit for determining whether or not there is a user's exercise error using a rotational frequency of the rotary member outputted from the rotary rod bodies and a jump detecting signal detected by the jump detecting unit, and then displaying determined results through a display unit.

Further, preferably, the rotary beam emitting unit may include: a light source; a rotary reflecting mirror for deviating a beam emitted from the light source due to its rotation ; and a driving source for rotatably driving the reflecting mirror.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a partially-exploded perspective view of a sporting equipment in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention ; Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of a rotary beam emitting unit of the sporting equipment in Fig. 1 ; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the rotary beam- emitting unit of the sporting equipment in Fig. 1 ; Fig. 4 is a partially-enlarged cross-sectional view of one embodiment of a jump detecting unit employed by the sporting equipment in Fig. 1 ; Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the jump detecting unit employed by the sporting equipment in Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is a schematic view of a rotary rod body of the sporting equipment of Fig. 1 ; Fig. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a control system of the sporting equipment in Fig 1 ; and Fig. 8 is a front view of one embodiment of an operating panel of Fig. 5.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention Now, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the annexed drawings.

Fig. 1 is a partially-exploded perspective view of a sporting equipment in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

With reference to Fig. I, the sporting equipment 100 comprises a belt 120, which is installed to be continuously rotated, and a rotary beam emitting unit 140.

Here, reference numeral 150 is an operating panel, and reference numeral 200 is a pair of rotary rod bodies. A frame of the sporting equipment 100 includes a main frame 110 on which the continuously rotated belt 120 is installed, and a subsidiary frame 111 connected to the main frame 110. The subsidiary frame 111 is vertically extended to a designated depth so that the operating panel 150 for providing data and convenience in operating the sporting equipment 100 to an athlete exercising in an upright position on the sporting equipment 100 is installed

on an upper end of the subsidiary frame 111- The belt 120 is installed such that it continuously rotates between a driving roller (with reference to Fig. 5) driven by a driving source such as a motor (not shown), and a driven roller.

The rotary beam emitting unit 140 is connected to the rear surface of the operating panel 15 O.

The rotary beam emitting unit 140 includes a light source and beam rotating means for rotating a beam emitted from the light source. A rotary beam generated by the rotary beam emitting unit 140 provides the athlete with the same visual effect as the turning of a conventional jumping rope.

Preferably, the emission angle of the beam emitted from the rotary beam emitting unit 140 is limited in a designated angle so that the beam does not directly reach the eyes of the athlete in consideration of a visual field of human eyes.

Accordingly, a case of the rotary beam emitting unit 140 includes a light- transmitting window (140a in Fig. 2) corresponding to the limited angle of the emitted beam. A residual part of the rotary beam emitting unit 140 except for the light-transmitting window is configured such that this residual part of the rotary beam emitting unit 140 shields light.

One selected from various sources such as a light emitting diode, a laser diode, an halogen lamp, etc. is used as the light source. Further, the light source can be independently used or an array including a plurality of the light sources can be used to directly integrate a beam or diffuse a beam at a designated angle, and then to emit the beam.

The beam rotating means of the rotary beam emitting unit 140 can be operated by various methods. As shown in Fig. 2, one embodiment of the rotary beam emitting unit I40 includes a light source 145 fixedly installed in a case, a rotary reflecting mirror 143 for rotating a beam emitted from the light source 145, and a motor 141 serving as a driving source.

In this embodiment of the rotary beam emitting unit 140, a reflecting plane of the rotary reflecting mirror 143, which is connected to a rotary shaft 142 of the motor 141, gradually converts an incidence angle of the beam emitted from the light source 145 using the rotation of the motor 141, thereby generating a rotary beam.

Here, reference numeral 147 represents a magnetic member, and reference

numeral 148 represents a magnetic sensor for detecting electric power generated by the magnetic member 147, thus detecting a rotational frequency of the rotary reflecting mirror 143. The magnetic member 147 and the magnetic sensor 148 are used as a beam rotational frequency detecting unit for detecting a rotational frequency of the beam emitted from the light source 145.

Further, instead of the beam rotational frequency detecting unit for detecting the rotational frequency of the rotary reflecting mirror 143, other known components such as an encoder for detecting a rotational frequency of the motor 141 may be employed.

Differently from the above embodiment, the beam rotating means may be operated by a method for rotating a light source.

That is, as shown in Fig. 3, another embodiment of the rotary beam emitting unit 140 includes alight source 24 la, a supporter 241b for supporting the light source 241a, and a motor 245, connected to the supporter 241b, serving as a rotation driving source for rotating the supporter 241b. In case that a rotary shaft 256 of the motor 245 is fixed to the supporter 241b at which the light source 241a is installed, the light source 241a is connected to the motor 245, thereby being rotated due to the rotation of the motor 245.

In this case, the supporter 241b may employ a battery accommodation structure adapted by a conventional flashlight, in which a battery is accommodated in the supporter 241b so that electric power from the battery is fed to the light source 241a. Alternatively, in case that electric power from the outside is fed to the light source 241an an external electric line 248b of the supporter 241b is wired to the light source 241a so that electric power from the external electric line 248b is fed to the light source 241a regardless of the rotation of the supporter 241b As shown in Fig. 3, ring-type terminals 243 and 244, which are connected to respective terminals of the light source 241 a, are installed at a rod-type terminal 242 at the outside of a rotary shaft 246 extended along the rotary shaft 246 by a designated length such that the ring-type terminals 243 and 244 are electrically separated from each other. Dummy terminals 248a for feeding electricity, which are connected to the external electric line 248b, are installed such that contacts between the ring-type terminals 243 and 244 and the dummy terminals 248a are maintained. The dummy terminals 248a for feeding electricity are made of a rigid conductive plate so that the dummy terminals 248a provide suitable tension

in a direction of pressing the ring-type terminals 243 and 244. Alternatively, the dummy terminals 248a for feeding electricity may be brush-type terminals made of a bundle of strands made of a conductive material having elasticity, in which the strands are electrically connected. Here, reference numeral 249 represents a supporting plate for fixing the dummy terminals 248a for feeding electricity to the case.

Preferably, the main frame 110 is provided with a jump detecting unit for detecting a jump of the athlete on the belt 120.

The jump detecting unit can be formed by various methods so as to detect the number and time of jumps of the athlete on the belt 120 during the rope- jumping mode.

Fig. 4 shows one embodiment of the jump detecting unit With reference to Fig. 4, the jump detecting unit includes a slider supporter 115, a slider 117, a spring 116 serving as an elastic member, and a pressure sensor 130k.

The slider supporter 115 is located under the main frame 110, and provided with a guide groove 118 therein for guiding a part of the slider 117 so that the slider 117 goes frontward and backward.

The slider 117 includes a tip unit inserted into the guide groove 118 of the slider supporter 115, and an extended unit extended toward the outside of the slider supporter 115. Wheels are attached to the end of the extended unit of the slider 117.

The spring 116 is installed between a reception groove formed in the slider 117 and the main frame 110 so that the spring 116 is elastically biased.

The pressure sensor 130k is installed between the spring 116 and the bottom of the reception groove formed in the slider 117, and serves to output a signal corresponding to a pressure imposed by the spring 116.

Whenever the athlete jumps on the belt 120, the spring 116 is compressed and the pressure sensor 130k outputs the signal corresponding to the pressure imposed by the spring 116. Accordingly, the jump detecting unit detects a jump of the athlete based on a level of the output signal from the pressure sensor 130k and a variation in the level. A signal outputted from the jump detecting unit is outputted into a control unit (180 in Fig. 7), which will be described later.

Here, various sensors including a load cell employed by a weighing

apparatus are used as the pressure sensor 130k.

Further, a pressure sensor may be installed below the belt 120.

Fig. 5 shows another embodiment of the jump detecting unit.

With reference to Fig. 5, the jump detecting unit includes a first conductive plate 13 Ob, a first insulating plate 130c, and a second conductive plate 130d, which are installed below the belt 120 so that they are fixed to the main frame 110. Here, reference numeral 121 a represents a driving roller for driving the belt 120, and reference numeral 122 represents a driven roller.

The first conductive plate 130b is made of a conductive material.

The first insulating plate 130c is made of an insulating material, and provided with a plurality of holes 130a so that the first conductive plate 130b goes down through the holes 130a when the first conductive plate 130b is depressed due to the weight of the athlete.

The second conductive plate 130d is made of a conductive material, and located under the first insulating plate 130c. The first conductive plate 130b and the second conductive plate 130d are electrically connected to each other in order to output a signal corresponding to whether the first and second conductive plates 130b and 130d contact through the holes 130a of the first insulating plate 130c.

The first conductive plate 130b and the second conductive plate 130d of the jump detecting unit are electrically wired to each other. Thus, when the athlete stands on the belt 120 in a supported state, the first conductive plate 130b and the second conductive plate 130d are electrically connected to each other and the jump detecting unit outputs a high level signal. On the other hand, when the athlete jumps so that he/she is separated from the belt 120, the first conductive plate 130b and the second conductive plate 130d are electrically separated from each other. The first conductive plate 130b and the second conductive plate 130d function as equivalent switching elements against each other. Instead of a circuit having the above-described connection method in which the jump detecting unit outputs the high or low level signal according to the contact or separation of the first conductive plate 130b and the second conductive plate 130d, other circuits having different connection methods can be achieved. These circuit connection methods are well known to those skilled in the art, and detailed descriptions thereof will thus be omitted because they are considered to be unnecessary.

A slider runner 123 is coated with a material having a small frictional

force, for example, Teflon, so that the belt 120 easily slides along the slider runner 123.

A buffer member 124 is made of a material having an excellent impact- absorbing ability, for example, sponge, spring, etc.

A second insulating plate 127 is made of a material providing a good appearance to the jump detecting unit and being suitable for protecting the jump detecting unit. Preferably, the second insulating plate 127 is made of rubber having buffering and insulating capacities.

The main frame 110 may rise and fall against the subsidiary frame 111.

For example, one end of the main frame 110 is supported against the bottom surface of the subsidiary frame 111 being parallel with the belt 120 by an eccentric cam (not shown), and the main frame 110 rises and falls against the subsidiary frame 111 by the rotation of a driving source for driving the eccentric cam. Here, the main frame 110 and the subsidiary frame 111 are hinged to each other at designated portions, and the eccentric cam is installed at a position separated from a hinge point of the main and subsidiary frames 110 and 111 by a designated distance.

Means for causing the main frame 110 to rise and fall against the subsidiary frame 111 employs various other methods such as a piston expansion and contraction method as well as the above-described cam operation method.

As shown again in Fig. 1, the rotary rod bodies 200 are configured such that the athlete grips the rotary rod bodies 200 with his/her hands, thereby allowing the athlete to feel the same sensation as really jumping rope.

Each of the rotary rod bodies 200 includes a hand lever 201 extended to a designated length such that the athlete grips the hand lever with his/her hands, and a rotary member 203 rotatably connected to one end of the hand lever 201.

The rotary member 203 has a designated weight, which the athlete feels as if he/she were turning a conventional jumping rope apparatus including a rope.

Preferably, as shown in Fig. 6, a weight 204 is located at a position separated from a central point of rotation in the rotary body 203 rotatably connected to the hand lever 201.

Further, preferably, rotation detecting means for detecting the rotation of the rotary body 203 is installed at the rotary rod body 200. The rotation detecting means may be formed in various types such as a contact type or a non-contact

type.

For example, in Fig. 6, the rotation detecting means includes an interfering protrusion 231, and an interference detecting sensor 232 interfering with the interfering protrusion 231. Here, reference numeral 220 represents a circuit board of a rotary rod control unit for wirelessly discharging a rotary detection signal corresponding to a signal outputted from the interference detecting sensor 232. The interfering protrusion 231 and the interference detecting sensor 232 correspond to a rotational frequency detecting unit, which will be described later.

Alternately, the rotation detecting means includes a light emitting member installed at one end of the rotary body 203 so that it is separated from the center of rotation, and a light receiving member installed at a designated position of the hand lever 201, corresponding to the light emitting member. Otherwise, the rotation detecting means may be formed by various other methods.

In the operating panel 150, a key entry unit 151 and a display unit 153 are integrated with each other. In Fig. 1, reference numeral 151k represents an exercise mode selector key for allowing the athlete to select either of a running mode or a rope-jumping mode. The operating panel 150 will be described in detail later.

Fig. 7 is a block diagram of the above-described athletic apparatus.

With reference to Fig. 7, the sporting equipment comprises a belt driving unit 121, a jump detecting unit 130, a main control unit 180, the operating panel 150, a receiving unit 170, and a sound output unit 160.

The belt driving unit 120 is controlled by the main control unit 180, thereby driving the belt 120.

As shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the jump detecting unit 130 detects jumps of the athlete on the belt 120, and outputs the detected result to the main control unit 180.

In case that the operating panel 150 employs a wireless system, a transmitting unit (not shown) as well as the receiving unit 170 is connected to the main control unit 180.

The key entry unit 151 installed on the operating panel 150 is provided with various keys for allowing the athlete to set exercising conditions.

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the key entry unit 151 is described with

reference to Fig. 8. Here, a method for operating the keys in the running mode of the sporting equipment is omitted, and only a method for operating the keys in the rope-jumping mode of the sporting equipment will be described.

With reference to Fig. 8, the key entry unit 151 includes an exercise time setup key 151a, a level setup key 151b, a target jump number setup key 151c, up/down keys 151d and 151e, a power on/off key 151f, a reset key 151g, a start/stop key 151 h.

The exercise time setup key 151 allows the athlete to set a desired target time to exercise, and is manipulated by the up/down keys 151 d and 151 e.

In case a beam rotational speed is selected from a total often levels, the level setup key 151b allows the athlete to select one of the ten levels. Here, the level adjustment is obtained by the up/down keys 151 d and 15 Ie.

The target jump number setup key 151c allows the athlete to set a target number of jumps.

The up/down keys 15 Id and 15 le are used to adjust the exercise time, the level of the beam rotational speed and the target number of jumps.

In case that the athlete wants to restart exercise using the sporting equipment of the present invention, the reset key 151g allows the athlete to reset the earlier set exercise conditions.

The key entry unit 151 further includes a sound output unit on/off key, a beam emitting unit on/off key and a mode selection key, which are installed at the side surface of the operation panel but are not shown in Fig. 8.

The sound output unit on/off key is used when the athlete determines whether or not the sound is outputted, and the beam emitting unit on/off key is used when the athlete determines whether or not the beam is emitted.

The mode selection key allows the athlete to select one out of a plurality of modes for the rope-jumping exercise.

Preferably, the plural modes for the rope-jumping exercise include a first mode, a second mode, and a third mode. In the first mode, in case that the athlete exercising on the sporting equipment of the present invention has a problem, that is, in case a jumping cycle of the athlete does not accord with the set rotational speed, a rotational speed of the beam, a rising and falling speed of a running board, or a flickering speed of a sequential light emission display, which will be described later, are automatically adjusted. In the second mode, an automatic speed

adjusting function for adjusting the rotational speed in accordance with the exercising speed of the athlete is omitted, and the sporting equipment of the present invention is operated only based on the exercise conditions set by the athlete. In the third mode, when the start key 151h is pressed by the athlete based on the set exercise conditions, a cumulative time of exercising and a cumulative number of jumps are measured and processed.

In case that the stop key 151h is manipulated or the exercise based on the set exercise conditions is terminated, a measured number of normal jumps and a measured number of abnormal jumps are displayed through the display unit 153.

The display unit 153 is controlled by the main control unit 180, and serves to display various data. With reference to Fig. 8, which is an enlarged view of a preferred embodiment of the display unit 153, the display unit 153 includes display windows 153a and 1 53b for displaying letters or numerals, and a sequential light emission display unit 153c.

The upper display window 153 a serves to display exercise results or other data, and the lower display window 153b serves to display exercise conditions set by the athlete such that the conditions are partitioned off into districts corresponding to the positions of the related keys.

Here, reference numeral 153d represents an indication lamp for indicating the normal jump of the athlete when the number of the normal jumps of the athlete is displayed on the display window 153a, and reference numeral 153e represents an indication lamp for indicating the of an abnormal jump of the athlete when the number of the of abnormal jumps of the athlete is displayed on the display window 153a.

The sequential light emission display unit 153c has a similar function as that of the rotary beam emitting unit 140, and is operated such that light emitting lamps, which are arranged in line and have thicker colors from the uppermost one to the lowermost one, are sequentially turned on or off in accordance with the rotational speed set by the main control unit 180 in a designated range of angles, i. e., at a rotational angle of 180 degrees forward. The sequential light emission display unit 153c provides to the athlete the same sense of sight as the case of turning a conventional jumping rope using light sequentially emitted from the arrayed lamps. Accordingly, the sequential light emission display unit 153c allows the athlete to jump under the condition that the operation of the rotary beam

emitting unit 140 is stopped.

The sound output unit 160 is controlled by the main control unit 180, and outputs various recorded sounds.

Preferably, the sound output unit 160 is controlled by the main control unit 180 so as to provide jumping rope sound effects, thereby outputting a sound generated by colliding the jumping rope with the ground, a wind sound generated by turning the jumping rope, etc. , whenever the beam is rotated.

Further, when the main control unit 180 detects an abnormal jump of the athlete, the main control unit 180 generates a warning sound through the sound output unit 160 The receiving unit 170 outputs a rotation detecting signal received from the rotary rod body 200 to the main control unit 180.

The rotational frequency detecting unit 230 of the rotary rod body 200 serves as the rotation detecting means shown in Fig. 5. When the rotational frequency detecting unit 230 receives the rotation detecting signal, the rotary rod control unit 220 outputs a signal corresponding to the rotation detecting signal through the receiving unit 210.

The main control unit 180 controls respective factors in accordance with the exercise conditions and/or mode set by a key entry signal selected through the key entry unit 141, measures the existence of abnormal jumps using a signal detected through the jump detecting unit 125 and/or a rotation signal outputted from the rotary rod body 200, and displays the measured results through the display unit 153.

For example, in case that a jump speed detected by the jump detecting unit 124 coincides with the beam rotational speed, the main control unit 180 determines this jump to be a normal jump. On the other hand, in case that the jump speed detected by the jump detecting unit 124 exceeds a set allowable range, the main control unit 180 determines this jump to be an abnormal jump, i. e. , an error.

Further, when the athlete terminates his/her exercise, the main control unit 180 displays processed results corresponding to the selected mode. For example, in case that the second mode is set, the main control unit 180 displays a cumulative number of jumps, a number of normal jumps obtained by subtracting a number of abnormal jumps from the cumulative number of jumps, and the number of abnormal jumps, through the display unit 153.

The main control unit 180 is programmed such that it determines exercise error conditions using all or parts of factors including the existence of a detected abnormal jump, a rotational angle of the rotary beam when the detection of the abnormal jump is confirmed, a rising and falling position of the jump driving unit and the existence of the rotary signal of the rotary rod body. Accordingly, the sporting equipment may further comprise a sensor (not shown) for detecting the rising and falling position of the jump driving unit, and a sensor (not shown) for detecting the recent emission angle ofthe rotary beam.

Industrial Applicability As apparent from the above description, the present invention provides a sporting equipment allowing a user to selectively perform running exercise and rope-jumping exercise using the rotation of a beam, thereby increasing efficiency of the apparatus and stimulating user's interest in exercising in order to improve a user's opportunity to exercise.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.