Feedback device for guiding and supervising physical excercises

1. A feedback device for guiding and supervising physical exercises, comprising:

a computer device having a processor and a memory;

a mirror display device comprising a display device having a reflective surface; and

position-sensing unit configured to detect a person disposed before the mirror display device,

wherein the processor is configured to generate an animation of the person, based on data provided by the position-sensing unit, and to display said animation on the mirror display device in such a way that the displayed animation and a reflected image of the person are overlaid one on top of the other, and

wherein the generated animation represents a template of postures.

2. The feedback device according to claim 1 , further comprising a controller configured to control a transmission and a reflectance of the reflective surface.

3. The feedback device according to claim 2 , wherein the mirror display comprises a polarizing film, disposed on the mirror display device, and wherein the polarizing film is configured to adjusts at least a portion of its surface so as to be either transmissive, reflective, or semi-reflective.

4. The feedback device according to claim 1 , wherein the position-sensing unit comprises at least one of

body-worn sensors or markers, and

a camera system.

5. The feedback device according to claim 4 , wherein said camera system comprises a stereo camera.

6. The feedback device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to display deviations between the template and the reflected image of the person.

7. The feedback device of claim 6 , wherein the displayed deviations comprise dashed lines.

8. A feedback method for guiding and supervising physical exercises, said method comprising the acts of:

disposing a person before a feedback device comprising a processor, a memory, a mirror display device comprising a display device having a reflective surface for displaying a reflected image of the person, and a position-sensing unit for detecting the person disposed before the mirror display device:

detecting a body posture and/or body movements of the person sensed by the position-sensing unit, and

generating and displaying a computer-generated animation on the mirror display device overlaid one on top of the reflected image of the person, wherein the computer-generated animation represents a template of postures.

9. The feedback method according to claim 8 , further comprising the act of

detecting any deviations between the template posture and/or movement and the body posture and/or body movements of the person.

10. The feedback method according to claim 9 , further comprising the act of

generating feedback information according to said deviation.

11. The feedback method according to claim 8 , further comprising the act of executing algorithms selected from the group consisting of at least one of:

an algorithm to detect 3D positions of the person and his limbs when disposed before the mirror display device;

an algorithm to compute coordinates of the mirror image of the person and/or his limbs on a surface of the mirror display device;

an algorithm for creating a computer-generated image of a figure having limbs that appear at same points on the surface of the mirror display device as in the mirror image, as computed by the algorithm to compute coordinates;

an algorithm to animate the computer-generated image according to the template posture and/or movement; and

an algorithm to generate feedback information according to the deviation of the person's posture and/or movement from the template posture and/or movement.

12. The feedback method of claim 8 , wherein further comprising the act of displaying deviations between the template and the reflected image of the person.

13. The feedback method of claim 12 , wherein the displayed deviations comprise dashed lines.