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Exercise machine

Exercise machine description/claims

The present invention relates to an exercise machine and in particular to an exercise machine which can be interfaced with audio and/or video storage and reproduction devices.

Modern exercise machines, such as treadmills, exercise bikes and the like, currently combine an increasing number of functions which are secondary to requirements purely relating to use of the muscles by the user, such as, for example, monitoring heart activity or energy consumption.

As exercise equipment evolved, exercise machines were developed which integrate audio reproduction devices, for example a radio or CD player, as well as having a screen (usually LCD) positioned in front of the user and with which the machine is controlled (for example by operating with the touch screen method).

While the user is exercising, the touch screen can be used to watch television programs or for various types of multimedia connections, such as an internet connection.

However, such reproduction devices do not allow the user to be entertained with a vast and popular selection of preferred tracks, both because of radio or TV equipment reception limits, and because of the low number of tracks that can be stored in a normal known type of CD medium.

In parallel, an increasing number of portable audio and even video storage and reproduction devices are spreading, such as the Apple® iPod®, which can store an ever increasing volume of information, therefore audio tracks, videos, photographs, of particular interest for the user.

It should be noticed that often such devices are used, not just during leisure time, but during work-outs or while performing any exercise because they offer a vast selection of audio tracks or videos, all of which the user likes because he has selected them.

However, because he is exercising, the user finds it difficult to use and manage the reproduction device.

Prior art devices, although recently being made ever smaller and lighter, still have a mass that is not null, which must be supported by the user, for example by hanging it on his arm, and which is an obstacle or inconvenience during a work-out.

To contain the mass and dimensions of such reproduction devices, the outer dimensions are gradually getting ever smaller, with a consequent parallel reduction of the dimensions of the relative keys or control and operating screens whose operation is extremely laborious, in particular while exercising, for example running or cycling.

In this context, the main technical purpose of the present invention is to propose an exercise machine which is free of the above-mentioned disadvantages.

The present invention has for an aim to propose an exercise machine which allows the user to be entertained during a work-out by listening to tracks he enjoys using a personal device.

The present invention also has for an aim to propose a machine which allows the user to be entertained during a work-out by watching videos or film footage he enjoys.

The present invention also has for an aim to propose an exercise machine which allows easy and convenient management of audio and/or video storage and reproduction devices, in particular during a work-out.

The technical purpose indicated and the aims specified are substantially achieved by an exercise machine comprising the technical features described in claim 1 and in one or more of the dependent claims herein.

Further features and advantages of the present invention are more apparent in the description below, with reference to a preferred, non-limiting, embodiment of an exercise machine, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view, partly in blocks, of an exercise machine in accordance with the present invention, in a first operating configuration;

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