iPod will control your tempo

Continuing with our patent analysis, the iPod Sport Kit may enable your iPod to truly change the way you run:

the music manger can slow the tempo, thereby causing the user to slow their pace or the music manger can speed up the tempo, thereby causing the user to speed up their pace

They also discuss the same idea, but with a heart rate monitor:

The user enters an upper heart rate as for example 160 and a lower heart rate as for example 120. Thereafter when the user is exercising and listening to music, the heart rate of the user is monitored. If the heart rate falls below the lower limit, the tempo of the song is increased either by selecting a new song with the appropriate tempo and/or by adjusting the currently played song. If the heart rate rises above the upper limit, the tempo of the song is decreased either by selecting a new song with the appropriate tempo and/or by adjusting the currently played song.

Although the iPod Sport Kit won't include a heart rate monitor, the above example could just as easily apply to the user's running pace. It'll be interesting to see if the change in the music tempo is subtle or rather obvious. I also wonder how directly a music tempo change will affect the user's running pace.

This idea might even be extendable to other venues outside of the exercise world. Perhaps dance clubs could monitor the energy level of the crowd and in response alter the music being played.