A diagram from the patent application.

For many people, half the fun of avatars is aspirational -- the ability to make them look like you wish you did in real life. But apparently that's not the case for some Microsoft researchers, who have applied for a patent on a system that would use health records to generate avatars that more closely resemble a person's actual physical characteristics -- part of a scheme to get them to actually exercise.

It's getting lots of attention online today after Slashdot posted a summary. Read the full patent application here. Keeping in mind that these patent applications don't necessarily reflect the company's actual product plans, here's the abstract, explaining the general concept.

An avatar generator for a virtual environment reflects a physiological characteristic of the user, injecting a degree of reality into the capabilities or appearance. Thereby, many of the incentives of the real world are replicated in a virtual environment. Physiological data that reflect a degree of health of the real person can be linked to rewards of capabilities of a gaming avatar, an amount of time budgeted to play, or a visible indication. Thereby, people are encouraged to exercise. Physiological data that reflect the health and perhaps also mood also improve social interaction in virtual environments. People seeking to meet and become acquainted with particular types of people are not thwarted by the artificiality of avatars. The physiological data can be gleaned from a third party health data collection repository, a healthcare smart card, a real-time physiological sensor (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate, blood glucose, peak flow, pedometer, etc.)

Maybe it could be a special feature of Project Natal?