Patent Application
20060178235
This invention relates to detection of an object being touched by a person.
In many sports, it is important to know which player last touched the game ball. This is particularly true in sports such as basketball and soccer. Whereas, in soccer, it is possible to review a play using instant replay using taped video, it greatly slows down the flow of the game. The problem is not severe in a game such as football which has a natural stopping point at regular intervals. But in soccer particularly, the need to stop the game and review a particular play causes major disruption in the soccer game itself. This is also true in basketball. By the same token, in championship play, a mistake by a referee during a soccer game concerning who was the last player to touch the ball before it went out of bounds can have serious repercussions not only to the game but also to the mood of the crowd which have been known to riot. These considerations are also true for other sports such as rugby, etc.
A method and apparatus determine contact by a participant with a sports object by detecting contact of the sports object with the participant via a personal area network of the participant; transmitting in response to the detection participant identification information to a central controller; determining that the sports object has left a field of play by the central controller; and alerting in response to the determination a sports official to identify a last participant to contact the sports object via an official system by the central controller.
In one embodiment, a personal area network (also referred to as a body area network) is created for each player so that the body and the clothing of each player becomes a local area network. The ball or other physical object generates an identification code which is transmitted to the player's personal area network when the ball touches the player's body or clothing. The information is transmitted from the ball to the personal area network via conductors on the surface of the ball. The personal area network of the player is under the control of a body controller which then transmits the information from the ball to a central system. The central system records the players that touch the ball and analyzes this information when it determines that the ball has gone out of the field of play of other game occurrences. This determination may be made based on an input from a game official. At that time, the central controller can transmit to a system utilized by an official of the game (official system), such as a linesman or referee, the information concerning the last player to touch the ball.
In addition, another embodiment of the body controller allows the body controller to determine the position of the player on the playing field and transmit this information to the central system. Such location information is important, for example, to determine offside decisions in a soccer game.
In also, another embodiment allows the central system to analysis location and contact information to produce statistical information such as pass completion rates, percentage of ball possession, etc.
In another embodiment, the body controller of a player transmits the player's identification information to the ball when the player comes in contact with the ball. The ball controller then uses the player identification information to transmit this information to a central system.
Body controller 103 then transmits the fact that ball 104 has touched player 102 to central system 101. Central system 101 analyzes this information and determines if it should be transmitted to official system 111. The transmission of information from central system 101 is to official controller 107. Official controller 107 may choose to provide this information to a game official via input-output device 108 or display device 109. In one embodiment, the identity of player 102 is always displayed on 109 so that the official can determine the last player to touch the ball before it went out of play. In another embodiment, the official can request this information from central system 101. Input-output device 108 can consist of an audio transducer so that the information from central system 101 can be provided to the official as audio output.
Body controller 103 also has a location positioning mechanism so as to determine the location of player 102 on the playing field. This location positioning mechanism may utilize global positioning satellite techniques or may utilize gyroscopic positioning techniques as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 6,792,381 which is hereby incorporated by reference. Body controller 103 transmits the location information to central system 101.
Ball controller 206 then transmits the identification of player 202 to central system 201. Central system 201 after analyzing the information may transfer the information to official system 211 via official controller 207. Official controller 207 can choose to utilize input-output device 208 or display device 209 to inform the official of the last person to touch ball 204.
Decision block 607 determines if player identification information is being received from either a body controller or a ball depending on the particular embodiment. If the answer is no, control is transferred to decision block 609. If the answer is yes in decision block 607, block 608 stores the identification information before transferring control to decision block 609. Decision block 609 determines if there is a request for the last player contact either generated by the central system or being requested by the official via official system such as official system 111 or 211. If the answer is no, control is transferred back to decision block 602. If the answer in decision block 609 is yes, block 611 transmits the identity of the last player to contact the ball to the official system before returning control back to decision block 602.
PAN routine 907 collects and utilizes information from the PAN. Positioning routine 908 accepts location information from positioning unit 901 and transmits this information to the central system. Data is stored in data 909. Operating system 911 provides the overall control.
Player position routine 1007 is responsible for receiving player positions and determining whether these positions violate the rules of the game. The last contact routine 1008 provides for the determination of which player last contacted the ball. Data is stored in data 1009. Operating system 1011 provides overall control.
User interface routine 1107 provides for receiving and utilizing input from the user from user interface 1102. Display control 1108 not only displays information on display 1101 but also makes the necessary analysis before displaying this information. Data is stored in data 1109. Operating system 1111 provides overall control.
When the operations of the body controller, ball controller, central system or official system are implemented in software, it should be noted that the software can be stored on any computer-readable medium for use by or in connection with any computer related system or method. In the context of this document, a computer-readable medium is an electronic, magnetic, optical, or other physical device or means that can contain or store a computer program for use by or in connection with a computer related system or method. The software can be embodied in any computer-readable medium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device such as a computer-based system, processor-containing system, or other system that can fetch the instructions from the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device and execute the instructions. In the context of this document, a “computer-readable medium” can be any means that can store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. For example, the computer-readable medium can be, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, device, or propagation medium. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer-readable medium would include the following: an electrical connection (electronic) having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette (magnetic), a random access memory (RAM) (electronic), a read-only memory (ROM) (electronic), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM, EEPROM, or Flash memory) (electronic), an optical fiber (optical), and a portable compact disc read-only memory (CDROM) (optical). Note that the computer-readable medium could even be paper or another suitable medium upon which the program is printed, as the program can be electronically captured via optical scanning of the paper or other medium and then compiled, interpreted or otherwise processed in a suitable manner, if necessary, and stored in a computer memory.
In an alternative embodiment, where the body controller, ball controller, central system or official system is implemented in hardware, the body controller, ball controller, central system or official system can be implemented with any or a combination of the following technologies, which are each well known in the art: a discrete logic circuit(s) having logic gates for implementing logic functions upon data signals, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) having appropriate combinational logic gates, a programmable gate array(s) (PGA), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), etc.
Of course, various changes and modifications to the illustrated embodiments described above would be apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and without diminishing its intended advantages. It is therefore intended that such changes and modifications be covered by the following claims except in so far as limited by the prior art.
