Patent Application
20050225867
This invention relates to a pair of sports goggles with which during an exercise at a game an athlete can receive various sorts of information relating to the exercise or the game and instructions from instructors and/or coaches.
Athletes have conventionally been playing sports with sports goggles on. For example, it is scarcely surprising that swimmers are wearing swimming goggles to protect their eyes during practice or competitions. Marathon runners are also unsurprisingly wearing sunglasses to protect their eyes from the sun while running. Additionally, motorcycle racers are wearing motorcycle goggles to protect their eyes from wind pressure, dust and so on during practice runs or races.
These athletes sometimes receive instructions from instructors or coaches and/or receive information on the sports while playing the sports; however, in order to receive detailed instructions or information, they have to stop playing the sports, or the instructors or the coaches have to play along with them.
Therefore, to solve the above problem, radio transmission such as a FM transmitter and a CB (Citizens' Band) radio is used, so that it becomes possible for marathon runners and motorcycle racers to receive timely instructions or information aurally.
For swimmers, a simplified timekeeper which is designed to be mounted on the front face of swimming goggles is used to monitor the swimming time during a race so that they can learn their swimming time right after the race.
For divers, there is no other ways to get information during their diving but to look into an indicator which is provided separately from their diving masks, and this is the only means of receiving information for them.
However, the above conventional means of receiving information are hardly functional because the indicators are rather imprecise and in danger of coming off depending on the condition how the indicators are mounted on the body of athletes or goggles.
Additionally, there have been no indicators for diving which is capable of a display within a diving mask.
A spectacle-type display device, called a head-mounted display, which has already appeared on the market, has a displaying function. However, the device has the practical problems that it is uncomfortable to wear and difficult to play sports hard for a user because of the existence of wiring or the like for receiving information from the outside even though the user can check the display of the device.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the problems that the above conventional means of receiving information have and to provide sports goggles with which a user can check the displayed information as needed in order to get timely appropriate information in a relatively short time, can focus on the display without affecting the play of the sports and can receive detailed instructions from instructors and/or coaches while playing the sports.
In a pair of sports goggles of the present invention having a goggle main body, an information processing means and an information display means, the information processing means is mounted on the goggle main body and the information display means is mounted on an eyepiece portion of the goggle main body.
The pair of sports goggles of the present invention may further have an information communicating means of transmitting/receiving information on sports to/from the outside, and the information communicating means is mounted on the goggle main body.
In the pair of sports goggles of the present invention, the information processing means and the information display means may be integrally formed.
As shown in
A microcomputer designed to be either fixed or removably mounted on the goggle main body 1 is adopted as the information processing means 2, and it houses a central processing unit (CPU), a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a power source and so on therein, and is treated to be waterproofed, vibration-proofed and so on according to need. As the power source, a primary cell typified by a dry cell, a secondary cell typified by a nickel-cadmium cell, or the like may be used, but considering portability and economical efficiency, a secondary cell is preferable.
The information display means 4 includes a display device and an optical device. As the display device, a device which is small and can display high-density information, such as a liquid crystal, a cathode ray tube (CRT), a semiconductor device (LD), a light-emitting diode (LED), an electroluminescence (EL), a digital micromirror device (DMD) or the like, is generally used. As the optical device, imaging optics which is pre-designed to produce a virtual image before the user's eyes, such as a mirror, a prism, a lens, a holographic optical element (HOE) or the like is preferably used, but a retinal projection display which shows Maxwell View to the user and can be used without considering to distance perspective is more preferable.
The information processing means 2 and the information display means 4 may be two separate means, but it is more preferable to form them integrally in order to mount them neatly on the goggle main body 1 so that the pair of sports goggles can be worn with the good appearance.
The sports goggles of the present invention include the following diving mask, swimming goggles, sunglasses, motorcycle goggles or any other sports goggles.
A pair of sports goggles of the present invention shown in
The information processing means 2 has a sensing function to check physiological information, temporal change in the depth of water, position and so on. It also has a navigation system using the undersea topographic information which is stored in the memory. Moreover, it may separately have a processing function to process a diving time, the residual pressure in a tank, a program for individual depressurization or the like.
The information display means 4 has a HOE which is laminated on a surface of the lens and a liquid crystal panel placed inside of the goggle so that a diver can see the information displayed on this liquid crystal panel.
These features enable a diver to work safely underwater.
A pair of sports goggles of the present invention shown in
The information processing means 2 has a sensing function to check physiological information, the velocity of water and so on. It also has an information communicating means for transmitting and receiving data instantly, and the information communicating means has a system for communicating with other outside transmitting and receiving devices. Moreover, it may separately have a processing function to process an elapsed time, a pace of swimming and so on.
The information display 4 has a HOE which is insert-molded on a surface of the lens and a liquid crystal panel placed inside of the goggle so that a swimmer can see the information displayed on this liquid crystal panel.
These features enable a swimmer to receive instructions from instructors and/or coaches and communicate with them while swimming.
A pair of sports goggles of the present invention shown in
The information processing means 2 has a sensing function to check physiological information and the velocity of wind or the like. It also has an information communicating means for transmitting and receiving data instantly, and the information communicating means has a system for communicating with other outside transmitting and receiving devices. Moreover, it may separately have a processing function to process an elapsed time, a pace of running and so on.
The information display 4 has a lens which is integrally molded on a surface of the eyepiece portion 3 and a compact-sized cathode ray tube placed outside of the goggle main body 1 so that a marathon runner can see the information displayed by the compact-sized CRT.
These features enable a marathon runner to receive instructions from instructors and/or coaches and communicate with them while running. Moreover, if more than one runner is wearing this pair of sunglasses at the same time, it can be used for cooperation among the runners.
Meanwhile, in the case of the sunglasses for marathon, image data for reproducing virtual space may be set in the information processing means 2 and then displayed by the information display means 4 while running, for example, a marathon, so that a user runner can train in the virtual space where it seems as if the user is running with another runner as a pace maker or another runner to use tactics although the user is running alone.
A pair of sports goggles of the present invention shown in
The information processing means 2 has a sensing function to check physiological information, the velocity of wind, the speed, the revolution speed of the engine and so on. It also has an information communicating means for transmitting and receiving data instantly, and the information communicating means has a system for communicating with other outside transmitting and receiving devices.
As shown in
These features enable plural drivers to share the information while driving each motorcycle and/or to share information with the fellow passenger if there is, so that it can be helpful to drive cooperatively.
A pair of sports goggles of the present invention has the above-mentioned structures so that a user can check the displayed information according to need so as to get timely appropriate information in a relatively short time, can focus on the display without affecting the play and can receive detailed instructions from instructors and/or coaches while playing sports.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001-371721 | Dec 2001 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP02/12756 | 12/5/2002 | WO | 6/4/2004 |
