Touch pad scoring apparatus for dart games

• US 20040121855A1
• Filed: 11/24/2003
• Published: 06/24/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Indian Industries Incorporated (Escalade Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: DMI Sports Incorporated (Escalade Incorporated)
• Inventors: Giegerich, Gary D.
• Granted Patent: US 6,917,282 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 473/371
• CPC Class Codes: F41J 3/02 Indicators or score boards for arrow or dart games F41J5/00 takes precedence; timetables, lists or forms for shooter enlistment B42D15/0066

Abstract

A touch pad scoring apparatus for a dart game includes a touch pad mounted on a housing. The touch pad is has a plurality of segments. Each touch pad segment has a pressure-sensitive sensor operatively connected to a controller. A user applies pressure, for example with a stylus or a finger, to at least one segment corresponding to the dart board segment impacted by a thrown dart. The scoring apparatus has a memory and displays which allow the apparatus to track and display the scores of multiple players though the course of the dart game.

Claims

1. A touch pad scoring apparatus for a dart game including a dart board and at least one dart, the touch pad scoring apparatus comprising:

a housing;

an electronic controller within the housing;

a touch pad supported by the housing and having;

a plurality of segments, and

a plurality of sensors adapted to detect the presence of pressure applied to any one of the plurality of segments and to generate a signal corresponding to the segment to which pressure has been applied, the plurality of sensors being operatively connected to the controller;

an electronic game memory operatively connected to the controller; and

an electronic display operatively connected to the controller;

whereby;

pressure applied to at least one touch pad segment corresponding to a dart board segment struck by a thrown dart causes a score associated with the struck dart board segment to be electronically tracked by the game memory, and

the controller causes a signal corresponding to the score to be output to the electronic display.

2. The touch pad scoring apparatus of claim 1, wherein the touch pad includes a graphical representation of the dart board and each of the touch pad segments corresponds directly to a segment of the dart board.

3. The touch pad scoring apparatus of claim 1, wherein the touch pad segments are in the form of a plurality of input keys.

4. The touch pad scoring apparatus of claim 1, wherein the game memory is capable of tracking scores of multiple players through multiple rounds of a game of darts.

5. The touch pad scoring apparatus of claim 4, further comprising a plurality of electronic displays.

6. The touch pad scoring apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of control buttons.

7. The touch pad scoring apparatus of claim 6, wherein the user may select one of a plurality of dart game variations using one of the plurality of control buttons, and wherein the controller and game memory are capable of tracking scores of multiple players in accordance with the rules of the selected dart game variation.

8. The touch pad scoring apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a sound generator operatively connected with the controller;

a sound memory storing information corresponding to at least one sound recording, the sound memory operatively connected to the controller;

wherein the controller causes the at least one sound recording to be audibilized upon occurrence of a triggering event.

9. The touch pad scoring apparatus of claim 8, wherein the triggering event is initial activation of power to the touch pad scoring apparatus.

10. The touch pad scoring apparatus of claim 8, further comprising a next turn control button, the next turn control button generating a signal to the controller indicating that a player'"'"'s turn is complete, wherein the triggering event is activation of the next turn control button.

11. The touch pad scoring apparatus of claim 1, further comprising at least one light.

12. The touch pad scoring apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one light is capable of emitting light of a plurality of different colors.

13. The touch pad scoring apparatus of claim 12, wherein each of the plurality of different colors corresponds to a different condition occurring in the course of the dart game.

14. The touch pad scoring apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least one light is a light emitting diode.

15. A method of maintaining the score of a dart board game using an electronic touch pad scoring apparatus comprising the steps of:

providing an electronic touch pad scoring apparatus comprising;

a housing;

an electronic controller within the housing;

a touch pad supported by the housing and having;

a plurality of segments, and

a plurality of sensors adapted to detect the presence of pressure applied to any one of the plurality of segments and to generate a signal corresponding to the segment to which pressure has been applied, the plurality of sensors being operatively connected to the controller;

an electronic game memory operatively connected to the controller; and

an electronic display operatively connected to the controller;

impacting a segment of a dart board with a dart;

applying pressure to at least one touch pad segment corresponding to the dart board segment struck by the dart;

sensing the pressure applied to the at least one touch pad segment;

generating a signal corresponding to the at least one touch pad segment to which pressure is applied;

transferring the signal to the controller;

converting the signal to a numerical score;

maintaining a cumulative score in the game memory based upon multiple numerical scores obtained in multiple rounds of the dart game; and

displaying the cumulative score on the electronic display.

16. The method of maintaining score of a dart game of claim 15, wherein the electronic touch pad scoring apparatus further comprises a control button, and the method further comprises the step of selecting a dart game variation using the control button.