DISPARITY CORRECTION FOR LOCATION-AWARE DISTRIBUTED SPORTING EVENTS

• US 20140172135A1
• Filed: 12/11/2013
• Published: 06/19/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jacob Eisner
• Original Assignee: Seth E. Eisner Trust
• Inventors: Eisner, Seth
• Granted Patent: US 9,757,639 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/91
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 71/0616 Means for conducting or scheduling competition, league, tournaments or rankings
• CPC Class Codes: A63K 1/00 Race-courses; Race-tracks
• CPC Class Codes: A63K 3/00 Equipment or accessories for racing or riding sports training equipment for animals A01K15/02
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/19 Sporting applications
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/17306 Intercommunication techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/40 Data acquisition and logging for input to computer G06F3/00

Abstract

Various embodiments facilitate location-aware distributed competitions. In one embodiment, a system facilitates a distributed sporting event that includes multiple players traveling over non-uniform courses that are remote from one another. The system includes a manager that receives state information, such as location information, from client devices used by each of the players. The manager then transmits location information for each of the players to the client devices, which are each configured to present a graphical representation, such as a map annotated with the locations of each of the players. The system corrects for disparities between the non-uniform courses traveled by the players, for example by mapping a location on a course traveled by a first player to a location on a course traveled by a second player. Various mechanisms for establishing the mapping between non-uniform courses are also described.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating a distributed sporting event, the method comprising:

in a client device,

aggregating a plurality of individual sporting activities into a distributed sporting event comprising a plurality of players that are each performing one of the individual sporting activities, that are each competing against one another by racing over non-uniform courses that are remotely located from one another, and that each have a corresponding client device, by;

determining, for each of the players, a location on an anchor course that corresponds to a current location of the player;

presenting on the client device indications of positions of at least some of the other players with respect to the corresponding player, the indicated positions based on the locations on the anchor course of the least some of the plurality of players; and

asserting a course by displaying on the first client device specific instructions to the corresponding player to travel over a specified path.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a location on an anchor course includes for each of the players, receiving from a remote computing system information about the current location of the player, mapping the current location of the player to the location of the anchor course based on a correspondence between locations on the anchor course and locations on a current course traveled by the player.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the remote computing system is configured to generate the correspondence between locations by:

as a first reference athlete travels over the anchor course, recording, for each of multiple locations on the anchor course, a corresponding elapsed time from the beginning of the anchor course to the location;

recording, as a second reference athlete travels over a derivative course, a corresponding distance measured at each elapsed time recorded with respect to the anchor course; and

creating, based on the recorded times and distances, a mapping between locations on the derivative course and locations on the anchor course, so that each of the multiple location son the anchor course has a corresponding location on the derivative course.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the multiple locations on the anchor course are distributed along the anchor course a uniform distance from one another.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the uniform distance is in a range between 0.05 km and 0.1 km.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the derivative course is the current course traveled by the player.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the remote computing system is further configured to:

average times elapsed times recorded with respect to multiple reference athletes traveling over the anchor course; and

record the corresponding distances for the second reference athlete with respect to the average elapsed times.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein presenting indications of positions of at least some of the other players includes:

for a first player, translating the current location of the first player to a corresponding location on the anchor course;

for a second player, translating the current location of the second player to a corresponding location on the anchor course; and

displaying a representation of the anchor course along with indications of the corresponding locations of the first and second players on the anchor course.

9. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

translating each of the corresponding distances on the derivative course into a latitude/longitude coordinate representing a location on the derivative course.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving from each of the plurality of client devices information about a current location of the corresponding player by receiving an indication that the player has traveled by one of the locations on the derivative course represented by one of the latitude/longitude coordinates.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein receiving from each of the plurality of client devices information about a current location of the corresponding player includes receiving an offset from one of the locations on the derivative course represented by one of the latitude/longitude coordinates, the offset representing a time, distance, and/or angle between the player and the location on the derivative course.

12. The method of claim 3, wherein the multiple locations on the anchor course are distributed along the anchor course a non-uniform distance from one another, wherein the distance between the multiple locations is dynamically selected based on the speed of the first reference athlete traveling over the anchor course, such that the distance between locations is shorter when the first reference athlete is slower.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the players are each engaging in a same sport that is one of:

bicycling, running, cross country skiing, motor racing, or boating.

14. A computing system for facilitating a distributed sporting event, comprising:

a first client computing device including;

a memory;

a processor; and

a module that is stored on the memory and that is configured to, aggregate a plurality of individual sporting activities into a distributed sporting event comprising a plurality of players that are each performing one of the individual sporting activities, that are each competing against one another by traveling over non-uniform courses that are remotely located from one another, and that each have a corresponding client device, by;

determining a location on a course depicted on one of the client devices, the determined location corresponding to a current location of the player by mapping the current location of the player to the location of the depicted course based on a correspondence between locations on the depicted course and locations on a current course traveled by the player;

presenting on the first client device the depicted course along with indications of positions of at least some of the other players with respect to the corresponding player, the indicated positions based on the locations on the depicted course of the least some of the plurality of players; and

asserting a course by displaying on the first client device specific instructions to the corresponding player to travel over a specified path.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the depicted course is the current course traveled by the player.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the computing system includes an event controller in communication with the client devices.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the first client device is a smart phone.

18. A computer-readable medium storing non-transitory contents that are configured to cause a computing system to facilitate a distributed sporting event by performing a method comprising:

in a first client computing device,

aggregating a plurality of individual sporting activities into a distributed sporting event comprising a plurality of players that are each performing one of the individual sporting activities, that are each competing against one another by traveling over non-uniform courses that are remotely located from one another, and that each have a corresponding client device, by;

determining a location on a course depicted on the first client device, the determined location corresponding to the current location of the player by mapping a current location of the player to the location on the depicted course based on a correspondence between locations on the depicted course and locations on a current course traveled by the player;

presenting the depicted course along with indications of positions of at least some of the other players with respect to the corresponding player, the indicated positions based on the locations on the depicted course of the least some of the plurality of players; and

asserting a course by displaying on the first client device specific instructions to the corresponding player to travel over a specified path,

wherein the non-uniform courses differ from each other in course length and/or elevation profile.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving location information from each of the client devices, wherein location information is passed amongst the client devices without first passing through a centralized competition manager system.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein asserting the course includes:

determining, based on the current location of the player, whether the player is within boundaries of the asserted course; and

issuing at least one of a warning, penalty, or disqualification to the player when the player is not within boundaries of the asserted course.

19. (canceled)

20. (canceled)