ROBOTIC GAME WITH PERIMETER BOUNDARIES

• US 20160206954A1
• Filed: 08/27/2014
• Published: 07/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2013
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: Miller, Kenneth C.
• Original Assignee: Miller, Kenneth C.
• Inventors: Miller, Kenneth C.
• Application Number:
  US14/914,772
• Publication Number:
  US 20160206954A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A63D 15/06 Cushions or fastenings therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A63D 15/20 Scoring or registering devices
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2007/0047 simulating pool, snooker or billiards
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/2419 Optical
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/242 Bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/2488 Remotely playable
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 7/0058 electric A63F7/027, A63F7/3065 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 7/3065 Electric
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 9/24 Electric games; Games using electronic circuits not otherwise provided for video games A63F13/00; computerized gaming systems G07F17/32

Abstract

A method and system are provided for identifying when and which robot targets fall into which pockets of a billiard table or pass through gates in the walls of a perimeter boundary, as well as boundary walls and gates that may be used to form various shaped playing areas. The identification of a robot target in a pocket may be used for scoring traditional games of pocket billiards, or for scoring robotic based games played on the surface of the billiard table. The identification sensor in certain embodiments may be mounted on the user configurable gates. Numeric values may be printed on the face of the robot targets to determine a winner of a game based on a total score of values of those robot targets knocked in by a player by themselves or by controlling a robot that pushes the robot targets.

Claims

1. A boundary wall system for robotic gaming comprising:

a set of wall sections;

a set of gates with joining terminations; and

wherein said set of wall sections are joined together with said set of gates to form a boundary enclosure for a playing surface.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said boundary is configurable to at least one of a rectangle, square, octagon, circle, oval, or into a combinations of these shapes.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein said joining termination further comprises clips for attachment to said set of wall sections.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein said gate is formed from a stamped flat blank that is folded to form said gate.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein said joining terminations are set at a fixed angle relative to a gate from said set of gates;

and

wherein said fixed angle ranges between 0 and 90 degrees.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein said joining terminations are hinged to set at any angle.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein said of set of wall sections further comprise a latch for securing said boundary enclosure to said playing surface.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein said playing surface is a round, oval, square or rectangular table.

9. The system of any one of claim 1 wherein said playing surface is any relatively flat surface.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein said playing surface is a billiard table.

11. The system of claim 1 further comprising a vision system mountable to said gates configured to recognize a set of machine readable markings or colors on targets or a set of game playing robots;

and wherein said machine readable markings comprise colors, barcodes, quick response (QR) codes, or other coded representations of uniqueness.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein said gates are motorized to open and close.

13. The system of claim 1 further comprising a set of facades that attach to said boundary enclosure with clips or latches.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein said gates or said facades have one or more indicator lights to indicate and enable the changing of the scoring of one or more targets and target modules from positive to negative points during game play, changing the scoring of different targets, or the availability of said one or more targets or target modules for scoring.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein one or more target modules are configured to mount in said faç

ade or wall section, said target module comprising a projectile, light beam, laser beam, IR beam, water, gas, flame, missile, rocket, or firework sensor.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein a target ball supply is configured to mount to said faç

ade or wall section.

17. The system of claim 1 wherein said set of gates are sized to allow target balls to pass through and not a robot.

18. The system of claim 1 wherein said set of gates and a set of target balls can be different sizes, where a set of small gates will only allow a set of small targets balls to pass through, and where one or more robots are larger than the largest gate.

19. A method of playing a game comprising:

placing at least one robot into a system of claim 1 or on a billiards table;

maneuvering the at least one robot to move a ball on the playing surface to urge the ball from within the boundary enclosure or a surface of the billiards table.