Intelligent basketball game assembly

• US 6,536,770 B1
• Filed: 10/12/2000
• Issued: 03/25/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: P & P Idea Company Limited
• Original Assignee: P & P Idea Company Limited
• Inventors: Yang, Seung Woo
• Primary Examiner(s): Sewell, Paul T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHAMBERS, MICHAEL S
• Application Number:
  US09/687,509
• Time in Patent Office: 894 Days
• Field of Search: 473/447, 473/422, 273/317.3, 273/359, 273/371, 273/368
• US Class Current: 273/317.3
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2063/001 Targets or goals with ball-returning means
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2071/0625 Emitting sound, noise or music
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/70 Coin-operated
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 63/06 Revolving targets ; Moving targets, e.g. moving or revolving on impact
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 63/083 for basketball
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 69/0071 for basketball
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/2454 with LED
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2011/0058 using electronic means A63F2011/0053 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 7/0612 Basketball
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 7/0664 Electric
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 7/3065 Electric

Abstract

An intelligent basketball game assembly has a main body including a driving mechanism provided with a first moving member for moving a goal support rightward and leftward, a second moving member for moving the goal support forward and rearward, and a rotating member for rotating an upper portion of the goal support; an auxiliary body provided with operation buttons including a start button and a difficulty mode setting button, a coin insertion, a premium discharge opening through which a premium is provided, a ball stopper, a pair of ball stop supports having vertical rails along which the ball stopper is moved upward or downward. The intelligent basketball game assembly also has a control section including a button detection for detecting the player'"'"'s operations of the operating buttons, a display constituted by LED or LCD to indicate score and the number of coins, a coin detection for detecting the number and the kinds of the coins given by the player, a motor driving part for controlling the operations of the first and the second moving member and the rotating member, a sensing part for detecting the position of the goal, and a sound emitter emitting music, a fanfare and a voice guide.

Claims

1. An apparatus for playing a basket goal game, comprising:

a board having a surface;

a basket goal attached to the surface of the board and adapted to receive a tossed ball; and

a mechanism coupled with the board and configured to linearly move the board in a first linear direction and a second linear direction perpendicular to the first direction, wherein the first and second directions are in a substantially horizontal plane.

2. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the mechanism is configured to move the board in the first and second directions either simultaneously or alternatingly.

3. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the mechanism is coupled to the board via a connection, and wherein the mechanism is configured to move the connection so as to move the board.

4. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the mechanism is further configured to turn the surface of the board.

5. The apparatus as defined in claim 4, wherein the mechanism is coupled to the board via a column having a central axis, and wherein the mechanism is configured to rotate the column about the central axis so as to turn the surface of the board.

6. The apparatus as defined in claim 5, wherein the basket goal circumferentially moves about the central axis of the column.

7. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, further comprising a controller configured to control operation of the mechanism so as to control the movement of the board.

8. The apparatus as defined in claim 7, wherein the controller is programmed with a plurality of modes of the operation of the mechanism.

11. The apparatus as defined in claim 8, further comprising at least one button for selecting a mode of the operation of the mechanism.

12. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the mechanism comprises a first direction movement device and a second direction movement device.

14. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, further comprising a sensor configured to detect a ball passing through the basket goal.

15. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, further comprising a display to display the number of goals gained.

16. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the board is substantially vertically erected with reference to the earth.

17. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the basket goal comprises a hoop and an open-bottomed circular net.

18. A method of providing a basket goal game with the apparatus of claim 1, wherein a player throws a ball at the basket goal and gains a score when the ball enters the basket goal, the method comprising:

moving the basket goal attached to the board in the first linear direction;

moving the basket goal in the second linear direction perpendicular to the first direction;

monitoring balls entering the basket goal; and

displaying a score gained based on the number of balls entering the basket goal.

19. The method as defined in claim 18, wherein the moving in the first direction and the moving in the second direction can be performed either simultaneously or alternatingly.

20. The method as defined in claim 18, further comprising:

receiving an input of a desired moving path of the basket goal; and

controlling the first direction moving and the second direction moving so as to move the basket goal along a path substantially equal to the desired moving path.

21. The method as defined in claim 20, wherein the movement in the first direction comprises operating a first direction movement device coupled to the board, and wherein the movement in the second direction comprises operating a second direction movement device coupled to the first direction movement, whereby operation of the second direction movement device simultaneously moves the first direction movement device and the board in the second direction.

22. The method as defined in claim 18, wherein the board is coupled to the mechanism via a column, and wherein the moving in the first and second directions comprises operating the mechanism to move the column.

23. The method as defined in claim 18, further comprising circumferentially moving the basket goal about an axis.

24. The method as defined in claim 23, wherein the board is coupled to the mechanism via a column having a central axis, and wherein the circumferential movement comprises turning the column about the central axis in either of two opposed directions.

25. The method as defined in claim 18, wherein the movements of the basket goal in the first and second directions are controlled by a controller programmed with a plurality of operation modes.

26. The method as defined in claim 25, further comprising selecting a level of difficulty corresponding to one of the plurality of operation modes.

9. An apparatus for playing a basket goal game, comprising:

a board having a surface;

a basket goal attached to the surface of the board and adapted to receive a tossed ball;

a mechanism coupled with the board and configured to move the board in a first direction and a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, wherein the first and second directions are in a substantially horizontal plane;

a controller configured to control operation of the mechanism so as to control the movement of the board; and

an input device configured to receive an input of a path and to transmit a signal indicative of the inputted path to the controller, wherein the controller is further configured to control the operation of movement of the mechanism to effect the basket goal to move along a path substantially same as the inputted path.

10. The apparatus as defined in claim 9, wherein the input device comprises a touch pad having a surface, and wherein the touch pad is configured to recognize a path drawn on the surface.

13. The apparatus as defined in claim 10, wherein the first direction movement device is coupled with the board so as to move the board in the first direction, and wherein the second direction movement device is coupled with the first direction movement device so as to move the first direction movement device in the second direction, thereby moving the board in the second direction.