Device and method for measuring a shot force exerted on a movable game device

• US 7,891,666 B2
• Filed: 07/27/2006
• Issued: 02/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Cairos Technologies Ag
• Original Assignee: Cairos Technologies Ag
• Inventors: Kuenzler, Udo, Englert, Walter
• Primary Examiner(s): Hotaling, II; John M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hsu; Ryan
• Application Number:
  US11/460,565
• Publication Number:
  US 20070191083A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,671 Days
• Field of Search: 463 1- 4, 273/317, 2733171-3179, 273/108, 273/108.1, 273/108.2, 273/108.3, 273/108.4, 273/118.R, 473/131, 473150-154, 473198-200
• US Class Current: 273/317
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/40 Acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/833 Sensors arranged on the exercise apparatus or sports implement
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/30 Maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/50 Wireless data transmission, e.g. by radio transmitters or telemetry
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/52 modulated by measured values
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 41/00 Hollow inflatable balls
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 43/00 Balls with special arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 69/002 for football American-football dummies A63B69/34
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 71/0605 Decision makers and devices using detection means facilitating arbitration
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/74 Systems using reradiation of radio waves, e.g. secondary radar systems; Analogous systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/862 Combination of radar systems with sonar systems

Abstract

For measuring a shot force exerted on a movable game device, a time curve of the acceleration during the shot or of the pressure within the game device during the shot is recorded and processed to obtain an energy measure, said energy measure then serving to provide information about the shot force.

Claims

1. A device for measuring a shot force exerted on a movable game ball and the rotational speed of a movable game ball, comprising:

a processor integrated within said movable game ball;

a time curve provider within said movable game ball for providing a time curve for an attribute of a game ball when the game ball is impacted by an object with a shot force, wherein said attribute is selected from among an acceleration acting upon the object, and an internal pressure of the game ball;

wherein said processor is configured for processing the time curve of the acceleration or the time curve of the internal pressure to obtain an energy measure which depends on an energy transferred onto the object by the shot force, wherein the processor is further configured to provide information about an internal pressure of the game ball at rest prior to or after the shot, and wherein the processor is configured to integrate a pressure change of the pressure over the pressure at rest in order to obtain the energy measure;

wherein the time curve provider further comprises a memory having information about a previously determined group of curves stored therein, information about curves being stored for various pressures, wherein at least one curve includes a connection between a shot force and an energy measure,

wherein the time curve provider is configured to select a curve on the basis of the pressure at rest and to provide, on the basis of the energy measure, a shot force indicated by the curve selected;

a Hall sensor device integrated within said movable game ball and operatively coupled with said processor, said Hall sensor device configured to measure the earth'"'"'s magnetic field, determine a magnetic field strength, and generate a voltage in proportion to said magnetic field strength;

an amplifier operatively coupled with said Hall sensor, said amplifier configured for amplifying said voltage;

wherein the magnetic field strength is modulated upon rotation of said movable game ball, thereby altering said voltage;

wherein said processor is further configured for determining the rotational speed of said game ball by analyzing said voltage and alterations thereof; and

an information provider for providing information about the shot force on the basis of the energy measure and for providing information about the rotational speed on the basis of said voltage analysis.

2. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the time curve provider comprises a sensor selected from among an acceleration sensor, a pressure sensor, and both an acceleration sensor and a pressure sensor, wherein said selected sensor is mounted to a game ball, or comprises a receiver configured to obtain time curves stemming from the movable game ball, or to obtain an energy measure.

3. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to temporally integrate the time curve, a result of an integration representing the energy measure.

4. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to examine the time curve for a maximum, a minimum, a shape, a time duration of a deviation, or any combination thereof from a normal value in a state at rest so as to obtain the energy measure.

5. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the shot force is a value on a shot-force scale, and wherein the provider is configured to map a value of the energy measure to a value of the shot-force scale in accordance with a predetermined mapping specification.

6. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the shot force is dependant on a distance, the movable game ball would cover when hit within a specific shot angle, and

wherein the time curve provider is configured to calculate the distance covered on the basis of the energy measure, a game-device weight and a game-device friction in air.

7. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the memory has a three-dimensional table stored therein, wherein a shot force is associated with different pairs of internal pressure and energy measure, and

wherein the time curve provider is configured to access the table as a function of the internal pressure and the energy measure, in order to determine the shot force.

8. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the time curve provider comprises information about different groups of curves for different types of game balls, and wherein the time curve provider is configured to identify, beside the internal pressure and the energy measure, also a type of the game ball on the basis of an input piece of information about the type of the game ball.

9. The device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the information provider is configured to obtain a piece of information about the type of the game ball via a radio signal from the game ball.

10. A computer readable memory device containing instructions for performing a method for measuring a shot force exerted on a movable game ball and a rotational speed of said movable game ball to produce useful and concrete information about the shot force wherein said information is embodied tangibly on a computer screen, the method comprising:

providing a time curve, which occurs when the game ball is impacted by an object, of an acceleration acting upon the object, or a time curve of a pressure of the game device;

processing the time curve of the acceleration or the time curve of the pressure to obtain an energy measure which depends on an energy transferred onto the object by the shot, wherein said processing further provides information about an internal pressure at rest prior to or after the shot, and wherein said processing further comprises integrating a pressure change of the pressure over the pressure at rest in order to obtain the energy measure;

accessing a memory having information about a previously determined group of curves stored therein, said information about curves being stored for various pressures, wherein at least one stored curve includes a connection between a shot force and an energy measurement;

selecting a curve on the basis of the pressure at rest and to provide, on the basis of the energy measure, a shot force indicated by the curve selected;

providing a Hall sensor device integrated within said movable game ball and operatively coupled with said processor, said Hall sensor device configured to measure the earth'"'"'s magnetic field, determine a magnetic field strength, and generate a voltage in proportion to said magnetic field strength;

providing an amplifier operatively coupled with said Hall sensor, said amplifier configured for amplifying said voltage;

wherein the magnetic field strength is modulated upon rotation of said movable game ball, thereby altering said voltage;

wherein said processor is further configured for determining the rotational speed of said game ball by analyzing said voltage and alterations thereof; and

providing information about the shot force on the basis of the energy measure and providing information about the rotational speed on the basis of said voltage analysis.