Athleticism rating and performance measuring systems

• US 8,070,654 B2
• Filed: 11/07/2005
• Issued: 12/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nike, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Nike, Inc.
• Inventors: Chapa, Rodolfo Jr., Arjomand, Hamid G., Braun, Adam C., Bark, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Crow, Stephen
• Assistant Examiner(s): JALALZADEH ABYANE, SHILA
• Application Number:
  US11/269,161
• Publication Number:
  US 20070272011A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,220 Days
• Field of Search: 482/8, 733/790.1, 702/142, 434/247
• US Class Current: 482/8
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2024/0009 Computerised real time comparison with previous movements or motion sequences of the user
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2024/0012 Comparing movements or motion sequences with a registered reference
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2024/0065 Evaluating the fitness, e.g. fitness level or fitness index
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2024/0068 Comparison to target or threshold, previous performance or not real time comparison to other individuals
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2024/0071 Distinction between different activities, movements, or kind of sports performed
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2071/026 stabilised by weight
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2071/0661 arranged on the user
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2071/0663 worn on the wrist, e.g. wrist bands
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2102/18 Baseball, rounders or similar games
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/12 Absolute positions, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/13 Relative positions
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/805 Optical or opto-electronic sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/093 Height
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/15 with identification means that can be read by electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/20 with means for remote communication, e.g. internet or the like
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/50 Wireless data transmission, e.g. by radio transmitters or telemetry
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2243/0025 Football American football A63B2243/007
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2243/0037 Basketball
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2243/0066 Rugby; American football
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2243/007 American football
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 24/0006 : Computerised comparison for qualitative assessment of motion sequences or the course of a movement
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 24/0062 : Monitoring athletic performances, e.g. for determining the work of a user on an exercise apparatus, the completed jogging or cycling distance
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 71/03 : Athletic drills or obstacles for sport training, other than foot obstacles for skipping
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 71/06 : Indicating or scoring devices for games or players , or for other sports activities
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 71/0616 : Means for conducting or scheduling competition, league, tournaments or rankings
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 71/0619 : Displays, user interfaces and indicating devices, specially adapted for sport equipment, e.g. display mounted on treadmills
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 : with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 1/22 : in connection with sports or games

Abstract

A universal athleticism rating system and related athletic performance measuring systems for accurately detecting and recording athletic performance are disclosed. The athleticism rating system evaluates individual athletes against a common, standardized, set of athletic performance tests. Each athlete performs the athletic tests and his or her scores in the individual tests are entered into a standardized calculation to produce a single athletic performance score. The related performance measuring system is preferably a timing system that ensures quick, easy, and accurate collection of athletic event timing related data without the need for the athlete to wear any special detection devices or the like. In a preferred embodiment, the performance measuring system integrates with the rating system to provide seamless athletic data collection and rating of athletes.

Claims

1. One or more non-transitory computer storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon, that when executed by a computing system having a processor and memory, cause the computing system to perform an athleticism rating method for evaluating the athleticism of an athlete in a first sport of a plurality of sports, said method comprising:

selecting an agility performance drill rationally related to a first desired athletic performance characteristic in the first sport;

selecting a strength performance drill rationally related to a second desired athletic performance characteristic in the first sport;

selecting a speed performance drill rationally related to a third desired athletic performance characteristic in the first sport;

determining the athlete'"'"'s performance in the agility performance drill defining an agility result for the athlete;

determining the athlete'"'"'s performance in the strength performance drill defining a strength result for the athlete;

determining the athlete'"'"'s performance in the speed performance drill defining a speed result for the athlete; and

within the computing system, applying the agility result, the strength result, and the speed result to a normalizing equation adapted for the first sport to calculate, with the computing system, a single athleticism score representing a rating that is specific to the first sport for the athlete.

2. The media of claim 1, wherein at least one of the speed result and the agility result are determined with an automated performance measuring system.

3. The media of claim 2, wherein the automated performance measuring system has a sensor unit in communication with a base unit, the sensor unit performing the following steps:

automatically measuring the athletic performance of the athlete in at least one of the speed performance drill and the agility performance drill to determine at least one of the speed result and the agility result; and

transmitting the at least one of the speed result and the agility result to the base unit.

4. The media of claim 3, wherein the sensor unit is portable.

5. The media of claim 4, wherein the sensor unit is in wireless communication with the base unit.

6. The media of claim 2, wherein the automated performance measuring system is a timing device, the timing device has a sensor emitting a sensor field for detecting when an athlete has passed through the sensor field and operating a timer based on the detected presence of the athlete in the sensor field.

7. The media of claim 6, wherein the sensor is a distance sensor.

8. The media of claim 7, wherein the distance sensor is an optical device that produces an output voltage proportional to the distance an object is located from the sensor, and the timer is activated when a threshold voltage produced by the optical device is exceeded, thereby indicating the presence the athlete adjacent to the sensor.

9. The media of claim 2, wherein the automated performance measuring system also calculates the rating of the athlete.

10. The media of claim 1, wherein the speed performance drill is selected from the group consisting of the 30 yard-dash and the 40-yard dash.

11. The media of claim 10, wherein said the strength performance drill is a bench press.

12. The media of claim 1, wherein the athleticism rating method further comprises comparing the athleticism scores of each of at least two athletes.

13. One or more non-transitory computer storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon, that when executed by a computing system having a processor and memory, cause the computing system to perform an athleticism rating method for evaluating the athleticism of an athlete in a first sport from a plurality of sports, said method comprising:

determining the athlete'"'"'s performance in an agility performance drill defining an agility result for the athlete, the agility performance drill being rationally related to a desired athletic performance characteristic in the first sport;

determining the athlete'"'"'s performance in a strength performance drill defining a strength result for the athlete, the strength performance drill being rationally related to a desired athletic performance characteristic in the first sport;

determining the athlete'"'"'s performance in a speed performance drill defining a speed result for the athlete, the speed performance drill being rationally related to a desired athletic performance characteristic in the first sport;

selecting a normalizing equation adapted for the first sport from a plurality of normalizing equations, wherein the normalizing equation applies the agility result, the strength result, and the speed result to calculate a single athleticisms score representing an athleticism rating specific to the first sport; and

within the computing system, applying the agility result, the strength result, and the speed result to the selected normalizing equation to determine the single athleticism score for the athlete in the first sport.

14. The media of claim 13, wherein at least one of the speed result and the agility result are determined with an automated performance measuring system.

15. The media of claim 14, wherein the automated performance measuring system has a sensor unit in communication with a base unit, the sensor unit performing the following steps:

automatically measuring the athletic performance of the athlete in at least one of the speed performance drill and the agility performance drill to determine at least one of the speed result and the agility result; and

transmitting the at least one of the speed result and the agility result to the base unit.

16. The media of claim 15, wherein the sensor unit is portable.

17. The media of claim 16, wherein the sensor unit is in wireless communication with the base unit.

18. The media of claim 14, wherein the automated performance measuring system is a timing device, the timing device has a sensor emitting a sensor field for detecting when an athlete has passed through the sensor field and operating a timer based on the detected presence of the athlete in the sensor field.

19. The media of claim 18, wherein the sensor is a distance sensor.

20. The media of claim 19, wherein the distance sensor is an optical device that produces an output voltage proportional to the distance an object is located from the sensor, and the timer is activated when a threshold voltage produced by the optical device is exceeded, thereby indicating the presence the athlete adjacent to the sensor.

21. The media of claim 14, wherein the automated performance measuring system also calculates the athleticism rating of the athlete.

22. The media of claim 13, wherein the speed performance drill is selected from the group consisting of the 30 yard-dash and the 40-yard dash.

23. The media of claim 22, wherein said the strength performance drill is a bench press.

24. The media of claim 13, wherein the athleticism rating method further comprises:

comparing the athleticism scores of each of at least two athletes.

25. One or more non-transitory computer storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon, that when executed by a computing system having a processor and memory, cause the computing system to perform an athleticism rating method for evaluating the athleticism of an athlete in a sport of football, said method comprising:

selecting;

1) an agility performance drill rationally related to a first desired athletic performance characteristic in football,

2) a strength performance drill rationally related to a second desired athletic performance characteristic in football, and

3) a speed performance drill rationally related to a third desired athletic performance characteristic in football;

determining;

1) the athlete'"'"'s performance in the agility performance drill defining an agility result for the athlete,

2) the athlete'"'"'s performance in the strength performance drill defining a strength result for the athlete, and

3) the athlete'"'"'s performance in the speed performance drill defining a speed result for the athlete;

selecting a normalizing equation adapted for football from a plurality of normalizing equations, wherein the normalizing equation applies the agility result, the strength result, and the speed result to calculate a single football athleticisms score representing a football-specific athleticism rating; and

within the computing system, applying the agility result, the strength result, and the speed result to the selected normalizing equation to determine the single football athleticism score for the athlete in football.

26. The media of claim 25, wherein at least one of the speed result and the agility result are determined with an automated performance measuring system.

27. The media of claim 26, wherein the automated performance measuring system has a sensor unit in communication with a base unit, the sensor unit performing the following steps:

automatically measuring the athletic performance of the athlete in at least one of the speed performance drill and the agility performance drill to determine at least one of the speed result and the agility result; and

transmitting the at least one of the speed result and the agility result to the base unit.

28. The media of claim 27, wherein the sensor unit is portable.

29. The media of claim 28, wherein the sensor unit is in wireless communication with the base unit.

30. The media of claim 26, wherein the automated performance measuring system is a timing device, the timing device has a sensor emitting a sensor field for detecting when an athlete has passed through the sensor field and operating a timer based on the detected presence of the athlete in the sensor field.

31. The media of claim 30, wherein the sensor is a distance sensor.

32. The media of claim 31, wherein the distance sensor is an optical device that produces an output voltage proportional to the distance an object is located from the sensor, and the timer is activated when a threshold voltage produced by the optical device is exceeded, thereby indicating the presence the athlete adjacent to the sensor.

33. The media of claim 26, wherein the automated performance measuring system also calculates the football-specific athleticism rating of the athlete.

34. The media of claim 25, wherein the speed performance drill is selected from the group consisting of the 30 yard-dash and the 40-yard dash.

35. The media of claim 34, wherein said the strength performance drill is a bench press.

36. The media of claim 25, wherein the athleticism rating method further comprises:

comparing the football athleticism scores of each of at least two athletes.