Automated bowling system, controller and method of use
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A bowling system comprising:
- a pinspotter system including at least a sweep assembly and a braking system coupled thereto which provides a brake for said sweep assembly;
a plurality of sensors which sense parameters associated with said pinspotter system and said braking system, wherein said plurality of sensors include a non-contact home position sensor for said sweep assembly; and
a centralized control system centralizing operational processes of said pinspotter system by receiving at least one input based on the sensed parameters from at least one of said plurality of sensors and, in response to at least one said input, produces at least one output signal to control operations of said pinspotter system.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A bowling system comprises a pinspotter system including at least a sweep assembly and a braking system coupled thereto which provides a brake for the sweep assembly. The system further includes a plurality of sensors which sense parameters associated with the pinspotter system and the braking system. A centralized control system centralizes operational processes of the pinspotter system by receiving at least one input based on the sensed parameters from at least one of plurality of sensors and, in response to the at least one the input, produces at least one output signal to control operations of the pinspotter system.
10 Citations
39 Claims
-
1. A bowling system comprising:
-
a pinspotter system including at least a sweep assembly and a braking system coupled thereto which provides a brake for said sweep assembly; a plurality of sensors which sense parameters associated with said pinspotter system and said braking system, wherein said plurality of sensors include a non-contact home position sensor for said sweep assembly; and a centralized control system centralizing operational processes of said pinspotter system by receiving at least one input based on the sensed parameters from at least one of said plurality of sensors and, in response to at least one said input, produces at least one output signal to control operations of said pinspotter system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
-
-
22. A bowling system, comprising:
-
a pinspotter system including at least a sweep assembly and a braking system coupled thereto which provides a brake for said sweep assembly; a plurality of sensors which sense parameters associated with said pinspotter system and said braking system; and a centralized control system centralizing operational processes of said pinspotter system by receiving at least one input based on the sensed parameters from at least one of said plurality of sensors and, in response to at least one said input, produces at least one output signal to control operations of said pinspotter system; wherein at least one sensor of the plurality of sensors monitors a rotational speed of a sweep motor shaft of said sweep assembly and provides an input signal to said centralized control system indicative of said rotational speed, such that a braking action, under command of said centralized control system, applies a sweep motor braking force after said rotational speed of said sweep motor shaft begins to decrease.
-
-
23. A bowling system, comprising:
-
a pinspotter system including at least a sweep assembly and a braking system coupled thereto which provides a brake for said sweep assembly; a plurality of sensors which sense parameters associated with said pinspotter system and said braking system; and a centralized control system centralizing operational processes of said pinspotter system by receiving at least one input based on the sensed parameters from at least one of said plurality of sensors and, in response to at least one said input, produces at least one output signal to control operations of said pinspotter system; wherein the pinspotter system includes a pin table assembly and said plurality of sensors includes at least one sensor which monitors a rotational speed of a pin table motor shaft of said pin table assembly and provides an input signal to said centralized control system indicative of said rotational speed, such that a braking action, under command of said centralized control system, applies a pin table motor braking force after said rotational speed of said pin table motor shaft begins to decrease.
-
-
24. A bowling system, comprising:
-
a pinspotter system including at least a sweep assembly and a braking system coupled thereto which provides a brake for said sweep assembly; a plurality of sensors which sense parameters associated with said pinspotter system and said braking system; and a centralized control system centralizing operational processes of said pinspotter system by receiving at least one input based on the sensed parameters from at least one of said plurality of sensors and, in response to at least one said input, produces at least one output signal to control operations of said pinspotter system; a speed/safety sensor including at least two photodiode sensors arranged at a distance from one another; wherein said centralized control system receives an input from said at least two photodiode sensors such that said centralized control system calculates a speed of the ball, and at a predetermined speed of the ball actuates said sweep assembly, wherein a position of the sweep assembly is determined by a positioning of a non-contact position sensor. - View Dependent Claims (25)
-
-
26. A bowling system, comprising:
-
a pinspotter system including at least a sweep assembly and a braking system coupled thereto which provides a brake for said sweep assembly; a plurality of sensors which sense parameters associated with said pinspotter system and said braking system; and a centralized control system centralizing operational processes of said pinspotter system by receiving at least one input based on the sensed parameters from at least one of said plurality of sensors and, in response to at least one said input, produces at least one output signal to control operations of said pinspotter system; and said plurality of sensors including a speed/safety sensor arranged proximate said sweep assembly to detect a speed of a ball or a sequence of events, wherein said centralized control system activates or deactivates said sweep assembly based on a predetermined sequence of events as sensed by said speed/safety sensor. - View Dependent Claims (27)
-
-
28. A bowling system, comprising:
-
a pinspotter system including at least a sweep assembly and a braking system coupled thereto which provides a brake for said sweep assembly; a plurality of sensors which sense parameters associated with said pinspotter system and said braking system; and a centralized control system centralizing operational processes of said pinspotter system by receiving at least one input based on the sensed parameters from at least one of said plurality of sensors and, in response to at least one said input, produces at least one output signal to control operations of said pinspotter system; wherein said plurality of sensors includes a home sensor comprising a photodiode and a disk having a slot mounted on a sweep assembly shaft such that an alignment of said slot with a beam emitted from the home sensor represents an angled position of a sweep assembly shaft or a home position of said sweep assembly. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30)
-
-
31. A bowling system, comprising:
-
a pinspotter system including at least a sweep assembly and a braking system coupled thereto which provides a brake for said sweep assembly; a plurality of sensors which sense parameters associated with said pinspotter system and said braking system; and a centralized control system centralizing operational processes of said pinspotter system by receiving at least one input based on the sensed parameters from at least one of said plurality of sensors and, in response to at least one said input, produces at least one output signal to control operations of said pinspotter system; wherein said plurality of sensors includes a home sensor comprising a photodiode and a disk having a slot mounted on a pin table shaft and an alignment of said slot with a beam emitted from said home sensor represents an angled position of a pin table shaft or a home position of a pin table. - View Dependent Claims (32)
-
-
33. A bowling system, comprising:
-
a pinspotter system including at least a sweep assembly and a braking system coupled thereto which provides a brake for said sweep assembly; a plurality of sensors which sense parameters associated with said pinspotter system and said braking system; and a centralized control system centralizing operational processes of said pinspotter system by receiving at least one input based on the sensed parameters from at least one of said plurality of sensors and, in response to at least one said input, produces at least one output signal to control operations of said pinspotter system; wherein said plurality of sensors includes; a position sensor comprising; a position disk having a plurality of slots or holes located about a circumference of said position disk, said position disk mounted to a motor shaft of a pin table assembly or said sweep assembly; and a photodiode sensor sensing interruptions in the plurality of slots or holes as said motor shaft rotates; a home sensor comprising; a home disk having a single slot or hole, said home disk being mounted on a shaft of said pin table assembly or said sweep assembly; and a home photodiode sensing an interruption of said slot or hole on said home disk as said shaft rotates; wherein said centralized control system calculates a position of said motor shaft based on the number of revolutions of said motor shaft and an initial reference as sensed by said home sensor. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35)
-
-
36. A bowling system, comprising:
-
a pinspotter system including at least a sweep assembly and a braking system coupled thereto which provides a brake for said sweep assembly; a plurality of sensors which sense parameters associated with said pinspotter system and said braking system, the plurality of sensors including a home sensor comprising; a disk having a slot mounted to a shaft; and a light emitting device comprising an emitter and detector or reflector adjacent opposing sides of the disk; and a centralized control system centralizing operational processes of said pinspotter system by receiving at least one input based on the sensed parameters from at least one of said plurality of sensors and, in response to at least one said input, produces at least one output signal to control operations of said pinspotter system; wherein said centralized control system includes a feed back loop for monitoring and controlling said pinspotter system and said plurality of sensors.
-
-
37. A bowling system, comprising:
-
a pinspotter system including at least a sweep assembly and a braking system coupled thereto which provides a brake for said sweep assembly; a plurality of sensors which sense parameters associated with said pinspotter system and said braking system; and a centralized control system centralizing operational processes of said pinspotter system by receiving at least one input based on the sensed parameters from at least one of said plurality of sensors and, in response to at least one said input, produces at least one output signal to control operations of said pinspotter system; wherein said lighting system displays a first color indicating the bowling system is ready for operation and no existing or sensed problems exist; wherein said lighting system displays a flashing color indicating at least one bin switch is open or not a full set of said pins are in a pin table and indicative of a pin jam; wherein said lighting system displays a second color indicating a shutdown of the entire bowling system; and wherein said second color is displayed when at least one of said position sensor is not providing feedback after receiving a command from said centralized control system, an unacceptable spike in electrical current during operation of the bowling system is sensed and said plurality of sensors not sensing a predetermined sequence of events.
-
-
38. A bowling system, comprising:
-
a pinspotter system including at least a sweep assembly and a braking system coupled thereto which provides a brake for said sweep assembly; a plurality of sensors which sense parameters associated with said pinspotter system and said braking system; and a centralized control system centralizing operational processes of said pinspotter system by receiving at least one input based on the sensed parameters from at least one of said plurality of sensors and, in response to at least one said input, produces at least one output signal to control operations of said pinspotter system; wherein said sweep assembly includes a gate, such that said gate triggers a camera capturing an amount of standing pins and communicates said amount of standing pins to said centralized control system so as to determine at least one of a score, and whether said sweep assembly needs to be activated due to a gutter ball.
-
-
39. A bowling system comprising:
-
a pinspotter system including at least a sweep assembly and a braking system coupled thereto which provides a brake for said sweep assembly; a plurality of sensors which sense parameters associated with said pinspotter system and said braking system; said plurality of sensors including a speed/safety sensor arranged proximate said sweep assembly to detect speed of a ball; and a centralized control system centralizing operational processes of said pinspotter system by receiving at least one input based on the sensed parameters from at least one of said plurality of sensors and, in response to at least one said input, produces at least one output signal to control operations of said pinspotter system, wherein at least one sensor of the plurality of sensors monitors a rotational speed of a sweep motor shaft of said sweep assembly and provides an input signal to said centralized control system indicative of said rotational speed, such that a braking action, under command of said centralized control system, applies a sweep motor braking force after said rotational speed of said sweep motor shaft begins to decrease.
-
Specification