Athleticism rating and performance measuring system

• US 8,602,946 B2
• Filed: 06/24/2011
• Issued: 12/10/2013
• 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): Thanh, Loan
• Assistant Examiner(s): JALALZADEH ABYANE, SHILA
• Application Number:
  US13/168,731
• Publication Number:
  US 20110257770A1
• Time in Patent Office: 900 Days
• Field of Search: 482/1, 482/8
• 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. A method of processing athletic sensor data comprising:

automatically receiving through a first wireless communication link of a first portable base unit, performance data of a first athlete collected by at least one sensor during the first athlete'"'"'s performance of a first selected athletic event;

automatically wirelessly transmitting the received performance data during the first athletic event through a second wireless communication link of the first portable base unit to an athletic unit configured to be worn by the first athlete during the first athletic event, wherein the athletic unit comprises a mobile telephony device;

processing the performance data at the base unit by seamlessly integrating the collected performance data into an automatically calculated athletic performance score for the first athlete for the first athletic event utilizing performance data received from the at least one sensor collected during a plurality of discrete physical tests associated with the first selected athletic event; and

automatically outputting the athletic performance score on the mobile telephony device by automatically applying performance data from each of a plurality of tests of the selected athletic event to a normalized sport-specific athleticism rating equation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second wireless communication link comprises a link to a wireless telephony network.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

displaying performance results obtained from the performance data on a display of the mobile telephony device.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the displaying of the performance results is during the first selected athletic event.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor is a timing sensor and receiving performance data comprises:

automatically detecting a plurality of triggering events from the timing sensor during the first athlete'"'"'s performance of a first test.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein calculating the score comprises:

automatically applying information from triggering events to a normalized sport-specific athleticism rating equation.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor comprises a first sensor configured to collect performance data related to a contact force of the first athlete.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the performance data comprises data regarding a height of the first athlete'"'"'s vertical jump.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first selected athletic event relates to football and the plurality of tests are selected from the group consisting of:

vertical jumps, bench presses, a distance dash, a distance shuttle, and combinations thereof.

10. A sensor system configured to process athletic sensor data comprising:

a first base unit comprising;

a receiver configured to automatically receive through a first wireless communication link, performance data collected by a sensor during a first athletic event; and

a transmitter configured to automatically wirelessly transmit through a second wireless communication link the received performance data to an athletic unit configured to be worn by a first athlete during the first athletic event; and

wherein the system further comprises the athletic unit that comprises;

a processor;

a mobile telephony device;

a non transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed by the processor perform a method comprising;

processing the performance data to seamlessly integrate the collected performance data from the first athletic event into an automatically calculated single athletic performance score for the first athlete for the first athletic event utilizing performance data received from the one sensor collected during discrete physical tests associated with the first athletic event and automatically outputting the single athletic performance score on the mobile telephony device, wherein automatically calculating the single athletic performance score comprises;

automatically applying performance data from each of a plurality of tests of the first athletic event to a normalized sport-specific athleticism rating equation.

11. The sensor system of claim 10, wherein the second wireless communication link comprises a link to a wireless telephony network.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium of the mobile telephony device further comprises computer-executable instructions that when executed by the processor, further perform a method comprising:

displaying performance results obtained from the performance data on a display of the mobile telephony device.

13. The sensor system of claim 12, wherein the displaying of the performance results is during the first athletic event.

14. The sensor system of claim 10, wherein the selected athletic event relates to football and the plurality of tests are selected from the group consisting of:

vertical jumps, bench presses, a distance dash, a distance shuttle, and combinations thereof.

15. The sensor system of claim 14, wherein the sensor is a timing sensor and receiving performance data comprises:

automatically detecting a plurality of triggering events from the timing sensor during the first athlete'"'"'s performance of a first test.

16. The sensor system of claim 15, wherein calculating the single athletic performance score comprises:

automatically applying information from triggering events to the normalized sport-specific athleticism rating equation.

17. The sensor system of claim 10, wherein the sensor is configured to collect performance data related to a contact force of the first athlete.

18. The sensor system of claim 10, wherein the performance data comprises data regarding a height of the first athlete'"'"'s vertical jump.

19. A sensor system configured to be utilized in a calculation of a universal athletic rating comprising:

a sensor unit comprising;

a processor;

at least one sensor; and

a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed by the processor perform a method comprising;

collecting sensor performance data from the at least one sensor based upon a selection of a first sport-specific activity from a plurality of sport-specific activities from a first external base unit, wherein the first sport-specific activity is associated with a consistent plurality of discrete physical tests including at least a first test and a second test, that taken collectively assess skills weighted in a predetermined proportion to be rationally related to skills associated with the first sport-specific activity; and

automatically transmitting to the first external base unit through a first wireless communication link, sensor performance data collected from a sensor of the sensor unit during a first user'"'"'s performance of the tests associated with the selected sport-specific activity to seamlessly integrate the collected performance data into an automatically calculated single athletic performance score for the first user for the first sport-specific activity utilizing performance data received from sensor performance data collected during the discrete physical tests associated with the selected sport-specific activity.

20. The sensor system of claim 19, wherein the at least one sensor of the sensor unit is a timing sensor and receiving performance data comprises:

automatically detecting a plurality of triggering events from the timing sensor during the first user'"'"'s performance of the first test.

21. The sensor system of claim 20, wherein the timing sensor is configured to emit a sensor field for detecting when the first user has passed through the sensor field and operating a timer based on a detected presence of the first user in the sensor field.

22. The sensor system of claim 21, wherein said timing sensor is a distance sensor.

23. The sensor system of claim 20, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium of the sensor unit comprises computer-executable instructions that when executed by the processor, further perform the method comprising:

distinguishing between triggering events and false triggering events by identifying false triggering events, the identification of false events comprising;

detecting events caused by motion of the user that trigger the at least one sensor within a predefined period of time from a previous triggering event, wherein triggering events received within the predefined period of time are deemed false triggering events.

24. The sensor system of claim 23, the at least one sensor further comprises a first sensor, wherein the identification of false triggering events comprises:

detecting the first user entering a sensor field of the first sensor along a first boundary, and in response, storing a first time value, but not reporting a trigger event;

separately detecting the user exiting the sensor field of the first sensor along a second boundary, and in response, storing a second time value, but not reporting a trigger event;

determining whether a difference between the first time value and the second time value exceeds a threshold; and

wherein if the threshold is not exceeded, the first time value time value is determined to be a first triggering event and the second time value is determined to be a false triggering event, and if the threshold is exceeded, the second value is determined to be the first triggering event and the first value is determined to be a false triggering event.

25. The sensor system of claim 20, wherein calculating the single athletic performance score comprises:

automatically applying information from triggering events to a normalized sport-specific athleticism rating equation.

26. The sensor system of claim 19, wherein the system further comprises the first external base unit, and the first base unit comprises:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed by the processor perform a method comprising;

automatically calculating the single athletic performance score for the first user for the first sporting activity utilizing performance data received from sensor performance data collected during the discrete physical tests associated with the first sport-specific activity; and

automatically outputting the single athletic performance score on the first external base unit.

27. The sensor system of claim 26, wherein automatically calculating the single athletic performance score comprises:

automatically applying performance data from each test of the first sport-specific sporting activity to a normalized sport-specific athleticism rating equation.

28. The sensor system of claim 27, wherein the first sport-specific activity relates to football and the plurality of tests are selected from the group consisting of:

vertical jumps, bench presses, a distance dash, a distance shuttle, and combinations thereof.

29. The sensor system of claim 19, the non-transitory computer-readable medium of the sensor unit comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed by the processor perform a method further comprising

automatically calibrating a sensor of at least one sensor unit to a first calibration setting to detect a first user performing a first test associated with the first sport-specific sporting activity.

30. The sensor unit of claim 29, wherein calibrating the at least one sensor to the first calibration setting comprises:

adjusting the at least one sensor to a predetermined sensitivity setting.

31. The sensor unit of claim 29, wherein calibrating the at least one sensor to the first or a second calibration setting comprises:

dynamically calibrating the at least one sensor from a sensor reading taken from the sensor.