Method for determining the spatial position of an object, electronic circuit and electronic system

• US 8,737,515 B2
• Filed: 12/14/2012
• Issued: 05/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Christoph Ruland
• Original Assignee: Christoph Ruland
• Inventors: RULAND, Christoph
• Primary Examiner(s): Flores, Leon
• Application Number:
  US13/714,733
• Publication Number:
  US 20130259150A1
• Time in Patent Office: 529 Days
• Field of Search: 375/130, 375/141, 375/145, 375/146, 375/147, 375/149, 375/267, 375/316, 375/342, 375/347, 455/456.1, 463/1
• US Class Current: 375/267
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2003/00662 with an electric sensor for playing pieces A63F2009/2444 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/2489 by radio transmitters, e.g. using RFID
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 3/00643 Electric board games; Electric features of board games electric word or number games A63F3/0421; computer chess G06F; electric raffle games A63F3/081
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 5/00 Roulette games aspects of games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions showing representations related to the game A63F13/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 1/68 Marker, boundary, call-sign, or like beacons transmitting signals not carrying directional information
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/01 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0036 of measured values, i.e. measurement on mobile and position calculation on base station
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02 using radio waves using satellite radio beacon systems for determining position G01S19/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/062 using dipole aerials; H01Q21/067, H01Q21/068 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/28 Combinations of substantially independent non-interacting antenna units or systems multiple beam H01Q25/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0404 the mobile station comprising multiple antennas, e.g. to provide uplink diversity

Abstract

A roulette table, including an electronic system having at least one electronic circuit, a number of M antennas, a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) transmitter for sending a number of M orthogonal code sequences via the antennas, and a contactless communication interface for receiving the position from an electronic memory of the electronic circuit, in which the antennas are arranged below stake fields of the roulette table, and having chips, in which each chip is equipped with an electronic circuit. The electronic circuit includes the following: a CDMA receiver for receiving a number of M orthogonal code sequences; an electronic memory for storing an allocation instruction, through the allocation instruction each code sequence is assigned to one of the antennas, with this allocation containing information regarding the spatial location of the respective antenna; a processor for accessing the electronic memory to determine the position of the electronic circuit relative to the antennas by determining, with the help of the code sequences received from the CDMA receiver, the information regarding the spatial locations of those antennas by which the code sequences were received, and by deriving from the detected spatial locations of the antennas the position of the electronic circuit and producing a position signal therefrom; and a contactless communication interface for transmitting the position signal.

Claims

1. A roulette table, comprising an electronic system having at least one electronic circuit, a number of M antennas, a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) transmitter for sending a number of M orthogonal code sequences via the antennas, and a contactless communication interface for receiving the position from an electronic memory of the electronic circuit, in which the antennas are arranged below stake fields of the roulette table, and having chips, in which each chip is equipped with an electronic circuit, and in which the electronic circuit comprises the following:

a CDMA receiver to receive a number of M orthogonal code sequences;

an electronic memory, in which an allocation instruction is stored, wherein through the allocation instruction each code sequence is assigned to one of the antennas, wherein the allocation instruction contains information regarding the spatial location of the respective antenna;

a processor for accessing the electronic memory to determine the position of the electronic circuit relative to the antennas by determining, with help of the code sequences received from the CDMA receiver, information regarding the spatial locations of those antennas by which the code sequences were received, and by deriving from the detected spatial locations of the antennas the position of the electronic circuit and producing a position signal therefrom; and

a contactless communication interface for transmitting the position signal.

2. The roulette table according to claim 1, wherein two adjacent antennas have the same distance A from each other, and the range of the CDMA transmitter is preferably at least A/2.

3. The roulette table according to claim 1, comprising several groups of the M antennas, wherein in each of the groups the allocation of one of the orthogonal code sequences to one of the M antennas is repeated, and wherein the affiliation of each of the antennas to one of the groups is stored for determining the position.

4. A roulette table according to claim 1, wherein the CDMA transmitter is designed such that the transmission of the code sequences occurs in the same frequency band, and subsequently the identifiers and/or the position of the object are transmitted to the contactless communication interface.

5. A roulette table according to claim 1, wherein the antennas are designed as dipole antennas, patch antennas, or panel antennas.

6. A board game, such as SCRABBLE, chess, or Nine Men'"'"'s Morris, comprising a game board and game pieces, and comprising an electronic system having at least one electronic circuit, a number of M antennas, a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) transmitter for sending a number of M orthogonal code sequences via the antennas, and a contactless communication interface for receiving the position from an electronic memory of the electronic circuit, in which the antennas are arranged in or on the board game, and each game piece is equipped with an electronic circuit, and in which the electronic circuit comprises the following:

a CDMA receiver to receive a number of M orthogonal code sequences;

an electronic memory, in which an allocation instruction is stored, wherein through the allocation instruction each code sequence is assigned to one of the antennas, wherein the allocation contains information regarding the spatial location of the respective antenna;

a processor for accessing the electronic memory in order to determine position of the electronic circuit relative to the antennas by determining, with the help of the code sequences received from the CDMA receiver, the information regarding the spatial locations of those antennas by which the code sequences were received, and by deriving from the detected spatial locations of the antennas the position of the electronic circuit and producing a position signal therefrom, and

a contactless communication interface for transmitting the position signal.