Slalom racing gate monitor system

• US 9,849,363 B1
• Filed: 06/24/2016
• Issued: 12/26/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Rahal-Arabi, Tawfik M., Wong, Hong W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bousono, Orlando
• Application Number:
  US15/192,181
• Publication Number:
  US 20170368437A1
• Time in Patent Office: 550 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/05 Image processing for measuring physical parameters
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/20 Distances or displacements
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2244/19 Skiing
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 69/187 for water-skiing
• CPC Class Codes: A63C 19/062 Slalom gate poles, posts or marking sticks for sport fields
• CPC Class Codes: A63C 2203/18 Measuring a physical parameter, e.g. speed, distance
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 5/36 using visible light sources

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing a slalom racing gate monitor system are provided herein. A system includes a microcontroller; a first, second, and third sensor, each coupled to the microcontroller, the first, second, and third sensors each having a field of view and disposed on a slalom pole, and disposed where the fields of view of the first, second, and third sensors substantially cover a 360 degree field of view around the slalom pole; wherein the microcontroller is to: obtain a sequence of sensor readings from a plurality of sensors of the first, second, and third sensors, each reading in the sequence of sensor readings indicating an object detected in the field of view of the respective sensor; determine whether the object passed the slalom pole on a correct side; and present a notification of whether the object passed the slalom pole on the correct side.

Claims

1. A slalom racing gate monitor system, the system comprising:

a microcontroller;

a first, second, and third sensor, each coupled to the microcontroller, the first, second, and third sensors each having a field of view and disposed on a slalom pole, and disposed in a configuration where the fields of view of the first, second, and third sensors cover up to and including a 360 degree field of view around the slalom pole;

wherein the microcontroller is to;

obtain a sequence of sensor readings from a plurality of sensors of the first, second, and third sensors, each reading in the sequence of sensor readings indicating an object detected in the field of view of the respective sensor;

determine whether the object passed the slalom pole on a correct side; and

present a notification of whether the object passed the slalom pole on the correct side.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensors comprise thermal sensors.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensors comprise cameras.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein to determine whether the object passed the slalom pole on the correct side, the microcontroller is to inspect the sequence of sensor readings, the sequence indicating a clockwise traversal of the object with respect to the slalom pole, or a counter-clockwise traversal of the object with respect to the slalom pole, wherein a clockwise traversal indicates a successful pass and a counter-clockwise traversal indicates an unsuccessful pass.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein to present the notification, the microcontroller is to activate an indicator.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the indicator comprises a light.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein to activate the indicator, the microcontroller is to illuminate a first light when the object passed the slalom pole on the correct side, and illuminate a second light when the object passed the slalom pole on an incorrect side.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a transceiver to transmit the notification to a remote compute device.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising a memory to store the sequence of sensor readings.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising a housing, wherein the microcontroller and the first, second, and third sensors are disposed in the housing.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the housing has a toroidal shape.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein an interior portion of the housing has an adhesive contact point to provide bonding to the slalom pole.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein an interior portion of the housing has a high-friction surface to resist movement along the slalom pole.

14. A method of providing a slalom racing gate monitor system, the method comprising:

obtaining, at a microcontroller, a sequence of sensor readings from a plurality of sensors of a first, second, and third sensor, each reading in the sequence of sensor readings indicating an object detected in the field of view of the respective sensor, wherein each of the first, second, and third sensor are coupled to the microcontroller, the first, second, and third sensors each having a field of view and disposed on a slalom pole, and disposed in a configuration where the fields of view of the first, second, and third sensors cover up to and including a 360 degree field of view around the slalom pole;

determining whether the object passed the slalom pole on a correct side; and

presenting a notification of whether the object passed the slalom pole on the correct side.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the sensors comprise thermal sensors.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the sensors comprise cameras.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein determining whether the object passed the slalom pole on the correct side includes inspecting the sequence of sensor readings, the sequence indicating a clockwise traversal of the object with respect to the slalom pole, or a counter-clockwise traversal of the object with respect to the slalom pole, wherein a clockwise traversal indicates a successful pass and a counter-clockwise traversal indicates an unsuccessful pass.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein presenting the notification includes activating an indicator.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the indicator comprises a light.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein activating the indicator includes illuminating a first light when the object passed the slalom pole on the correct side, and illuminating a second light when the object passed the slalom pole on an incorrect side.

21. At least one non-transitory machine-readable medium including instructions, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

obtain, at a microcontroller, a sequence of sensor readings from a plurality of sensors of a first, second, and third sensor, each reading in the sequence of sensor readings indicating an object detected in the field of view of the respective sensor, wherein each of the first, second, and third sensor are coupled to the microcontroller, the first, second, and third sensors each having a field of view and disposed on a slalom pole, and disposed in a configuration where the fields of view of the first, second, and third sensors cover up to and including a 360 degree field of view around the slalom pole;

determine whether the object passed the slalom pole on a correct side; and

present a notification of whether the object passed the slalom pole on the correct side.

22. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the sensors comprise thermal sensors.

23. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the sensors comprise cameras.

24. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the instructions to determine whether the object passed the slalom pole on the correct side include instructions to inspect the sequence of sensor readings, the sequence indicating a clockwise traversal of the object with respect to the slalom pole, or a counter-clockwise traversal of the object with respect to the slalom pole, wherein a clockwise traversal indicates a successful pass and a counter-clockwise traversal indicates an unsuccessful pass.

25. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the instructions to present the notification include instructions to activate an indicator.