Disparity correction for location-aware distributed sporting events

• US 10,092,812 B2
• Filed: 09/11/2017
• Issued: 10/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jacob Eisner
• Original Assignee: Seth E. Eisner Trust
• Inventors: Eisner, Seth
• Primary Examiner(s): Deodhar, Omkar
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hoel, Matthew D.
• Application Number:
  US15/701,404
• Publication Number:
  US 20180065023A1
• Time in Patent Office: 393 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 71/0616 Means for conducting or scheduling competition, league, tournaments or rankings
• CPC Class Codes: A63K 1/00 Race-courses; Race-tracks
• CPC Class Codes: A63K 3/00 Equipment or accessories for racing or riding sports training equipment for animals A01K15/02
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/19 Sporting applications
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/17306 Intercommunication techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/40 Data acquisition and logging for input to computer G06F3/00

Abstract

Various embodiments facilitate location-aware distributed competitions. In one embodiment, a system facilitates a distributed sporting event that includes multiple players traveling over non-uniform courses that are remote from one another. The system includes a manager that receives state information, such as location information, from client devices used by each of the players. The manager then transmits location information for each of the players to the client devices, which are each configured to present a graphical representation, such as a map annotated with the locations of each of the players. The system corrects for disparities between the non-uniform courses traveled by the players, for example by mapping a location on a course traveled by a first player to a location on a course traveled by a second player. Various mechanisms for establishing the mapping between non-uniform courses are also described.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating a distributed sporting event, the method comprising:

aggregating a plurality of individual sporting activities into a distributed sporting event comprising a plurality of players that are each performing one of the individual sporting activities, that are each competing against one another by traveling over non-uniform courses that are remotely located from one another, and that each have a corresponding client device, by;

receiving from each of the plurality of client devices information about a current location of the corresponding player;

determining, for each of the players, a location on an anchor course that corresponds to the current location of the player, wherein determining the location on the anchor course includes mapping the current location of the player to the location of the anchor course based on a correspondence between locations on the anchor course and locations on a current course traveled by the player; and

causing each of the plurality of client devices to present indications of positions of at least some of the other players with respect to the corresponding player, the indicated positions based on the locations on the anchor course of the at least some of the plurality of players.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising asserting a course to each of the plurality of players by causing each of the client devices to display specific instructions to the corresponding player to travel over a specified path.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating the correspondence between locations by:

creating and recording a mapping between locations on a derivative course and locations on the anchor course, so that each of the multiple locations on the anchor course has a corresponding location on the derivative course.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

as a first reference athlete travels over the anchor course, recording, for each of the multiple locations on the anchor course, a corresponding elapsed time from the beginning of the anchor course to the location;

recording, as a second reference athlete travels over the derivative course, a corresponding distance measured at each elapsed time recorded with respect to the anchor course; and

creating the mapping based on the recorded times and distances.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

averaging elapsed times recorded with respect to multiple reference athletes traveling over the anchor course; and

recording the corresponding distances for the second reference athlete with respect to the average elapsed times.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the multiple locations on the anchor course are distributed along the anchor course a uniform distance from one another, wherein the uniform distance is in a range between 0.05 km and 0.1 km.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the derivative course is the current course traveled by one of the plurality of players.

8. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

translating each of the corresponding distances on the derivative course into a latitude/longitude coordinate representing a location on the derivative course.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving from each of the plurality of client devices information about the current location of the corresponding player includes receiving an indication that the player has traveled by one of the locations on the derivative course represented by one of the latitude/longitude coordinates.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving from each of the plurality of client devices information about the current location of the corresponding player includes receiving an offset from one of the locations on the derivative course represented by one of the latitude/longitude coordinates, the offset representing a time, distance, and/or angle between the player and the location on the derivative course.

11. The method of claim 3, wherein the multiple locations on the anchor course are distributed along the anchor course a non-uniform distance from one another, wherein the distance between the multiple locations is dynamically selected based on the speed of the first reference athlete traveling over the anchor course, such that the distance between locations is shorter when the first reference athlete is slower.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein causing each of the plurality of client devices to present indications of positions of at least some of the other players includes:

for a first player, translating the current location of the first player to a corresponding location on the anchor course;

for a second player, translating the current location of the second player to a corresponding location on the anchor course; and

displaying a representation of the anchor course along with indications of the corresponding locations of the first and second players on the anchor course.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the players are each engaging in a same sport that is one of:

bicycling, running, cross country skiing, motor racing, or boating.

14. A computing system for facilitating a distributed sporting event, comprising:

a memory;

a processor; and

a module that is stored on the memory and that is configured, when executed by the processor, to aggregate a plurality of individual sporting activities into a distributed sporting event comprising a plurality of players that are each performing one of the individual sporting activities, that are each competing against one another by traveling over non-uniform courses that are remotely located from one another, and that each have a corresponding client device, by;

receiving from each of the plurality of client devices information about a current location of the corresponding player;

determining a location on a course depicted on one of the client devices, the determined location corresponding to the current location of the player by mapping the current location of the player to the location on the depicted course based on a correspondence between locations on the depicted course and locations on a current course traveled by the player, wherein the depicted course is an anchor course that is not the same as the current course traveled by the player; and

causing the one client device to present the depicted course along with indications of positions of at least some of the other players with respect to the corresponding player, the indicated positions based on the locations on the depicted course of the at least some of the plurality of players.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the computing system is an event controller in communication with the client devices.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the computing system is the one client device.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the module is further configured to create and record a mapping between locations on a derivative course and locations on the anchor course, so that each of the multiple locations on the anchor course has a corresponding location on the derivative course, wherein the mapping is based on times and/or distances recorded from travel of a first reference athlete over the anchor course and times and/or distances recorded from travel of a second reference athlete over the derivative course.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing contents that are configured to cause a computing system to facilitate a distributed sporting event by performing a method comprising:

aggregating a plurality of individual sporting activities into a distributed sporting event comprising a plurality of players that are each performing one of the individual sporting activities, that are each competing against one another by traveling over non-uniform courses that are remotely located from one another, and that each have a corresponding client device, by;

receiving from each of the plurality of client devices information about a current location of the corresponding player;

determining a location on a course depicted on one of the client devices, the determined location corresponding to the current location of the player by mapping the current location of the player to the location on the depicted course based on a correspondence between locations on the depicted course and locations on a current course traveled by the player, wherein the depicted course is an anchor course that is not the same as the current course traveled by the player; and

causing the one client device to present the depicted course along with indications of positions of at least some of the other players with respect to the corresponding player, the indicated positions based on the locations on the depicted course of the at least some of the plurality of players.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the contents are instructions configured to cause the one client device to perform the method.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the non-uniform courses differ from each other in course length and/or elevation profile.