Location and event tracking system for games of sport

• US 10,159,888 B2
• Filed: 11/09/2016
• Issued: 12/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DD Sports, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Shottracker, Inc.
• Inventors: Ianni, Bruce C., Ross, Davyeon D., Kahler, Clint A., Keeley, Thomas J.
• Primary Examiner(s): McClellan, James S
• Assistant Examiner(s): CARTER, KEVIN M
• Application Number:
  US15/347,586
• Publication Number:
  US 20170128814A1
• Time in Patent Office: 776 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A location-and-event-tracking system includes radio-enabled anchors and tags on a field of play, e.g., a basketball court. Tags are attached to players and to balls or other game-play objects. The system determines the location in space of each of the tags. For tags connected to game-play objects, the system evaluates proximity to players to assess possession of the game-play object. If the game-play-object tag is not sufficiently close to a player for the player to be in possession of the object, the position of the game-play object is evaluated to determine whether the game-pay object is in a goal zone region. If so and the game-play object has been within an attempt zone, i.e., a sub-zone within the goal zone region, then the system determines whether a goal has been made by evaluating whether the game-play object passed in order through a number of sub-regions before, at, and after the goal.

Claims

1. A method for automatically identifying and indicating whether a player has scored a goal in a sporting activity, wherein 1) each of a plurality of players participating in the sporting activity has a remotely identifiable player tag associated therewith and 2) a game-play object that is manipulated within a field of play and used to score by being passed through a goal has a remotely identifiable object tag associated therewith, the method comprising:

identifying the position in three-dimensional space of each of the players and the game-play object by means of their associated tags; and

using the identified positions of the players and the game-play object, evaluating proximity of the game-play object to the players to assess whether any of the players is in possession of the game-play object;

if no player is sufficiently close to the game-play object to be in possession of the game-play object, then determining whether the game-play object is in a goal zone region, the goal zone region comprising a predefined, limited region in space surrounding the goal, and

if the game-play object is determined to be in the goal zone region, then determining whether the game-play object has been within an attempt zone, the attempt zone comprising a smaller predefined, limited region in space within the goal zone region and also surrounding the goal, and

if the game-play object is determined to be in the goal zone and to have been within the attempt zone, then determining whether a goal has been made by evaluating whether the game-play object passed in order through a plurality of predefined discrete sub-regions before, at, and after the goal, which plurality of sub-regions are within the attempt zone, and

if the game-play object has passed in order through the plurality of predefined discrete sub-regions before, at, and after the goal, then indicating that a score has been made.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying as the player who has scored a last player to have been in possession of the ball.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said evaluating proximity of the game-play object to the players uses one region in space surrounding a putative player in possession of the game-play object to evaluate proximity of the game-play object to the putative player in possession and to determine whether the putative player in possession of the game-play object has gained possession of the game-play object, and

wherein said evaluating proximity of the game-play object to the players uses another, larger region in space surrounding a player who has been determined to be in possession of the game-play object to evaluate proximity of the game-play object to the player who has been determined to be in possession of the game-play object and to determine whether the player who has been determined to be in possession of the game-play object is still in possession of the game-play object.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said another, larger region in space has a larger permissible horizontal distance within which possession of the game-play object will be found than said one region in space has.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein said another, larger region in space has a larger permissible vertical range within which possession of the game-play object will be found than said one region in space has.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein assessing whether any of the players is in possession of the game-play object comprises assessing how long the game-play object is within a predefined region in space around a player who has been identified as putatively in possession of the game-play object.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying a player among said plurality of players who is closest to the game-play object.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the player who is closest to the game-play object is determined to have possession of the game-play object only if the game-play object is within a predefined horizontal distance from the player who is closest to the game-play object.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the player who is closest to the game-play object is determined to have possession of the game-play object only if the game-play object is within a predefined vertical distance from the player who is closest to the game-play object.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein a second goal is present in the field of play, the second goal being surrounded by a second goal zone region;

and

evaluating whether the game-play object is in a goal zone region comprises determining whether the game-play object is within said second goal region.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the player tags and the object tag include radio-enabled transceivers and wherein a plurality of radio-enabled anchor transceivers are distributed around the field of play at known locations, and

wherein the position in three-dimensional space of each of the players is identified by means of radio communication between the player tags and the anchor transceivers and the position in three-dimensional space of the game-play object is identified by means of radio communication between the object tag and the anchor transceivers.

12. A system for tracking players and a game-play object on a field of play including at least one goal and for automatically identifying and indicating whether a score has been made, the system comprising:

a plurality of player tags and an object tag;

a plurality of sensors which are able to remotely detect the player tags and the object tag; and

a computing device having a processor and non-transitory program instructions contained in computer memory thereof;

wherein the non-transitory program instructions are configured to cause the processor to execute the steps comprising

receiving data from the plurality of sensors;

identifying from the received data the position in three-dimensional space of each of the players and the game-play object by means of their associated tags; and

using the identified positions of the players and the game-play object, evaluating proximity of the game-play object to the players to assess whether any of the players is in possession of the game-play object;

wherein if no player is sufficiently close to the game-play object to be in possession of the game-play object, then evaluating whether the game-play object is in a goal zone region, which goal zone region is a predefined, limited region in space surrounding the goal, and

if the game-play object is determined to be in the goal zone region, then evaluating whether the game-play object has been within an attempt zone, which attempt zone is a smaller predefined, limited region in space within the goal zone region and also surrounding the goal, and

if the game-play object is determined to be in the goal zone and to have been within the attempt zone, then determining whether a goal has been made by evaluating whether the game-play object passed in order through a plurality of predefined discrete sub-regions before, at, and after the goal, which plurality of sub-regions are within the attempt zone, and

if the game-play object has passed in order through the plurality of predefined discrete sub-regions before, at, and after the goal, then indicating that a score has been made.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the program instructions are further configured to identify as the player who has scored a last player to have been in possession of the ball.

14. The system of claim 12, further comprising a data structure stored in memory and defining first and second possession zones,

wherein the program instructions are configured such that the first possession zone, which is a region in space surrounding a potential player in possession of the game-play object, is used to evaluate proximity of the game-play object to the players to assess whether any of the players has putatively gained possession of the game-play object, and

wherein the program instructions are configured such that the second possession zone, which is a larger region in space than the first possession zone and surrounding a player who has been determined to be in possession of the game-play object, is used to evaluate proximity of the game-play object to the player who has been determined to be in possession of the game-play object, to assess whether the player who has been determined to be in possession of the game-play object is still in possession of the game-play object.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the second possession zone has a larger permissible horizontal distance within which possession of the game-play object will be found than the first possession zone has.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the second possession zone has a larger permissible vertical range within which possession of the game-play object will be found than the first possession zone has.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the program instructions are configured such that the processor-executed step of assessing whether any of the players is in possession of the game-play object comprises assessing how long the game-play object is within a predefined region in space around a player who has been identified as putatively in possession of the game-play object.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the program instructions are configured such that the processor-executed step of assessing whether any of the players is in possession of the game-play object includes identifying a player among said plurality of players who is closest to the game-play object.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the program instructions are configured such that the player who is closest to the game-play object is determined to have possession of the game-play object only if the game-play object is within a predefined horizontal distance from the player who is closest to the game-play object.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the program instructions are configured such that the player who is closest to the game-play object is determined to have possession of the game-play object only if the game-play object is within a predefined vertical distance from the player who is closest to the game-play object.

21. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

a second goal in the field of play, the second goal being surrounded by a second goal zone region; and

the program instructions are further configured to determine whether the game-play object is in the second goal zone region.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the program instructions are further configured to

determine whether the game-play object was previously within a second attempt zone, the second attempt zone comprising a smaller, predefined, limited region in space within the second goal zone region and also surrounding the second goal;

and

indicate on the computing device that a score has occurred if (a) the game-play object was determined to have been in both the second goal zone region and the second attempt zone, and (b) the game-play object has passed in order through a second plurality of predefined, discrete sub-regions before, at, and after the second goal, the second plurality of discrete sub-regions being located within the second attempt zone.

23. The system of claim 12, wherein the player tags and the object tag include radio-enabled transceivers and the plurality of sensors include radio-enabled transceivers which are able to communicate electronically with the player tags and the object tag;

and

wherein the position in three-dimensional space of each of the players is identified by means of radio communication between the player-tag transceivers and the sensor transceivers, and the position in three-dimensional space of the game-play object is identified by means of radio communication between the object-tag transceiver and the sensor transceivers.

24. The system of claim 12, wherein the plurality of sensors are distributed around the field of play.

25. The system of claim 12, wherein the object tag is embedded within or attached to a basketball.