Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
  • G06F3/01—Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer
  • G06F3/03—Arrangements for converting the position or the displacement of a member into a coded form
  • G06F3/041—Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
  • G06F3/045—Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means using resistive elements, e.g. a single continuous surface or two parallel surfaces put in contact
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
  • A63B—APPARATUS FOR PHYSICAL TRAINING, GYMNASTICS, SWIMMING, CLIMBING, OR FENCING; BALL GAMES; TRAINING EQUIPMENT
  • A63B63/00—Targets or goals for ball games
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
  • A63B—APPARATUS FOR PHYSICAL TRAINING, GYMNASTICS, SWIMMING, CLIMBING, OR FENCING; BALL GAMES; TRAINING EQUIPMENT
  • A63B63/00—Targets or goals for ball games
  • A63B63/007—Target zones without opening defined on a substantially horizontal surface
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
  • A63B—APPARATUS FOR PHYSICAL TRAINING, GYMNASTICS, SWIMMING, CLIMBING, OR FENCING; BALL GAMES; TRAINING EQUIPMENT
  • A63B71/00—Games or sports accessories not covered in groups A63B1/00 - A63B69/00
  • A63B71/06—Indicating or scoring devices for games or players, or for other sports activities
  • A63B71/0605—Decision makers and devices using detection means facilitating arbitration
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01B—CABLES; CONDUCTORS; INSULATORS; SELECTION OF MATERIALS FOR THEIR CONDUCTIVE, INSULATING OR DIELECTRIC PROPERTIES
  • H01B7/00—Insulated conductors or cables characterised by their form
  • H01B7/10—Contact cables, i.e. having conductors which may be brought into contact by distortion of the cable
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
  • A63B—APPARATUS FOR PHYSICAL TRAINING, GYMNASTICS, SWIMMING, CLIMBING, OR FENCING; BALL GAMES; TRAINING EQUIPMENT
  • A63B24/00—Electric or electronic controls for exercising apparatus of preceding groups; Controlling or monitoring of exercises, sportive games, training or athletic performances
  • A63B24/0021—Tracking a path or terminating locations
  • A63B2024/0037—Tracking a path or terminating locations on a target surface or at impact on the ground
  • A63B2024/0043—Systems for locating the point of impact on a specific surface
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
  • A63B—APPARATUS FOR PHYSICAL TRAINING, GYMNASTICS, SWIMMING, CLIMBING, OR FENCING; BALL GAMES; TRAINING EQUIPMENT
  • A63B71/00—Games or sports accessories not covered in groups A63B1/00 - A63B69/00
  • A63B71/06—Indicating or scoring devices for games or players, or for other sports activities
  • A63B71/0605—Decision makers and devices using detection means facilitating arbitration
  • A63B2071/0611—Automatic tennis linesmen, i.e. in-out detectors

Definitions

• the invention relates to electronic monitoring of surfaces, in particular the boundary surfaces of playing fields. It initially relates to a method for determining the location of the impact of an object on a surface and, secondly, to a device for determining this location.
• a preferred field of application of the invention is the automatic, electronic monitoring of field boundary lines, for example in tennis.
• the lines are monitored by a large number of line judges, especially in the case of highly doped tournaments. Their work is extremely demanding and monitoring requires a considerable amount of staff. It is known from the international tennis championships of England in Congress to electronically monitor the service line. This is done there with the help of a light barrier. This indirectly monitors the surroundings of the service line, which means that monitoring with millimeter precision is not possible. The resulting false alarm cannot be ruled out and leads to considerable confusion among the line and referees and causes considerable disruption to the players.
• the light barrier technology is only possible with the service line. Monitoring eg the baseline using the same means would lead to an alarm being triggered every time the player gets into the light barrier, which is of course only possible with a serve.
• DE-OS 34 40 325 provides for the ball to be covered with an elastic metal layer, a conductor network or an electrically conductive plastic or a conductor (wire) in the surface coating, e.g. incorporate the felt layer of the ball and use this prepared ball to bridge or short-circuit separate conductor tracks made of metal or electrically conductive plastic.
• an electrical and / or acoustic signal can be triggered when the ball hits the off zone, but it is forbidden in practice to use balls that differ in their properties from those previously used.
• the screening of the conductor tracks should not be able to be carried out so finely that all errors - and only such - are reported with certainty.
• DE-OS 25 27 465 provides conductors embedded in the floor behind the line to be monitored in each case, which are separated from one another by layers, for example by an air gap. In the event of an impact of the play equipment (ball), the upper layer of the ladder is against the underlying position pressed, whereby a signal can be triggered.
• DE-OS 32 41 468 also suggests such monitoring and uses strip-shaped signaling elements for this purpose, which are laid in the "off" area along the lines to be monitored and consist of hollow plastic profiles in which metal foils are arranged spaced apart as contact foils and are electrically conductively contacted when an object hits.
• the invention is based on a method according to the preamble of claim 1, as has become known for example from DE-OS 25 27 465 or DE-OS 32 41 468. It is based on the task of proposing a simple method with which it is possible in all or almost all cases that occur is to monitor all mirror lines with sufficient security and accuracy even if several impact events take place simultaneously or with the least delay. For example, it should be possible, in particular, to correctly identify a ball as "good” that strikes near an "off” line within the field while the player is entering the "off” zone. It should also be possible to recognize a ball as "out”, even though the player is also in the monitored "out” area. This is not even possible with the previously known methods.
• the invention solves this problem in the first place and essentially by the method specified in claim 1, which is essentially characterized in that one of the contact surfaces is formed as a resistance surface with constant surface resistance and the other contact surface as a conductor surface, that one has at least two ends the resistor area is supplied with a supply voltage via a series resistor and receives at least two voltage dividers during the contacting of the contact areas, the voltage values of which are proportional to the respective distance of the contacting zone from the ends of the resistance track.
• Every relevant field line can be monitored according to the described procedure. Since the meaning of the lines changes during the course of a game - for example, only the T-line of the opposite field is only important when serving, the parallel side lines either for the single game or for the double game - the connections and disconnections of the lines concerned must be carried out accordingly.
• the light barrier to monitor the service line in Congress is only switched on when a player prepares to serve. If the surcharge continues the game, the sensor device must be switched off again in order to avoid irrelevant messages during the game.
• the method initially assumes that - as in the prior art according to DE-OS 25 27 465 and 32 41 468 - the contact surfaces are to be arranged at a short distance behind each relevant field boundary line. This means that there is still an uncertainty factor with regard to the exact "off” / "good” statement. Because this arrangement does not take into account that, depending on the speed of impact of the ball, it compresses to a greater or lesser extent and thus produces an imprint that is smaller or larger in diameter. A ball landing in the "off” area with a high impact speed and thus actuating the contact surfaces can produce such a large impression that it still touches the field line, that is to say it would still be considered “good” even though an "off” is already reported .
• this source of error can be completely eliminated if one proceeds in accordance with claim 5. If the "good" zone has been contacted despite simultaneous touching of the "off” zone, the ball can correctly be classified as "good”. This facility ge also allows monitoring of violations upon service. The logical connection is to be made in such a way that if the player enters the "good” area in addition to the "off” area, this must be interpreted as a mistake.
• any surface can be monitored without gaps, namely with three imageable voltage dividers for a singular impact event and with four voltage dividers even for two simultaneous impact events.
• it is hereby e.g. possible, with throwing, shooting and others a game wall or the like. determining the exact meeting point and including digital and / or analogue as well as acoustically.
• FIG. 2 shows the arrangement according to FIG. 1 in the case of a singular contact of the contact surfaces
• 3 shows a voltage-time diagram belonging to FIG. 2
• FIG. 4 shows a representation corresponding to FIG. 2 with double contact
• FIG. 5 shows a voltage-time diagram for FIG. 4,
• FIG. 8 shows a schematic arrangement of the sensor according to FIG. 7 below a surface
• FIG. 10 is a schematic plan view of a resistance surface arrangement in which the one surface is divided into two partial surfaces
• FIG. 11 shows the impact of a "good” ball on an arrangement according to FIG. 10,
• FIG. 13 is a schematic representation of a foot defect when crossing the line
• FIG. 14 is a schematic block diagram representation of the electronic monitoring
• Fig. 15 is a schematic representation of a screen display
• Fig. 16 is a schematic representation of an electronic area monitoring.
• 10 denotes a first contact surface and 11 denotes a second contact surface.
• the length L of the contact surface arrangement 10/11 essentially corresponds to the length of a line to be monitored, in particular a field line. If a playing field is mentioned below, the explanations relate to monitoring the lines of a tennis court. Of course, the invention is not limited to this. With it, it is possible to precisely monitor all lines of all known playing fields or other lines. An interesting further possibility can be realized, for example, in the monitoring of the jump zone in ski jumping. Since only width information is to be evaluated here, an equally simple solution can be considered, in which the supply voltages would have to be connected to a contact surface arrangement below the minimum jump distance typical of the hill and on the other outside the conceivable hill record mark. Of course you can also cross border lines e.g. monitor in athletics (start line, long jump bar or similar).
• the contact surface arrangement 10/11 is viewed from above as Stripes formed. This strip is intended to be arranged at a short distance in the "off" area adjacent to the field line to be monitored.
• the contact surface 10 is a resistance surface with constant surface resistance, more precisely with constant resistance per running meter in direction L.
• the resistance surface 10 can have a resistance of approximately 750 ⁇ / m.
• both ends of the strip-shaped resistance surface or resistance track 10 are each supplied with a supply voltage U 1 or U 2 .
• This application takes place with the respective interposition of a series resistor R 1 or R 2 .
• R L (FIG. 2) denotes the total resistance of the resistance track 10. For example, if the length L corresponds to just under 11 m analogous to the baseline length of a double tennis court of 10.97 m, the total resistance is approx. R L 8.25 k ⁇ .
• R L R L1 + R L2.
• the partial voltage U X1 and UX 2 tapped in each case can only be between O and 2/3 U 1 . or fluctuate between O and 2/3 U 2 .
• the effective voltage values can be used to determine the distance from one and / or the other end of the line to be monitored Object hit on this.
• the schematic Fig. 3 - can also make a statement about whether a ball and / or a player has touched the line.
• the voltage-time curve when a ball hits is shown. This touches the contact surface arrangement 10/11 and at a time t 1 it leaves again after a period of time ⁇ t at time t 2 .
• the partial voltages U X1 and U X2 that occur when touched are indicated qualitatively in the diagram.
• the absolute values U X1 and U X2 allow an immediate conclusion to be drawn about the location of the touch, while the time period of the touch ⁇ t gives a distinction between the impact of the ball or a player.
• the dwell time of a tennis ball is of the order of about 2 to 20 ms. If an impact dwell time ⁇ t is found within this range, it can therefore be said with great certainty that the player has not touched the area or line to be monitored, since the dwell time of his foot on the ground is generally much longer.
• R L R L1 + R LK + R L2
• the partial voltage U X1 drops accordingly, to an absolute value corresponding to the length L 1 . Due to the significantly shorter time period ⁇ t of the ball dwell time compared to the dwell time of the player (t 4 - t 1 ), the fact of touching the ball can be determined and localized despite simultaneous contact surface contact on the part of the player.
• Fig. 6 a special case is shown, which differs from that shown in FIG. 5 in that the player is not standing still on the contact surface arrangement 10/11, but bounces with his foot there, i.e. the contact surface arrangement is constantly loaded and in rapid change relieved again. Such bouncing can occur especially when sliding ("rubbing the floor").
• a strip-shaped contact surface arrangement 10/11 is arranged in the "off" region of a line to be monitored at a close distance from it.
• this still results in a certain geometric uncertainty, which depends in particular on the impact energy with which the ball touches the field line in the sense of "good” and / or alternatively or at the same time also the sensor marking the "off".
• the resistance track 10 is divided into two strips 10, 10 '(resistance track 1 and resistance track 2) which are parallel to one another - FIG. 10.
• the resistance track 1 is laid congruent with the field line, the resistance track 2 at a short distance of eg 1-2 cm next to it in the "off".
• the two strips 10, 10 'can have a common conductor track 11 be highlighted.
• both the resistance path 1 and the resistance path 2 are each connected in the manner described, in particular according to FIG. 1. In this way it can be determined whether the ball has touched the resistance track 1 and / or the resistance track 2.
• a foot fault in tennis is considered to be one if the player touches the field line with his foot.
• a logical link would have to be carried out here, which then reports an error if the player touches resistance path 1 ("good") or only.
• FIG. 7 shows the cross section of a sensor 12 consisting of a lower elastic film or also rigid plate 13, a conductor track 14 applied thereon, e.g. made of conductive silver, an upper, flexible carrier film 15 and a layer attached underneath this made of a material forming an ohmic resistance, e.g. Graphite.
• the two sub-assemblies 13, 14 on the one hand and 15/16 on the other hand are kept at a short distance with the help of spacers 17, 17 ', which ensure that there is no pressure on the film
• the spacers 17 are preferably themselves elastic, so that they provide the information desired in the event of an object impacting, in particular the upper arrangement 15,
• the supports 13 and 15 can be screen printed with the required materials such as conductive silver, graphite or the like. print. This is known per se from membrane keyboards.
• the contact surface arrangement (sensor) is encased by an insulating plastic 18 (FIGS. 8 and 9).
• the encapsulation should not impair the desired flexible behavior of the sensor.
• Fig. 8 19 is a carpet or a plastic covering, under which the arrangement is attached.
• Part 10 'of the contact surface arrangement can itself be designed as a playing field boundary line and can hold a surface which is adapted to the space.
• the sensor arrangement can also be inserted or the like in pockets prepared in the floor. be or, for example, be incorporated into the floor during weaving or tufting.
• 14 schematically illustrates the electronic evaluation of each line using a "double sensor strip". Two double voltage controls must be evaluated for each line to be monitored. Line 1 is thus assigned two arrangements A 1 and B 1 approximately corresponding to FIG. 1, line 2 two analog arrangements A 2 and B 2 etc.
• An A / D converter is assigned to each voltage tap U X1 , U X2 for each contact surface pair, which feeds the digitized values to an evaluation processor. If 8-bit A / D converters are involved, each line can be "rasterized" in 256 steps. The longest line of the tennis court, the side line of 23.77 m, should therefore be measured in a grid of 10 cm accuracy along the line. All evaluation processors are coordinated by a coordination processor, which can display the evaluated signals on a screen, for example.
• Such a screen display could be designed according to FIG. 15.
• a tennis court with its characteristic lines is shown on the screen. If a ball hits a contact surface arrangement, it can be displayed with a point or another symbol according to location. The player touching the sensor is also displayed as such on the screen. With the help of a suitable image memory, this currently occurring phenomenon can be viewed for a longer period Record the time period and / or record it on data storage devices such as video tapes.
• the invention can be used to monitor the crossing of lines within relatively narrow band zones, but also the impact of an object over a larger area. For example, imagine a throwing game in which a ball is thrown against a wall surface, but is not held there but bounces back.
• at least three ends, corners or edge zones of the resistance surface can be supplied with a supply voltage U 1 to U 3 via a series resistor R 1 to R 3 , so that at least three are kept during the contacting of the contact surfaces
• Receives voltage divider whose voltage values U X1 to U X3 are proportional to the respective distance of the contacting zone from the connections of the supply voltages U 1 to U 3 .
• the geometric position of a singular impact event can be determined exactly. If the case occurs that two objects hit the surface to be monitored at the same time and both events are to be identified independently of one another, it is expedient to extend the triple arrangement to a quadruple arrangement, as shown in FIG. 16.
• the dependencies of the tapped partial voltages U X1 to U X4 between the respective contact point and the feed points can be seen from the simple formulas contained on the drawing sheet in FIG. 16.
• the contact areas are dimensioned according to the (play) area.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Physical Education & Sports Medicine (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
• Human Computer Interaction (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Geophysics And Detection Of Objects (AREA)
• Measurement Of Length, Angles, Or The Like Using Electric Or Magnetic Means (AREA)

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• 1987
  • 1987-07-10 DE DE19873722843 patent/DE3722843A1/de active Granted
• 1988
  • 1988-07-04 AU AU19952/88A patent/AU1995288A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1988-07-04 EP EP19880905680 patent/EP0323987A1/de not_active Ceased
  • 1988-07-04 WO PCT/DE1988/000411 patent/WO1989000442A1/de not_active Ceased

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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