EP3564617B1

EP3564617B1 - Optical sensing target

Info

Publication number: EP3564617B1
Application number: EP18170103.8A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Ming-Cheng Ho
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2018-04-30
Filing date: 2018-04-30
Publication date: 2021-06-02
Anticipated expiration: 2038-04-30
Also published as: EP3564617A1; HUE057340T2

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a target for real shooting sport such as arrow, flying knife or dart. More particularly, the present invention relates to a target using optical sensing technology as defined in independent claim 1.

2. Description of the Related Art

A conventional target includes a pattern formed on a surface thereof, and a shooter can shoot or throw an object, such as arrow, flying knife or dart, on the target to get score according to a hitting position on the target. However, the score must be computed manually and this scoring process is inconvenient and complicated. The conventional target is usually provided with a single pattern, so the shooter can practice shooting with the human-shaped target or circular target only, but this practice is boring. Furthermore, after each round of competition, the shooter has to tear off the broken target paper and replace a new target paper for next round, so the conventional target causes high target paper consumption and is not environmentally- friendly.
Another conventional target device includes a target, a movable bracket, and an electrical displacement sensing component. When the target is hit by the shooting object (such as an arrow), the movable bracket is moved subject to kinetic energy of the shooting object, and the electrical displacement sensing component can be used to sense the displacement of the movable bracket, to output an electrical signal, and a processor can display a computation result on the display screen. The target device uses the electrical displacement sensing component for scoring without consuming target paper, so the device is more environmentally-friendly, and the electronic scoring process can solve the problem caused by manual scoring process.
However, the conventional target device still has drawbacks of overly large size, complicated structure and overly large distance between sensing points. Therefore, what is need is to provide a new sensitive target to solve these drawbacks. US5577733 discloses a target system. EP1832836 discloses dart game device. DE202017101091U discloses an optical sensing target.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An objective of the present invention is to provide an optical sensing target sensing a landing location of the shooting object by an optical manner, so as to improve an intensity of the sensing points to increase accuracy of scoring.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide an optical sensing target which can be in cooperation with a projector and a computation controller to process the projection image and location information, so that the optical sensing target can be programed to provide various training modes, game modes or competition modes.
According to an embodiment, the present invention provides an optical sensing target including a target configured to be aimed and shot by a shooting object and to be attached with the shooting object; an optical matrix sensor disposed around the target by a plurality of frames, and comprising a plurality of light emitting devices and a plurality of light receiving devices disposed in the plurality of frames, respectively; wherein the optical matrix sensor is configured to output location information of attachment of the shooting object; a computation controller configured to receive the location information from the optical matrix sensor for computing; characterized in that the target comprises an shooting-object standing layer and a projection layer, the shooting-object standing layer is configured to be shot by and attached with the shooting object, and the projection layer is provided in front of the shooting-object standing layer and comprises a smooth surface to make an image projected thereon clear.
Preferably in some embodiments, the optical sensing target includes a support, and the target and the optical matrix sensor are disposed in the support.
Preferably in some embodiments, the support includes an accommodating part and a protective board, the optical matrix sensor is disposed in the accommodating part, and the protective board is configured to protect the optical matrix sensor from being hit by the shooting object.
Preferably in some embodiments, the optical sensing target includes a projector configured to project an image on the target.
Preferably in some embodiments, the projector is electrically connected to the computation controller, and the computation controller can read area information of the image projected by the projector, and compare the location information of the shooting object with the area information, and perform computation according to a comparison result.
Preferably in some embodiments, the projector includes a protective layer.
Preferably in some embodiments, the optical matrix sensor is an infrared sensor.
Preferably in some embodiments, light emitting devices of the optical matrix sensor are infrared emitters, light receiving devices of the optical matrix sensor are infrared receivers, and the infrared emitters and infrared receivers are disposed correspondingly in position to form an infrared light grid matrix.
Preferably in some embodiments, the target includes a blocking wall disposed at a rear thereof, and the blocking wall has a composite material structure and is configured to block the shooting object which is inserted through the target.
Preferably in some embodiments, the projector is electrically connected to the computation controller, and the projector is an interactive projector which can combine motion recognition technology with the project technology to enable the computation controller to determine an attribute of the image of shooting object hitting, so as to perform scoring.
According to above contents, compared with conventional target, the target of the present invention can use the optical sensing manner to sense the shooting point without using the target paper; furthermore, the target of the present invention can use the image projected by the projector in cooperation with the computation controller to develop various training modes, competition modes or game modes. The scoring process of the target of the present invention is digitized, so the target of the present invention can be linked with network to access the score in cloud end for different purpose.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The structure, operating principle and effects of the present disclosure will be described in detail by way of various embodiments which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of an optical sensing target of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an assembly of the optical sensing target of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the optical sensing target applied to archery sport, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a sectional view of an assembly of an optical sensing target of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of a part of an optical sensing target of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a schematic view of operation of FIG. 5.
FIG. 7 is a schematic view of software architecture of a shooting system applying the optical sensing target of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following embodiments of the present disclosure are herein described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. These drawings show specific examples of the embodiments of the present disclosure. It is to be understood that these embodiments are exemplary implementations and are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the present disclosure in any way. Further modifications to the disclosed embodiments, as well as other embodiments, are also included within the scope of the appended claims. These embodiments are provided so that this disclosure is thorough and complete, and fully conveys the inventive concept to those skilled in the art. Regarding the drawings, the relative proportions and ratios of elements in the drawings may be exaggerated or diminished in size for the sake of clarity and convenience. Such arbitrary proportions are only illustrative and not limiting in any way. The same reference numbers are used in the drawings and description to refer to the same or like parts.
It is to be understood that, although the terms 'first', 'second', 'third', and so on, may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another component. Thus, a first element discussed herein could be termed a second element without altering the description of the present disclosure. As used herein, the term "or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
It will be understood that when an element or layer is referred to as being "on," "connected to" or "coupled to" another element or layer, it can be directly on, connected or coupled to the other element or layer, or intervening elements or layers may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being "directly on," "directly connected to" or "directly coupled to" another element or layer, there are no intervening elements or layers present.
In addition, unless explicitly described to the contrary, the word "comprise" and variations such as "comprises" or "comprising", will be understood to imply the inclusion of stated elements but not the exclusion of any other elements.
Please refer to FIGs. 1 through 5. FIG. 1 is an exploded view of an optical sensing target of an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an assembly of the optical sensing target of the embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the optical sensing target applied to archery sport; FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the assembly of the optical sensing target of the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of a part of the optical sensing target of the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in figures, the optical sensing target includes a target 20, an optical matrix sensor 10 and a computation controller 60. The target 20 is configured to be aimed and shot by a shooting object, and the shooting object can be attached with the target 20. The optical matrix sensor 10 is disposed around the target 20 by a plurality of frame 11. A plurality of light emitting devices 13 and a plurality of light receiving devices 14 are disposed inside the plurality of frames 11, respectively. The plurality of light receiving devices 14 can output the location information of attachment of the shooting object. The computation controller 60 can receive the location information from the optical matrix sensor 10 for computation process.
The shooting object can be shot to and attached with the target 20. Preferably, the target 20 can be made by material such as a wooden board, a tatami board, or a plastic board which allows shooting object such as arrows, darts, flying knives, javelins, or blow arrows, to insert into, attach and fix with the target. In an embodiment, the target 20 includes a shooting-object/arrow standing layer 21 and a projection layer 22. The shooting object can be shot to and attached with the arrow standing layer 21, so the arrow standing layer 21 can be made by thicker but easy-to-penetrate material, to prevent arrows or other object shot into the target from sagging due to lack of support strength. The arrow standing layer 21 can be made by material such as a wooden board, a tatami board, or a plastic board which allows shooting object such as arrows, darts, flying knives, javelins, or blow arrows, to insert into, attach and fix with the arrow standing layer 21. The projection layer 22 includes a smooth surface to make the projected image clear. The purpose of disposing the projection layer 22 is mainly to make the projected image clearer; for this reason, the projection layer 22 can be a sheet with a smooth surface.
The optical matrix sensor 10 is mainly used to sense a position where the shooting object hits the target 20. Preferably, the optical matrix sensor 10 can be implemented by various optical sensors, for example, an infrared sensor, but the present invention is not limited thereto. The optical matrix sensor 10 can be disposed around the target 20 by the plurality of frames 11, and the plurality of light emitting devices 13 and the plurality of light receiving devices 14 are disposed inside the plurality of frames 11, respectively. The plurality of light receiving devices 14 can output the location information of attachment of the shooting object. In an embodiment, the optical matrix sensor 10 is implemented by an infrared sensor, the light emitting devices 13 can be infrared emitters, and the light receiving devices 14 can be infrared receivers, and the infrared emitters and the infrared receivers are disposed correspondingly in position, to form an infrared light grid matrix.
An infrared sensor, which is also called infrared touch screen, uses an infrared sensing matrix densely disposed in X and Y direction to detect and position a user's contact in the infrared light grid matrix or other object entering into the infrared light grid matrix. Generally, the infrared sensor is applied in an external-type touch control field. The infrared touch screen is usually formed by combining four metal side bars, which is the frame 11 of the present invention. Preferably, the material of the frame 11 can be aluminum material, but the present invention is not limited thereto. A circuit board 12 can be disposed inside the frame 11, and the infrared emitters (such as the light emitting devices 13) and infrared receivers (such as the light receiving devices 14) are crossly arranged on the circuit board 12 to form the infrared matrix. When the shot (or thrown) object hits the target 20, the infrared light passing through the hitting position is blocked, so that the hitting position on the target 20 can be determined. A higher-level infrared sensor is usually provided with an intelligent control system which can continuously output pulses to diodes to form the infrared polarization beam grid. After the shooting object hits the target 20 to block the light beam, the intelligent control system can detect a change in infrared light intensity, and transmit a signal to the computation controller 60 to determine a coordinate of the hitting position in X axis and Y axis.
The computation controller 60 includes basic units of a general computer, for example, the computation controller 60 can include a processor, a memory and an input/output unit, and so on. After the computation controller 60 receives and computes the location information transmitted from the optical matrix sensor 10 to generate a shooting result, the computation controller 60 can output the shooting result to a display device, such as a scoring board or a display screen, for display; alternatively, the shooting result can be stored in the memory or uploaded to network.
In an embodiment, the optical sensing target may include a support 40. The target 20 and the optical matrix sensor 10 can be disposed on the support 40, so as to prevent the optical matrix sensor 10 from being hit and broken by the shooting object. In an embodiment, the support 40 can include an accommodating part 41 and a protective board 42. The optical matrix sensor 10 is disposed in the accommodating part 41, and the protective board 42 is disposed between the shooter and the target 20, so as to protect the optical matrix sensor 10 from being hit by the shooting object.
In an embodiment, the optical sensing target can include a blocking wall 30 disposed at a rear side thereof. The blocking wall 30 can stop the shooting object inserted through the target 20, so as to prevent the shooting object from passing through the target 20 to hit an article or a person behind the target 20. Preferably, the blocking wall 30 can has a composite material structure which is formed by attaching at least two material layers; the first layer can be made by softer or flexible material, so as to protect an arrowhead or a blade of the shooting object from being damaged when the shooting object hits the target; and, the second layer can be made by harder material to stop the shooting object from penetrating through the target.
In a preferred embodiment, the optical sensing target may include a projector 50 configured to project an image on the target 20. In order to protect the projector 50 from being hit and damaged by the shooting object, a protective layer 51 can be disposed between the shooter and the projector 50.
In a preferred embodiment, the projector 50 can be electrically connected to the computation controller 60, and the computation controller 60 can read area information of the image projected by the projector 50, and compare the location information of the shooting object and the area information, and compute and process the comparison result.
Preferably, the projector 50 of the present invention can be an interactive projector which combines projection technology with motion recognition technology to enable the computation controller 60 to determine the attribute of the image of the shooting object hitting, for scoring.
Please refer to FIG. 6, which shows a schematic view of operation of FIG. 5. In FIG. 6, an arrow 70 is taken as example of the shooting object, and when the arrow 70 hits the target 20, the light beam traveling from the light emitting device 13 to the light receiving device 14 is blocked, so that the intelligent control system can detect the change in infrared light intensity, and transmit the signal indicative of the change to the computation controller 60, and the computation controller 60 can determine the coordinate of the hitting position on X axis and Y axis according to the signal.
In recent years, there are many applications using the interactive technology and the touch control technology, but the shooting sports application using the interactive technology and the touch control technology is still not available in market. According to above contents, compared with conventional target device, the optical sensing target of the present invention is able to optically detect the position of the hitting point without using target paper, and is able to be in cooperation with the image projected from the projector and the computation controller to develop various training modes, competition modes or game mode; furthermore, the scoring process of the optical sensing target of the present invention is completely digitized, so that the optical sensing target can be linked with network to store or access the score.
Please refer to FIG. 7, which shows a schematic view of a software architecture of a shooting system applying the optical sensing target of the present invention. The software architecture of the shooting system is an example of application of the target of the present invention. After entering the shooting system, a user must login a shooter ID, and each shooter's ID data, scores of all items and achievement data can be record in a cloud database, so that the shooter can search and view the training or competition records anytime.
After login, the shooter can select one of the personal training mode, the multiplayer competition mode or the story mode. For example, the shooter can perform training independently in the personal training mode which includes accuracy training, fast-shooting training or dynamic training designed by software. For example, the accuracy training mode can include items of a standard ring target, various pattern targets, horizontal aiming, vertical aiming, and shooting concentration, and so on. The optical sensing target of the present invention can update or obtain more training items of the accuracy training mode, from network. For example, the fast-shooting training mode can include items of three shots, five shots, ten shots, unlimited shots, and so on. The optical sensing target of the present invention can update and obtain more training items of the fast-shooting training mode from network. For example, the dynamic training mode can include items of aiming speed training, dynamic bounce target, throwing target, random target, and so on. The optical sensing target of the present invention can update and obtain more training items of the dynamic training mode, from network.
When multiple shooters login the system of the optical sensing target, the shooters can select to play the multiplayer competition mode or the story mode. For example, when multiple shooters select the multiplayer competition mode, they can play competition items including turn-table competition, shooting balloon competition, playing hamster game, aiming-speed competition, and Reversi and so on. Furthermore, the optical sensing target of the present invention can update and obtain more competition items from network. When the multiple shooters select the story mode, the shooters can play story items including story levels (stages), story check points, or multi-player task. Furthermore, the optical sensing target of the present invention can update and obtain the story items from network, and can combine with network game. As a result, the optical sensing target of the present invention can diversify applications of the shooting sport.
For example, the various modes can be linked to an achievement system or a reward system, so that the training or competition can be designed with different achievement items for the shooter to challenge. The score for each item is computed according to the shooter's score ranking top fewer, so as to prevent several times of low scores from affecting the shooter to make the achievement. Furthermore, the shooter can be rewarded after making different achievements, for example, the reward can be the discount in the usage fee of the archery field or expense of exercise tool such as bow or arrow, or virtual rewards, such as, unlocking new training programs, getting rare title titles, and so on. The above training or competition mode cannot be achieved by using the conventional target, but the optical sensing target of the present invention can be in cooperation with software design, image analysis and network technology, to diversify the conventional shooting sports rapidly.
Furthermore, the optical sensing target of the present invention is able to update each system programs from network, so that the optical sensing target can collect the traditional archery of all ethnic groups in the world to create a new training mode by a software manner. As a result, by using the optical sensing target of the present invention, people who are interested in shooting sports can experience the shooting culture of all ethnic groups in the world, and future development of the shooting sport can be better.

Claims

An optical sensing target, comprising:
a target (20) configured to be aimed and shot by a shooting object and to be attached with the shooting object;

an optical matrix sensor (10) disposed around the target (20) by a plurality of frames (11), and comprising a plurality of light emitting devices (13) and a plurality of light receiving devices (14) disposed in the plurality of frames (11), respectively, wherein the optical matrix sensor (10) is configured to output location information of attachment of the shooting object;

a computation controller (60) configured to receive the location information from the optical matrix sensor (10) for computing; characterized in that

the target (20) comprises a shooting-object standing layer (21) and a projection layer (22), the shooting-object standing layer (21) is configured to be shot by and attached with the shooting object, and the projection layer (22) is provided in front of the shooting-object standing layer (21) and comprises a smooth surface to make an image projected thereon clear.
The optical sensing target according to claim 1, further comprising a support (40), and the target (20) and the optical matrix sensor (10) are disposed in the support (40).
The optical sensing target according to claim 2, wherein the support (40) comprises an accommodating part (41) and a protective board (42), and the optical matrix sensor (10) is disposed in the accommodating part (41), and the protective board (42) is configured to protect the optical matrix sensor (10) from being hit by the shooting object.
The optical sensing target according to claim 1, further comprising a projector (50) configured to project an image on the target (20).
The optical sensing target according to claim 4, wherein the projector (50) is electrically connected to the computation controller (60), and the computation controller (60) reads area information of the image projected by the projector (50), and the computation controller (60) compares the location information of the shooting object and the area information, and compute and process a comparison result.
The optical sensing target according to claim 4, wherein the projector (50) is electrically connected to the computation controller (60), and the projector (50) is an interactive projector which combines motion recognition with projection function, so that the computation controller (60) determines an attribute of an image of the shooting object hitting to perform scoring.
The optical sensing target according to claim 4, wherein the projector (50) comprises a protective layer (51).
The optical sensing target according to one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the optical matrix sensor (10) is an infrared sensor.
The optical sensing target according to claim 8, wherein the light emitting devices (13) of the optical matrix sensor (10) are infrared emitters, and light receiving devices (14) of the optical matrix sensor are infrared receivers, and the infrared emitters and the infrared receivers are disposed correspondingly in position to form an infrared light grid matrix.