ES2384763A1 - Scoring system and management of classifications for table games tournaments through wireless communication. (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding) - Google Patents

Abstract

Scoring system and classification management for tabletop tournaments through wireless communication. The aim of the present invention is the automation of the data entry of the players on a computer. The players directly enter the data in a module that communicates with the computer, without using paper or any human intermediary between the tournament player and the computer. The scoring system and management of classifications for tabletop tournaments through wireless communication is arranged with a star configuration, in which the edges are the tables of the participants (sui (2)), they will introduce the results of its games and in the center a bidirectional interface and a computer (pc sic (1)) that holds the data of the participants, stores the data of the games and solves the classifications and the following confrontations. (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding)

Description

SCORE AND CLASSIFICATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR TABLE GAME TOURNAMENTS THROUGH COMMUNICATION WIRELESS

SECTOR OF THE TECHNIQUE

The present invention relates to the automation of the introduction of data from games of table games in tournaments, encompassing in various fields such as electronics, telecommunications and computer science since the combination of all of them is used to give rise to a complete system since the invention consists in the union and coordination of various elements.

STATE OF THE TECHNIQUE

The existing method used in the scoring and classification management systems in table games tournaments is the manual method, which implies that each player will write down the result or results of their game on a paper record, this will be delivered to the Tournament organizer / s and the tournament will draw the following rankings and matches, manually or by entering the data into a computer, following the criteria of the game in question, repeating this process until the rounds are finished and obtaining the final classification / s /is.

The problem is that this manual process can be very expensive in time and in personnel, in addition the number of errors is high, sometimes having to restart the items since the pairings are defective due to a bad introduction of the data or due to calculation failures, leading to problems and wasted time for organizers and participants.

There is no system that automates the introduction of game data in table game tournaments and links it to a computer program that stores them in a database, that manages them, making the matches of new rounds, and send the new data to the game tables to start the new games.

Point by hand on paper the value in lost and earned points, touch, casualties, magic points, etc. Depending on the characteristics of the game, it is not something that leads to many errors at the individual level, but this must be transferred to all the players who participate in a tournament, they can be wrong when aiming or adding their scores, in addition to other possible errors, They will depend on each game. There is also the possible human error of the tournament organizer, which you can commit when entering this data into a computer so that it takes out the rankings and matches. We have to take into account that the greater the number of participants, the greater the mistake that is committed, both by the participants and the organizers.

This error causes that the pairings and the classifications are incorrect, which is very harmful for the development of the tournament, since time is wasted correcting the errors. This bothers the participants and organizers, making the development of the game tedious.

EXPLANATION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention could be properly applied and adapted, and without any limitation, to board games tournaments such as Warhammer Fantasy, Warhammer 40k, Magic cards, Blood Bowl or even chess.

The invention aims to automate the process of classifications management and scoring systems in table games tournaments, thus eliminating paper and controlling data directly from the computer. This purpose is achieved through a two-way wireless communication procedure, USB connection and the application installed on the computer, characterized in that it comprises the following stages:

A - a communications network is established, capable of establishing a communication between the SIC terminal (1) (Wireless to Computer System) connected to the computer and the autonomous terminals of the SUI gaming tables (2) (U suario system to Wireless) performing in star form,

B-it is defined that said communication, between said SIC terminal (1) connected to the computer and said SUI terminals (2) located in the game tables, must be with transmission of confirmation messages,

C - a communications network is established, capable of establishing a communication between the application installed on the computer and said terminal connected to it, it is a point-to-point nature,

D-instead, the data of said application installed on the computer and that are received by said SIC terminal (1) connected to the computer are transmitted, these data will be the game format and the names of the players,

E-then, the data of the SIC terminal (1) connected to the computer and that are received by the SUI terminals (2) of the game tables are transmitted, these will be the game format and names of the players,

F-players will have to validate the data to start the games,

G - once the games have started, the data transmitted by the SUI terminals (2) of the game tables, and that the SIC terminal (1) connected to the computer will receive, will be the data of the games in progress or finalized,

H-then the data transmitted by the SIC terminal (1) connected to the computer, and which are received by the application installed on the computer, will be the data of the current or finished games,

I-it is established that in the event that several SUI modules (2) wish to simultaneously communicate with the SIC module (1) connected to the computer, the SUI module (s) that have not received the acknowledgment of receipt , will retry / n the shipment until it is successful,

J-it is established that while receiving this data and while the games last, the application installed on the computer will generate the rankings and generate new pairings, depending on the type of game, the format of the game and other characteristics of the game. The new pairings are sent to the corresponding tables at the moment the start of the new round is indicated,

This process will be repeated until all rounds of the tournament are finished. The present procedure has a series of characteristics that allow solving the aforementioned problems, since paper is effectively eliminated as a means of transporting information to the computer.

As far as wireless communication is concerned, the range of action is wide and sufficient to cover a room or open space where a tournament with these characteristics can be held. Although the communication speed is not high, it is not necessary to do so since the immediate arrival of the message is not critical, both in the wireless section and in the wired section. However, a small amount of data is sent, as much as the transfer could be 128 bytes.

A confirmation message is required especially on the wireless section, since although it is not necessary for the information to arrive quickly, it is necessary for it to arrive correctly. It is necessary for the recipient module to confirm that the message has reached its destination correctly, since otherwise it would not be possible to verify and control that the system is functioning properly or on the contrary there is a problem, therefore feedback is necessary.

Preferably, the SIC module (1) acts as coordinator, as defined in the IEEE 802.15.4 standard.

As indicated in point 1, SUI modules (2) that fail to establish communication with the SIC module (1) will retry the shipment until it is successful. Another way to make the data arrive at its destination correctly is by using time windows, so that each module sends its data at a predetermined moment, just as valid, only that communication is not intended to be continuous but only that this occurs. communication when there are variations in the result of the game, that way you can also save energy consumption, since communication is much more sporadic.

Therefore it may be the case that two or more results are transmitted simultaneously, by the SUI modules (2). This possibility increases the more players participate in the tournament. For this reason, the SUI module (2) will retry its delivery in the event of this circumstance, this possibility being covered, in case of data collision.

This wireless communication is asynchronous in regard to the periodicity with which it sends its data, but not with respect to its operation, in the transmission of data or in the processing of this data, according to the IEEE 802.15.4 standard.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For the best understanding of what is described in this report, some drawings are attached in which, without limitation, it is shown:

Figure 1: flow chart of the procedure followed by the application installed in Pe.

Figure 2: components of the SIC module (1).

Figure 3: SUI module components (2).

Figure 4: flow chart of the procedure followed by the SIC module (1).

Figure 5: flow chart of the procedure followed by the SUI modules (2).

Figure 6: a temporary scheme of the process according to the invention.

Figure 7: general diagram of the arrangement of the assembly according to the invention.

MODE OF REALIZATION

As we can see in Figure 1, the one that governs the entire system, that is to say the PC and specifically the application installed on it, will be responsible for coordinating the operation of the SIC module (1) and the SUI modules (2), also being the in charge of initializing the system, which firstly transmits the data of said application installed on the computer, these being received by the SIC terminal (1) connected to the computer in a wired way by means of the USB standard, these data will be the format of game and the names of the players, triggering the rest of the procedure on the SUI modules (2), that is to say the start of the games and the beginning of the data entry of the games. This beginning of the data entry will affect the application, since it will start requesting data from the SIC module (1) and receive this data, that way it will sort them in the database, so that once it receives the signal from that all the games are finished, can generate the rankings and the matches of the following days. This process will be repeated until the tournament ends all the days, resulting in the final classification. The data of these items will be stored in a database, so we can use them in future occasions to generate more statistics and scores.

In short, what the computer should do is first, own the data of the participants in the tournament, create the first round according to the criteria specified by the game and / or the organizers, and send the data of the matches to the SIC module

(1) sending him the order to do the same with each table. The data that the computer has can be loaded manually or automatically by entering it in the database, from another database.

In view of Figure 4, the essential task of the SIC module (1) is to interface between the application and the game tables. The wireless communication used will be the ZigBee communication based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard in one of the frequencies included in the band of 2.4 GHz. A 16-bit address is not used without limitation since it is not expected in any case to exceed this number of addresses in number of tables. The wired part will be connected to the PC through the USB standard.

This module only needs to respond to two orders, receive and send the data of the items that the application demands. You will receive via USB and send the game format data and the names of the players via ZigBee, and on the contrary you will receive via ZigBee and send the game data via USB. Of course, you will have an acknowledgment to verify that the information has reached its destination properly.

Therefore the components of the SIC module (1), as we can see in Figure 2, will be a device that communicates wirelessly (1.2) through the ZigBee standard, a device that communicates wired through the USB standard (1.3 ) and a device that coordinates these two communication elements and is able to retain enough time for the information to be sent in one direction and another for example an embedded system (1.1) as a microcontroller.

The components that have the SUI module (2) can be seen in Figure 3, which are a display (2.2) and buttons (2.3), to interface between the user and the embedded system (2-1). Of course, this embedded system will coordinate these components with the wireless transceiver (2.4) so that the data of the items are sent. The wireless communication used will be ZigBee communication based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard at one of the frequencies in the 2.4 GHz band.

This wireless communication is asynchronous in regard to the periodicity with which it sends its data, but not with respect to its operation, in the transmission of data or in the processing of this data, according to the IEEE 802.15.4 standard.

Arriving at Figure 5, the control of the device belongs to the user, even if it is under the premise that it needs the data sent by the application through the SIC module (1), in order to be able to enter the corresponding game results to each player The user will have a previous menu, which can be seen on a display (2.2) and through which it will be moved by means of push buttons (2.3), where it will validate the start of the game and the correct arrival of the players' data, and a menu in which you can select the scores corresponding to the game and write these results on it. Once this is done, the SUI module (2) will send these results of the current game to the SIC module (1) which will transmit them to the PC. Once the players have finished the game, the event will be notified to the PC, sending the data in the same way as the previous time, only indicating that the game has been finished, that way the next round can be started.

The timeline that we can see in Figure 6 is very representative of the process already explained. Sending data from the PC to the SIC module (1), this same data from the SIC module (1) to each SUI module (2), and with the return path of the game data, until these are finalized and returned to repeat the process in the next round.

Finally, Figure 7 shows us the disposition we will have at the time of the tournament, in which each game will have an SUI module (2), an organizer being necessary to supervise the game process of the games. In the center we will have the SIC module (1) that will interface between the SUI modules (2) and the PC.

Claims (18)

one.

Scoring system and classification management for table game tournaments through wireless communication comprising a computer application, autonomous terminals on the game tables (SUI modules) (2), one per table, and a terminal that acts as an interface between these two parts (SIC module) (1).

2.

Scoring system and classification management for table game tournaments via wireless communication, according to claim 1, characterized in that the application of the computer will transmit game and player data corresponding to each game, one by one, to the SIC module ( 1) Wired connected.

3.

Scoring system and classification management for table game tournaments via wireless communication, according to claim 1, characterized in that the SIC module (1) transmits the data, to each of the SUI modules (2) of the tables, in a manner wireless

Four.

Scoring system and classification management for table game tournaments via wireless communication, according to claim 1, characterized in that the data resulting from each game will be transmitted wirelessly from each table

or SUI module (2) to the SIC module (1) connected to the computer, and it will forward the received data wired to the application installed on the computer.

5.

Scoring system and classification management for table games tournaments via wireless communication, according to claim 1, characterized in that the communication network between the SIC module (1) connected to the computer and the SUI modules (2) located on the table Game is performed in the form of a star.

6.

Scoring system and classification management for table games tournaments via wireless communication, according to claim 1, characterized in that the communication between the SIC module (1) connected to the computer and the SUI modules

(2) located on the Game tables must be with transmission of confirmation messages.

7.

Scoring system and classification management for table games tournaments via wireless communication, according to claims 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6, characterized in that it uses data packets according to the IEEE 802.15.4 standard.

8.

Scoring system and classification management for table game tournaments via wireless communication, according to claims 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, characterized in that the SIC module (1) connected to the computer, acts as coordinator, such and as defined in the IEEE 802.15.4 standard.

9.

Scoring system and classification management for table games tournaments via wireless communication, according to claims 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, characterized in that the communications network is totally asynchronous.

10.

Scoring system and classification management for table games tournaments via wireless communication, according to claims 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, characterized in that the communication system comprises a terminal connected to the computer ( SIC) (1) And as many autonomous terminals (SUI) (2) as there are game tables.

eleven.

Scoring system and classification management for table game tournaments via wireless communication, according to claims 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, characterized in that the terminals located on the game tables are composed by a transmitter and receiver device of radio signals comprised in one of the frequencies of the 2.4 GHz band, in addition to a user interface comprising a display and push buttons, and a logic circuit comprising an embedded system.

12.

Scoring system and classification management for table game tournaments via wireless communication, according to claims 1, 2 and 4, characterized

because the communication between the application installed on the computer and the SIC module (1) connected to it is of a point-to-point nature, using the USB 2.0 standard.

13.

Scoring system and classification management for table game tournaments via wireless communication, according to claims 1, 2, 4 and 12, characterized in that the computer is a host, as defined in the USB 2.0 standard.

14.

Scoring system and classification management for table games tournaments via wireless communication, according to claims 1, 2, 4, 12 and 13, characterized in that it comprises a computer with a connection device according to the USB 2.0 standard, together with the rest of its usual components and the application installed in it.

fifteen.

Scoring system and classification management for table games tournaments through wireless communication, according to claims 1, 2, 4, 12 and 13, characterized in that it comprises the SIC module (1) that acts as an interface between the SUI modules (2) of the game tables and the application installed on the computer, which also has a point-to-point connection device according to the USB 2.0 standard, in addition to a transmitter and receiver device for radio signals comprised in one of the frequencies of the band of 2.4 GHz, and a logic circuit comprising an embedded system.

16.

Scoring system and classification management for table games tournaments via wireless communication, according to claims 1, 3,4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11, characterized in that the described procedure is implemented by use of the IEEE 802.15.4 standard.

17.

Scoring system and classification management for table games tournaments via wireless communication, according to claims 1, 3,4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11, characterized in that the described procedure is implemented by use of the ZigBee protocol.

18.

Scoring system and classification management for table game tournaments through wireless communication, according to claims 1, 2, 3 and 4 comprising an application installed on the computer, which manages the games, the data of the games generating classifications and matches , storing these in a database, and controlling the SIC module (1) by sending and receiving data.