JP2002095782A - Table tennis machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily judge IN.OUT of a table tennis ball. SOLUTION: The collision sound of the ball generated at an opponent's court when the table tennis ball thrown from a ball throwing device 2 is returned from a player's court 5 to the opponent's court 6 is detected. The existence of this collision sound watched for a fixed time interval from the time when the ball is supplied from the ball throwing device. IN.OUT of the returned table tennis ball is judged by the existence of this collision sound and the judged result is clearly displayed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a table tennis game at a game center or a driving range, and more particularly to a table tennis game in which a returned table tennis ball has an impact on an opponent's court.
The present invention relates to a table tennis competition device in which OUT and, furthermore, the hitting strength is specified by the level of impact, and the player enjoys competing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A table tennis competition apparatus competes by hitting a table tennis ball thrown from a ball thrower back from its own court partitioned by a net to an opponent's court, and can be used for playing and practicing. One of such devices is a practice table tennis competition device for competing for a score by detecting a landing position of a returned table tennis ball by using, for example, a projector and a receiver provided on both sides of an opponent's court (utility model). Registration No. 3017687).

In this table tennis competition device, a score is determined according to the landing position of the table tennis ball on the opponent's court, and the score according to the landing position of the returned table tennis ball is added and displayed. From this, it is said that competitors have a sense of game and can practice while having fun.

[0003]

However, in this conventional table tennis game, light is directly applied to a table tennis ball, which is not so large, to directly detect the table tennis ball. Need to be placed. Therefore, the table tennis competition device itself becomes expensive, and malfunctions are caused in places where the brightness changes greatly due to blinking of lighting, for example, in a game center, which is not suitable for game use.

Further, regardless of the strength (hitting strength) of the hit ball returned by the player, only the landing position of the table tennis ball is detected. One more thing, I hated it. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a table tennis competition device that can reliably determine the IN and OUT of a table tennis ball with a relatively simple configuration, and furthermore can realize the hitting strength.

[0005]

According to the present invention, the impact of a returned table tennis ball on an opponent court is detected to determine the IN / OUT of the table tennis ball, and the hitting strength based on the impact is specified. Solution.

[0006]

According to the present invention, the IN / O of the returned table tennis ball is used.
The UT is determined based on the impact on the opponent's court. For example, a sound collector, a pressure-sensitive sensor, and a vibration sensor can be used as the shock detecting means, so that the arrangement density of the shock detecting means can be reduced as compared with the related art using a light projector and a light receiver. In addition, malfunction due to lighting or the like is prevented. Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

[0007]

1 and 2 are views for explaining an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a table tennis competition apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram. The table tennis competition device includes a table tennis table 1, a ball thrower (ball supplier) 2, a hit ball detection mechanism 3, and a display device 4. The table tennis table 1 is made of, for example, a wooden material and has its own court 5.
And the opponent's court 6 are separated by the net 7. The own court 5 and the mating court 6 are acoustically shut off by a sound insulating plate 14 made of, for example, rubber. Opponent court ball thrower 2
Is installed behind the opponent's court 6 and continuously throws table tennis balls at regular intervals by a pitching mechanism (not shown).
To

The hit ball detection mechanism 3 detects an impact when a table tennis ball hit by a player hits the opponent's court 6. In this example, the hit sound of the table tennis ball against the opponent's court 6 is detected by the hit ball detector 8. The hit ball detector 8 is a sound collector such as a condenser microphone and is installed on the opponent's court 6 of the table tennis table 1. For example, six sound collectors are attached to the lower surface of the partner coat 6 at equal intervals. In addition,
It is preferable that the partner coat 6 has, for example, a multilayer structure (for example, a two-layer structure), and a space portion (hollow portion) for producing an effect of amplifying the collision sound is provided in the multilayer structure.

The sound collector converts the loudness of the collision sound at each position of the opponent's court 6 into an electric quantity such as a voltage and detects it. These are linked with, for example, the ball thrower 2,
It operates intermittently only for a certain period of time in anticipation of the returning time of the table tennis ball by the competitor. Further, in order to prevent a reaction to a sound other than the impact sound of the table tennis ball, a filter 9 for attenuating a frequency other than the vibration frequency range due to the impact sound is preferably connected to each sound collector, for example. This makes it possible to efficiently detect a sound in a frequency region corresponding to the collision sound.

Then, the amount of electricity in the frequency domain corresponding to the collision sound detected within a predetermined time is integrated. The cumulative amount of electricity from each sound collector is added up by the adder 10, and this total amount of electricity is used as the magnitude of the collision sound. And the comparator 11
Then, the collision sound is compared with the reference value 12, and if the collision sound is larger than the reference value, a digital 1 signal is output, and if the collision sound is smaller than the reference value, a 0 signal is output. These 1 and 0 signals are
The decision unit 13 integrates one signal as IN and zero signal as OUT.

The display device 4 comprises, for example, a liquid crystal panel.
It is provided above the rear part of the ball thrower 2. Then, in conjunction with the hit ball detection mechanism 3, that is, the integrated number of IN and OUT signals by the determiner 13 is visually displayed. Then, the integrated value of each signal is displayed in the IN / OUT column of the display device 14 together with the remaining sphere. These series of actions are individually determined for the table tennis ball returned by the player, and the IN and OUT signals during the game time are integrated and displayed.

With such a configuration, the collision sound of the table tennis ball returned to the opponent court 6 is detected by a plurality of sound collectors. That is, since the collision sound is detected, regardless of the landing position, the propagation of the sound causes the IN and OUT of the table tennis ball to propagate.
Is detected. In addition, when the table tennis ball lands on the own court 5 without passing over the net 7, the collision sound is shielded by the sound insulating plate 14 and is not detected by the sound collector. Therefore, IN and OUT can be detected with a relatively simple configuration. And, regardless of the lighting at the game center, etc.,
OUT can be reliably determined, and it can be enjoyed especially for games.

When the opponent's court 6 of the table tennis table 1 has a multi-layer structure and a space is provided therein, the impact sound reverberates,
Even a loose hit can be detected by the sound collector. When a filter for selectively detecting the frequency corresponding to the collision sound is provided, the sound collector detects only the frequency region corresponding to the collision sound of the table tennis ball with respect to the opponent court 6. It is clearly distinguished from the sound of collision with the floor. In addition, since it operates only for a certain period of time after the table tennis ball is thrown from the ball thrower 2, there is no malfunction due to noise outside the ball returning time. This is particularly effective in the noise of a game center. In addition, there is an effect that it is possible to prevent malicious addition due to artificial input of a table tennis ball into the opponent's court 6 other than the returning time.

[0014]

[Other Matters] In the above embodiment, only the IN / OUT judgment is made based on the impact sound of the table tennis ball. That is, the sound may be scored according to the magnitude of the collision sound based on the total amount of electricity from each sound collector, and the score may be displayed. In this case, for example, the level of the reference value 12 is increased and compared with the total amount of electricity. In this case, the level of the reference value 12 that matches the total amount of electricity may be detected by the determiner 13 and converted into a score and displayed. In this way, each competitor can recognize and evaluate his or her own hitting level (strength) at the time of smashing, so that it can serve as a guide for individual practice and improve the competition.

In the above embodiment, a plurality of sound collectors are evenly arranged on the opponent's court 6, so that, for example, even if the speed is slow, a powerful hit ball strongly propagates the vibration of the impact sound and moves away from the landing point. Loud collision sounds are also detected and summed up in the place. Therefore, the hitting ball strength can be detected in consideration of the speed and force of the table tennis ball.

Although a plurality of sound collectors are provided on the lower surface of the opponent's court 6, the sound collectors may be buried inside the opponent's coat 6, or may be installed above and below the opponent's court 6 as a single unit. In short, it is only necessary to detect the impact sound of the table tennis ball against the opponent's court. When buried in the opponent's court, the collision sound can be collected with higher efficiency.

Although the hit ball detector 8 is a sound collector such as a condenser microphone, it is only necessary to detect the impact of the table tennis ball on the opponent's court 6, so that, for example, a pressure sensor or the like for detecting pressure or vibration level. May be used. The determination of IN / OUT is visually displayed, but may be clearly indicated by hearing such as voice.

Although the own court 5 and the opponent's court 6 of the table tennis table 1 are acoustically shielded by the sound insulating plate 14, it goes without saying that the own court 5 and the opponent's court may be arranged separately. . In addition, in order to reduce a collision sound with the floor when the table tennis ball falls on the floor on which the table tennis table is installed, it is preferable to install a cushion material or the like on the floor. Further, it is preferable to provide a suction device at a suitable position near the table tennis table in order to collect the table tennis balls used in the game.

It should be noted that the hit ball detecting mechanism relating to the IN / OUT and the hit ball level can be arbitrarily constituted by a well-known electric circuit and knowledge regardless of the above example. In short, according to the present invention, the impact of the table tennis ball on the opponent's court
-It detects the OUT and the hit ball level, and such a table tennis competition device belongs to the technical scope of the present invention, including any appropriate change.

[0020]

According to the present invention, the impact of the returned table tennis ball on the opponent's court is detected to detect the impact of the table tennis ball IN · OU.
T was determined, and the impact strength based on the impact was specified, so that the table tennis ball IN ・ OU
It is possible to provide a table tennis competition device that can reliably determine T and furthermore can relatively feel the hitting ball strength.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a table tennis competition device for explaining an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a table tennis competition device for explaining one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 table tennis table, 2 ball thrower, 3 hit ball detection mechanism, 4
Display device, 5 own court, 6 partner court, 7 net, 8 hitting detector (sound collector), 9 filter, 10
Adder, 11 comparator, 12 reference value, 13 decision unit,
14 Rubber plate.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A table tennis competition device for returning a table tennis ball thrown from a ball thrower to a partner court from its own court, wherein an impact of the returned table tennis ball on the partner court is detected, and the impact is determined by the presence or absence of the impact. A table tennis competition device, wherein IN / OUT of a returned table tennis ball is determined, and the determination result is specified. 2. A table tennis competition apparatus for returning a table tennis ball thrown from a ball thrower to its opponent court from its own court, wherein an impact of the returned table tennis ball on the opponent court is detected, and the impact level is determined based on the impact level. A table tennis competition device characterized in that the hitting strength of a table tennis ball is specified. 3. The table tennis competition device according to claim 1, wherein the impact is detected by a collision sound of the returned table tennis ball against the opponent's court. 4. The table tennis competition device according to claim 3, wherein the opponent court has a space for effectively emitting the collision sound. 5. The table tennis competition device according to claim 3, further comprising a filter for increasing the detection efficiency of a frequency component corresponding to the collision sound. 6. The table tennis competition device according to claim 1, wherein the time for detecting the impact is a fixed time in consideration of the return time of the table tennis ball thrown from the ball thrower. .