JPH057641A - Scoring system for athletic sports - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To achieve computerization for recording scores recorded by judges in boxing and to indicate the scores on an audience accompanied by the advance of a match not only to enhance judging quality but also to increase the pleasure of the audience. CONSTITUTION: A scoring system is constituted of a scoreboard 10 provided at a place capable of being looked by an audience, judge booths 11, 12, 13 provided along three sides of the ring 15 and the control station 14 provided along the fourth side of the ring and input and output boards are provided to each of the booths. Three judges sit down within the soundproof booths 11-13 and wears headsets to cut off the noise or effect of a crowd. The scoreboard 10 displays the scores of players on areas 20a, 10b, rounds on an area 10c and elapse times of rounds on an area 10d. The points given by the judges are totalized by individual counters to be displayed on a control CRT screen. The totalized points are accumulated on a proper memory medium for future analysis along with the scores of individual boxers.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an athletic scoring system, and more particularly to a scoring system for improving the quality of game scores and increasing the enjoyment of the audience.

Although the present invention will be described below using boxing as an example, the principles of the present invention are directed to other sports games, such as kickboxing, wrestling, etc., where the judge gives a score based on the player's performance. On the other hand, athletic competitions in which winning or losing is automatically determined by achievement of a certain goal, for example, passage of a goal line, are excluded from the present invention. Therefore, although boxing will be described throughout the following as a scored sport, the invention is in no way limited thereto.

[0003]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Applicant's earlier US Pat. No. 3,737,8
No. 89 discloses a method and apparatus for scoring athletics such as boxing where each official record keeper is given an individual panel on which the competition points can be recorded. The points given by each official record keeper or judge are transmitted to the master console to accumulate points cumulatively as the match progresses. The collected points are then lit up on the scoreboard visible to the spectators, and the spectators are informed about the superiority and inferiority of the competitors.

This US patent is based on the existing technology of the prior art, that is, three or two judges and one referee record hand judgments at the end of each round and then compile an official scorecard at the end of the match. So it was an improvement on setting the score for the boxing match. The obvious difficulty prior to this US patent was that the audience did not have a truly accurate knowledge of the superiority or inferiority of the competitors until the end of the match.

In addition to being disadvantageous from the standpoint of the audience, another difficulty is that, for example, a judge's reaction and noise (field) can be affected to some extent even if the judges are not aware of it. This problem has also been solved in the system disclosed in the above-identified U.S. Patents by providing a facility for isolating the judges from their distracting and prejudicial effects.

In addition to increasing the interest of spectators by informing the current status of the relative merits and demerits of the players as the game progresses, the above improvements have doubled the appeal of the game to those who are betting on the outcome.

Although the system of the above-mentioned US patent was effective for its intended purpose, it was recognized that there is room for further improvement in order to further enhance the quality of the judges and enhance the enjoyment of the audience.

In particular, it would be desirable to be able to monitor and control the quality of judges by allowing them to assess the work of individual judges while following a match. Therefore, it would be desirable to have some means of reviewing and assessing the correctness of the exact event that triggered the score by the judge.

It is also well known that spectators watching this kind of match want different types of bets, and thus a visual means for assessing the outcome of the game, for example each round, to increase their interest in betting. Is desired to be provided.

Also, in some situations, in addition to betting for each round or for each part of the match, bets can be placed on the final outcome and on various highlights of the match as well as on pari-mutual (pari- Mutual betting is also considered desirable.

Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to realize a computerized system for obtaining a score record made by each judge (or other official record keeper) in an athletic competition, and the score as the match progresses. Is to give the audience a display of.

Further, it is another object of the present invention to provide a system capable of keeping a record of scoring by each judge so that it can be reviewed later in order to ensure the quality of jacking and scoring. is there.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide means for recording, and preferably printing, the results of the scoring by the judges.

It is another object of the present invention to realize a system in which betting can be made for each round as the game progresses.

Furthermore, it is another object of the present invention to provide a system that facilitates the Paris Mutual betting system for the final outcome of a match.

These and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description given below with reference to the drawings.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Before describing preferred embodiments of the present invention,
It should be understood that the drawings are schematic only, and that many known electronic components are used in the system.
The particular designs and constructions of known components are well known to those skilled in the art and are not shown. Combinations of the various elements constitute the spirit of the invention as described and claimed below.

In its broadest sense, illustrated is a computerized system for scoring boxing matches. Referring to FIG. 1, the system includes a scoreboard 10 in the sight of the spectator, three judge booths 11, 12 and 13 along three sides of the ring 15, and master control along the fourth side of the ring. And the station 14. Input / output boards 11a, 12a, 13a and 14a are provided in each station.
It is provided as shown in.

Three judges may sit in the preferably soundproof booths 11, 12, 13 and may be equipped with an optional headset. The headset may be flushed with stereo music or white noise to further block out crowd noise and effects if desired. Each station is equipped with a microphone (not shown) to help station 1 when problems occur with the system or special instructions or questions are needed.
Used to talk to 4 master control operators.

The scoreboard 10 is positioned so that it can be seen by the spectators, and the score of each competitor is 10a and 10b.
The round to 10c and the elapsed time of the round to 1
Display relevant information, such as 0d.

Boxers are intended to wear color-coded trunks, for example red and gold trunks, and judges to score the game with momentary push-button switches that are color-coded according to the boxer's trunks. An exemplary push button switch is shown at 11 in FIG.
This is typical, as shown in b, but the equivalent is provided for the other two judges. The gold switch held by one hand represents a boxer with gold trunks, and the red switch on the other hand represents a boxer with red trunks. A single press on the switch gives the boxer 1 point, which represents a clean punch added to the opponent's legal area. Pressing the switch twice indicates a very strong blow and the boxer is awarded 2 points. Input from these switches is deadlined at the end of each round and enabled (zeroed) at the beginning of the next round, but with a short delay of a few seconds at the end of the round to allow the last punch of the round to be recorded. It is provided.

The points awarded by each judge are summed up by individual counters and master control C
It is displayed on the RT screen 30 (see also FIG. 2). The aggregated points along with the individual boxer scores are stored in a suitable storage medium for future analysis. The score for each boxer is obtained by dividing the total number of switch pulses from all three judges by three in the illustrated embodiment of the invention. In other words, one point is added to his total score for every three pulses received for a boxer. However, different schemes may be employed in some circumstances. The weighted scores are displayed on the red or gold windows 10a and 10b of the scoreboard 10 and the CRT screen 30 of the master control station 14.
However, the actual input from each individual judge is displayed only on the master control screen, and this information is uniquely important in terms of quality control of the system. Counter is 9 for each boxer
Up to 99 can be accumulated and displayed.

The master control operator can add or subtract points with the keyboard 32 to the score of any boxer as required as bonus points or penalty points. For example, if one boxer officially knocks down an opponent and the referee signals it, 5 points will be added to his score. If one boxer commits a foul, the referee may signal that one or more points should be deducted. Master control station 14
From the switch on the control console 31.

If a power failure occurs, computer 20 will retain sufficient time until all current information is moved to a non-volatile storage medium or until the computer puts that information on such medium. This can be done with an uninterrupted power supply (UPS) 40. With the exception of the scoreboard 40, the UPS 40 keeps the computer and scoring function for up to 5 minutes. When full power is returned to the system, the information up to now is updated on the scoreboard by the computer with full score and time.

Still other functions of computer 20 include formal timing of rounds and breaks and round counting. The round counter shows zero at the beginning of the match, goes to 1 at the start of the first round, shows one round until the start of the second round, and goes to 2 when it starts. Counting stops at the end of a predetermined number of rounds,
It can be reset at the master control station 14. The round / rest time timer is a subtraction timer that alternately counts the round period and the rest period that can be preset if desired. This timer is reinitialized when the round counter is reset. It is also possible to provide a hold switch on the master control station 14 to stop the timer if, for example, the referee has timed out.

The time and the number of rounds are 10c on the scoreboard.
And displayed on 10d. The beginning and end of the round are signaled by bells and the buzzer sounds as usual 10 seconds before the end of the break. The number of rounds and the time per round can be different rules in different ways, eg 3 minutes or 2
It can be pre-programmed to suit minute rounds, etc. These variables can also be adjusted as needed for match time.

As mentioned above, the scoreboard 10 displays the total points accumulated for each boxer, the current round, and the countdown time for that round or break. The countdown timer also continues to run after the start of the first round, alternately displaying the remaining round time or rest time. The timer stops at the end of the final round. Once the match is officially stopped, the Master Control Operator can also manually stop the timer.

An acoustic system 41 is used, apart from the computer scoring system, to isolate the scorer from crowd noise and for communication with the master control operator. The judge is in a soundproof booth wearing a headset. Stereo music or white noise flows into the headphones to further block out crowd noise and effects if desired. The master control operator or judge may use a microphone to alert each other when there is a problem with the scoring system.

As mentioned above, it is not only desirable to monitor the points awarded by each judge, but it is also desirable to be able to tie the manner of giving points by each judge to the actual behavior of the athlete leading up to it. .

With this in mind, referring again to FIG. 1, a basic boxing ring 15 (actually a square)
There are four known type video cameras 111, 112,
113 and 114 are combined.

These cameras are usually arranged around the four sides of a ring used for boxing, wrestling and other similar competitions. However, since the exact shape of the location of the competition changes depending on the competition, the location of the camera may be affected by it. However, the present invention is primarily associated with boxing for convenience of explanation.

Therefore, the cameras 111, 112, 113, 1
The 14 positions are generally such that the view from all possible viewing angles is given by the camera combination.
In particular, at least the viewing angle for each judge is mimicked by various cameras.

Three auxiliary cameras 211, 212, 213
Is also provided. Here again, it is assumed that it is a boxing game, and it is premised that the judge stations 11, 12, and 13 are arranged on three sides of the ring. These judge stations are essentially the same as the previously mentioned US Pat. No. 3,737,8.
It consists of an isolated type booth as described in No. 89. Each judge is provided with the above-mentioned momentary push-button switch to grasp with both hands, and each switch represents one of the competitors. As mentioned above, pressing the switch once will give the competitor one point, and for very strong blows etc. the switch can be pressed twice. In any case, each judge is provided with an individual judge scoreboard as indicated by 311, 312, 313 in FIG. Although invisible to the spectators, the points awarded by the judges for certain actions of the competitors are the boards 311, 312,
313 is displayed.

The auxiliary cameras 211, 212, 213 store the display on the boards 311, 312, 313 on a film,
This score is superposed on the picture taken by the cameras 111, 112 and 113 by a known method. In this way, a film, tape or other suitable recording medium is prepared for each judge so as to reflect the action that has taken place in the ring 15, and the point that each judge has scored when the action occurs is the tape, film. Or it can be overlaid on other media.

Thus, it is a relatively simple matter to review tapes, films and other media as others will later evaluate the value of a judge's decision on the points given for a particular action.

As previously mentioned and as can be seen from FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the individual judge stations 11, 12, 13 are shown.
Is also electronically connected to the master control station 14. The master control station 14 is then connected to the main scoreboard 10 visible to the spectator and will probably display the aggregate points for each competitor at the end of each round. In this way, the audience is informed of the relative performance of both opponents as the match progresses, and the opponents themselves are also informed of their superiority or inferiority.

The system described so far is a decisive improvement over the prior art, ie in addition to the fact that the spectator is aware of the progress of the match as far as the points are concerned,
Clearly, improved quality control tools will be provided to assess the work of the judges or official record keeper.

The present invention also includes other refinements to increase betting interest in games.

To this end, a number of casino stations are provided, each of which has a scoreboard 7 as shown in FIG.
0 is provided. These 70 are "child" scoreboards that display the scores for each round. Camera 71
Is attached to each scoreboard 70.

In this way, the scoreboard 7 is sent through the computer 20 before the start of each round or other match division.
Scores on 0 can be set to zero.

In this way, when the points are given by the judge and totaled through the computer, the superiority or inferiority is reflected on the child scoreboard as the round progresses.

Various betting methods are possible, one of which is to add points to or subtract points from the points when they are aggregated, and the betting is likely to be which player will take the round first. Or it would be based on the second developed Poiton or difference.

In this connection, for example, the athlete starts at zero points at the beginning of the round and then, if points are given to the red athlete, for example, they are added to his total score on a positive or negative basis. Become. As an example, if the first player scored two points and then the second player scored one, the scoreboard would show a one-point difference to the first player.

Also, the Paris Mutual betting system
Cameras 80,80 and Paris Mutual Board 81,
Can be done using the 81. The concept of Paris Mutual would involve the computer continuously calculating bet rates, displaying the bet rates, and so on.

As mentioned above, no details have been given to the electronic components of this system, as they are reasonably well known to those skilled in the art. However, some representative components will be described next.

By way of example only, the computer used in this system may be a personal computer manufactured to withstand rough handling in harsh environments. The computer is based on an industry standard PC bus design and communicates with a scoreboard and scoring station on an RS-422 serial communication link 50. The high noise immunity of RS-422 allows the use of simple double stranded wires as a network even in the harshest environments. The baud rate of the network will be in the range of 300 to 19,200.

Computer 2 has all the functions of the system
Handled by 0, the exception is the mechanical counter used by the judges. The score input from the judge and the bonus or penalty points from the master control operator are totaled by the computer, totaled, on the scoreboard 10 and the master control C.
It is displayed on the RT screen 30. The display on the master control station 14 may be a color CRT screen similar to the above-mentioned actual scoreboard.

As described above, the round counter 10c has a value of zero before the match starts, and advances to 1 with the sound of the bell of the first round. The system is running and the match is initiated by the master control operator pressing the "start" push button 31a on his control board 31. The counter 10c then increments by one at the beginning of each round and this round counter stops counting at the end of the final round. The number of rounds as well as the length of each round is pre-programmed into the computer before the start of the match. The round counter is reset by computer 20 as part of the normal operation of preparing for the next match.

The bell and buzzer functions are also computer controlled based on the round / rest time situation.
At the beginning and end of each round, the output is turned on by the computer 20 to ring the bell. Similarly, the break timer turns on the output to sound the buzzer 10 seconds before the end of the break.

An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) 40 is included in the overall control system to maintain the computer and scoring functions for up to 5 minutes. The scoreboard and remote display or functionality is not maintained by UPS 40. However, the scoreboard and remote display will be updated with the current score and time once full power is restored.

Input and output signals to and from the computer are handled by circuit boards originally designed for the industrial control field and adapted for use in this system. These remote I / O stations 11
a, 12a, 13a and 14a are in communication with the host computer 20 by an RS-422 serial communication link 50. Each I / O unit is given a specific address and can talk to up to 245 units on a single RS-422 link.

This network provides error-free operation through the use of a simple safety protocol. All data and command messages exchanged between the host computer 20 and the I / O units 11a, 12a, 13a and 14a are represented by printable ASCII characters. The network approach with this simple protocol is to score inputs (individual scores by judges) and outputs (display scoreboard) from remote locations without running multiple wire bundles from the booth and scoreboard back to the master control station. Is tolerated.

A modem can also be included in the system for long distance calls over the radio link or telephone line with the I / O unit.

A device for obtaining a remote display of six scoring counters for each of the three judges will be included in the system design and software / programming.
These remote displays can be used for assessing the work of judges and training new judges. These remote displays can be incorporated into the circuitry and placed away from the computer CPU. These displays will be placed on the videotape of the match for final quality control of the score of the match. This display is also color coded for each player,
It can be a ternary display that can show up to 999 points / punch for each athlete.

Yet another device to include is for the point difference remote display 82, which indicates the point difference between two players and which player is leading during a round. Let's do it. The difference count starts at the beginning of a new round and can be used for the casino field of the system. These displays can also be integrated into the network to allow remote viewing of score differences between two players.
These displays would be two digit displays that can show up to 99 point differences.

A printer 60 may also be included for printing match results. This report will include information from each round and the total score for each boxer. All useful information from the match is for future reference and analysis,
And can be saved to disk for the judge's or athlete's evaluation. This information can be made available to coaches, trainers, commissioners, etc. to assist in training and evaluation.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a ring, a scoreboard and the like of the system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an operator interface of a master control station.

FIG. 3 is a schematic connection diagram of the entire system of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an arrangement of the present invention adapted for the Paris Mutual betting scheme.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Scoreboard 11,1
2, 13 Judge booth 14 Master control station 11a, 12a, 13a, 14a Signal means
15 ring 20 computer 30 display means (CRT screen) 40 uninterruptible power supply (UPS) 7
0 child scoreboard

Claims (16)

[Claims] 1. A scoring system for athletics in which one or more judges are located near the place where the competition takes place: a) signaling means located near each judge; b) a computer connected to the signaling means for recording and summing the inputs from the signaling means and setting the score for each athlete from there; c) the computer for displaying the scores for each athlete Display means connected to the spectator, d) first for displaying the input from each said signal means
Display means invisible to the audience, e) a second, invisible display means placed near each judge to record and display the scores awarded by each judge, and f) near each judge. A first camera positioned and positioned to record the behavior of the competition from substantially the same viewing angle as the judge; and g) a display means positioned near each judge and invisible to the second spectator. An athletic scoring system comprising a second camera positioned to record the recorded data, and h) means for compositing the image from the second camera onto the image of the first camera. . 2. The scoring system of claim 1, wherein one or more spectator child scoreboards are connected to the computer and are adapted to display scoring data therefrom. 3. The scoring system according to claim 2, further comprising means for zeroing the score displayed on the child scoreboard before the start of each division of the competition. 4. The computer includes pari-mutual betting rate calculation means, and a second spectator-visible display means is connected to the computer for displaying the data provided thereby. Scoring system described in. 5. The scoring system of claim 1, wherein isolation means are located near each judge. 6. The scoring system of claim 5, wherein the isolation means includes a soundproof booth. 7. A scoring system according to claim 5 or 6, wherein said isolating means includes a headset that produces a noise reducing noise to each judge. 8. The scoring system of claim 1, wherein the display means visible to the spectator includes a round and time display. 9. A subtraction timer is connected to the round and timer display and the computer.
Scoring system described in. 10. The signaling means includes instantaneous push buttons for each player for each judge, and the computer includes means for enabling and disenabling each push button in a predetermined pattern. Scoring system described in. 11. A scoring system according to claim 1, wherein said computer is provided with means for recording the input from each said signal means. 12. The scoring system according to claim 1, wherein a printer is connected to the computer. 13. A master control station is connected to the computer and master signal station is provided with master signal means for increasing or decreasing the score derived from the input of the signal means of each judge. Scoring system described in. 14. A scoring system for athletics in which one or more judges are located near the place where the competition takes place: a) signaling means arranged near each judge; b) a computer connected to the signaling means for recording and summing the inputs from the signaling means and setting the score for each athlete from there; c) the computer for displaying the scores for each athlete Display means connected to the spectator, d) first for displaying the input from each said signal means
Display means invisible to the audience, e) a second, invisible display means placed near each judge to record and display the scores awarded by each judge, and f) near each judge. A first camera positioned and positioned to record the behavior of the competition from substantially the same viewing angle as the judge; and g) a display means positioned near each judge and invisible to the second spectator. A second camera positioned to record the recorded data; h) means for combining the image from the second camera onto the image of the first camera; i) recording betting data An athletic scoring system consisting of a means for calculating. 15. The means for recording and calculating betting data comprises Paris Mutual betting rate calculation means included in the computer, and at least one spectator visible Paris Mutual display means is connected to the computer. 15. The scoring system of claim 14 adapted to display the Paris Mutual betting rate calculated thereby. 16. The means for recording and calculating the bet data comprises score difference calculation means included in the computer, and at least one additional display means visible to the spectator is connected to the computer and each segment of the competition. The scoring system according to claim 14 or 15, wherein a score difference is displayed for each.