NZ247838A - Athletes carry coded transponders successively interrogated by stations positioned around competition track - Google Patents

Description

New Zealand Paient Spedficaiion for Paient Number £47838 247838 Priority Date(s).\ Compete Specification Filed: {0.(33 j Class: (6) 1 J r.O. Journal No: IfiGfl.

NEW ZEALAND ^ PATENTS ACT, 1953 No.: Date: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION METHOD FOR RECORDING INTERMEDIATE AND FINAL TIMES AT SPORTING EVENTS We, PRIVATES INSTITUT FUR PHYSIKALISCH TECHNISCHE AUFTRAGSFORSCHUNG GMBH, a German company, of Im Seesengnmd 16, D-6105 Ober-Ramstadt, Germany hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement:- 2 247838 Method for Recording Intermediate and Final Times at Sporting Events The invention concerns a method for recording times and intermediate times at sporting events, especially large and multi-discipline events with immediate establishment of the result.

At large sporting events with a large number of participants, which are generally known in the form of open cross-country races or marathons, participants are frequently sent onto the track at staggered intervals and in groups. For spectators this causes considerable problems resulting from the fact that the first person to cross the finishing line is not necessarily the fastest and thus the achiever of the best sporting performance, but is a different person. Consequently the attraction of watching is considerably diminished.

A further problem results from events which are assigned to the long-distance sports, running races, cross-country skiing races and similar, whether the participant crossing the finishing line has really covered the entire course and passed all the track control points or whether the participant - for whatever reason - has taken an unplanned short cut.

With multi-discipline sporting events, as is generally known, the winner is not established in the last discipline but by combining all the results. The winner of the long-distance running, which as a rule takes place at the end, is therefore not necessarily the winner of the multi-discipline event. Special difficulties result if the individual disciplines follow one another directly and, due to a lack of time, there is no opportunity for spectators and participants to use the intermediate results to determine and project how the time intervals and starting times of the individual participants should be in relation to one another to be able to immediately recognize the winner of the overall competition when the finishing line is crossed.

The attraction of such competitions for spectators and to a lesser extent for the participants diminishes if they are compared with those types of sports in which an immediate comparison and establishment of the current state of the competition is always possible both for spectators as well as participants. Short-distance races illustrate this point.

On this basis it is the object of this invention to create a method with the help of which it is possible to immediately establish intermediate times, to immediately evaluate and show the current state of the competition as well as to 247838 monitor the individual competitors on the course.

This object is achieved by this invention by positioning a large number of recording stations along the competition track, which are connected in a wireless or wire-bound manner to a central station which evaluates the arriving information, that every recording station has a frame antenna to emit energy in the high-frequency range as well as to receive high-frequency signals and each athlete is handed a passive transmitter with personal code, which the athlete holds in the recording station when the respective recording station is reached, whereby the recording station first re-charges the high-frequency transmitter with energy via an antenna, afterwards the high-frequency transmitter passes the code to the recording station, the code is received by the recording station and is immediately passed with a further code from the recording station to the central station, where evaluation is carried out.

A central idea of this invention is essentially a system that is formed by a central station and several peripheral recording stations which transmit the received information to the central station either in a wireless or wire-bound manner. For those events which require a wide spatial distribution of recording stations preference will be given to wireless 24 7 8 38 transmission to facilitate more rapid erection and dismantling and to avoid lengthy installation work.

Each recording station possesses an antenna, especially a frame antenna to emit electrical energy in the high-frequency range J and at the same time a receiving station which accepts the code from the individual athlete - as explained in more detail below - and finally a transmission unit, which passes this information to the central station.

For its part, the central station has devices to receive the transmitted data and evaluates the data via a computer of the usual kind. To implement the method according to this invention it is also decisive that every athlete is handed a device which is assigned a personal code-number, the formation of which may vary within the scope of this invention, thus may consist of a combination of letters and/or numbers. This device is a passive high-frequency transmitter. Within the sense of this invention, the word "passive" means that the high-frequency transmitter does not have its own energy source; instead energy is transferred to it by the frame antenna. The result is that due to the lack of an energy supply the high-frequency transmitter can be kept to a minimum size and the lowest possible weight to rule out any burdening and hindrance of the athlete. 24 78 38 The method according to this invention is to be carried out as follows: Each athlete receives one of the passive high-frequency transmitters with an individual code, which allows the individual athlete to be identified. The athletes make their way onto the course and head successively for the peripheral recording stations distributed over the entire course. Once arrived the high-frequency transmitter is held in the recording station, is re-charged for a short-time by the energy transmitted by the antenna and afterwards the individual code is transferred -also in a wireless manner - by the high-frequency transmitter to the recording station. From there the information, which is provided with a code for the recording station, is passed immediately to the central station and is recorded there. The information which practically arrives in real time at the central station indicates when a particular athlete ran to the concrete recording station. The present state of the competition can thus be determined and displayed for spectators.

Using the concrete example of a triathlon the advantage of this invention is explained as follows: With the recording of the intermediate times it is possible to examine for the participant which of the different kinds of sports were finished successfully or not quite so successfully, how much time the athlete required for changing and how well the the athlete performed compared with other competitors at every sub-stage, defined by the density of the recording stations. 247838 The advantages achievable with the system according to this invention are decisive in several respects: First, because of the possibility of establishing and thus i indicating the present results, a transparency of the state of the competition is created for spectators, thus making the sporting experience more interesting. It is of special importance that preceding competitions can immediately be considered, so that the preliminary final result in the sense and according to the present state can be determined and indicated. In this way mass events can be organized attractively for spectators. The advantage for the organizer consists therein that course supervisors are no longer required, while monitoring is still possible: whether the recording stations installed along the course, in the sense of a course control, have really been passed. For the participant himself, it can be determined afterwards in which stages of the competition he performed especially well or badly compared with other competitors, so that it can be established where his strengths and weaknesses lie. A hindrance of the athlete to any extent ought to be ruled out by the small dimensions and the minimum weight of the passive high-frequency transmitter, which can be worn in the same way as a wristwatch. 2 4 7 8 3 8 The use of a digital code is preferred, because on the one hand it permits the direct evaluation of the signals, i.e. without the aid of a transformer, and furthermore allows a high number of 4 individual codes, namely up to 264.

In a typical embodiment of the method according to this invention it is planned to make the results obtained in the central station through evaluation transparent by displaying them on an indicator board, thus imparting them to spectators.

In particular, the aforementioned passive high-frequency transmitter may be a transponder, distinguished by compactness, i.e. by small size and low weight.

Claims (7)

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: - 9 - 24783

1. A method for recording times and intermediate times at a sporting event with substantially immediate establishment of the result, wherein a plurality of recording stations are positioned along a competition track, each recording station being linked in a wired or wireless manner to a central station to transmit information for evaluation thereto and each recording station having antenna means to emit high frequency energy as well as to receive high frequency signals, the method comprising the steps of: providing each athlete competing in the sporting event with a passive high frequency transmitter coded with a code personal to that athlete; each athlete during the sporting event placing the passive transmitter in the recording station when each respective recording station is reached by that athlete, whereby the recording station charges the passive transmitter with energy via its antenna means, the charged passive transmitter then transmits its code to the recording station which receives the code via its antenna means, the recording station then substantially immediately transmits information comprising the received code and a further code identifying that particular recording station to the central station; and evaluating the information at the central station.

2. A method for recording times and intermediate times at a sporting event with substantially immediate establishment of the result, the method comprising the steps of: establishing an information evaluating central st* 2478 positioning a plurality of recording stations along a competition track, each recording station being linked in a wired or wireless manner to the central station to transmit information for evaluation thereto, and each recording station having antenna means to emit high frequency energy as well as to receive high frequency signals; providing each athlete competing in the sporting event with a passive high frequency transmitter coded with a code personal to that athlete; each athlete during the sporting event placing the passive transmitter in the recording station when each respective recording station is reached by the athlete; the recording station charging the passive transmitter with energy via its antenna; the charged passive transmitter then transmitting its code to the recording station which receives the code via its antenna means; the recording station then substantially immediately transmitting information comprising the received code and a further code identifying the particular recording station to the central station; and evaluating the information at the central station.

3. A method according to is done in a digital manner.

4. A method according to wherein said evaluation is done computer. claim 1 or 2, wherein coding any one of claims 1 to 3, in the central station via a 247838

5. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the results obtained from evaluation are shown on an indicator board.

6. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein said passive high-frequency transmitter is a transponder.

7. A method according to claim 1 or 2 and substantially as herein described with reference to any embodiment disclosed. "Tfor.gcha. • ths authorised agents J PARK & SON ■ir