WO2014128739A2

WO2014128739A2 - A high-precision and high-reliability automatic system for real-time chronometric monitoring and analysis of a plurality of data regarding the individual performance of swimming athletes

Info

Publication number: WO2014128739A2
Application number: PCT/IT2014/000042
Authority: WO
Inventors: Giuseppe LANGELLA
Original assignee: Safety Bed Srl
Priority date: 2013-02-19
Filing date: 2014-02-19
Publication date: 2014-08-28
Also published as: WO2014128739A3; ITRM20130096A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a high-precision and high-reliability automatic system (1) designed for chronometric monitoring and real-time analysis of a plurality of data regarding the individual performance of swimming athletes (2) when they train or compete within the respective lanes of Olympic or semi-olympic swimming pools. The system (1) is basically constituted by a plurality of sensors (3) installed, on the bottom of the swimming pool, which detect a plurality of chemico-physical signals. The signals detected are transmitted through a conversion interface (4) to a local network (5), and the corresponding data subsequently are processed via purposely dedicated software present in a database (11) and made available to a plurality of user devices, such as servers (6), terminals (7), tablets (8), smartphones (9), and PDAs (10). The data detected can then be filed and/or transmitted by the same local network (5) through the Internet (14) in the case where there has been set up, via useful means (12) for secure transmission of the data, a connectivity (13) to remote networks (15) and from these to further user devices, such as other tablets (8), smartphones (9), and PDAs (10).

Description

A HIGH-PRECISION AND HIGH-RELIABILITY AUTOMATIC

SYSTEM FOR REAL-TIME CHRONOMETRIC MONITORING AND

ANALYSIS OF A PLURALITY OF DATA REGARDING THE

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE OF SWIMMING ATHLETES

* * * * *

The present invention relates to a high- precision and high-reliability automatic system designed for chronometric monitoring and real^¬ time analysis of a plurality of data regarding the individual performance of swimming athletes when they train or compete within the respective lanes of Olympic or semi-olympic swimming pools.

Currently, during training it is necessary for a trainer, both in each individual exercise and for each swimmer, to measure the corresponding intermediate swimming times using timers that are particularly costly in so far as they must be provided with a capacity for storage of the data detected that is on average in a range oscillating approximately between twenty and one hundred partial times.

The disadvantages of said timing procedure basically derives from the impossibility of guaranteeing with absolute reliability the precision o-f detection of the data measured during training and in competitions in so far as the referee must not only have the necessary manual skills for using present-day timers but must also have a high level of practical skill in computing the partial times of the swimmers themselves .

The latter disadvantage is inherent in the fact that at the end of each swimming exercise by the athlete the trainer must determine manually the performance of the athlete himself in the intermediate times, without considering the further disadvantage due to the fact that the intermediate times detected are affected by an error that is inversely proportional to the skill of the trainer.

Added to the above critical aspects is the further disadvantage that even though the time is read in a precise way on the timer when it is associated or can be associated to each individual athlete, it can no longer be detected in a precise way, or at least it is even more difficult to detect it in a precise way, when swimmers with different characteristics train in small groups-, as is usually the case.

The above difficulties in precise detection of the training times impose the need for the presence of a plurality of operators and technical figures during training swimming races, such as the starters, the timekeepers, the chief timekeepers, the finish judges, as well as obviously the inspectors of turn and the judges of stroke, with obvious high costs, which are prohibitive above all in training swimming races.

In the known art, in order to reduce these costs and in any case guarantee precision and high reliability of timing recently recourse has been had to the use of the so-called "boards", namely, sensors set at the two ends of each lane of the swimming pool, which have proven useful for detecting the intermediate time taken by the swimmer for covering each lane but, as may be readily appreciated, said boards present the disadvantage of detecting only the intermediate times, i.e., the times over twenty-five metres, in the case of a short-course or semi-olympic swimming pool or even fifty metres in the case of a long-course or Olympic swimming pool, thus forcing the■ trainer to detect manually all the other intermediate times, without considering the problems described previously regarding the measurement and reliability of precision required.

The main purpose of the present invention is hence to provide a high-precision and high- reliability automatic system designed for chronometric monitoring and real-time analysis of a plurality of data regarding the performance of swimming athletes when they train or compete within the respective racing lanes in Olympic or semi-olympic swimming pools.

A further purpose of the present invention, no less important than the previous one, is to provide an automatic system that will likewise enable real-time monitoring also of other chemico-physical parameters, which currently cannot be detected with present-day monitoring systems.

Another purpose of the present invention is to provide an automatic system designed for chronometric monitoring and real-time analysis of a plurality of data that will enable minimization and optimization of the costs due to the use of specialized technical staff during training races and usually necessary, if not indispensable, in competitive races.

Yet another purpose of the present invention is to be able to use the data of chronometric monitoring of the athletes for real-time transmission of the position for television purposes in order to be able to follow with greater precision the position of each individual athlete during the races and not, as occurs at present, with the data available only when the swimmer turns.

The above purposes are achieved by providing a high-precision and high-reliability automatic system 1 designed for chronometric monitoring and real-time analysis of a plurality of data regarding the individual performance of swimmers 2 when they train or compete within the respective lanes of Olympic or semi-olympic swimming pools, said system being characterized in that it is basically constituted by a plurality of sensors 3 installed on the bottom of the swimming pool, or installed over the swimming pool, or installed on the separation systems, for detecting a plurality of chemico-physical signals, said signals being transmitted through a conversion interface 4 to a local network 5, and the corresponding data being subsequently processed via purposely dedicated software present in a database 11 and made available to a plurality of user devices, such as servers 6, terminals 7, tablets 8, smartphones 9, and PDAs 10, then filed and/or transmitted by the same local network 5 through the Internet 14 in the case where there has been set up, via useful means 12 for secure transmission of the data, a connectivity 13 to remote networks 15 and from these to further user devices, such as other tablets 8, smartphones 9, and PDAs 10.

The present system is altogether innovative in so far as there do not so far exist similar high-precision and high-reliability automatic systems and is likewise inventive, because it solves altogether the problem that was up to the present unsolved regarding both the lack of precision and reliability of chronometric detection carried out manually with timers and the obvious -costs linked to the need to resort to a plurality of race judges and timekeepers for monitoring with greater reliability and precision the performance of swimmers during their races.

The above purposes and consequent advantages, as well as the characteristics of the invention according to the present disclosure, will emerge more clearly from the ensuing detailed description of a preferred solution, provided by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the attached plate of drawings, in which:

□ Figure 1 is a global schematic view of the high-precision and high-reliability automatic system 1 designed for chronometric monitoring and real-time analysis of a plurality of data regarding the individual performance of swimming athletes 2 when they train or compete within the respective lanes of Olympic or semi-olympic swimming pools.

From the attached Figure 1, it may be appreciated that said automatic system 1, henceforth also referred to as "Swimming Training System" or "S.T.S.", is a precision system that enables detection of the position of the swimmer 2 within the lane that the athlete occupies on the basis of signals sent by particular sensors 3, which may be, merely by way of non-limiting example, of a sonar type and installed on the bottom of the swimming pool. The signals detected by said sonars 3, transmitted through a conversion interface 4 to the local network 5, are processed by purposely dedicated software present in a database 11 and made available to a plurality of user devices, such as servers 6, terminals 7, tablets 8, smartphones 9, PDAs 10, then stored and/or even transmitted by the same local network 5 through the Internet 14 in the case where there has been set up a connectivity 13 with useful means 12 for secure transmission of the data, for example of a Firewall® type, to remote LANs 15 and from these to further user devices, such as other tablets 8, smartphones 9, and PDAs 10.

The system 1 thus provided will enable determination of those parameters that are of fundamental importance for improving training of swimmers 2. For the above purpose, as has already been said, there will be developed software of a client type, appropriately designed for trainers, which will carry out display and storage of the signals processed, coming from the sensors 3 and on the basis of its specific parametrization for each individual athlete 2 will be designed to obtain all the data and the values necessary for the trainer, which would otherwise be difficult for the latter to sample manually and/or compute.

The system 1 will enable the trainer to receive in real time and automatically all the desired intermediate times, together with the corresponding instantaneous value of heartbeat of the athlete calculated in any desired point of the swimming lane.

Moreover, the trainer, having available an ample number of intermediate times, may chose between them the ones useful for determining the values of fundamental importance that are to be considered in normal calculations for determining average speed, speed on entering and exiting from a turn, accelerations and resistance on stretches of even variable length, and/or on the basis of the exercise and the distance covered by the athlete .

With the system 1, having available a high number of detection points and hence of input data, it may be possible to calculate also quantities and/or evaluate factors that so far have been impossible to consider and, consequently, also develop new training techniques .

Without any longer even the need to resort to other timekeepers and technical staff during a training session, the trainer himself, using the aforesaid devices known today, such as smartphones 9, tablets 8, notebooks or PCs 7, with said appropriate software will be able to monitor, record, and compare the parameters of fundamental importance designed for verifying the effectiveness of the training program prepared by him.

By enabling storage of all the desired parameters detected in the training races in which the athlete 2 has taken part, the system 1 will enable comparison of the values of each training session in order to be able to verify also the workload of the athlete 2 and even more the "unloading" stage and hence be able to balance better all the training sessions and workloads of the athlete in order to optimize the benefits and yield in the final competition race.

The system 1 has likewise been devised for supplying all the aerobic and anaerobic threshold data of the athlete 2, enabling calculation of the aerobic power thanks to the constant detection of the heartbeat during training by means of a purposely provided cardio device perfectly integrated in the system 1.

On the basis of the settings entered by the trainer, the software of the system enables control, through algorithms that use the measurements of real-time chronometric monitoring, of lights that can be readily identified by the athlete and that can guide the workload and hence the rhythm of the swimming stroke for the athlete 2, enabling the latter to dose his or her energy better in covering the programmed distances.

The system 1 will be usable both in the local network 5 and remotely via LAN 15, also enabling a trainer who is not physically present at the training session of the athlete to verify the effectiveness of training even after it has been regularly carried out.

The system 1 can be further equipped with: a plurality of sonar presence/position sensors 3 or sensors of some other equivalent type installed on the bottom of the swimming pool, of cardio sensors (not shown in Figure 1) and of sensors of the start/stop type; a control unit for collecting signals coming from the presence sensors (not shown in Figure 1) ; a control unit for collecting cardio information (not shown in Figure 1) ; a control unit for collecting start/stop signals (not shown in Figure 1); a light-strip for detecting the pace of the athlete (not shown in Figure 1); a PC (not shown in Figure 1) for recording and processing the data coming from said control units, a plurality of software applications, such as signal-acquisition software, software for local and remote management of the system, client software for trainers, and monitor software for television.

Thanks to its architecture, the system 1 will make it possible to send, via said specific processing software, the data detected instantaneously, enabling the speed and acceleration of the individual swimmers 2 to be established and likewise enabling the overlay graphic representation of the same data processed in real time on the television screen or on the display during televising.

This means that it will be possible to determine the position of the swimmer at any moment from start of the race, with obvious advantages even in televising (World Championships, Olympics, etc.), which may be enriched with data detection of which has up to now been unthinkable.

At present, in fact, during televising, only the state of the timer and the intermediate times obtained by the aforementioned sensor boards according to the known art is shown. For example, in the case of a freestyle fifty-metre race, which on average requires a time of between twenty-one and twenty-two seconds (the record for men is only twenty seconds and sixty-four hundredths of a second) just the final result is recorded, and not the further intermediate results. With the system 1, instead, there would be the undoubted advantage of being able to determine also the intermediate positions and times, as well as instantaneous overtaking, showing them in overlay mode on the monitor with a millimetric precision.

A further advantage, no less important than the previous one, is represented by the fact that it is even possible to show a comparison of the pace between the swimmers themselves, which currently was unproposable in fifty-metre races on account of the extremely small differences of hundredths of a second.

As may be appreciated from the foregoing description and from an observation of the attached schematic representation, the further advantages of the present invention are:

□ the high precision and high reliability of the automatic system designed for chronometric monitoring and real-time lysis of a plurality of data regarding the performance of swimmers, when they train compete within the respective racing lanes an Olympic or semi-olympic swimming pools;

□ the possibility of real-time monitoring also of other chemico-physical parameters, detection of which was so far unthinkable and in any case not possible with current monitoring systems; and

□ the possibility of minimizing and optimizing the costs due to the use of specialized technical staff during training swimming races and usually necessary, if not indispensable, in competitive races.

It is also evident that numerous modifications, adaptations, integrations, variations, and substitutions of elements with other functionally equivalent ones may be made to the example of embodiment described herein by way of non-limiting illustration, without thereby departing from the sphere of protection of the ensuing claims.

LEGEND

1. automatic monitoring system or S.T.S. (Swimming Training System)

2. swimming athlete or swimmer sensors

conversion interface local network

server

terminal

tablet

smartphone

PDA

database

firewall

connectivity

Internet

LAN or remote networks

Claims

1) A high-precision and high-reliability automatic system (1) for real-time chronometric monitoring and analysis of a plurality of data regarding the individual performance of swimming athletes (2) when they train or compete within the respective lanes of Olympic or semi-olympic swimming pools, said automatic system being characterized in that it substantially comprises: a plurality of sensors (3) installed on the bottom of the swimming pool for detecting a plurality of signals, at least one conversion interface (4) for transmitting the signals of the sensors (3) through to a local network (5) , as well as means for processing the data stored in a database (11) via purposely dedicated software, wherein said data are made available to a plurality of user devices, such as servers (6), terminals (7), tablets (8), smartphones (9), PDAs (10), and then filed and/or transmitted - by the same local network (5) through the Internet (14) in the case where there has been set up, via means (12) for secure transmission of data, a connectivity (13) to remote networks (15) and from these to further user devices, such as other tablets (8), smartphones (9), and PDAs (10).

2) The automatic system (1) for monitoring the performance of swimming athletes (2) according to Claim 1, characterized in that said plurality of sensors (3) installed on the bottom of the swimming pool - in an area corresponding to at least one lane - is of a sonar type or other equivalent type and in any case designed for detection of the data that are useful for analysis of swimming, as well as being of fundamental importance for improving training of swimming athletes (2); wherein said sonar-detection sensors (3) are designed to determine at least the presence/position of at least one swimmer.

3) The automatic system (1) for monitoring the performance of swimming athletes (2) according to Claim 2, characterized in that the system (1) is further equipped - in an area corresponding to at least one lane - with a plurality of: cardio sensors; sensors of the start/stop type; at least one control unit for collecting signals coming from the presence sensors; at least one control unit for collecting cardio information; at least one control unit for collecting start/stop signals; at least one light-strip device for detecting the pace of the athlete; at least one processor or PC for recording and processing the data coming from said control units; and one or more software applications, such as signal-acquisition software, software for local and remote system management, client software for trainers, monitor software for televisions .

4) The automatic system (1) for monitoring the performance of swimming athletes (2) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it envisages means for supplying in real time and automatically all the desired intermediate times, together with the corresponding instantaneous value of heartbeat of the athlete (2) calculated in any desired point of the swimming lane .

5) The automatic system (1) for monitoring the performance of swimming athletes (2) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it envisages means for supplying an ample number of intermediate times useful for determining the values of fundamental importance to be considered in normal calculations for determining average, speed, speed on entering a turn and exiting therefrom, accelerations and resistance on stretches of even variable length and/or on the basis of the exercise and the distance covered by the athlete (2) .

6) The automatic system (1) for monitoring the performance of swimming athletes (2) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it is equipped with a multiplicity of sensors or detection points (3) so as to be able to handle a plurality of data for calculating quantities and evaluating factors that up to the present day were impossible to consider and that, consequently, may also give rise to new training techniques.

7) The automatic system (1) for monitoring the performance of swimming athletes (2) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it is designed to supply all the aerobic and anaerobic threshold data of the athlete (2) in order to calculate the aerobic power thanks to constant detection of the heartbeat during training by means of a cardio device perfectly integrated in the system (1) . 8) The automatic system (1) for monitoring the performance of swimming athletes (2) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it envisages the control, through algorithms that use the real-time measurements of chronometric monitoring, of purposely designed lights or other signalling system that can be readily identified by the athlete (2), for imparting the workload and hence the rhythm of swimming stroke on said athlete (2), enabling the latter to dose better his or her energy in covering the programmed distances.

9) The automatic system (1) for monitoring the performance of swimming athletes (2) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it is equipped with means for connection both via local network (5) and remotely (15) , also enabling a trainer not physically present during the training session of the athlete (2) to verify the effectiveness of the training even after it has been regularly carried out.

10) The automatic system (1) for monitoring the performance of swimming athletes (2) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it is equipped with an architecture that enables the data detected to be sent instantaneously, via said specific processing software, enabling the speed and acceleration of the individual swimming athletes (2) to be established, likewise enabling graphic representation in overlay mode of said data processed in real time on a television screen or on a display during televising.