Automated sport boundary officiating system
US5954599A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 13, 1998 |
| Grant date | Sep 21, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 13, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC A)Human Necessities
- CPC primaryA63B2071/0611
- WIPO fieldFurniture, games
- WIPO sectorOther fields
Abstract
An automated method and apparatus for determining whether a ball in a sport has contacted the ground in or out of bounds as well as where along the boundary the impact occurred. A pair of conductors run adjacent to and beneath the boundary lines of the sport court or field. The two conductors are electrically separated by an insulator, but will contact each other at the point of impact and thereby create an electrical short when a force, such as is caused by the impact of a ball, is applied to the boundary line. The short causes two counter-propagating voltage pulses to travel out from the location of the short towards a detector which detects the pulses and the time delay between receipt of the pulses. The fact of whether pulses were detected is indicative of whether the ball was in or out of bounds, while the time delay between the pulses is indicative of the location along the boundary line where the ball struck the ground.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.