EP0368878B1 - System zur ortsfeststellung eines ballaufpralls - Google Patents

System zur ortsfeststellung eines ballaufpralls Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0368878B1
EP0368878B1 EP19880905616 EP88905616A EP0368878B1 EP 0368878 B1 EP0368878 B1 EP 0368878B1 EP 19880905616 EP19880905616 EP 19880905616 EP 88905616 A EP88905616 A EP 88905616A EP 0368878 B1 EP0368878 B1 EP 0368878B1
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EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
ball
coil
coils
receive
location assessment
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP19880905616
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English (en)
French (fr)
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EP0368878A1 (de
EP0368878A4 (en
Inventor
Bruce Halcro Candy
John Robert Baxter
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Caldone Pty Ltd
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Caldone Pty Ltd
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Publication date
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Priority to AT88905616T priority Critical patent/ATE99971T1/de
Publication of EP0368878A1 publication Critical patent/EP0368878A1/de
Publication of EP0368878A4 publication Critical patent/EP0368878A4/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0368878B1 publication Critical patent/EP0368878B1/de
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    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63B—APPARATUS FOR PHYSICAL TRAINING, GYMNASTICS, SWIMMING, CLIMBING, OR FENCING; BALL GAMES; TRAINING EQUIPMENT
    • A63B71/00—Games or sports accessories not covered in groups A63B1/00 - A63B69/00
    • A63B71/06—Indicating or scoring devices for games or players, or for other sports activities
    • A63B71/0605—Decision makers and devices using detection means facilitating arbitration
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63B—APPARATUS FOR PHYSICAL TRAINING, GYMNASTICS, SWIMMING, CLIMBING, OR FENCING; BALL GAMES; TRAINING EQUIPMENT
    • A63B71/00—Games or sports accessories not covered in groups A63B1/00 - A63B69/00
    • A63B71/06—Indicating or scoring devices for games or players, or for other sports activities
    • A63B71/0605—Decision makers and devices using detection means facilitating arbitration
    • A63B2071/0611—Automatic tennis linesmen, i.e. in-out detectors

Definitions

  • This invention relates to a ball location arrangement and in particular to means to assess the position of a ball such as a tennis ball when this hits a playing surface in the vicinity of a court marking line.
  • the former Patent describes a radio frequency bridge circuit, one "arm" of which comprises a buried coil, which is used to sense a tennis ball containing a resonant electrical circuit tuned to the said radio frequency transmitted by the said coil.
  • the latter Patent describes a buried coil which is part of the resonator of an oscillator whose frequency and quality factor are altered by the close presence of a ball of substantially non-zero magnetic permeability.
  • the present invention is characterised by the respective coils being in an overlapping relationship, and the windings of the receive coil being arranged such that the receive coil is substantially nulled with respect to any transmission field from the transmit coil.
  • the receive coil is adapted by reason of its shape to effect a substantial self-cancelling of signals received from far field sources.
  • the receive coil includes a first part wound in a first clockwise direction, and a second part wound in a counter clockwise direction, whereby to provide for substantial self-canceling of any signals received from far field electro-magnetic sources.
  • An axis of each of these coils is parallel to the court line, and signals from these are used to sense a ball with material with substantially non-zero magnetic permeability.
  • the ball has some of the latex rubber "filler" additives normally in a tennis ball replaced with powdered particles of high permeable magnetic material such as a ferrite.
  • transmitter means which transmit through the transmit coil an alternating magnetic field with a period selected from within the range 2 micro-seconds to 200 micro-seconds which signal may be received by the receive coil or coils from a ball re-radiating the signal together with extraneous effects.
  • signals induced in the receive coils are synchronously demodulated and low-pass filtered by detector means.
  • the reference phases of the synchronous demodulators are selected to select magnetic components either in-phase with the ball's magnetic permeability or quadrature components to the ball's permeability.
  • the said low-pass filtered signals are then further processed by effecting a comparison of the signal with a known signal result to yield a final "in” or "out” assessment.
  • each receive coil occupying each a selected long length of a line beneath a playing surface that is a tennis court and, are preferably of the order of metres in elongate length.
  • These said receive coils are preferably laid end on end below the length of the court lines with a proportion of each end overlapping with it's adjacent coils.
  • the transmit coil may likewise be segmented or extend the length of the lines.
  • the system described herein can overcome a number of the previously existing problems.
  • the ball and court can be made to be physically indistinguishable from standard.
  • both the said quadrature and in-phase signals are equally susceptible to electromagnetic interference Thus any significant signal in the quadrature channel indicates a false signal If further the receive coil circuits are constructed so that far magnetic fields are canceled whereas near fields are not, then the system can be relatively insensitive to electromagnetic interference compared to systems containing coils not nulled to far fields.
  • the processing can include means for reasonably accurately determining whether any part of the ball touched the line in "just in/out” cases. This can be achieved by means of processing algorithms part of which require certain ratios or comparisons of signal values, not just magnitude comparisons to fixed values. Furthermore it is best that some of these said ratios or comparisons are between data from different receive coil circuits which are sensitive to the same length of court line but which have different spatial sensitivities across the line. Processing utilizing data from two different coil signals enable the final "in”/"out” assessment to be relatively independent of the depth of the coils or permeability of the ball.
  • the receive coils 2 and 3 are two independent receive coil circuits with windings wound in both clockwise and anti-clockwise senses indicated by the arrows 4, 5 and 6 for coil 2 and 7 and 8 for coil 3. That is, coil 2 effectively consists of three series windings 9, 10 and 11, one in a clock-wise sense at the top of the diagram, followed by an anti-clockwise winding 10 in the centre, and then followed by a clockwise winding at the bottom of the diagram.
  • Coil 3 effectively consists of two series windings 12 and 13, one of these 12 being wound in a clock-wise sense in the top half of the diagram followed by an anti-clockwise winding 13 in the bottom half of the diagram.
  • each winding The dimensions and number of turns of each winding are selected such that signals induced in each coil from far magnetic fields at the transmit frequency are substantially canceled or nulled. This substantially reduces the level of electromagnetic interference in the coil circuits.
  • reference to "far field” is understood to mean a field generated by a source at least ten times further from a receive coil than the width dimension of the said coil.
  • the signals generated by oscillator 15 are amplified through amplifier 16 and when received in coils 2 and 3 are amplified by amplifier 17 then synchronously demodulated at the transmit frequency and then low-pass filtered.
  • the synchronous demodulator reference phases are selected to select both components substantially in-phase with the ball's permeability and at quadrature to it, these being shown in Fig. 3 as synchronous demodulator and low pass filter 18 for in-phase components and synchronous demodulator and low pass filter 19 for quadrature phase components using a quadrature phase shifter 20.
  • a quiescent "background" signal is subtracted at 21 and 22 to give a signal whose magnitude is a function of changes in the magnetic environment of the coils.
  • the in-phase components are used for further processing and the quadrature components can be used for discrimination purposes such as identifying materials with reactive-to-resistive ratios different to that of the ball, such as aluminium tennis rackets, metal tacks in tennis shoes etc. traversing the court line, as well as discriminating against electromagnetic interference.
  • Data from receive coil pairs are processed in a "local" microprocessor 25, and the processed information is passed to a "central” microprocessor as indicated by 28.
  • a similar receiving and analogue processing circuitry is used for coil 2, and the corresponding data is passed to the common "local" microprocessor 25 as indicated by 26 and 27.
  • a ball and in particular a tennis ball, can have a small quantity of ferrite incorporated within the mixture of the rubber replacing to the same weight, previously existing fillers so that the ball and its handling and bouncing characteristics remain absolutely the same except that it has a substantive magnetic permeability.
  • the second receive coil has to also be wound so as to be essentially balanced or nulled against far field origin electromagnetic interference, but be differently wound from the first coil, that is coil 2, to achieve this.
  • the coils as aligned specifically in Fig. 2 can be of substantially indefinite lengths but are then appropriately located beneath each of the respective lines, such as at 23, that one might expect on a tennis court.
  • Each receive coil is "nulled" to the transmitted field, that is the net signal induced by the transmit coil in either receive coil is substantially minimized owing to the selected geometry of the windings in relation to the transmit coil. This is conducive to relatively simple electronics not requiring high tolerances of stability and large dynamic range.
  • FIG. 4 shows four waveforms at the low-pass filter output, with the background subtracted, from the in-phase components resulting from balls of different trajectory striking the court above a buried coil system of the configuration shown in FIG. 1 and 2.
  • the “dashed” lines represent the response from coil 2 and the “continuous” lines are for coil 3.
  • Waveforms resulting from trajectories of a fast shot which just skims over the net in which the ball strikes the court from a near horizontal approach are show in 4(c) and 4(d).
  • 4(c) is for such trajectories where the ball's "foot print” is symmetrical about the "in”/"out” edge and 4(d) is for such trajectories where the ball is just "out”.
  • a "central micro-processor” is alerted to which processed data from each coil pair are transmitted, such that the said central micro-processor selects or combines the data from all the pair of coils near which the ball 24 traversed to yield a final assessment as to whether the ball 24 was "in” or "out".
  • a metal screen made of aluminum for example, may be inserted between the rods and the coils.
  • the presence of the screen substantially alters the strength the magnetic field generated by the transmit coil in that it is, compared to the "non-screen" case, relatively weak far from the windings compared to that close to the windings.
  • the windings need be wound in a planar spiraled fashion, such that the number of windings per unit length increases from the centre of the winding to the outside perimeter. This also applies to each receive coil winding, that is it need be distributed in a similar spread out fashion.

Landscapes

  • Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Physical Education & Sports Medicine (AREA)
  • Geophysics And Detection Of Objects (AREA)
  • Measurement Of Length, Angles, Or The Like Using Electric Or Magnetic Means (AREA)
  • Investigating Or Analyzing Materials By The Use Of Magnetic Means (AREA)

Claims (16)

  1. Einrichtung zur Bestimmung einer Ballposition umfassend unter einer Spielfläche eine Übertragungsspule (1) und eine Empfangsspule (2,3), wobei die beiden Spulen nebeneinander unter einem ausgewählten Teil eines Spielplatzes angeordnet sind, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß die Spulen in einer überlappenden Beziehung stehen, und daß die Windungen der Empfangsspule (2,3) so angeordnet sind, daß die Empfangsspule mit Bezug auf jegliches Übertragungsfeld der Übertragungsspule (1) im wesentlichen auf Null gestellt ist.
  2. Einrichtung zur Bestimmung einer Ballposition nach Anspruch 1, worin die Emfpangsspule (2,3) aufgrund ihrer Form geeignet ist, eine im wesentlichen Selbstlöschung von Signalen auszuüben, die von entfernten Feldquellen empfangen werden.
  3. Einrichtung zur Bestimmung einer Ballposition nach einem der vorangegangenen Ansprüche, worin es zwei Empfangsspulen (2,3) nahe der Übertragungsspule (1) vorgesehen sind.
  4. Einrichtung zur Bestimmung einer Ballposition nach einem der vorangegangenen Ansprüche, worin jede Empfangsspule (2,3) einen ersten Teil (9,11,12), der in einer ersten Uhrzeigersinn-Richtung gewickelt ist, und einen zweiten Teil (10,13) umfaßt, der in einer Gegenuhrzeigersinn-Richtung gewickelt ist, um die im wesentlichen Selbstlöschung jeglicher Signale zu liefern, die von fernen elektromagnetischen Feldquellen empfangen werden.
  5. Einrichtung zur Bestimmung einer Ballposition nach Anspruch 3 oder 4, worin zwei Empfangsspulen (2,3) nahe der Übertragungsspule (1) vorgesehen sind, und worin eine erste Empfangsspule (3) zwei Teile (12,13) umfaßt, von denen einer in einer Uhrzeigersinn-Richtung und ein zweiter in einer Gegenuhrzeigersinn-Richtung gewickelt ist, wobei die zweite Empfangsspule (2) so gewickelt ist, daß sie drei Teile (9,10,11) aufweist, von denen zwei entweder in Uhrzeigersinn oder Gegenuhrzeigersinn-Richtung gewickelt sind, und der dritte Teil (10), der zwischen den ersten zwei Teilen liegt, in der entgegengesetzten Richtung wie die ersten zwei Teile gewickelt ist, und wobei eine Grenzlinie zwischen den Teilen der ersten Spule (3) in Draufsicht gesehen nicht ausgerichtet ist mit einer Grenzlinie zwischen beliebigen Teilen der zweiten Spule (2).
  6. Einrichtung zur Bestimmung einer Ballposition nach einem der vorangegangenen Ansprüche, worin die Übertragunsspule (1) längliche Proportionen hat und so ausgerichtet ist, daß sie sich im wesentlichen unterhalb einer Linie (23) auf der Spielfläche erstreckt, und wobei die Empfangsspule oder Empfangsspulen (2,3) in jedem Falle symmetrisch über der Übertragungsspule (1) ausgerichtet ist/sind und sich im wesentlichen übereinstimmend mit den gleichen Längsdimensionen wie die Übertragungsspule (1) erstreckt/erstrecken.
  7. Einrichtung zur Bestimmung einer Ballposition nach einem der vorangegangenen Ansprüche, worin es eine Übertragungseinrichtung (15,16) gibt, die geeignet ist, ein alternierendes elektromagnetisches Signal zu erzeugen, das mit der Übertragungsspule (1) gekoppelt ist und worin es eine Detektoreinrichtung (17-22,25,28) gibt, die mit der Empfangsspule oder den Empfangsspulen gekoppelt und geeignet ist, Signale zu detektieren, die von einem Ball (24) zurück abgestrahlt werden, der eine magnetische Permeabilität innerhalb eines Nahfeldbereichs sowohl der Übertragungsspule (1) als auch der entsprechenden Empfangsspule (2,3) aufweist.
  8. Einrichtung zur Bestimmung einer Ballposition nach Anspruch 7, worin die Detektoreinrichtung (17-22,25,28) eine Einrichtung (18,19,20) einschließt, um eine synchrone Demodulation des detektierten Signals in Beziehung zu dem übertragenen Signal in der Übertragungsspule zu bewirken.
  9. Einrichtung zur Bestimmung einer Ballposition nach einem der vorangegangenen Ansprüche, worin die Detektorvorrichtung synchrone Demodulatoren mit anschließenden Tiefpaßfiltern einschließt.
  10. Einrichtung zur Bestimmung einer Ballposition nach einem der vorangegangenen Ansprüche, worin die Detektorvorrichtung (17-22,25,28) weiterhin eine Verarbeitungseinrichtung (25,28) zum Bestimmen einer Ballposition und einen Algorithmus einschließt, der Mittel umfaßt, die ein Verfahren zum Bestimmen des Verhältnisses oder eines Vergleichs zwischen der Amplitude der Signale liefern, die in jedem Empfangsspulenschaltkreis von jedem Paar empfangen werden.
  11. Einrichtung zur Bestimmung einer Ballposition nach einem der vorangegangen Ansprüche, worin das übertragene magnetische Feld im wesentlichen sinusförmig und so ist, daß die Synchrondetektoren synchron mit dem übertragenen Magnetfeld sind und die Phasen so ausgewählt sind, daß sie entweder in Phase oder Quadratur mit der magnetischen Permeabilität des Balls bei der übertragenen Frequenz sind, und eine Diskriminatoreinrichtung zum Zurückweisen von falschen Signalen umfaßt ist, die von Materialien mit reaktiven Verhältnissen verschieden zu denen des Balls sind.
  12. Einrichtung zur Bestimmung einer Ballposition nach einem der vorangegangenen Ansprüche, weiterhin umfassend einen Mikroprozessor (25,28) als Teil der Verarbeitungseinrichtung, welcher Software-Algorithmen einschließt, die einschränkende Parameter zu Unterscheidungszwecken und zur Feststellung der auftretenden Bahn des Balls (24) enthält.
  13. Einrichtung zur Bestimmung einer Ballposition nach Anspruch 12, mit einem Mikroprozessor (25), der einen Software-Algorithmus enthält, mit welchem eine Feststellung getroffen werden kann, um festzustellen, ob detektierende und verarbeitete Ballsignale anzeigen, daß der Ball (24) sich nahe bei irgendeinem Ende eines Spulenpaares vorbeibewegt hat, und mit einem zentralen Mikroprozessor (28), an welchen verarbeitete Daten von jedem Spulenpaar übertragen werden, so daß der zentrale Mikroprozessor (28) die Daten aus allen Spulenpaaren auswählt oder kombiniert, in deren Nähe sich ein Ball (24) vorbeibewegt hat, um eine endgültige Feststellung zu treffen, ob der Ball "in" oder "out" war.
  14. Einrichtung zur Bestimmung einer Ballposition nach einem der vorangegangenen Ansprüche, worin die einzelnen Windungen an den Enden der Empfangs- und der Übertragungsspulenschaltkreise aufgeweitet sind, wobei das Ausweiten darin besteht, daß einzelne Stränge eines Spulenschaltkreises im wesentlichen räumlich getrennt sind oder einzelne Windungen des Spulenschaltkreises in mehr als einer Gruppe zu Gruppen zusammengefaßt sein können und die Gruppen im wesentlichen räumlich voneinander getrennt sein können, sodaß die räumlichen Trennungen so gewählt sind, daß die Empfindlichkeit der Spulen für den Ball an den genannten Enden im wesentlichen nicht höher sind als die an der entsprechenden Ballposition mit Bezug auf die Spielfeldlinie nahe der Mitte des Empfangsspulenpaares.
  15. Einrichtung zur Bestimmung einer Ballposition nach einem der vorangegangenen Ansprüche, in welchen ein Metallschirm unter den Spulen angeordnet ist und wo jede Wicklung jeder Spule in einer planaren spiralförmigen Weise gewickelt ist, so daß die Anzahl der Windungen pro Längeneinheit von der Mitte jeder Wicklung zum äußeren Rand zunimmt, wobei die Geometrie und die Leiterdichte so gewählt sind, daß das Feld über der Spulenempfindlichkeitszone hinreichend einheitlich gemacht wird.
  16. Einrichtung zur Bestimmung einer Ballposition nach einem der vorangegangenen Ansprüche, worin ein Tennisball (24) eingeschlossen ist, der in seinem Körper eine Substanz aufweist, die eine wesentliche magnetische Permeabilität liefert.
EP19880905616 1987-06-30 1988-06-30 System zur ortsfeststellung eines ballaufpralls Expired - Lifetime EP0368878B1 (de)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
AT88905616T ATE99971T1 (de) 1987-06-30 1988-06-30 System zur ortsfeststellung eines ballaufpralls.

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
AU2801/87 1987-06-30
AUPI280187 1987-06-30

Publications (3)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0368878A1 EP0368878A1 (de) 1990-05-23
EP0368878A4 EP0368878A4 (en) 1990-10-10
EP0368878B1 true EP0368878B1 (de) 1994-01-12

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Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP19880905616 Expired - Lifetime EP0368878B1 (de) 1987-06-30 1988-06-30 System zur ortsfeststellung eines ballaufpralls

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EP (1) EP0368878B1 (de)
JP (1) JP2660033B2 (de)
DE (1) DE3887148T2 (de)
WO (1) WO1989000066A1 (de)

Families Citing this family (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB8920204D0 (en) * 1989-09-07 1989-10-18 Saitek Ltd Sensory games
WO1992000125A1 (en) * 1990-06-27 1992-01-09 Caldone Pty Limited Tennis ball to line location
US5082263A (en) * 1990-11-06 1992-01-21 Richard Berger Method of and system for determining position of tennis ball relative to tennis court, and tennis ball provided therefor
US5551688A (en) * 1992-04-01 1996-09-03 Wilson Sporting Goods Co. Magnetically detectable tennis ball
DE4233341C2 (de) * 1992-10-05 1997-03-13 Helmut Staudt Einrichtung zur Erkennung der Position eines Balles
WO1994011070A1 (en) * 1992-11-17 1994-05-26 George Seymour Gray Electronic tennis ball detection system
GB9315904D0 (en) * 1993-07-31 1993-09-15 Allen John Missile detection and location
ES2402728T3 (es) 2010-11-23 2013-05-08 Fundación Centro De Tecnologías De Interacción Visual Y Comunicaciones Vicomtech Procedimiento para la detección del punto de impacto de una pelota en eventos deportivos

Family Cites Families (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3774194A (en) * 1972-01-12 1973-11-20 P Jokay Game court boundary indicator system
DE2732543C3 (de) * 1977-07-19 1980-08-07 Precitec Gesellschaft Fuer Praezisionstechnik Und Elektronik Mbh & Co Entwicklungs- Und Vertriebs-Kg, 7570 Baden-Baden Vorrichtung zur Erfassung von sich im Gebiet einer Grenzfläche befindenden Objekten
CA1138955A (en) * 1979-09-14 1983-01-04 Edward R. Fearon Anti-shoplifting system
JPS58502034A (ja) * 1981-12-03 1983-12-01 グレイ，ジヨ−ジ　シ−モア ラインフォ−ルト検知器
DE3543679A1 (de) * 1985-12-11 1986-12-04 Franz 8000 München Kellner Ball-aus erkennung beim tennis

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP0368878A1 (de) 1990-05-23
JP2660033B2 (ja) 1997-10-08
EP0368878A4 (en) 1990-10-10
JPH02504113A (ja) 1990-11-29
DE3887148T2 (de) 1994-06-01
DE3887148D1 (de) 1994-02-24
WO1989000066A1 (en) 1989-01-12

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