Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
  • H01Q1/00—Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas
  • H01Q1/12—Supports; Mounting means
  • H01Q1/22—Supports; Mounting means by structural association with other equipment or articles
  • H01Q1/2208—Supports; Mounting means by structural association with other equipment or articles associated with components used in interrogation type services, i.e. in systems for information exchange between an interrogator/reader and a tag/transponder, e.g. in Radio Frequency Identification [RFID] systems
  • H01Q1/2225—Supports; Mounting means by structural association with other equipment or articles associated with components used in interrogation type services, i.e. in systems for information exchange between an interrogator/reader and a tag/transponder, e.g. in Radio Frequency Identification [RFID] systems used in active tags, i.e. provided with its own power source or in passive tags, i.e. deriving power from RF signal
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06K—GRAPHICAL DATA READING; PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS
  • G06K19/00—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings
  • G06K19/06—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings characterised by the kind of the digital marking, e.g. shape, nature, code
  • G06K19/067—Record carriers with conductive marks, printed circuits or semiconductor circuit elements, e.g. credit or identity cards also with resonating or responding marks without active components
  • G06K19/07—Record carriers with conductive marks, printed circuits or semiconductor circuit elements, e.g. credit or identity cards also with resonating or responding marks without active components with integrated circuit chips
  • G06K19/077—Constructional details, e.g. mounting of circuits in the carrier
  • G06K19/07749—Constructional details, e.g. mounting of circuits in the carrier the record carrier being capable of non-contact communication, e.g. constructional details of the antenna of a non-contact smart card
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
  • H01Q21/00—Antenna arrays or systems
  • H01Q21/28—Combinations of substantially independent non-interacting antenna units or systems
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
  • H01Q7/00—Loop antennas with a substantially uniform current distribution around the loop and having a directional radiation pattern in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the loop

Definitions

• Embodiments of the present invention relate to balls for a sports game, in particular to balls comprising one or more coils in order to utilize an electromagnetic field to detect the transit of the ball through an area of interest.
• the soccer balls may be equipped with one or more coils such as to couple to the electromagnetic field or to at least its magnetic component and to, for example, use the voltage induced in a coil to power fur- ther electronics present within the ball itself. That is, the energy provided by the electromagnetic field is used in order to energize electronic components within the ball.
• resonant circuits comprising the coils within the ball so as to back-scatter the magnetic field, that is to generate or send out a signal allowing to conclude about the position of the ball.
• the resonance frequency of the resonant circuit comprising the coils is tuned to the frequency of the electromagnetic field as present in the goal plane or in the area of the goal.
• the resonant circuit is, in the area of the goal, excited by the electromagnetic field. Due to the characteristics of a resonant excitation, the coils then also serve as sending antennas of a magnetic field having a phase shift of 90° with respect to the magnetic component of the exciting electromagnetic field.
• the so back-scattered signal can be sensed and by the evaluation of the so sensed signal the transit of the ball through an area of interest, i.e. into the goal can be determined.
• the application of coils into a ball or, more general, into an elastic or inelastic moving object used in sports games imposes major problems when one aims at constant characteristics, irrespective of the particular orientation of the moving object or irrespective of possible elastic deformations of the ball or the object.
• the inductance of a coil depends on the coil area enclosed by the conductors of the coil, the longitudinal extension of the coil and the number of loops of the conductors of the coil. Integrating a coil into a ball, therefore, is rather chal- lenging.
• the inductance of the coils of a resonant circuit in the ball should be independent from the manufacturing process so that a resonant circuit remains at any time tuned to a frequency of an exciting electromagnetic field.
• This normally requires the application of the circuit inside the ball before the resonant circuit is tuned to the desired resonance frequency when the coil is already in place.
• This results in a time-consuming and rather expensive production of individual balls, since these can be only partly finished and closed, before the tuning is performed.
• the surface of the ball has to be closed, for example by stitching a final segment of the ball to the rest so as to provide a fully closed sphere of the ball.
• loops fully encircling the sphere of the ball are sensitive to elastic deformations of the ball which, therefore, alter the inductance of the coils which in turn decreases the detection accuracy relying on a constant resonance frequency of the resonant circuit.
• Embodiments of the present invention achieve this by providing a ball for a sports game which comprises a plurality of coils formed by conductors enclosing a corresponding coil area.
• balls according to some embodiments are provided such that the sum over projected coil areas of all coils of the ball differs by a maximum of 30 % between any possible pair of projections along different chosen directions. That is, regardless of the direction from which an electromagnetic field crosses the ball, an effective coil area, which is the coil area contributing to the generation of a back-scatter signal or to the extraction of field energy from the powering electromagnetic field is essentially similar.
• a projected coil area is understood as an area obtained by a projection of a coil area onto a plane, wherein the projection is being performed in parallel to the chosen direction. That is, the projection may be performed perpendicular to the plane.
• embodiments of the present invention may be based on the finding that multiple beneficial geometries can be chosen, once it is established that the sum over the projected coil areas is mainly independent from the chosen direction from which the projection is performed. In particular, also geometries become feasible that allow for a cost-effective and efficient production of the ball and its associated coils.
• the coils are arranged such within the ball that the con- ductors of different coils do not intersect each other. This may, for example, avoid mechanical instabilities due to intersecting conductors of the coils.
• weight may be concentrated at the point of the intersection, thus causing an increased mechanical load on the remaining components of the ball at the point of the intersection. This, in turn, may lead to an increased abrasive wear of the ball.
• concentration of weight at particular positions in the ball may lead to a deterioration of the kinematic properties of the ball. For example, a ball may deviate significantly from a straight line of flight when the weight is distributed unequally within the ball.
• a ball for a sports game comprising a plurality of coils (4a-h; 20a-h; 24a-d) formed by conductors, the conductors of each coil enclosing a coil area (15a, 15b), wherein all coils are arranged within the ball such that the conductive wires of different coils do not intersect each other.
• the conductors of all coils are arranged at a spherical surface of the ball.
• Arranging the conductors of all coils at a spherical surface of the ball may provide for the advantage that the coil area remains stable over the lifetime of the ball and hence also the resonance frequency of a resonant circuit comprising the particular coil.
• the conductors of the coils are particularly arranged at or fixed to the spherical surface of a bladder of the ball or to the inner side of an outer hull of the ball.
• a bladder shall be understood as a spherical component which is essentially airtight such as to provide for the possibility to pressurize the ball.
• the outer hull as understood herein is used to define the outer shape of the ball and to provide a robust hull which withstands the pressure of the air contained inside the bladder.
• further embodiments of balls may have coils having their conductors arranged at arbitrary other spherical surfaces or spherical layers of the ball, such as for example intermediate layers of material between the bladder and the outer hull or the like.
• the ball utilizes eight coils which are arranged at a spherical surface of the ball, for example between the bladder and the outer hull, wherein each coil covers a spherical angle of ⁇ /2.
• balls are provided with multiple coils, wherein the distribution of the coils within the ball is symmetric about the center of the ball. This provides for an electromagnetic behavior of the ball which is es- sentially independent of the orientation of the ball by simply distributing individual coils symmetric with respect to the center.
• further embodiments comprise coils of a first group, the first group having only coils enclosing a coil area of an identical first size, as well as coils of a second group, the second group having only coils enclosing a coil area of a different second size.
• a distribution of all coils of the first group is symmetric about the center of the ball and, also, the distribution of all coils of the second group is symmetric about the center of the ball. That is, both groups of coils are distributed independently from one another. However, each group is, on its own, distributed symmetrically about the center of the ball.
• a spherical surface of the ball such as for example the outer hull, consists of at least two monolithic surface segments which are fixed or stitched together along a border between the two surface segments, wherein the coils are arranged within the ball such that the conductors of the individual coils do not intersect the border between the surface segments.
• This may increase long term stability of the ball, since the borders and their associated seams form areas where the conductors may potentially be destroyed.
• this may also provide for the possibility to efficiently manufacture a ball according to the invention in that individual coils are arranged or fixed to the monolithic surface segments before the same are fixed together.
• the coils may be attached to the surface segments prior to their stitching or fixing together according to standard processes.
• this may allow to attach a single coil to each of multiple surface segments of a ball prior to fixing the surface segments together at their borders in order to form a spherical surface of the ball.
• the coils may be attached to any surface segment of the ball, such as, for example, a segment of the outer hull of the ball, a segment of an intermediate layer of the ball or a segment of a bladder of the ball prior to their connection to form the spherical surface.
• standardized pentagonal and/or hexagonal surface segments may be equipped with a single coil prior to stitching the segments together to form a spherical outer hull according to a standard process.
• the coils are provided such that they comprise first segments where the conductors of the coils are arranged at a spherical surface of the ball as well as second segments, where the conductors extend radially inwards in the direction of the center of the ball.
• This may allow for a convenient interconnection of the individual coils, while the same are at the same time easy to implement and provide for electromagnetic characteristics of the ball which are mainly independent from the orientation of the ball.
• a reinforcement structure within the ball may be utilized, which has the form of a tetrahedron in order to support electric circuitry or the like in the center of the ball in order to direct the conductor of the coils in the second segment radially inwards.
• all coils of the plurality of coils are part of a resonant circuit, wherein all resonant circuits of the ball are tuned to essentially the same resonance frequency in order to provide for direction independent electromagnetic characteristics of the ball.
• the frequency to which the resonant circuit is tuned is within the interval between 9 kHz and 30 MHz, preferably between 9 kHz and 150 kHz. This may allow for a stable detection of the passage of the ball through an area of interest or a goal while at the same time avoiding disturbance of the electromagnetic field due to the presence of players in the field or close to the goal.
• a ball for a sports game comprising a plurality of coils may be assembled such that a plurality of coils formed by conductors is provided at the beginning. The plurality of coils is then distributed such within the ball that a sum over projected coil areas of all coils of the ball differs by a maximum of 30 % between any possible pair of projections along different chosen directions.
• the method for assembling a ball furthermore comprises fixing the plurality of coils to at least two monolithic surface segments; and attaching the monolithic surface segments to each other so that a spherical surface of the ball is formed. That is, the fixation of the coils to the ball may take place before the ball is finally assembled, so reducing the production costs and time by a considerable amount.
• the plurality of coils is integrated into at least one resonant circuit and the circuit is tuned to a resonance frequency before the monolithic surface segments are attached to each other, so that previously provided surface segments may be fixed together utilizing standard production processes without the need for further optimizations later on.
• the electrically active components and/or coils may be assembled to surface segments by a first manufacturer, delivering the so prepared surface segments to a second manufacturer, specialized in producing balls.
• embodiments of the present invention comprise a ball or an item of sports equipment, for example a ball for a ball game, for example for handball, football or American football, which comprises a plurality of coils, wherein the coils of the plurality of coils are arranged in such a way that at least two coils of the plurality of coils are ar- ranged at an angle with respect to one another which differs from 0° and an integral multiple of 180°, and wherein the coils of the plurality of coils are free of overlap.
• the coils of the plurality of coils are arranged at least partially or completely edge to edge, wherein these coils of the plurality of coils can be at a distance from one another or can touch one another.
• balls in the sense of this document shall be any sports objects, flying or being moved around in a sports game, irrespective of their particular form or material composition. That is, balls in that sense may be flexible balls, deformable under the influence of force or also solid objects, like golf- or bil- liard-balls or the like. Furthermore, a ball with this respect does not necessarily have to have a spherical outer shape. On the contrary, balls or objects of different shapes are understood as balls herein, such as for example also American footballs or rugby balls or pucks of an ice hockey game or the like.
• Fig. 1 shows a perspective illustration of an embodiment of a ball
• Fig. 2 shows a projection of the embodiment of Fig. 1;
• Fig. 3 shows a three-dimensional illustration of a further embodiment of a ball
• Fig. 4 shows an illustration of an outer hull of a ball according to an embodiment of the present invention
• Fig. 5 shows an illustration of multiple coils within a ball as distributed around a circumference of the ball
• Fig. 6 shows a further embodiment of a ball according to the present invention.
• Fig. 7 shows a block diagram of an embodiment of a method according to the present invention.
• Fig. 1 shows an embodiment of a ball for a sports game, in particular an illustration where the distribution of eight individual coils within the ball becomes apparent.
• the outer hull 2 of the ball is only schematically illustrated by means of an enclosing spherical surface.
• eight coils 4a to 4h are distributed equally within the ball at a spherical surface thereof.
• the spherical surface may, for example, be formed by a bladder of the ball or, by the inner surface of the hull 2.
• the coils 4a to 4h are distributed within the ball such that each coil covers a spherical angle of ⁇ /2. That is, a coil covers an angle of 90° in two perpendicular directions with respect to the center 6 of the ball.
• Fig. 2 which shows a projection of the coils 4a to 4h of the ball in parallel to a chosen direction 8
• the distribution of the coils within the ball of Fig. 1 is such that the sum over all projected coil areas is essentially equal for all possible chosen directions.
• Only the coils 4a, 4b, 4e and 4f are illustrated in Fig. 2.
• a current induced in the coils 4a, 4b, 4e and 4f by an exciting electromagnetic field is denoted la, lb, Ie and If, respectively.
• the field vector of the exciting magnetic field H used to excite resonant circuits comprising the coils 4a-h and to detect the presence of the ball is in parallel to the chosen direction 8 so that the field vector of the backscattered magnetic field points into the opposite direction 9.
• the currents illustrated in Fig. 2 correspond to those generating the backscattered field.
• coils 4a-h as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 behaves as if a single coil was present which extends around the ball within plane 10 illustrated in Fig. 1, as the following considerations will show.
• the coils are distributed on the surface of the ball such that the conductors of neighboring coils extend in parallel to each other along the different segments of 90° each.
• the currents induced in the coils 4a, 4b, 4e and 4f are equal.
• the conductors of the individual coils of the embodiments of Figs. 1 and 2 do not intersect at a single location, avoiding problems with the stability of the ball, problems arising from the intersection of conductors, problems occurring during the production of the balls and the like.
• Fig. 3 shows a further embodiment of the present invention, wherein multiple coils are arranged within the ball such that the conductors or the conductive wires of different coils do not intersect each other.
• the conductors of the individual coils are arranged at a spherical surface of the ball so as to enable an easy production and to furthermore provide for a reliable and mechanically stable configuration of the coils within the ball.
• the multiple coils illustrated in the three-dimensional sketch of the distri- bution of the coils within the ball the following consideration will focus on coils 12a and 12b as an example.
• the plurality of coils is distributed within the ball, in particular at a spherical surface of the ball such that the sum over all projected coil areas of all coils of the ball is essentially equal for any possible chosen direction 8 used to perform the projection.
• Fig. 3 illustrates an embodiment where multiple coils are distributed on a spherical surface of the ball while the coils are not even of the same geometrical shape.
• a first group of coils comprising coil 12a has only coils enclosing a coil area of a first smaller size wherein a second group of coils comprising coil 12b has only coils with a greater coil area.
• the term coil area does not necessarily imply that the area is within a plane.
• the area can be of any geometrical shape, as for example an area on a spherical surface or the like.
• Fig. 3 illustrates an embodiment where multiple coils are distributed on a spherical surface of the ball while the coils are not even of the same geometrical shape.
• a first group of coils comprising coil 12a has only coils enclosing a coil area of a first smaller size wherein a second group of coils comprising coil 12b has only coils with a greater coil area.
• the term coil area does not
• the coils are distributed such within the ball, that the sum over all projected coil areas 16a and 16b is essentially equal for all possible chosen directions 8.
• a projection of the coil areas 15a and 15b onto plane 14 is illustrated, plane 14 extending perpendicular to the surface of the drawing in this particular example.
• the projection to be performed is a plane projection, that is, the projection is performed in parallel to the chosen direction 8 for each individual coil.
• the first coil 12a having an associated coil area 15a is projected onto a projected coil area 16a on plane 14.
• the projected coil area 16a is rather small as compared to the projected coil area 16b associated to coil 12b.
• the distribution of the coils of Fig. 3 corresponds to the distribution of the pentagonal segments of the outer hull so that each coil is associated to a single segment of the outer hull 2. That is, during the production of the ball, a plurality of monolithic segments of the outer hull may be provided and a single coil may be attached to each of the segments of the outer hull.
• the term monolithic describes that the particular segment is made of one piece, that is, the segment is made of a single sheet of material or component which is later on stitched together or glued together or by some other means attached to a further monolithic segment in order to provide a closed surface of a ball.
• each of the individual coils has associated thereto an individual resonant circuit tuned to the desired resonance frequency.
• a resonant circuit such as for example capacitors or the like
• a resonant circuit such as for example capacitors or the like
• pre-equipped surface segments already including attached coils/resonant circuits may be provided to a manufacturer.
• embodiments of the present invention provide balls with resonant circuits that may withstand higher mechanical loads and that may experience a longer lifetime, as for example, systems having single coils extending circumferentially around the ball and intersecting each other.
• an elastic ball as for example a football.
• a configuration of multiple coils 20a to 20 h which are distributed around a circumference of a spherical surface of the ball are illustrated so as to compare this particular configuration with a configuration employing a single coil extending circumferentially around the sur- face.
• Such a coil is, for illustrative purposes only, also illustrated as comparative coil 22 in Fig. 5.
• the shape of the ball is altered to become more elliptical. That is, the area as enclosed by the comparative coil 22 changes significantly and, as a consequence, the resonant circuit is becoming mistuned.
• the multiple coils are distributed around the circumference of the ball, those effects can be mostly disregarded. The effects on different coils around the circumference may eventually even cancel out.
• a deformation of the ball leads to an increase of the pressure on the inside of the ball.
• This increase may, at least partially, lead to an increase of the diameter of the ball.
• the absolute diameter of the ball may vary without causing a significant variation of the length of the conductors of the individual coils. This, however, is not possible according to comparative embodiments em- ploying a comparative coil 22 where a change in diameter of the ball may eventually result in a loss of the coil due to mechanical failure or the like.
• embodiments of the present invention do not only provide for ways to simplify the production of the balls but also provide for balls experiencing a better long-term stability, since a mechanical force on the ball, causing a deformation of the same, has fewer impact on the individual sub- systems, that is the individual coils and the associated resonant circuits.
• embodiments of the present invention allow a simplified production method, since the individual coils or subsystems comprising resonant circuitry electronics may be attached to the surface segments already prior to the final assembly and stitching of the same together.
• Fig. 6 shows a further embodiment of the present invention where the coils, that is the conductors, also have segments where the conductor extends radially inwards in the direction to the center 6 of the ball. In the particular embodiment of Fig. 6, four coils 24a to 24d out of six overall coils are illustrated.
• a tetrahedron support structure may be utilized to additionally support electronics at the position of the center 6 of the ball. These electronics may be utilized to further track the ball during the game play by means of actively sending electronics or the like.
• a reinforcement structure of Fig. 6 is known to be beneficial for the dynamics of the ball in that the dynamics of the ball are disturbed to a lower extent than if orthogonal support structures were used.
• the borders of the coils 24a-d may be defined by the support structures of the tetrahedron whereas further segments of the conductors of the coils 24a- d may extend along the inner surface of the bladder of the ball.
• the conductors of the individual coils may be connected to resonant circuit electronics in the middle or the cen- ter 6 of the ball.
• other electronic components may be supported in the center of the ball by means of the tetrahedron, e.g. matching circuitry or semiconductor chips or the like. These may, alternatively or additionally, also comprise active or semi- active back-scatter electronics or electronics sending particular tracking signals or the like.
• Fig. 7 schematically illustrates a method for assembling a ball of a sports game having a plurality of coils.
• a providing step 30 a plurality of coils formed by conductors is provided, wherein the conductors of each coil enclose a coil area of predetermined size.
• the plurality of coils is distributed such within the ball, that a sum over projected coil areas of all coils of the ball differs by a maximum of 30% between any possible pair of projections along different chosen directions.
• the method may furthermore comprise an optional pre-preparation step 34, where the plurality of coils are fixed to at least two monolithic surface segments.
• the also illustrated optional integration step 36 of integrating all coils of the plurality of coils into at least one resonant circuit may be part of the method.
• all resonance frequencies of all resonant circuits may be tuned to essentially the same resonance frequency before the monolithic surface segments are attached to each other.
• a hull of the ball may be finished by attaching the surface segments together in an optional completion step 40.
• conductors used to form coils according to the present invention may be any type of conductive material or separately pre-produced conductors or the like. This includes isolated or non- isolated wires, conductive or semi-conductive materi- al as sputtered on a substrate, printed on a flexible substrate of the like.
• conductors in the terms of the present invention comprise any material that has, as compared to its surrounding material, a higher conductivity for electric currents than the surrounding material.
• Functional blocks denoted as "means for " shall be understood as functional blocks comprising circuitry that is adapted for performing a certain function, respectively.
• a "means for s.th.” may as well be understood as a “means being adapted or suited for s.th.”.
• a means being adapted for performing a certain function does, hence, not imply that such means necessarily is performing said function (at a given time instant).
• processor any functional blocks may be provided through the use of dedicated hardware, as e.g. a processor, as well as hardware capable of executing software in association with appropriate software.
• the functions may be provided by a single dedicated processor, by a single shared processor, or by a plurality of individual processors, some of which may be shared.
• explicit use of the term "processor” or “controller” should not be construed to refer exclusively to hardware capable of executing software, and may implicitly include, without limitation, digital signal processor (DSP) hardware, network processor, application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), field programmable gate array (FPGA), read only memory (ROM) for storing software, random access memory (RAM), and nonvolatile storage.
• DSP digital signal processor
• ASIC application specific integrated circuit
• FPGA field programmable gate array
• ROM read only memory
• RAM random access memory
• nonvolatile storage Other hardware, conventional and/or custom, may also be included.
• any block diagrams herein represent conceptual views of illustrative circuitry embodying the principles of the invention.
• any flow charts, flow diagrams, state transition diagrams, pseudo code, and the like represent various processes which may be substantially represented in computer readable medium and so executed by a computer or processor, whether or not such computer or processor is explicitly shown.
• each claim may stand on its own as a separate embodiment. While each claim may stand on its own as a separate embodiment, it is to be noted that - although a dependent claim may refer in the claims to a specific combination with one or more other claims - other embodiments may also include a combination of the dependent claim with the subject matter of each other dependent claim. Such combinations are proposed herein unless it is stated that a specific combination is not intended. Furthermore, it is intended to include also features of a claim to any other independent claim even if this claim is not directly made dependent to the independent claim.
• a single step may include or may be broken into multiple sub steps. Such sub steps may be included and part of the disclosure of this single step unless explicitly excluded.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
• Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
• Coils Or Transformers For Communication (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (6)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=49300017

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (2)

Cited By (1)

Citations (4)

Family Cites Families (3)

• 2012
  • 2012-08-03 WO PCT/EP2012/065299 patent/WO2013149681A1/fr not_active Ceased
  • 2012-08-03 EP EP12741370.6A patent/EP2834882A1/fr not_active Ceased

Patent Citations (4)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events