A method and system for charging an electronic golf ball are described herein. The system is made up of a charging apparatus and an electronic golf ball. The charging apparatus includes a holder for holding the electronic golf ball, a power transmitting apparatus mounted within the holder, the power transmitting apparatus encircling an area where the electronic golf ball is located when the electronic golf ball is to be charged, and a power supply electrically connected to the power transmitting device. The electronic golf ball includes an outer shell, a ball core covered by the outer shell, a power receiving apparatus within the ball core, wherein the power receiving apparatus receives power wirelessly from the power transmitting apparatus, a printed circuit board electrically connected to the power receiving apparatus, and a battery connected to the printed circuit board.

A tennis ball retriever for retrieving a tennis ball on and about a tennis court and for controllably releasing the ball includes a front-end ball collector having two spaced-apart blades defining a ball collection space. The retriever includes a means for gripping and securing a ball positioned at the fore end, and one or more detents for retaining the collected ball in the collection space until a programmed or manually-directed release toward a target location such as a tennis baseline. The retriever includes a processor-controller for controlling and directing the retriever during a retrieval session. The retriever may be remote-controlled such as by voice commands.

Provided is a highly reliable, cost-effective scattered object collection system that can determine the correct position of each scattered object on the ground, such as a ball, and efficiently collect scattered objects by reducing unnecessary traveling of an autonomous collector. The scattered object collection system includes an autonomous collector that performs a collecting operation by picking up balls B while traveling in a work area W and a collector management unit that manages the autonomous collector. The collector management unit acquires positional information on the autonomous collector, identifies an actual position where each ball B was picked up in the work area W using the acquired positional information, and allows the autonomous collector to perform a collecting operation in a place having a high density of balls B with higher priority than a place having a low density of balls B using the identified actual positional information on each ball B.

A positioning system includes a golf ball and a mobile terminal. The golf ball includes a battery and a transmitter configured to operate with electric power supplied from the battery and transmit a radio signal to outside of the golf ball. The mobile terminal includes a receiver configured to receive the radio signal from the golf ball and a processor configured to measure the position of the mobile terminal, and to measure the position of the golf ball based on the strength of the radio signal received by the receiver at two or more points at which the measured position of the mobile terminal differs.

A sports ball position reckoning system, comprising instrumentation in a sports ball that allows one or more players to be electronically located on a playing field or court each time a goal attempt is made. The instrumentation is configured to fit through the opening of an inflation port of the ball when the fill valve is removed. The system works in conjunction with a performance monitor system that detects ball interactions with a goal and is used to trigger the system to analyze the ball flight path just prior to the goal interaction. Player position is ascertained through the localization of the initial position of the ball's flight path. For multiple players, each player is pre-assigned a uniquely marked ball. The identity of the player who executed the attempt is determined through the player's association with the ball that executed the flight path towards the goal.

A baseball game system is capable of accurately determining a location of a ball at all times irrespective of changes in illuminance, the baseball game system including: a pitching unit pitching a ball toward a determination area including a strike zone; a photographing unit between the determination area and the pitching unit; and a location detector receiving a photographed image from the photographing unit, comparing the photographed image with a reference image, generating a corrected image by adjusting a luminance of the photographed image based on the comparison result and detecting a location of a pitched ball or a struck ball based on the corrected image.

Systems and methods of gathering, processing, and distributing information of a sporting event over a wireless network covering the sporting event, including a first portable device carried by a spotter of the sporting event to acquire global positioning system (GPS) data corresponding to the first portable device, to receive input data regarding status of the sporting event from the spotter, and to transmit the GPS and input data over the network, and a second portable device carried by a patron of the sporting event to receive the transmitted data, and to selectively display graphical representations of the transmitted data according to an input from the patron.

Systems and methods relating to evaluating the performance of a person playing basketball are described. The systems and methods can be used to provide an evaluation sequence that can determine and evaluate the performance level of a person at one or more basketball skills. The evaluation sequence for the person can include a first sequence of actions that are the same each person being evaluated for a particular skill and a second sequence of actions that is based on the results of the first sequence and may be different for each person. Once the first and second sequences have been completed by the person, the system can determine a performance level for the person for the skills being evaluated.

Methods for determining performance information for an object located within an area include obtaining magnetic field information for the area, measuring first magnetic field data when the object is located at a first position within the area, and determining performance information for the object within the area based on the magnetic field information for the area and the first magnetic field data.

Systems, apparatus, and methods for using mobile sporting goods. In one aspect, the system permits a sporting enthusiast to track the location of a mobile sporting good, such as a golf ball, relative to a target, such as a target on a driving range, and correlate that location to a simulated location on a simulated golf hole.