METHOD OF REMOTE CONTROLLING A LUMINOUS SIGNALLING SYSTEM IN THE COURSE OF SPORTS GAMES PLAYED BY ORALLY AND AURALLY CHALLENGED PLAYERS AND A SET OF ELECTRONIC DEVICES FOR APPLICATION OF THE METHOD

Abstract

The subject of the invention is a method of remote controlling a luminous signalling system in the course of team game played by orally and aurally challenged players under the supervision of a referee or umpire equipped with whistle and a transmitting-receiving device. The essential idea of the invention consists in that the referee (16) overseeing the match played by two teams of orally and aurally challenged players or swimming competition participated by orally and aurally challenged competitors uses, in situations provided by rules of the played game, an electronic whistle (17) equipped with a transmitting device (18) by blowing air into mouthpiece (20) of the whistle. The air is supplied to the sensor (78) activating its rotor (79) generating signals at input of the microprocessor (82) of said transmitter activating this way its remote control transmitter (83), which via its transmitting antenna (84) sends binary radio signals received by receiving antenna (88) of the electronic receiving device (14) and sends them to its remote control receiver (87), as a results of which binary signals appear at its output. The signals are then analysed and decoded by the microprocessor (86) of said device powered from a power pack (91) and converted into an executive signal. The signal controls a relay (89) which switches on the luminous signalling system (85) of the receiving device (14) and automatically connects it to appropriate leads (13) feeding LEDs mounted in LED strips (12) which, together with the electronic receiving device (14), are installed on the sports court or pitch (1, 12, 25, 30, 35, 41, 47, 51, 57, or 66) or in a swimming pool (73) in locations decisive for determination whether the game is played in conformity to rules applicable to given sports discipline.

Claims

1. A method of remote controlling a luminous signalling system in the course of sports games played by orally and aurally challenged players, the method comprising the steps of: a referee overseeing a match of a team game played by said players or a swimming competition participated by said players uses an electronic whistle equipped with a remote control transmitter comprising a transmitting antenna and a sensor, by blowing air into a mouthpiece of the electronic whistle, said air being thus directed onto said sensor which detects vibrations excited inside the whistle and activates the transmitter which, via the transmitting antenna, sends radio binary signals received then by a receiving antenna of an electronic receiving device resulting in switching on a LED-based luminous signalling system installed in surface of a sports field, wherein the referee uses an electronic whistle equipped with a rotor coupled with a reed relay, a sensor, and a transmitting device by blowing air into the mouthpiece of the whistle said air being thus transferred to sensor, activating the rotor and generating a signal at input of a microprocessor of said transmitting device which in turn activates a remote control transmitter of the transmitting device and, via the transmitting antenna of the device sends radio binary signals received by the receiving antenna of an electronic receiving device and send to the remote control receiver, resulting in appearance of binary signals at output of the receiver which, after the data sequences being analysed and decoded by microprocessor of said receiving device powered from a power pack converts said data sequence into an executive signal which by a relay switches on the luminous signalling system of the receiving device and automatically connects said device electrically with appropriate leads feeding LEDs mounted in LED strips, which together with the single electronic receiving device are installed on the playing pitch or a court or in a swimming pool in locations decisive for determining whether the game is played in accordance with rules of given sports discipline; said locations including all straight, circular, and arched lines of various colours which demarcate such playing fields of swimming pools.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the referee uses, in cases provided, instead of the electronic whistle and electronic whistle equipped with a sensor (92) reacting to pressure exerted by mouth of the referee, said sensor being further coupled with a reed relay which transmits signal onto input of microprocessor of analogous electronic transmitting device.

3. (canceled)

4. A set of electronic devices for remote controlling a luminous signalling system in the course of team games played by orally and aurally challenged players, comprising an electronic whistle equipped with a body with a mouthpiece and a sensor, further equipped in a transmitting device with a transmitting antenna and a microcomputer and equipped also in an electronic receiving device co-operating with a luminous signalling system which are installed in a surface of a sport field, wherein comprises an electronic whistle and a single electronic receiving; a device coupled electrically with a feeding lead supplying power for LED strips, whereas housing of the electronic whistle is equipped with a transmitting device with microprocessor output of which is connected with input of a remote control transmitter equipped with a transmitting antenna and an electric battery connected with said transmitter and with the microprocessor input of which is connected with output of the blow sensor situated in the mouthpiece portion of said whistle housing, whereas the sensor is coupled also with a rotor coupled in turn with a reed relay generating pulses counted by said microprocessor, while the electronic receiving device of the set comprises a remote control receiver equipped with a receiving antenna, output of said receiver being connected with input of a microprocessor connected bidirectionally with a system for detecting position of referee on the sports field and with input of a relay output of which is connected with input of the luminous signalling system connected with lead supplying power to LEDs mounted in elastic LED strips connected electrically to each other and installed, together with said electronic receiving device, on surface of the sports field in locations marked in colours according to regulations applicable to the practised sports discipline, whereas both the microprocessor and the remote control receiver coupled electrically with the latter are connected to a power pack.

5. (canceled)

6. (canceled)

7. (canceled)

8. The set of devices according to claim 4, wherein the electronic whistle is an electronic whistle comprising a sensor reacting to pressure exerted by mouth of the referee, said sensor being situated in mouthpiece portion of the whistle, coupled with a reed relay, and further coupled with microprocessor of analogous electronic transmitting device.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] The subject of the invention will be explained in more detail by means of example embodiments shown in drawings, of which:

[0015] FIGS. 1-11 show sports pitches, courts and other types of facilities where team sports events are held, equipped additionally with technical means co-operating with the electronic whistle used by a referee or umpire overseeing such games participated by orally and aurally challenged players when necessary in the light of rules and regulations universally applicable to given sports discipline.

[0016] FIG. 1 shows the football (soccer) pitch;

[0017] FIG. 2the basketball court;

[0018] FIG. 3the handball court;

[0019] FIG. 4the volleyball court;

[0020] FIG. 5the rugby pitch;

[0021] FIG. 6the hockey field;

[0022] FIG. 7the beach volleyball court;

[0023] FIG. 8the tennis court;

[0024] FIG. 9the ice hockey rink;

[0025] FIG. 10the baseball field;

[0026] FIG. 11the Olympic-size swimming pool;

[0027] FIG. 12the block diagram of the first variant of embodiment of the referee's electronic whistle equipped with a transmitting device;

[0028] FIG. 13a schematic-block diagram of the blow sensor of the same referee's electronic whistle;

[0029] FIG. 14a block diagram of the second variant of embodiment of the referee's electronic whistle equipped with a transmitting device;

[0030] FIG. 15an electronic receiving device for receiving binary signals emitted by the transmitting device of the referee's whistle; and

[0031] FIG. 16detail S of connection of the electronic receiving device with circuits of LED strips installed on pitch or court surfaces or in a swimming pool, shown in FIGS. 1-11.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Example 1

[0032] A football (soccer) pitch 1, along both longer side lines 2, along both shorter sides 3, along half-way line 4, at the centre spot 5, along the centre circle 6, along the goal field line 7 and the penalty area line 8, at the penalty spot 9, along the semi-circle line 10 adjacent to the penalty, and along quarter-circle corner lines 11 of the pitch, is equipped with elastic LED strips 12 placed in a housing not shown in the figure. Individual LEDs of these strips are connected to each other electrically, and their common feeder lead 13 is connected electrically with the electronic receiving device 14 installed on the pitch surface and power-supplied by said feeder lead outside the playing field, preferably near the penalty area 15, whereas the referee 16 overseeing the football match is equipped with whistle 17 with electronic transmitting device 18.

Example 2

[0033] A basketball court 19, along both sidelines 20, along both end lines 21, along division line 22, along centre circle 23, and along all throw lines 24, is equipped with elastic LED strips 12, encased in housings not shown in the figure. Individual LEDs of these strips are connected to each other electrically, and their common feeder lead 13 is connected electrically with the electronic receiving device 14 installed within on the court surface and power-supplied by said feeder lead, whereas the referee 16 overseeing the match is equipped with whistle 17 with electronic transmitting device 18.

Example 3

[0034] A handball court 25, along both side lines 26, along both outer goal lines 27, along the centre line 28, along both goal-area lines 28, and along both penalty marks 29, has installed elastic LED strips 12. Individual LEDs of these strips are connected to each other electrically, and their common feeder lead 13 is connected electrically with the electronic receiving device 14 installed on the court surface and power-supplied by said feeder lead, whereas the referee 16 overseeing the match is equipped with whistle 17 with electronic transmitting device 18.

Example 4

[0035] A volleyball court 30, along both side lines 31, along both end lines 32, along both attack lines 33, and along the centre net line 34, is equipped with elastic LED strips 12. Individual LEDs of these strips are connected to each other electrically, and their common feeder lead 13 is connected electrically with the electronic receiving device 14 installed on the court surface and power-supplied by said feeder lead, whereas the referee 16 overseeing the match is equipped with whistle 17 with electronic transmitting device 18.

Example 5

[0036] A rugby pitch 35, along both touch lines 36 and both side lines, along both dead ball lines 37, along both try lines 38, along both defence field lines 39, and along the half way line 40, is equipped with elastic LED strips 12. Individual LEDs of these strips are connected to each other electrically, and their common feeder lead 13 is connected electrically with the electronic receiving device 14 installed on the pitch surface and power-supplied by said feeder lead, whereas the referee 16 overseeing the match is equipped with whistle 17 with electronic transmitting device 18.

Example 6

[0037] A hockey pitch 41, along both side lines 42, along both end lines 43, along the centre line 44, along both shooting circles 45, and at the penalty spot 46, is equipped with elastic LED strips 12. Individual LEDs of these strips are connected to each other electrically, and their common feeder lead 13 is connected electrically with the electronic receiving device 14 installed on the pitch surface and power-supplied by said feeder lead, whereas the referee 16 overseeing the match is equipped with whistle 17 with electronic transmitting device 18.

Example 7

[0038] A beach volleyball court 47, along both side lines 48, along both end lines 49, and along the centre line 50, is equipped with elastic LED strips 12. Individual LEDs of these strips are connected to each other electrically, and their common feeder lead 13 is connected electrically with the electronic receiving device 14 installed on the court surface and power-supplied by said feeder lead, whereas the umpire 16 overseeing the match is equipped with whistle 17 with electronic transmitting device 18.

Example 8

[0039] A tennis court 51, along both doubles sidelines 52 and 53, along both singles sidelines 53 and 54, along both baselines 54, along both service lines 55, and along the net line 56, is equipped with elastic LED strips 12. Individual LEDs of these strips are connected to each other electrically, and their common feeder lead 13 is connected electrically with the electronic receiving device 14 installed on the court surface and power-supplied by said feeder lead, whereas the umpire 16 overseeing the match is equipped with whistle 17 with electronic transmitting device 18.

Example 9

[0040] An ice hockey rink 57, along its boards 58, along centre red line 59, along both blue attacking zone lines 60, along both goal lines 61, along the circle 62 surrounding the centre faceoff spot 63, and along four circles 64 surrounding four end zone faceoff spots 65, is equipped with elastic LED strips 12. Individual LEDs of these strips are connected to each other electrically, and their common feeder lead 13 is connected electrically with the electronic receiving device 14 installed on the rink surface and power-supplied by said feeder lead, whereas the referee 16 overseeing the match is equipped with whistle 17 with electronic transmitting device 18.

Example 10

[0041] A baseball field 66, along its arched line 67 separating the grass outfield 68 from infield 69 and 70, around the square field 70 around the pitchers mound, and at four corner bases 71, is equipped with elastic LED strips 12. Individual LEDs of these strips are connected to each other electrically, and their common feeder lead 13 is connected electrically with the electronic receiving device 14 installed on the field surface and power-supplied by said feeder lead, whereas the umpire 16 overseeing the game has a whistle 17 with electronic transmitting device 18.

Example 11

[0042] An Olympic-size swimming pool 72 is equipped with elastic LED strips 12 along its lane lines 73 and on touch pads 74. Individual LEDs of these strips are connected to each other electrically, and their common feeder lead 13 is connected electrically with the electronic receiving device 14 installed on the pool and power-supplied by said feeder lead, whereas referee 16 overseeing the competition has a whistle 17 with electronic transmitting device 18.

Example 12

[0043] As it has been shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, the whistle 17 of the transmitting device 18 in its first example embodiment comprises a housing 75 with a mouthpiece 76 having an inlet 77 for the air blown into the mouthpiece. Downstream the mouthpiece, a blow sensor 78 is located with a rotor 79 equipped with N-S magnet 80 and a ferreed relay 81, whereas the sensor is connected with input of the microprocessor 82, output of which is connected with input of the remote control transmitter 83 equipped with a transmitting antenna 84 and controlled by said microprocessor which, together with said transmitter, is powered from the electric battery 85, also located in housing 19 of whistle 17. Microprocessor 82 of the transmitting device has an input which counts pulses coming from ferreed relay 81 activated by means of magnet 80 placed in rotor 79 of the blow sensor 78.

Example 13

[0044] In this variation, whistle 17 of the transmitting device 18 according to the second example embodiment shown in FIG. 14 differs from whistle 17 shown in FIGS. 12 and 13 in that downstream the inlet 77 of air below into the mouthpiece 76, there is a sensor 92 activated by pressure exerted by mouth of referee 16, said sensor being connected with reed relay 81. The output of the relay is connected to input of microprocessor 82 of the electronic transmitting device 18, whereas the contact of the reed relay closes the circuit as a result of activation of the sensor.

[0045] The electronic transmitting device 18 has a unique address constituting a means of protection against accidental activation of the luminous signalling system 85 by another transmitter co-operating with an electronic receiving device. If the address of said transmitting device is incorrect, the receiving device does not react in any way to pulses (commands) emitted by the transmitting device. Unique addresses of the transmitting device 18 constitute a two-byte information representing e.g. a number from the range 0-65535 saved in memory of microprocessor 82 of said device, whereas in the course of a synchronisation process, said unique address is transmitted to the receiving device and saved in memory of its microprocessor 86. If the receiving device receives a set of data, it checks whether the set contains the address saved earlier in memory of its microprocessor 86, and the set of data with unknown address is ignored by the receiving device.

Example 14

[0046] Further, the electronic receiving device 14 presented in FIG. 15 comprises a remote control signal receiver 87 provided with a receiving antenna 88, output of said receiver being connected with input of microprocessor 86 connected bidirectionally with a system 93 for detecting position of the referee 16 within the area of the sports field, court or pitch and with the input of relay 89 output of which is connected with the input of the luminous signalling system 85 connected with the common lead 13 feeding LEDs mounted in elastic LED strips 12, whereas both the microprocessor 86 and the remote control receiver 87 coupled electrically with said processor are powered from power pack 91.

[0047] In an extended version of the embodiment, not shown in the figures, two relays 89 and 89 are connected to microprocessor 86, and each of the relays is connected to two separate luminous signalling systems 85 and 85, of which the relay 89 and the luminous signalling system 85 function as detectors of position of referee 16 on the court or pitch.

[0048] The principle of operation of a set of electronic devices allowing to apply the luminous signalling system on the football (soccer) pitch (FIG. 1) in the course of a match played by two teams members of which are orally and aurally challenged persons consists in that if an event occurs requiring intervention of the referee 16 according to applicable rules of the game, the referee uses a whistle 17 blowing air into its mouthpiece 76. As a result of such blow, the blow sensor 78 is activated in such a way that rotor 79 located therein starts to rotate and generates a signal at input of microprocessor 82, whereas pulses coming from the ferreed relay 81 activated by means of magnet 80 installed in said rotor are counted. If the stream of air blown into the mouthpiece 76 is sufficiently intensive, then magnet 80 cyclically closes contacts of the ferreed relay 81 resulting in a series of pulses occurring at input of the microprocessor 82. Once the signals are detected by microprocessor 82 on its measuring inputs, it activates the remote control transmitter 83, which by means of the radio and via its transmitting antenna 84, sends coded binary signals to the receiving antenna 88 of the electronic receiving device 14. The signals are sent to the device's remote control receiver 87. This results in appearance of binary signals at output of the receiver and microprocessor 86 performs an analysis of the data sequences and subjects them to decoding, checking their consistence with predetermined parameters and converting them into an executive signal which switches the luminous signalling system 85 on. If the result of decoding the obtained data is correct, microprocessor 86 via relay 85 switches appropriate luminous signalling system 85 on together with LEDs installed in LED strips 12 installed on surface of pitch 1.

[0049] Coded binary signals of the electronic transmitting device are composed of five bytes assigned the following meaning:

[0050] byte 1 is a prefix containing a fixed pre-defined number;

[0051] byte 2 is the older byte of an unique address;

[0052] byte 3 is the younger byte of an unique address;

[0053] byte 4 is a command constituting an instruction for the receiving device to execute a specific operation;

[0054] byte 5 is the control sum used for checking correctness of the received data set,

[0055] whereas the data set is coded into a sequence of binary states by means of biphase coding of Manchester type. Initially, the binary signal in question assumes the state corresponding to its binary value, but at half of the byte transmission time, the signal is reversed in such a way that 0 is represented by high signal level and 1 corresponds to the low level of the signal, whereas the byte transmission rate is 5-10 kilobytes per second and the gaps between data sets are 5-20 ms long.

[0056] Moreover, the location system 93 identifying position of referee 16 of the electronic receiving device allows to activate luminous signalling identifying the referee at the specific point of the pitch 1 in order to attract attention of players to the referee as well as to lit LED strips 12 installed on the surface of the given pitch or court.

[0057] The principle of operation of a set of electronic devices for application of the luminous signalling system in the course of a match played by two teams members of which are orally and orally challenged persons, described above for the case of football (soccer) match, can be applied also in case of a match of two teams playing other sports games on such sports facilities as: the volleyball court 19; the handball court 25; the volleyball court 30; the rugby pitch 35; the hockey field 41; the beach volleyball court 47; the tennis court 51; the ice hockey rink 57; the baseball field 66; or the swimming pool 72, shown in FIGS. 2-11.

[0058] Also in these cases, the principle of operation of the set of devices according to the invention consists in that as a result of air being blown by the referee 16 into the inlet 77 of mouthpiece 76 of whistle 17, the or as a result of pressure exerted by mouth of the referee 16 on mouthpiece of whistle 17, the blow sensor 78 or the mouth pressure sensor 92, respectively, will generate the signal a signal at the input of microprocessor 82, and once the signal is detected by said microprocessor on its measuring inputs, it activates the remote control transmitter 83 which via its transmitting antenna 84 sends coded binary radio signals to the receiving antenna 88 of the remote control signal receiver 87 of the electronic receiving device 14. This results in appearance of binary signals at output of the receiver and microprocessor 86 performs an analysis of the data sequences. In case when the result of decoding is correctly, the microprocessor, by means of relay 89, switches on the luminous signalling system 85 which feeds power to LEDs mounted in LED strips 12 installed in surface of the pitch or court specific for given sports discipline.