The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 25, 2026
Filed:
Nov. 02, 2023
Toca Football, Inc., Costa Mesa, CA (US);
Wayne Morton Rapp, Irvine, CA (US);
Lindon Alford Baker, Yorba Linda, CA (US);
Richard Alan Gros, Anaheim Hills, CA (US);
Daniel Taylor Murphy, Irvine, CA (US);
TOCA Football, Inc., Costa Mesa, CA (US);
Abstract
A ball-throwing machine is disclosed that includes one or more launch wheels configured to impart motion to one or more balls, a frame to which the one or more launch wheels couple, wherein a staging area is formed within the frame adjacent the one or more launch wheels, a ball-sensor, and a control circuit configured to control the one or more launch wheels. The control circuit includes a processor, and non-transitory, computer-readable medium having logic stored thereon that, when executed by the processor, cause performance of operations including: receiving ball-sensor data from the ball-sensor, and determining whether a ball is present within the staging area based on the ball-sensor data. In some instances, the ball-sensor is an optical sensor configured to project a light signal into the staging area and detect a reflected light signal when the ball is present within the staging area.