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:
Sep. 13, 1994
Filed:
Aug. 28, 1992
Reinhold E Utke, Moorhead, MN (US);
John L Eidsness, Moorhead, MN (US);
Dale P Van de Loo, Moorhead, MN (US);
Gary L Ellingson, Moorhead, MN (US);
Joel T Aslakson, Fargo, ND (US);
Teem Systems, Inc., Moorhead, MN (US);
Abstract
An object locating system, especially for use in locating a gaming ball in the game of football, utilizes a series of three sensors positioned on one side of a football playing field and a calibration source positioned on the other side. The calibration source emits an ultrasonic signal which is received by the sensors in order to provide a calibration signal. A ball marking unit is positionable on the field at a location of the ball and emits an ultrasonic signal which is received by the sensors and an RF signal which is received by the calibration source in order to turn the calibration source off. The sensors provide signals in which a processing unit calculates time delays by a time acquisition process in order to determine the position of the ball. In an alternate embodiment, the ball marking unit emits only an RF signal which is received by the sensors. The sensors again provide signals which are analyzed by the processing unit to determine delay between receipt of the signals at the sensors. Additionally, an automatic ball marking unit on a track drive can be controlled by the processing unit to automatically provide a visual representation of the ball's location.