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. 17, 2004
Filed:
Jan. 07, 2002
Applicant:
Inventors:
Jeff L. Lee, Louisville, KY (US);
John F. Naber, Prospect, KY (US);
Assignee:
4th & Exactly LLC, Louisville, KY (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01B 1/114 ; G01C 1/500 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G01B 1/114 ; G01C 1/500 ;
Abstract
The present invention is a system and method of precisely locating a football on a football field in order to determine whether a first down has been achieved. The invention employs an optical distance measuring device that communicates via a wireless transceiver with a portable display device controlled by an on-field official. The portable display device is equipped with an operator interface used to request measurements of the ball location and is suitably programmed to calculate whether a first down has been achieved based on first and second ball location data points.