Multi-modal on-field position determination

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11096140-B2
Application number	US-201615774084-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 10, 2016
Priority date	Nov 10, 2015
Publication date	Aug 17, 2021
Grant date	Aug 17, 2021

Abstract

A system, devices, and methods include a player network hub and relay network hubs. The player network hub is configured to form a body area network with peripheral devices by communicating wirelessly according to a first wireless protocol and transmit location information according to a second wireless protocol different than the first wireless protocol. The relay network hubs are configured to form a wide area network with the player network hub and a master network hub by communicating, at least in part, according to the second wireless protocol, wherein the relay network hubs are configured to receive the location information from the player network hub and wherein at least one of the relay network hubs or the master network hub are configured to determine a location of the player network hub based on the location information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a player network hub configured to:
form a body area network with peripheral devices by communicating wirelessly according to a first wireless protocol; and
transmit location information according to a second wireless protocol different than the first wireless protocol; and
relay network hubs configured to form a wide area network with the player network hub and a master network hub by communicating, at least in part, according to the second wireless protocol, wherein the relay network hubs are configured to receive the location information from the player network hub and wherein at least one of the relay network hubs or the master network hub are configured to determine a location of the player network hub based on the location information;
wherein the relay network hubs each have a relative known location with respect to a field of play, and wherein the at least one of the relay network hubs or the master network hub are configured to determine a location of the player network hub on the field of play;
wherein at least one of the relay network hubs are dynamically repositionable relative to the field of play and are configured to determine the location of the player network hub on the field of play based on a current position of the at least one of the relay network hubs; and
wherein the at least one relay network hub is a component of an autonomous vehicle and is configured to be dynamically repositionable to change from a first physical location to another physical location with respect to: the field of play; movement of the player network hub within the field of play; and signal range distance relative to the relay network hub to transmit or receive wireless data packets with the relay network hub.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the relay network hubs are in a fixed position relative to the field of play.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one relay network hub is dynamically repositionable along a constraining apparatus.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the player network hub is configured to be associated with and secured with respect to a player engaged in an athletic activity on the field of player, and wherein the at least one relay network hub is configured to be dynamically repositioned based, at least in part, on movement by the player on the field of play.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the player network hub configured to be associated with a player of an athletic event on the field of play.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the peripheral devices are configured to be associated with the player.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein at least one of the peripheral devices is configured to sense data regarding the player and transmit the data to the player network hubs according to the first wireless protocol.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein:
the player network hub is configured to transit the data to at least one of the relay network hubs;
the at least one relay network hubs are configured to transmit the data regardi: the player to the master network hub; and
the master network hub is configured to at least one of determine analytics based on the data and cause the data to be presented on a user interface.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the relay network hubs comprise:
an antenna configured to communicate according to the second wireless protocol; and
a location circuit configured to determine the location information.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein location information is based on a distance between the player network hub and the relay network hub.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the at least one of the relay network hubs or the master network hub are configured to determine the location of the player network hub by triangulating the distance information determined by the location circuit of multiple ones of the relay network hubs.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the relay network hubs each further comprise a wireless communication tag comprising the antenna, the location circuit, a data port, and a microcontroller configured to manage the location circuit and data reception and transmission via the data port.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the player network hub comprises the wireless communication tag, wherein the location circuit is configured to transmit a data packet to the relay network hubs via the antenna, and wherein the location circuit of the relay network hub is configured to determine a distance between the player network hub and the relay network hub based on the data packet.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the player network hub comprises:
a body area network hub configured to communicate according to the first wireless protocol; and
a wireless communication tag, coupled to the body area network hub, configured to communicate according to the second wireless protocol.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the body area network hub comprises an antenna and a communication module configured to communicate according to the first wireless protocol.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the wireless communication tag comprises:
a location circuit configured to generate a location packet,
an antenna configured to transmit the location packet to at least some of the relay network hubs according to the second wireless protocol.

17. The system of claim 1 , wherein the player network hub is configured to be secured with respect to a player involved in an athletic activity.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the player network hub is configured to receive data transmitted form the peripheral devices and transmit the data to at least one of the relay network hubs.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the data is physiologic data related to the player.

20. The system of claim 18 , wherein the data is indicative of a proximity of an auxiliary device to one of the peripheral devices.

21. The system of claim 20 , wherein the auxiliary device is equipment utilized in the athletic activity.

22. The system of claim 17 , wherein the player network hub is integrated in at least one of apparel or an article configured to be worn by the player.

23. A method, comprising:
forming, with a player network hub, a body area network with peripheral devices by communicating wirelessly according to a first wireless protocol;
transmitting, with the player network hub, location information according to a second wireless protocol different than the first wireless protocol;
forming, with relay network hubs, a wide area network with the player network hub and a master network hub by communicating, at least in part, according to the second wireless protocol, wherein the relay network hubs are configured to receive the location information from the player network hub and wherein at least one of the relay network hubs or the master network hub are configured to determine a location of the player network hub based on the location information, wherein the relay network hubs each have a relative known location with respect to a field of play, and wherein the at least one of the relay network hubs or the master network hub are configured to determine a location of the player network hub on the field of play;
dynamically repositioning to change from a first physical location to another physical location at least one of the relay network hubs relative to the field of play; and
determining the relative known location based on a current positio

Assignees

• Nike Inc

Inventors

• Andon Christopher
• Kash Brian
• Palmer Ryan
• Pheil Holli

Classifications

• G01S5/0249

  Determining position using measurements made by a non-stationary device other than the device whose position is being determined · CPC title

• G01S2205/08

  Sport · CPC title

• G01S2205/09

  for tracking people · CPC title

• G01S5/0205

  Details · CPC title

• H04L67/131

  Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality · CPC title