Athleticism rating and performance measuring system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9623316-B2
Application number	US-201514611503-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 2, 2015
Priority date	Nov 5, 2004
Publication date	Apr 18, 2017
Grant date	Apr 18, 2017

Abstract

A universal athleticism rating system and related athletic performance measuring systems for accurately detecting and recording athletic performance are disclosed. The athleticism rating system evaluates individual athletes against a common, standardized, set of athletic performance tests. Each athlete performs the athletic tests and his or her scores in the individual tests are entered into a standardized calculation to produce a single athletic performance score. The related performance measuring system is preferably a timing system that ensures quick, easy, and accurate collection of athletic event timing related data without the need for the athlete to wear any special detection devices or the like. In a preferred embodiment, the performance measuring system integrates with the rating system to provide seamless athletic data collection and rating of athletes.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method of processing athletic sensor data comprising:
receiving through a first wireless communication link of a portable base unit comprising a telephony device, performance data of an athlete collected by at least one sensor during the athlete's performance of an athletic activity during a first time frame, wherein the receiving is conducted during at least a portion of the first time frame;
processing the performance data at the base portable unit by seamlessly integrating the collected performance data into an automatically calculated athletic performance score for the athlete for the performance of the athletic activity utilizing performance data received from the at least one sensor collected during the first time frame of the athletic performance; and
outputting the athletic performance score on the telephony device by automatically applying performance data from the first time frame to an athleticism rating equation;
wirelessly transmitting the received performance data during the performance of the athletic activity through a second wireless communication link of the portable base unit to a remote device;
receiving an electronic signal indicative that the athlete conducted a sport-specific session during the first time frame, and in response, analyzing the sport-specific session using a normalized sport-specific athleticism equation to generate an sport-specific performance score; and
outputting the athletic performance score and the sport-specific performance score on the telephony device of the base unit.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second wireless communication link comprises a link to a wireless telephony network.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor comprises a first sensor configured to collect performance data related to a contact force of the athlete.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
displaying performance results obtained from the performance data on a display of the telephony device.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the at least one sensor is located on an appendage-worn device.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the performance data comprises accelerometer data.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the athlete is performing a sport-specific activity that is selected from the group consisting of: football, soccer, running, jogging, yoga, walking, and combinations thereof.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor is a timing sensor and receiving performance data comprises:
automatically detecting a plurality of triggering events from the timing sensor during the athlete's performance of a first test.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein calculating the sport-specific score comprises:
determining that the athlete's movements constitute actions of a sport-specific activity, and as a result, determining that the athlete is engaged in the sport-specific activity.

10. A sensor system configured to process athletic sensor data comprising:
a base unit comprising:
a processor;
a mobile telephony device;
a receiver configured to automatically receive through a first wireless communication link, performance data collected by an athletic unit configured to be worn by an athlete during a first athletic event and comprising a sensor; and
a transmitter configured to automatically wirelessly transmit through a second wireless communication link the received performance data to a server; and
a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed by the processor perform at least:
receiving a user input identifying an initiation of a first athletic event;
processing the performance data collected during the first athletic event to seamlessly integrate the collected performance data from the first athletic event into an automatically-calculated sport-specific normalized athletic equation to obtain a first athletic performance score for the athlete for the first athletic event utilizing performance data received from the sensor and outputting the first athletic performance score on the mobile telephony device; and
receiving an indication of a termination of the first athletic event, and in response, cease calculating the first athletic performance score and upon receiving a user input identifying an initiation of a second athletic event, initiate processing a second athletic performance score utilizing performance data received from at least the sensor to automatically calculate a second single sport-specific normalized athletic performance score.

11. The sensor system of claim 10 , wherein the second wireless communication link comprises a link to a wireless telephony network.

12. The sensor system of claim 10 , wherein the sensor is configured to collect performance data related to a contact force of the athlete.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium of the mobile telephony device further comprises computer-executable instructions that when executed by the processor, further perform at least:
displaying performance results obtained from at least a portion of performance data on a display of the mobile telephony device.

14. The sensor system of claim 13 , wherein the displaying of the performance results is during the first athletic event.

15. The sensor system of claim 10 , wherein the performance data comprises accelerometer data.

16. The sensor system of claim 10 , wherein the performance data comprises data collected during the athlete's performance in the first or second athletic event selected from the group consisting of: a football game, soccer game, basketball game, running event, track meet, yoga session, and combinations thereof.

17. The sensor system of claim 16 , wherein the sensor is a timing sensor and receiving performance data comprises:
automatically detecting a plurality of triggering events from the timing sensor during the athlete's performance of a first test.

18. The sensor system of claim 17 , wherein receiving a user input identifying an initiation of a first athletic event comprises:
receiving a user input indicating the initiation of a first sport-specific athletic event.

19. A sensor system configured to be utilized in a calculation of an athletic value comprising:
a sensor unit comprising:
a processor;
one or more sensors;
a first wireless communication link; and
a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed by the processor perform at least:
collecting sensor performance data from the at least one sensor of the one or more sensors;
based upon a triggering event, automatically transmitting the sensor performance data to an external base unit through the first wireless communication link during a user's performance of a sport specific activity;
automatically transmitting an electronic signal from the one or more sensors through the first wireless communication link to the external base unit indicative that the user conducted a sport-specific activity, and in response, analyzing the sport-specific activity using a normalized sport-specific athleticism equation to generate an automatically-calculated single athletic performance score for the user for the sport-specific activity utilizing performance data received from the one or more sensors.

20. The sensor system of claim 19 , wherein the system further comprises the external base unit, and the external base unit comprises:
a processor; and
a non-transitory computer-read

Assignees

• Nike Inc

Inventors

• Chapa Jr Rodolfo
• Arjomand Hamid G
• Braun Adam C
• Bark Andrew

Classifications

• A63B71/0616

  Means for conducting or scheduling competition, league, tournaments or rankings · CPC title

• A63B24/0062

  Monitoring athletic performances, e.g. for determining the work of a user on an exercise apparatus, the completed jogging or cycling distance · CPC title

• A63B2220/805

  Optical or opto-electronic sensors · CPC title

• A63B2102/18

  Baseball, rounders or similar games · CPC title

• G07C1/22

  in connection with sports or games · CPC title