Patent ID: 9397845
Filing Date: 2016-07-19
CPC Classification: A63B,G04G,G07C,H04L

Claim Text:
1. A sports timing system for communicating in real time sporting event participant information with a remote system, the sports timing system configured to utilize and communicate with a participant detection system that is remotely located from the sports timing system wherein the participant detection system detects a participant's proximity to an event detection point and identifies a participant identifier and determines a plurality of different detection times associated with said detection and transmits participant detection data including the identified participant identifier and the determined detection times to the sports timing system, the sports timing system comprising: a participant detection system communication interface communicatively coupled via a first communication network to the participant detection system wherein the participant detection system communication interface receives from the participant detection system the participant detection data that includes the participant identifier and the plurality of different detection times; a processor configured for executing computer executable instructions; a memory storing the computer executable instructions and a unique sport timing system (sports timing system) identifier referring to the sports timing system and coupled to the processor for providing the computer executable instructions to the processor, the computer executable instructions including a database application for storing the unique sports timing system identifier and a plurality of participant data in the memory, each participant data of the plurality of participant data including a registered participant identifier for uniquely identifying each of a plurality of participants, one or more personal data associated with each participant of the plurality of participants, and a participant timing data that includes the received plurality of different detection times for each of the plurality of participants in proximity to the event detection point and a determined time of passing, the computer executable instructions including determining the time of passing that a particular participant passed the event detection point responsive to the received plurality of detection times for the particular participant; a data interface coupled to the processor and the memory and communicatively coupled to a second data communication network, the computer executable instructions causing the data interface of the sports timing system to communicate over the second data communication network with the remote system using a stateless broadcast variable length packet protocol transmitting a plurality of predefined multicast and unicast messages each of which is an application level message, the transmitted multicast and unicast messages including at least one of the unique sports timing system identifier, a portion of the participant data and the determined time of passing for the particular participant, wherein the multicast application level messages include an identification of the sports timing system but do not include an identification of the remote system, the multicast application level messages including each of an announcement message, an announce message for lap events message, a no announcement message, a time synchronization message, a remote signal verification message and a refresh display message.