Abstract:
A paintball gun includes a detector that detects the ejection of each paintball and a transmitter that transmits a signal to a remote location indicative of the ejection. The signal is used to determine if the paintball gun is ejecting paintballs at an unacceptable rate and in response, either a warning is generated, or a signal is sent back to inhibit the paintball gun. The signal from the transmitter may include a unique ID for the paintball gun. A command center can receive the signals and generate a statistical record of the operation of each paintball gun in a given playing field.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    The subject matter of this application is related to application Ser. No. 11/960,899, filed Dec. 20, 2007 and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    This invention pertains to a paintball gun and aftermarket add-on for a paintball gun that generates signals indicative of an operational characteristic of the gun, such as its rate of fire, and a system, such as the play field in which several participants use these types of guns. 
         [0004]    2. Description of the Prior Art 
         [0005]    Paintball is an exciting involving players firing paintballs quickly and accurately upon each others using paintball guns which are also known as paintball markers. A typical paintball gun includes a body including a handle with a trigger, a tank holding a compressed gas (typically air or CO 2 ) and a barrel receiving paintballs from a hopper. Activation of a trigger on the handle causes compressed gas from the tank to propel paintballs through a barrel. Initially, paintball was played with paintball guns that were purely mechanically-operated. 
         [0006]    The introduction of electronics into paintball guns has revolutionized the paintball gun and has completely changed the way the game of paintball is played. Electronics have allowed paintball guns to be more than simple mechanical guns. Guns now have electronic circuit boards with computer chips controlling the functions of the gun and providing the paintball player options that were not available with a traditional mechanical gun. 
         [0007]    However, it has been suggested that as a result of some of these improvements, the rate of fire of some paintball guns have become so fast that they may provide an unfair advantage to unscrupulous users or may even be dangerous. As a result, there is now a need to monitor some of the operational parameters of paintball guns, such as their rate of fire. Additionally, as the game of paintball has progressed to a sport with complex rules, teams, and competitions, paintball lacks any form of individual or team statistics, which provide legitimacy as a sport and adds value to the overall experience to individual participants. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    In one embodiment, the present invention pertains to a paintball gun having a body adapted to selectively eject paintballs, a trigger activated by a user, an electronic circuit sensing the activation of the trigger and in response causing the ejection of said paintballs and a transmitter sending signals to a remote location, said being indicative of the ejection of the paintballs for determining a predetermined parameter, such as the rate of fire of paintballs. In one embodiment, the rate of fire is determined within the body and incorporated into the signals. Preferably, the signals further include an ID uniquely identifying the paintball gun. 
         [0009]    In another aspect of the invention, a playing field is set up to allow several persons to compete against each other with the paintball guns. A central controller receives the signals from each gun, accumulates the data, and generates information reflecting various parameters of interests, such as the individual rates of fire and other information. This information is then presented in various formats as desired. In one embodiment, a warning is generated if a user causes his gun to fire at a very high rate, and in extreme situations, the command center may send a control command to an individual gun, disabling it temporarily. Additionally, the central controller is able to aggregate signals received from each gun and store it has a unique record for individual players and teams and calculate various statistical metrics, which can be used to benchmark an individual or teams performance. These metrics include average, maximum, and current rate of fire information, player idle time, as well as the amount of time a player spends shooting in a single game or over his lifetime. In one embodiment, additional metrics other t can be recorded into the database such as wins, loses, or other performance metrics and calculated in combination with rate of fire metrics to quantify how many shots per elimination an individual or team fires or how many shots per win or loss or other statistical information. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]      FIGS. 1A and 1B  show somewhat diagrammatic side views of an electronic paintball gun constructed in accordance with this invention; 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  shows a block diagram of some of the internal components of the paintball gun of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  shows a playing field with two teams of several players using the guns of  FIGS. 1-2 ; 
           [0013]      FIG. 4  shows a block diagram of some of the internal components of an alternate embodiment of the invention; 
           [0014]      FIG. 5  shows a block diagram illustrating the operation of a central monitoring/control system on the field of  FIG. 4 ; 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0015]    Various preferred aspects and embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying figures. It should be noted, however, that the following description is provided by way of example only and not of limitation, and that many other implementations and embodiments of the present invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art based on the disclosure herein. The scope of the invention should therefore not be limited to the particular embodiments described herein. 
         [0016]    In  FIG. 1  a side view of a paintball gun is portrayed somewhat diagrammatically in order to illustrate its operation and the various improvements provided by the present invention. A paintball gun  10  includes a body  11 , with a barrel  12  and a handle  14 . The body  11  is attached by standard tubes to a source of compressed gas. The source and the tubing have been omitted for the sake of simplicity. Alternatively, the compressed air source may be built into the handle  14  or body  11 , and replaced through a small hinged door (not shown) formed therein. 
         [0017]    The barrel  12  is selectively connected to the air tank by valves (not shown) and a gas line  16 . Attached to the body  11  (or the barrel  12  is a magazine  19  containing paintballs (not shown). Although the magazine  19  is shown mounted right on top of the body  11  for the sake of simplicity, in most paintball gun configurations, the paintballs are fed into the barrel  12  from a closed paintball holder through a hopper (not shown). 
         [0018]    The gun  10  is also provided with a trigger  20  protected by a guard  22 . In one embodiment, a user aims the gun  10  at a target and pulls the trigger  20 . This action causes the valves and other mechanisms within the body  11  to feed a paint ball from the magazine  19  to be loaded and then ejected at a high speed through the barrel  12 . The gun  10  can be normally operated in various modes, such as semi-automatic mode, in which a single paintball is ejected each time the trigger  20  is pulled, a burst mode in which a predetermined number of paintballs are being ejected every time the trigger  20  is depressed, an automatic mode in which as long as the trigger  20  is depressed, the paintballs are ejected continuously, or as well as other modes. 
         [0019]    The handle  14  is formed with two removable panels  24 A,  24 B one on each side of the handle. Alternatively, the front portion of the handle is removable and formed of the two panels  24 A,  24 B connected to form a single U-shaped assembly. The panels  24 A,  24 B are removable to allow access to the interior of the handle  14 . Also provided on the gun are several visual indicators, which may be merely warning lights, such as lights  114 ,  116 , a buzzer or speaker  104 , or could be a more complicated display such as an LCD display  132  on which messages could be displayed. The operation of these elements is discussed in more details below. 
         [0020]    Referring now to  FIG. 2 , inside the gun, a control circuit  30  including a microprocessor  200  running software programs stored in a memory  202  is provided. A trigger sensor  204  senses when the trigger  20  is activated and sends an appropriate message to the microprocessor  200 . The microprocessor  200  then sends a command to an activator  206  on command line  208  requesting that that a paint ball be ejected. The activator  206  then generates an analog or digital activation signal to either a gas valve or a solenoid (depending on the mechanism actually utilized in the respective gun  10 ) that initiates the process for feeding a paintball into barrel  12  and then ejecting it. One such command is issued for each paint ball. Therefore, if the gun is in semi-automatic mode, a single command is issued. If in a burst or fully automatic mode, the microprocessor  200  issues as many commands as programmed. 
         [0021]    The microprocessor  200  may monitor other parameters associated with the operation of the gun  10 , such as the number of the total number of balls that have been fired, etc., and activate lights  114 ,  118 , the buzzer/speaker or other indicators in a conventional manner, to provide information to the user, as described in the co-pending application Ser. No. 11/960,899 filed Dec. 20, 2007. 
         [0022]    Importantly, according to this invention, the control circuit  30  further includes a ball request detector  210  that detects each time a command has been generated for a ball. In one embodiment, the detector  210  is connected to the command line  208  so that it can intercept each command to the activator  206 . Once a command for a paintball has been detected, the detector  210  sends an output signal to an RF transmitter  212 . The transmitter  212  receives the output signal from the command detector  210  and an ID code from memory  202  identifying the particular gun. The transmitter then sends the output signal and the gun ID to a master command center. The operation of the command center is described in more detail below. 
         [0023]    The embodiment described above is particularly useful when the present invention is provided as an add-on component to an existing gun. In this situation, all the components, except for the command detector  210  and the RF transmitter  212  exist, usually as a single assembly on a common PC board. Typically in such constructions, the microprocessor  202  and activator  206  are interconnected by a plug-type command line  208 . The present invention is implemented by providing the command detector  210  and the RF transmitter as a small subassembly, and replacing the plug-in command line  208  with a T-shaped wire harness connecting the microprocessor  200 , the activator  206  and the command detector  210  to perform the functions described, with another connector providing the coupling to the memory  202 . In an alternate embodiment, the command detector  210  detects the output of the trigger sensor itself rather then waiting for the microprocessor  200 . 
         [0024]    Before explaining the operation of the invention any further, it is helpful to provide a more physical description of the environment in which the paintball gun is used. Referring now to  FIG. 3 , a field is shown in which the there are provided several obstacles or barriers  302  of various sizes and shapes. The field  300  is used for a competition by two or more teams, in this case a first team with members  304 , and a second team with members  306 , each of the members  304 ,  306  having a paintball gun  10 . 
         [0025]    All activities on the field  300  are monitored by a command center  310 . The command center  310  includes a master microprocessor  311  associated with a memory  312 , a display  314  and a printer  316 . The microprocessor  311  receives signals from the various guns  10  used by the team members through a master antenna  318 . In some cases, the field  300  may be very big and/or the RF transmitters  212  may be either too small, or their range/intensity may be limited by various FCC or other regulations, as a result of which their transmissions may not reach master antenna  318 . In these cases, one or more repeaters  320  are used, each repeater  320  receiving signals from some of the players  304 ,  306 , and transmitting them to the master antenna  318  and the command center  310 . 
         [0026]    The operation of the system of  FIG. 3  as well as the individual guns of  FIGS. 1 and 2  shall now be described in conjunction with the flow chart in  FIG. 4 . At the beginning of each play, each player registers with the command center providing his name and the ID of his gun. In some instances, some, or all the players are issued guns by the command center. In addition, players are provided with protective gear, clothing, and/or ID badges, numbers attached to the clothing, etc. 
         [0027]    Next, the players  304 ,  306  are dispersed on the field  300  accordingly taking up various positions (step  402 ). The game then starts (step  404 ) and players start shooting each other or at various targets. Each time, a gun ejects (e.g., fires) a paintball, the master microprocessor  311  receives a signal from the individual transmitters  212  indicating the event. The microprocessor  311  then calculates the number of shots fired by each gun within a specific period of time (e.g., per minute), and, optionally, the total number of shots per gun since the beginning of the play (step  408 ). In step  410 , the rate of fire and/or the total number of shots are compared for each gun to a predetermined threshold  410 . This step is desirable, because it is important for various reasons to insure that no gun fires at an excessive rate for the sake of the safety of other players. These parameters may be useful for other purposes as well. If the parameter(s) exceeds a threshold, then in step  412  a warning is generated. The warning may be a flag on the record for the corresponding player. Alternatively, based in individual policies of such facilities, a supervisor may contact the player directly or through a referee on the field and indicate to the player that the mode of operation is unacceptable. If the facility so desires, the player may even be asked to leave the game. This phase is performed for each affected player. 
         [0028]    Whether or not one or more players receive warnings or not, the results are compiled and tabulated (step  414 ) and the process continues by looking for new shots (Step  406 ) until the game ends. The results are then tabulated for all the players and/or teams, and presented on display  314  or printed on printer  316 . 
         [0029]    Another embodiment of the invention is shown in  FIG. 5 . In this figure, a gun  50  has; a microprocessor  500 , a memory  502 , trigger sensor  504 , an activator  506 , and command line  508  all of which operate essentially in the same manner as their counterpart in  FIG. 3 . However, gun  500  further includes two improvements. One is that the command detector  510  is also a counter that counts that the rate of fire (i.e., the number of balls ejected in a preselected period of time, and optionally the total number of balls fired since the beginning of the game. This information is sent to the command center  308  for processing in a manner similar to the previous embodiment. Optionally, this information is also shown on the display  132 . 
         [0030]    In one embodiment, during or as a game progress, information from each player and/or team is tabulated and presented in terms as a chart, table, etc., listing some or all of the following information: 
         [0031]    Name of each player/team 
         [0032]    Transmitter ID 
         [0033]    Signal strength 
         [0034]    First shot taken (time) 
         [0035]    Shots fired 
         [0036]    Average rate (balls/sec) 
         [0037]    Latest rate (balls/sec) 
         [0038]    Peak rate (balls/sec) 
         [0039]    Shooting time 
         [0040]    Shooting % 
         [0041]    Idle time 
         [0042]    Last Update 
         [0043]    Another new feature is that the gun  50  is now in synchronous or asynchronous two-way communication with the command center. That is, at regular intervals, external signals are received from the command center. These external signals are decoded by decoder and are provided to the microprocessor  500  that analyzes and acts upon them. The external signals may include commands, as well as information of general or specific interest. For example, these signals may include information to each player indicating when each play is starting and ending. This information may be in the form of a simple announcement or may be in the form of a countdown indicating how many second or minutes there are before a game begins or ends. In one embodiment, the guns are all disabled when the players enter field  300 . The microprocessor  500  is configured to enable the guns so that they can be used to shoot only after the game has commenced. Optionally, at the end of a game, all the guns can be disabled so that they cannot fire anymore. 
         [0044]    The command detector/counter is shown in the present application as being part of the embodiment with the transceiver  512  as well. Of course, it could be used as part of the embodiment of  FIG. 2  as well. In either case, the count determined by command detector/counter  510  can be transmitted in each embodiment to the command center and/or shown on the local display  132 . The embodiment of  FIG. 5  can also be implemented with a simple command detector so that the counting function is performed only at the master station. 
         [0045]    Importantly, in one embodiment, when a determination is made that a gun is firing at an acceptable rate, and/or has fired too many shots, a signal can be sent either directly from the command detector/counter  510  or the master microprocessor to disable the gun, either for a limited time, or for the duration of the game. 
         [0046]    Finally, it should be understood that the various general or specific information can be presented on the display  132  and/or by other visual or audio signals using LEDS  114 ,  116 , speaker/buzzer  104 , etc. 
         [0047]    Numerous other modifications and variations to the foregoing embodiments are possible and will be apparent to those skilled in the art. For example, ear phones and/or other devices can be connected to the microprocessor not only through an audio connector, but via other connection means as well including, e.g. a USB connector. The appended claims should therefore be interpreted to cover all such modifications and variations.