Electronic scoring dart target

Abstract: An electronic scoring dart target, which provides a "soccer" competition, an "American football" competition, as well as other "sport" competitions effect, is disclosed. The dart target includes a target 10 defining a plurality of target areas 11. The target areas 11 are divided into a frustration region, an offense/defense interactive region, and an offensive gain region. The electronic scoring dart target further includes a control panel disposed below the target 10 and a control circuit provided within the target 10. The control panel has two sets of score displays 26,27 and function keys 23,24,25, as well as a clocking display 21 and a pilot lamp 29 indicating attack. The plurality of target areas 11 are configured as a "soccer", "American football", "basketball" or some other "sports" competition ground.

Description: The present invention relates to an electronic scoring dart target according to the preamble of claim 1, and more particularly to an improved electronic scoring dart target which provides a "soccer" competition, an "American football" competition, as well as other exciting "sport" competition effects. Conventional darts generally is played in a manner of setting scores according to the hit position on the target. The used target generally has a certain pattern on the surface thereof and only can provide a single and simple game mode. With the need for improvement of enjoying indoor games, this kind of darts is neither satisfactory nor attractive. An electronic scoring dart target as described above is known from the US-A-4 893 822. This known dart target is build as a throwing dart football game which comprises: a vertical football playing field board having a plurality of yard indicating lines; a dart board having a plurality of moveable spring loaded pie shaped scoring pieces and a touchdown bulls-eye piece activated by a dart, said dart board is mounted in center of said football playing field board; a plurality of contact members, each said contact member is located on back of each said pie shaped scoring piece and said touchdown bulls-eye piece; a score board mounted above said football playing field board, a plurality of darts to be thrown by players at said dart board to make contact with said pie shaped scoring pieces and said touch-down bulls-eye piece thereby activating said contact members; means responsive to activation of contact members for carrying information between said activated contact members and said score board and automatically registering and displaying said information on said score board to indicate to said players the status of play of said football game, said means including a spaced pair of aligned indicators on each side of the board indicating ball positions and including score indicators coordinated with the ball positions and information conveyed as a result of a thrown dart hitting a particular scoring piece; two sets of intermediate yard round shap4ed indicating lamps on said set placed above said dart board on each said intermediate yard indicating line for one team and other said set placed below said dart board on each said intermediate yard indicating line for other team; two switches mounted to said football playing field board, each said switch to control one said set often yard football shaped indicating lamps and one said set of intermediate yard round shaped indicating lamps; and means for carrying information electronically between said activated contact members and said ten yard football shaped indicating lamps and said intermediate yard round shaped indicating lamps to automatically display said information on said football playing field board to indicate to said players the position of football on said football playing field board and the score after each dart is thrown. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a kind of more complex game to meet the needs of people. The present invention provides an improved electronic scoring dart target to mitigate and/or obviate the aforementioned problems. One objective of the present invention is to provide an improved electronic scoring dart target which provides a "soccer" competition, an "American football" competition, as well as other exciting "sport" competition effects. In accordance with the main aspect of the present invention, the electronic scoring dart target according to the preamble of claim 1 is characterized by the features of its characterizing clause and includes a target defining a plurality of target areas. The target areas are divided into a frustration region, an offense/defense interactive region, and an offensive gain region which is adapted for a "soccer" competition an "American football" competition and other "sport" competitions. The electronic scoring dart target further includes a control panel disposed below the target and a control circuit provided within the target. In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the control panel has two sets of score displays and function keys, as well as a clocking display and a pilot lamp indicating attack. In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, the plurality of target areas are configured as a "soccer field", an "American football field", a "basketball court" or other "sports grounds". Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In the drawings: FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an electronic scoring dart target configured to be a "soccer" competition in accordance with the present invention; FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the electronic scoring dart target configured to be an "American football" competition in accordance with the present invention; FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of the electronic scoring dart target in accordance with the present invention; FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the "soccer" competition provided by the electronic scoring dart target in accordance with the present invention; and FIG. 5 is a flow chart of the "American football" competition provided by the electronic scoring dart target in accordance with the present invention. FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are schematic views showing an electronic scoring dart target configured to be a "soccer" competition and an "American football" competition respectively in accordance with the present invention. The electronic scoring dart target includes a target 10. The target 10 defines a plurality of target areas 11 which are distinguished by size, shape and color thereof. Each target area 11 has a sensing plate (not shown) disposed at a bottom thereof so as to detect a hit to the target area 11 and send signals to a control circuit provided within the target 10. The dart target further includes two loudspeakers 28, a first score display 26 and a second score display 27, a plurality of function keys 23, 24, 25, two pilot lamps for indicating attack, and a clocking display 21 arranged at an upper portion or a lower portion thereof. To provide more enjoyable and attractive game modes, the electronic scoring dart target in accordance with the present invention is designed to be adapted for soccer, "American football", "basketball" and other "sports" competitions. In detail, the target areas 11 of the target 10 of the dart target are divided into a frustration region, an offense/defense interactive region, and an offensive gain region. In FIG. 1, the target areas 11 with the numbers 1-4 are included in the frustration region, respectively representing offside, yellow card warning, out-of bounds, and interception. The target areas 11 with the numbers 5-7 are included in the offense/defense interactive region, respectively representing a free kick, a corner kick, and a penalty kick. The target areas 11 with the numbers 8-10 are included in the offensive gain region, respectively representing long pass, short pass, and head pass. Also, two players can be distinguished to an attacker and a defender. If the frustrating region is hit, the attacker and the defender should exchange. If the offensive gain region is hit, the attacker will be allowed to continuously play. When the offense/defense interactive region is hit, it means that the attacker is executing the free kick, the corner kick, or the penalty kick and then the defender can determine whether the attacker is successful by hitting the target area 11. If the defender hits one target area 11 in the frustration region, it is determined that the attacker has failed. With this arrangement, the electronic scoring dart target provides the players with an exciting "soccer" competition effect. In FIG. 2, the target 10 is configured as an elliptical "American football" competition ground. The target areas 11 with the numbers 1-2 are included in the frustration region, respectively representing yard loss, ball loss and intercept. The target areas 11 with the numbers 3-5 are included in the offense/defense interactive region, respectively representing a pass, yard-running, and kick. The target areas 11 with the numbers 6-7 are included in the offensive gain region, respectively representing yard access, and arrival. Similar to the principle of FIG. 1, when the offense/defense interactive region is hit, it means that the attacker is passing a ball, running yards or kicking the ball, and whether the attacking score is effective or not can be determined by the defender hitting the target area 11. In addition to the above mentioned competition modes, the electronic scoring dart target can be designed for "basket ball" and some other "sports" competitions. FIG. 3 shows a circuit diagram of the control circuit in the electronic scoring dart target in accordance with the present invention, The control circuit includes a control center (not numbered) composed of a central processing unit (CPU) 30 and a quartz oscillator 33. A number of output/input ports below the CPU 30 are respectively connected to the function keys 23, 24, 25 of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, and to the sensing plate of the target 10 via a first connector 31 and a second connector 32 so that the CPU 30 can detect a hit to the target areas 11. A number of output/input ports above the CPU 30 respectively drive the first and second score displays 26, 27, the pilot lamps 29 indicating attack, the clocking display 21, and a voice integrated circuit 34. An output terminal of the voice integrated circuit 34 is connected to the loudspeakers 28 in order to provide a sound effect during the competition. FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the "soccer" competition provided by the electronic scoring dart target in accordance with the present invention. In this embodiment, the "soccer" competition is carried on with the following steps. After powering on the dart target and setting the target with function keys 23, 24, 25, the attacker firstly throws a dart at the target. If a target area 11 in the offensive gain region is hit, it is understood that the attacker is passing a ball for a long distance, a short distance, or by head. At this time, the CPU 30 will select any digital data from a proportional yard random table to indicate the yardage of the long pass, short pass or head pass. If the yardage enables the attacker to be in a shooting state, whether the shot is successful or not can be determined by the defender hitting the target 10, and if not successful, he/she must return to the beginning (first step). If the shot of the attacker is successful, the score display 26 will display the score of the attacker, and if not, the attacker and the defender should exchange. If a target area 11 in the frustration region is hit, it is understood that the attacker is offside, receiving a yellow card warning (foul), out-of bounds or has been intercepted, therefore, the attacker and the defender should exchange. If a target area 11 in the offense/defense interactive region is hit, it is understood that the attacker is in the free kick, the corner kick or the penalty situation. At this moment, the defender throws at the target 10. If the defender hits the offensive gain region, that means the defense of the defender has failed and the attacker scores one point. If the defender hits the frustration region, that means the defense of the defender is successful and the defender begins to attack. The "soccer" competition provided by the dart target can last to the pre-set time of clocking by loopingly executing above mentioned steps. Finally, the winner is determined by the separate total scores of the attacker and the defender. FIG. 5 is a flow chart of the "American football" competition provided by the electronic scoring dart target in accordance with the present invention. In this embodiment, the "American football" competition is carried out with the following steps. At sign 1, the players can set an attacking position to 50 yards and execute an initialization step, i.e, setting one "down", setting zero pushing yardage and setting zero attacking yardage. At sign 2, the attacker firstly hits the target. If a target area 11 in the offensive gain region is hit, the CPU 30 will select any digital data n from a proportional yard random table to indicate the pushing yardage. Then the attacker pushes n yards. If the attacking position is determined to be zero (i.e, touch down), the attacker enters sign 7 of touch down scoring, and then goes to the bonus goal kick. Whether the bonus goal kick is successful or not is determined by the defender hitting the target 10. If successful, the attacker will score, and if not, the attacker and the defender should exchange and enter sign 6 (return to the beginning). If the digital date n is more than 10 yards, then the attacker goes back to the step 1, and if not, accumulates the yardage and the account of "down". If the account of "down" is determined to be less than four, sign 2 is entered, while if the account of "down" is determined to be more than four, sign 3 is entered and the attacker and the defender are exchanged. Still at sign 2, if the attacker hits the frustration region, there are two situations, one is yard loss and the other is ball loss/intercept. If the target area 11 indicative of yard loss is hit, the CPU 30 will select digital data n from the proportional yard random table to indicate the lost yardage. Then the attacker returns to the attacking position by n yards, decreases the attacking yardage, and accumulates the account of "down". If the account of "down" is determined to be less than four, sign 2 is entered, while if the account of "down" is determined to be more than four, sign 3 is entered and the attacker and the defender are exchanged. If the target area 11 is indicative of ball loss /intercept, the attacker pushes the attacking position for n yards and then exchanges with the defender. Still at sign 2, if the attacker hits the offense/defense interactive region, whether the ball-passing, yard-running or kicking is successful is determined by the defender hitting the target 10. If the defense of the defender fails, i.e, the offensive gain region is hit and the target area 11 indicative of yard-running is hit, the attacker pushes n yards, then if the attacker hits the arrival target area 11, the attacker will score. If the defense of the defender is successful, i.e, the target area 11 indicative of yard loss or ball loss/intercept is hit, the attacker returns attacking position by n yards or enters the sign 5. With this arrangement, the "American football" competition provided by the dart target can last to the pre-set time of clocking by loopingly executing above mentioned steps. The final winner is determined by the respective total scores of the attacker and the defender. It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the appended claims.

Claims: An electronic scoring dart target comprising: a target (10) defining a plurality of target areas (11); a control panel adapted to the target (10); and a control circuit provided within the target (10) and coupled both to the target areas (11) and the control panel, characterized in that : said target areas (11) are divided into a frustration region, an offense/defense interactive region, and an offensive gain region, wherein whether a hitting to the offense/defense interactive region by an attacker is successful or not is determined by an interactive hitting to the target areas by a defender. The electronic scoring dart target as claimed in claim 1, wherein said control panel has at least one set of score display (26, 27) and at least one set of function keys (23, 24, 25). The electronic scoring dart target as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plurality of target areas (11) are configured as a competition ground for "soccer", "American football", "basketball" or some other "sports". The electronic scoring dart target as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plurality of target areas (11) are distinguished by color. The electronic scoring dart target as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plurality of target areas (11) are distinguished by respective shape. The electronic scoring dart target as claimed in claim 2 further comprising a clocking display (21). The electronic scoring dart target as claimed in claim 2 further comprising a set of pilot lamps (29) for indicating attack.

Inventors: PAN FRANCIS, PAN, FRANCIS
Applicants: PAN FRANCIS, PAN, FRANCIS
Application year: 1998
Main classification: F41J3
IPC codes: A63F9, F41J3