Abstract:
an apparatus comprising a sensor system and a controller. The sensor system may be configured to provide information about an angle of a ski rope relative to a ski pylon. The controller may be configured to provide (i) a first indication if the sensor indicates the ski rope reaches a target angle within a target time and (ii) a second indication if the sensor does not indicate the ski rope reaches the target angle be within the target time.

Description:
This is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 12/201,322, filed Aug. 29, 2008 now abandoned, which is incorporated by reference. 
     The present application claims the benefit of Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/696,605, filed Sep. 1, 2007, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to water skiing generally and, more particularly, to a method and/or apparatus for providing timing information to practice water skiing. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Water ski courses are used in professional and armature tournaments. Courses include 6 buoys (sometimes 4 buoys) in a symmetrical pattern. A skier needs to turn around the buoys. If a skier is successful, the boat driver shortens the ski rope and the skier repeats the course run. The rope is shortened until the skier is unable to complete the course. The last successful buoy (or ball) is recorded as the skiers score. For example, a skier may run 5 balls at 35 off. Many speed variations are possible. 
     Training on a course is both difficult and time consuming. The buoys are secured to the bottom on the lake on some sort of anchoring system. However, the buoys often become dislodged and need to be reattached. Such reattachment (a regular maintenance item), is time consuming and often frustrating. For example, if a skier wants to train early in the morning, when the water conditions are often optimal, the last thing such a skier wants to do is perform course maintenance. Ski courses are also expensive. 
     Also, in some locations a ski course may not be legally possible or even practical. Some skiers without regular course access would like to train for a course. 
     It would be desirable to implement a method and/or apparatus that may be used to simulate the timing needed for a skier to ski a water ski course. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention concerns an apparatus comprising a sensor system and a controller. The sensor system may be configured to provide information about an angle of a ski rope relative to a ski pylon. The controller may be configured to provide (i) a first indication if the sensor indicates the ski rope reaches a target angle within a target time and (ii) a second indication if the sensor does not indicate the ski rope reaches the target angle be within the target time. 
     The objects, features and advantages of the present invention include providing a water skiing training system that may (i) provide timing feedback to a skier, (ii) be mounted along with traditional boat electronics, and/or (iii) be used to provide ski course cues used for open water training. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description and the appended claims and drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a diagram illustrating a basic embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a more detailed embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 3  is a diagram illustrating various alternate implementations of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a top view of a boat  100  is shown in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The boat  100  includes a pylon  102 . A ski rope  103  is shown in various positions (e.g.,  103 ′,  103 ″, etc.). The boat also includes a sensing device  104 . The sensing device  104  is shown in various positions (e.g.,  104 ,  104 ′ and  104 ″, etc.) along the side of the boat  100 . A buoy  106   a  and a buoy  106   b  are shown. As the boat  100  moves in a direction shown by an arrow  110 , a skier pulls the rope  103  to each side of the boat far enough over to reach the buoy. For example, the rope  103  has a first length that reaches the buoy  106   a  when the rope  103  touches the sensor  104 . When the sensor  104 ′ is moved back toward the boat, the rope  103 ′ is longer. Similarly, the rope  103 ″ shows a position where the rope is either longer, and touches the sensor  104 ″. In general, the shorter the length of the rope  103 , the more angle a spear must accomplish compared with the pylon. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , a more detailed diagram of the boat  100  is shown. A controller  120  is shown having an input  126  connected to the sensor  104 ″ and an input  128  connected to the sensor  104   b ″. An input  124  may receive signals from an engine and/or from a boat operator. The controller  120  also has a display  122 . While the display  122  is shown attached to the controller  120 , the display may be located in a convenient position around the boat. For example, the display  122  may be mounted on the back of the boat near the ski/swim platform  132 . A sensor  150  may be implemented to show when a skier passes the back of the boat  100 . The sensor  150  may be used to simulate when a skier passes through the start and end gates on a ski course. The controller  120  may be implemented as a processor, microprocessor, or other processing device. The controller  120  may be configured to receive input signals, input parameters, etc. The controller  120  may store such parameters. The controller  120  may be configured to generate pass/fail indication signals in response to such input signals. The controller  120  may have a built-in clock, or may receive an external clock signal. The controller  120  may have a memory to store parameters from a ski pass. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , a diagram illustrating alternate implementation is shown. The pylon  102  may be implemented to include a sensor that may be sued to provide a signal (e.g., IN) to the controller  120  that indicated the position of the rope  103  in terms of an angle (e.g., A). In one example, the angle A may represent an angle with respect to the direction  110 . By implementing the pylon with an angle sensor, mounting the sensors  104  on the boat  100  may be eliminated. The controller  120  may be mounted under the dashboard of the boat  100 , for example near the speed control system of the boat  100 . A target time may represent the time that a skier needs to have the rope  103  reach a certain angle on the pylon sensor. The controller  120  may calculate a target time based on simulating a desired boat speed and rope length. In one example, the boat speed may be either manually entered into the controller  120  by a user. In another example, the boat speed may be an input the controller  120  for either the electronics of the boat  100 , a speed control system, a speedometer sensor, a paddle wheel, etc. To simulate the start and end of a ski pass (e.g. the gates on a course), the controller  120  may start each timing increment as the skier passes the back of the boat  100 . A speaker  140  is shown that may be used to provide a sound indication of a pass/fail condition. 
     The angle sensor in the pylon may be implemented in a variety of ways. In one example, the rope may be secured to the outer portion of a typical pylon  102 . The outer portion typically moves with the rope on a set of bearings attached to the fixed portion of the pylon  102 . The angle sensor may be implemented between the fixed portion and the angular portion of the pylon  102 . In one example, the rope  103  may be fixed to the pylon using an arm that extends from the pylon, similar to the arms on a photo mounting apparatus used to video tape a ski run. In another example, a video camera may be mounted above the ski pylon, for example on a wake board tower. The video camera might point down at the rope connection to the pylon. The controller may receive a video signal and convert the angle of the rope seen in the video signal to a digital value that may be used to make the angle calculations. By mounting a video camera on an elevated position, such as a wake board tower, a damping type factor may be implemented in the controller  120 . In particular, the vibrations from the ski rope may be averaged out by implementing an appropriate process in the controller  120 . 
     The display may be implemented a visual indication of a good or a bad pass by implementing different color lights. For example, a green light may indicate a passing turn. A red light may indicate a failing turn. The particular colors may be varied. If a sound indication is used, a pleasing sound, like a windows chime, may be used for a passing sound. A raspberry sound may be used for a failing sound. The particular sound may be varied. A sound indication may be implemented by passing a signal to the sound system of the boat  100 . The sound system may be adjusted to provide enough sound to be heard over the normal boat and/or water sound present while skiing. Alternately, the sound indication may be broadcast over a wireless link to a set earphones worn my the skier. In another example, a set of head-up glasses may be worn by the skier. Such heads-up glasses may be used to project the pass or fail visual indicators to a peripheral portion of view of the skier. 
     The controller  120  may also receive a signal from a tension gauge  132  that may be connected to the rope  103 . The tension gauge may be use to provide information to the controller  120  on how hard a skier is pulling on the rope (e.g. a tension parameter). The tension, along with the various timing and angle parameters may be stored in the controller  120 . The controller  120  may then present such parameters to a ski simulator. The ski simulator may be implemented as a software simulator on a computer, as a stand alone simulator that may run on a gaming system, or any other appropriate simulator. Such a simulator may play back a skiers ski run in a graphical format. The particular format may be varied. For example, a view as seen by a skier may be implemented, an overhead view may be implemented, etc. Such a simulator may be trained by having different skiers perform ski runs, then using such information to tune the simulator software to make the simulated skiers show a particular form in the simulation based on the known results. Additionally, the simulated playback of a ski run may be compared to the run of a more experienced skier. Such comparison may allow a skier to learn where they are on the course in comparison with a more experienced skier. 
     An optional GPS input may be presented to the controller  120 . The GPS may provide a variety of information. For example, the GPS may be used by the boat driver to ensure a straight path of the boat  100 . Such GPS control may be particularly useful, since traditional boat buoys are not present when training without a course. In one example, the GPS input may be used and an input to an autopilot to drive the boat in a straight direction. In such an autopilot system, a boat operator may maintain override control of the boat  100 . The GPS may also be used to ensure proper boat speed by indicating to a boat driver when simulated buoys would have passed. 
     The functions performed by the controller  120  and/or the software simulator may be implemented using one or more of a conventional general purpose processor, digital computer, microprocessor, microcontroller, RISC (reduced instruction set computer) processor, CISC (complex instruction set computer) processor, SMID (single instruction multiple data) processor, signal processor, central processing unit (CPU), arithmetic logic unit (ALU), video digital signal processor (VDSP) and/or similar computational machines, programmed according to the teachings of the present specification, as will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s). Appropriate software, firmware, coding, routines, instructions, opcodes, microcode, and/or program modules may readily be prepared by skilled programmers based on the teachings of the present disclosure, as will also be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s). The software is generally executed from a medium or several media by one or more of the processors of the machine implementation. 
     The present invention may also be implemented by the preparation of ASICs (application specific integrated circuits), Platform ASICs, FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays), PLDs (programmable logic devices), CPLDs (complex programmable logic device), sea-of-gates, RFICs (radio frequency integrated circuits), ASSPs (application specific standard products) or by interconnecting an appropriate network of conventional component circuits, as is described herein, modifications of which will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art(s). 
     The present invention thus may also include a computer product which may be a storage medium or media and/or a transmission medium or media including instructions which may be used to program a machine to perform one or more processes or methods in accordance with the present invention. Execution of instructions contained in the computer product by the machine, along with operations of surrounding circuitry, may transform input data into one or more files on the storage medium and/or one or more output signals representative of a physical object or substance, such as an audio and/or visual depiction. The storage medium may include, but is not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disk, hard drive, magnetic disk, optical disk, CD-ROM, DVD and magneto-optical disks and circuits such as ROMs (read-only memories), RAMs (random access memories), EPROMs (electronically programmable ROMs), EEPROMs (electronically erasable ROMs), UVPROM (ultra-violet erasable ROMs), Flash memory, magnetic cards, optical cards, and/or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions. 
     The elements of the invention may form part or all of one or more devices, units, components, systems, machines and/or apparatuses. The devices may include, but are not limited to, servers, workstations, storage array controllers, storage systems, personal computers, laptop computers, notebook computers, palm computers, personal digital assistants, portable electronic devices, battery powered devices, set-top boxes, encoders, decoders, transcoders, compressors, decompressors, pre-processors, post-processors, transmitters, receivers, transceivers, cipher circuits, cellular telephones, digital cameras, positioning and/or navigation systems, medical equipment, heads-up displays, wireless devices, audio recording, storage and/or playback devices, video recording, storage and/or playback devices, game platforms, peripherals and/or multi-chip modules. Those skilled in the relevant art(s) would understand that the elements of the invention may be implemented in other types of devices to meet the criteria of a particular application. 
     While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.