Patent Document

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/021,686, filed Jul. 10, 1996. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates in general to a target, and in particular, to an electronic target for sensing the occurrence of one or more events. 
     BACKGROUND INFORMATION 
     When a person wishes to practice pitching a baseball or softball (hereinafter the discussion will be with respect to a baseball, but will also be applicable to a softball), that person generally needs another person to catch the ball and return it. Alternatives to this arrangement are to pitch an elastic ball, such as a tennis ball, against a wall so that the ball bounces back to the thrower, or to throw a baseball at a netting material stretched over a frame so that when the ball hits the netting material, it bounces back to the thrower. 
     The problem with these two alternatives is that it is difficult to determine whether or not the pitcher throwing the ball is accurately throwing “strikes” or is instead throwing “balls”. 
     With today&#39;s busy world, it is sometimes difficult for children learning to play baseball to find a partner to pitch to in order to hone the pitcher&#39;s pitching skills. Therefore, what is needed in the art is some type of baseball target that allows one person to pitch at the target with baseballs, where the target provides some type of indication of the accuracy of the baseballs being thrown at the target and provides a determination of balls and strikes. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention satisfies the foregoing needs by providing a target having sensors arranged thereon so that when the target is struck with an object such as a baseball or softball, it provides a determination of the accuracy of the ball pitched against the target. In other words, the target includes a defined area for strikes. The area of the target outside of this defined boundary will record a ball when struck by the baseball. 
     The sensors then transmit the ball and strike information in several ways so that the thrower is provided this information. One way is for a display to be coupled to the sensors where the display provides an indication of the number of balls and strikes recorded by the sensors when the target is struck with a baseball. 
     In another embodiment of the present invention, a speaker is provided with voice-processing circuitry so that the thrower of the baseball is told with an electronic voice whether or not the ball thrown is a ball or a strike. 
     Yet another embodiment of the present invention provides for a transmission of the information from circuitry located at the target to a display located near where the pitcher or thrower is standing. Such information can be transmitted by electronic wire or by some other type of signalling such as RF signals or light signals. 
     In yet another embodiment of the present invention, signals are transmitted to a beeper-sized receiver, which may be attached to the pitcher&#39;s belt or pocket, where the strike and ball information is spoken to the thrower using voice-processing circuitry. 
     As an alternative embodiment, instead of providing an ability to sense the impact of an object, the principals of the present invention could be utilized with sensors that detect the passing of an object through a particular area or plane. 
     Furthermore, the present invention can be extended to serve as a target for other sports, including, but not limited to, kick ball, soccer, basketball, tennis, racquetball, handball, volleyball, etc. In fact, any sport in which there is required some degree of accuracy in performance could make use of the principles of the present invention. 
     And still further, the principles of the present invention can be extended to any situation where there is a need to spacially discriminate between any two events. 
     The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     For a more complete understanding of the present invention, and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
     FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 illustrates an assembled view of the present invention; 
     FIG. 3 illustrates a rear view of the strike plane of the present invention; 
     FIG. 4 illustrates a rear view of the ball plane of the present invention; 
     FIG. 5 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of the electronics utilized within the present invention; 
     FIG. 7 illustrates utilization of the output of the present invention; and 
     FIG. 8 illustrates transmission of the output of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without such specific details. In other instances, well-known circuits have been shown in block diagram form in order not to obscure the present invention in unnecessary detail. For the most part, details concerning timing considerations and the like have been omitted inasmuch as such details are not necessary to obtain a complete understanding of the present invention and are within the skills of persons of ordinary skill in the relevant art. 
     Refer now to the drawings wherein depicted elements are not necessarily shown to scale and wherein like or similar elements are designated by the same reference numeral through the several views. 
     FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of one embodiment of the present invention. The view of target  100  is from the front, which will receive objects, such as baseballs directed at it. In one embodiment, two parallel planes of flexible vinyl-type material are utilized to house sensors described below, in order that objects directed at mat  104 , such as a baseball, can be detected, and the locations where the object strikes mat  104  can be discerned. Note that mat  104 , comprising strike plane  106  and ball plane  108  does not necessarily have to be made out of a flexible material. A more durable, non-flexible material such as sheet metal could also be utilized, or some other equivalent. 
     Ball plane  108 , which is located slightly in front of strike plane  106  is spaced apart from strike plane  106 . Ball plane  108  has cut-out  107  therethrough so that the baseball can pass through ball plane  108  to strike plane  106  if the ball is thrown accurate enough to hit strike plane  106 . 
     The assembled mat  104  is coupled to frame  101  using straps  103 . Frame  101  may include some means for standing it up vertically, such as legs  102 . The material utilized to manufacture frame  101  and legs  102  are immaterial to the understanding of the present invention. 
     Since strike plane  106  and ball plane  108  are spaced apart a specified distance, a ball entering through cut-out  107  and impacting strike plane  106  may be permitted to fall between planes  106  and  108  and exit below ball plane  108  in front of cross bar  105  over which strike plane  106  has been extended. 
     Though the material utilized to manufacture strike plane  106  may be of any size, it is preferable that the size of strike plane  106  be at least as large as cut-out  107  in order to stop the travel of any ball impacting strike plane  106 . In one embodiment of the present invention, for ease of manufacturing the entire mat  104 , strike plane  106  is made of a material essentially the same size as ball plane  108 . 
     Referring next to FIG. 2, there is illustrated an assembled view of target mat  104  without frame  101  shown. Also illustrated is the placement of ball and strike sensors and other electronic equipment utilized to sense a relative location of an object striking mat  104 . 
     The view of mat  104  is from the front, so therefore ball plane layer  108  is shown with cut-out  107  so that strike plane layer two  106  can be seen through cut-out  107 . In the embodiment shown, ball sensors  201  are located on the back side of ball plane  108 , while strike sensor  203  is located on the back side of strike plane  106 . 
     Shown are four ball sensors  201  and one strike sensor  203 . However, the present invention can be implemented with any number of sensors for both the strikes and the balls. Furthermore, the location of the sensors shown is not critical to the present invention. One skilled in the art could experiment with the location of the ball sensors  201  or strike sensors  203  in order to achieve certain accuracies. 
     Ball sensors  201  and strike sensor  203  are electronically coupled by a wiring harness to electronic housing  204 , whose contents will be described in further detail below. Power may be supplied to electronic housing  204  with a battery within battery enclosure  205 , or through some other type of power means, such as an AC current. Ball sensors  201  and strike sensor  203  and their associated wiring harnesses may be attached to ball plane  108  and strike plane  106  in their respective manners by sensor/wire harness cover  202 , which provides some type of protection from the elements for the sensors and their associated electronic wiring. 
     Please also note that the size of cut-out  107 , and/or the relative sizes of the ball and strike zones can be adjusted to any desired sizes. 
     Sensors  201  and  203  may be piezo film sensors; however, other types of sensors could be used. Piezo film sensors are manufactured in a variety of sizes and shapes, many of which would work in the present invention. Piezo sensors discharge a voltage when they are moved (bent). This is often referred to as a “self-excited circuit.” As an example, piezo sensors manufactured by AMP as model no. AMP P/N 1-1001881-0 REV F or P/N 0-1002794-1 P could be utilized. Such sensors sense a physical wave caused within the fabrics of the respective ball plane and strike plane. However, other types of sensors could be used. For example, the use of microphone sensors could be substituted to sense the impact sound rather than the wave of the impact. Additionally, the sensors could be replaced with some type of sensor for detecting the breaking of a plane of light instead of the contact of an object against a material. 
     In this embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the strike zone is implemented with one plane  106  while the ball plane is implemented with a second plane  108 . Note that the present invention may be implemented with a single plane, discussed in further detail below with respect to FIG.  5 . Furthermore, the present invention could be implemented with more than two planes: for example, in order to detect and discern between the occurrence of more than two different events. As an example, a third plane (not shown) with specified sensors could be positioned behind strike plane layer two  106 , and cut-outs (not shown) could be formed through layers  106  and  108  to allow the passage of an object, such as a baseball through those cut-outs in order to strike the third plane. This concept can be extended to further numbers of planes. 
     Shown in FIG. 2 is a speaker serving as the receiver of the data output  206  from electronic housing  204 . Use of data output  206  is further described below. 
     Referring next to FIG. 3, there is illustrated a rear view of strike plane  106 . This illustration provides a view of the implementation of the strike plane with strike sensor  203 , harness cover  202 , wiring harness  301 , battery enclosure  205 , electronic housing  204 , and data output  206 . 
     Referring next to FIG. 4, there is illustrated a rear view of ball plane  108 , without the illustration of electronic housing  204 , battery enclosure  205  and data output  206 . Wiring harness  401  encompassing the various electronic circuitry emanating from ball sensors  201  may be coupled to electronic housing  204 , which in this embodiment as shown in FIG. 3 is physically coupled to strike plane  106 . 
     Referring to FIGS. 1-4, the concept of the present invention is that when an object, such as a baseball, impacts anywhere on ball plane  108 , the impact of the ball on the material comprising ball plane  108  will cause one or more of ball sensors  201  to detect the impact. In contrast, if the ball passes through cut-out  107 , it will not impact ball plane  108 , but instead will impact strike plane  106 , which will cause strike sensor  203  to detect the impact. 
     If the present invention makes use of flexible materials for one or both of the planes  106  and  108 , then when a ball impacts one of the planes, it is very likely that there will be some type of vibration set up within the other plane. However, the plane which receives the actual impact, will have a wave traveling through it that is greater than the wave caused in the other plane where the impact did not occur. As a result, though the electronics described below may receive signals from both the ball sensors  201  and the strike sensor  203 , the sensor which receives the greater amplitude wave will be the one that determines the selection of the data output  206 . 
     Referring next to FIG. 5, there is illustrated an alternative embodiment of the present invention where only a single plane of material  501  is utilized. Straps  506  correspond to straps  103 . Furthermore, battery enclosure  505 , electronic housing  511 , ball sensors  507 , strike sensor  509 , harness cover  508 , harness  510  and data output  512  correspond to their counterparts described above with respect to FIGS. 1-4. However, since ball sensors  507  and strike sensor  509  are located on the same plane of material, the electronics attached to sensors  507  and  509  will discern between some physical waves set up in the material  501  that are much closer in amplitude. Essentially, when an object impacts mat  501  near strike sensor  509  within strike region  504 , a strike will be detected. Likewise, ball region  502  is the region of mat  501  where the impact of a ball will be detected as a ball. Note that there may be an ambiguous region  503  where the system may have difficulty discerning between balls and strikes. However, in some applications, this may be desirable for more accurately simulating the balls and strikes called by a human umpire. 
     Furthermore, electronics receiving signals from sensors  507  and  509  may be programmed to decide between balls and strikes as a function of the timing of waves received by the various sensors  507  and  509 . In other words, the sensor that receives a wave above a specified amplitude threshold first will be the sensor that determines whether or not a ball or strike is outputted. 
     Referring next to FIG. 6, there is illustrated a block diagram of a portion of the electronics utilized within the present invention. Strike sensor  601  is electronically coupled to analog signal processing circuitry  603 , while ball sensors  602  are coupled to analog signal processing circuitry  604 . Blocks  603  and  604  measure the amplitude of the received signals. Outputs from block  603  and  604  are provided to timing circuitry  605 . Block  603  will output a signal if the signal received from strike sensor  601  is above a specified amplitude. Block  604  will output a signal if one or more signals from ball sensors  602  are above a specified amplitude. Timing circuitry  605  receives one or both of the signals from block  603  and  604 . The first of these signals to be received by timing circuitry  605  “wins”; in other words, if a strike signal from block  603  is received before a ball signal from block  604 , then timing circuitry  605  will latch the strike signal, which will then be passed to impact data sorting circuitry  606 , which will then ignore any other signals from timing circuitry  605  until a reset signal is received from microprocessor  607 . 
     Furthermore, timing circuitry  605  may insert one or more delays for either or both of the signals received from blocks  603  and  604 . For example, delays may be required to compensate for the various distances between the individual sensors and the electronics. Furthermore, since all of ball sensors  602  are received by analog signal processing  604 , there may be additional electronic circuitry, such as multiplexers and OR gates, through which signals received from ball sensors  602  may have to travel as opposed to signals received from the single strike sensor  601 . As a result, delay circuitry may be needed to compensate for the additional circuitry implemented. 
     The output from block  606  (strike or ball) is transmitted to digital microprocessor unit  607 , which then outputs a data output. Digital microprocessor unit  607  receives the signal from block  606  and determines what data output should be sent. In one embodiment, this data output may comprise a message or messages that should be played by a voice chip. 
     When a ball strikes anywhere on mat  104 , all the sensors will record some level of activity. The spacing and placement of the sensors ensures that the closest sensor to the impact is recorded first. This placement is a function of the speed at which the plane wave caused by the impact of the ball on the target moves through the material of the target. There may also be bounce-back waves that are considered. Bounce-back waves occur when the original wave reaches the end of the target material and bounces back. If compensation for bounce-back waves is not provided, there may be dead zones in the target relative to the sensors. Such a compensation may be the implementation of some type of threshold whereby one or more of sensors does not send a signal if the detected plane wave is not of a sufficient amount of amplitude. 
     Note that microprocessor  607  may also accumulate strikes and balls in a pre-programmed manner. 
     Referring next to FIG. 7, there is illustrated one embodiment for utilizing the data output from microprocessor  607 . The data output is converted by digital-to-analog (D/A) converter  701  to an analog form for use by an output means  702 , such as a speaker, an LED display, a selection of lights for indicating strikes and balls, or any other type of output means for informing a user of their efforts. 
     Referring to FIG. 8, there is illustrated an alternative embodiment whereby the data output is converted to an analog form by digital-to-analog converter  801  and then transmitted by transmitter  802  to receiver  803 , which then provides the signal to the output means  804 , which may be any one of the output means described above with respect to FIG.  7 . Some type of signal processing circuitry may be implemented between receiver  803  and output means  804 . The transmission of the information may be made by RF, infrared, microwave, landline, fiber optic, or other means. As one example, the user may have a beeper-like transceiver on their belt, which has a speaker for stating the “strikes” and “balls” as determined by the system described above with respect to FIG.  6 . 
     Although the present invention and its advantages have been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

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