U.S. patent application number 10/950547 was filed with the patent office on 2006-03-30 for game apparatus where darts are thrown into a projected video game image and software conducts the game progress by locating the darts with digital cameras.
Invention is credited to Ted Paul Skala.
Application Number | 20060066053 10/950547 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 36098136 |
Filed Date | 2006-03-30 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060066053 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Skala; Ted Paul |
March 30, 2006 |
Game apparatus where darts are thrown into a projected video game
image and software conducts the game progress by locating the darts
with digital cameras
Abstract
This invention describes an electronic amusement game where
sensors locate the position of darts thrown by participants into a
target board. The target board is not a traditional dart board but
an uncolored dart board onto which is projected game images by a
front projection monitor. The game locates the darts through the
use of digital cameras that capture 2 dimensional images of the
dart's profile to establish coordinates. The software conducts game
progress by incorporating the thrown dart's position into the game
itself. Any manner of game can be projected, including traditional
dart games.
Inventors: |
Skala; Ted Paul; (North
Olmsted, OH) |
Correspondence
Address: |
TED SKALA;APT 104
4126 COLUMBIA SQ
NORTH OLMSTED
OH
44070
US
|
Family ID: |
36098136 |
Appl. No.: |
10/950547 |
Filed: |
September 28, 2004 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
273/348 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F41J 5/10 20130101; F41J
5/02 20130101; F41J 3/02 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
273/348 |
International
Class: |
F41J 1/00 20060101
F41J001/00 |
Claims
1. A game apparatus comprising: (a) An uncolored target board
suitable for receiving thrown darts (b) At least 2 digital cameras
that capture profile images of darts lodged into the target board
(c) A projection monitor that projects video game images onto the
uncolored dartboard (d) Computer hardware (e) A console allowing
players to interact with the game
2. Game software utilized by the computer hardware in claim 1 which
produces various video game images that provide targets for thrown
darts
3. Dart locating software utilized by the computer hardware in
claim 1 that locates the precise entry point of darts by: (a)
cropping the digital images of the dart's profile produced by the
digital cameras in order to ignore image data near the board
surface (b) separating these image into horizontal slivers and
finding the center point of each sliver (c) assembling the center
points of these slivers in sequence and ignoring the portion(s) of
the sequence that are not linear (d) constructing an extension to
this linear arrangement of center points that intersects with the
board surface
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] Not applicable
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
[0002] Not applicable
REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING, A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAM
LISTING COMPACT DISK APPENDIX
[0003] Not applicable
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0004] Their exists the need for a non-traditional dart game where
the playing surface can be changed into many different game
scenarios and for such a game to be automatically scored by
electronic sensors. Below is discussed patents that use means,
other than the method described in this invention, to locate
objects in a field.
[0005] The main method other inventions use to determine the
presence and position of objects in a field is light beams. U.S.
Pat. Nos. 3,807,858 4,097,800 and 2,630,222 disclose methods to
detect the presence of objects moving through a field. More
relative to the game of darts are U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,762,990
5,565,686 and 6,147,759 which determine not only presence but
location coordinates by scanning light or laser light beams just
above the surface where the object is located. The beams must scan
a sufficient distance above the target surface to avoid
irregularities in the surface. The drawback of this method is that
it assumes the dart is exactly perpendicular to the board surface.
Because the coordinate provided by the light beam does not disclose
the angle that the dart enters the board, the actual entry point of
the tip of the dart is not known. Therefore, if we assume that a
dart can manifest itself in a range of angles between -45 degrees
and +45 degrees (where zero degrees is perpendicular to the board),
then the system is only accurate to a tolerance of 2 times d, where
"d" is the distance the light beams are positioned above the board.
These systems are reasonably accurate in scoring a traditional dart
board because they assume the presence of wires (or "spider") on
the board that partition it into target areas. Because these wires
tend to guide darts into one area or another, they help overcome
the inaccuracy of the scanning beams. But the wires are of such
thickness that they bend readily, and a dart thrown with sufficient
force can penetrate the board directly beneath a wire, simply
bending it out the way. In fact, U.S. Pat. No. 5,565,686 states
that "it may be necessary to embed the spider [wires] of the dart
board" in order to avoid these errors. The manufacture of such a
board would be difficult, if not impossible. And embedding the
wires would cause many more darts to bounce out of the board when
hitting a wire.
[0006] There are 2 other patented methods for locating darts or
objects in a field that are relevant. U.S. Pat. No. 6,089,571 and
U.S. Pat. No. 6,215,390 use a method that partitions the board
according to its traditional wire boundaries into blocks which are
depressed by thrown darts, completing an electronic circuit. U.S.
Pat. No. 6,715,760 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,155,570 use graphite or
electrically resistive ink to coat the board. Steel tipped darts
complete electronic circuits correspondingly. These methods can
lead to high error rate. For example, system that use target blocks
must be manufactured with wide inflexible partitions instead of the
very thin spider. This is done because neighboring target blocks
could both register a "hit" if a dart struck directly down on a
thin spider with sufficient force. The thicker spider deflects the
dart's energy into one target block of another. Similarly, ink or
any electrically resistive substance will incur gradual wear and
tear and must be periodically repaired. In addition to these
problems, neither of these methods can be used in non traditional
dart games where the game targets must be flexibly changed by the
software.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] This invention describes an electronic amusement game where
sensors locate the position of darts thrown by participants into a
target board. The target board is not a traditional dart board but
an uncolored dart board onto which is projected game images by a
front projection monitor. The game locates the darts through the
use of digital cameras that capture 2 dimensional images of the
dart's profile to establish coordinates. The software conducts game
progress by incorporating the thrown dart's position into the game
itself. Any manner of game can be projected, including traditional
dart games.
[0008] Using profile images of the projectile, the shape of which
being analyzed by software, is the best possible method for
locating the entry point of the dart into the target surface. This
method overcomes the limitations of the systems discussed
previously: With regard to surface irregularities, there is not the
interference problem associated with light beam scanning systems.
With regard to the system employing blocks which are depressed by
the force of the dart and the systems that use electrically
resistive ink or graphite on the surface, the system discussed here
completely overcomes the limitations listed above. In addition, the
system described in this patent can flexibly locate darts in any
pattern of targets. Every other system has fixed targets.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING
[0009] FIG. 1 depicts the entire apparatus
[0010] FIG. 2 depicts an image of the playing surface taken by
40
[0011] FIG. 3 depicts an image of the playing surface taken by
30
[0012] FIG. 4 depicts a portion of an image from one of the cameras
that contains a dart
[0013] FIG. 5 depicts the first step of analysis of FIG. 4 by the
software
[0014] FIG. 6 depicts the second step of analysis of FIG. 4 by the
software
[0015] FIG. 7 depicts a portion of an image from one of the cameras
that contains a dart
[0016] FIG. 8 depicts the first step of analysis of FIG. 7 by the
software
[0017] FIG. 9 depicts the second step of analysis of FIG. 7 by the
software
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0018] Refering to FIG. 1, the game apparatus is constructed as
follows. 20 is a sisal fiber dartboard that is white in color. 30
and 40 are identical digital cameras which obtain profile images of
darts lodged into 20. 50 and 60 serve as a uniformly colored
background in the images taken by 30 and 40. 10 is the substrate to
which each of these components are mounted. 70 is the housing for
computer components and the substrate for mounting 80 and 90. 80 is
the means by which players interface with the game controls. It
consists of buttons and a video monitor in order to make selections
regarding game play. 90 is the projection monitor that projects the
game image onto 20. 100 is a dart lodged into 20. 110 is a toe line
(or "oche") that indicates where players place their forward-most
foot when throwing darts. The following are crucial measurements
for locating the components relative to one another: 10 is mounted
perpendicular to the floor (preferably on a wall) such that the
center of 20 is 5 feet 8 inches above a level floor. In order to
locate 70 (and its attached components) a plumb bob is attached to
the front surface of 20 and allowed to touch the floor. Front this
point, 70 must be positioned such that the furthest side of 110 is
7 feet 9 and one quarter inches away.
[0019] Two cameras (30 and 40) are sufficient to establish the
coordinates of a dart. 30 determines the x axis coordinate, and 40
determines the y axis coordinate. FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate
potential images taken by 40 (in FIG. 2) and 30 (in FIG. 3). The
height of the images, at a minimum, is from the surface of the
board to approximately one inch above the board. The width of the
image encompasses, at a minimum, the entire width of the target
surface. FIG. 4 depicts an image, taken by either 30 or 40, of a
dart lodged perpendicularly into the board. Software will ignore
the lowest part of this image, due to irregularities in the surface
of the board. Because all darts have a symmetrical cross-section
and are linear, the software can locate its entry point into the
board even though the lower part of the image where the entry point
occurs is not considered. FIG. 5 depicts the information in FIG. 4
that is considered for analysis. Distance "a" is approximately 3/16
of one inch but can be any distance depending on the quality of the
target surface. Distance "b" is approximately 1/2 of one inch in
order to get a large sample size of the dart's linear structure.
Starting at the upper portion of this image, the software analyzes
horizontal slivers of the image. These slivers are the entire width
of the playing surface and have a height that is as small as
possible given the resolution of the camera. Each sliver is
composed entirely of background except for the contrasting presence
of a dart. The dart does not occupy merely a point in the sliver,
but many points according to its width. The software identifies the
center of this width, and this is the first point that it uses in
constructing a line of points continuing with progressively lower
slivers of the image. The line constructed out of the partial dart
image in FIG. 5 is shown in FIG. 6. The software halts the
construction of this line when it gets to the point where surface
irregularities could occur (distance "a"). Because the distance
from this height to the surface is known, the intersection of the
constructed line and the surface can be computed. This is shown in
FIG. 6 by the dashed line extension.
[0020] While a perpendicular dart is easily located by the scanning
light beam systems mentioned earlier, FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 show a more
common dart orientation that create errors in scanning light beam
systems. A note should be made about a difference between this
angled dart and the perpendicular dart in FIG. 4. In FIG. 7 it is
shown that the angled dart penetrated the board to a lesser extent
than the dart in FIG. 4. This will always be true of angled darts.
In order for a dart to attain an angled penetration, one of two
things must occur. Either the dart must be thrown gently such that
travels on a high arc and that the dart's center of mass pushes it
into the board in this downward angle. Or the dart could be thrown
more firmly, so that it takes more of a straight-line path to the
board, but the dart's center of mass is not directly behind it's
tip so that its inertia is depleted. In either case penetration is
shallow. When the software constructs a line in analysis of an
angled dart, this line will be non-linear where the dart changes
diameter. This is shown in FIG. 9. But because the dart achieves
shallow penetration, the uniform, linear tip of the dart is exposed
enough to create a sufficiently long segment of the line within
distance "b" that is linear. The non-linear portion of the line
segment within distance "b" is ignored, and the dashed line
extension is constructed accurately.
[0021] Although this invention is described in a dart game
embodiment, the broad inventive concept is applicable to other
types of surfaces and objects within fields. Those skilled in the
art could make changes in the embodiment without departing from the
spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the invention
is not limited to the embodiment described, but instead, covers
these potential modifications.
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