US20240226677A1

US20240226677A1 - Illuminating paddle

Info

Publication number: US20240226677A1
Application number: US18/094,087
Authority: US
Inventors: Theresa Matt
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2023-01-06
Filing date: 2023-01-06
Publication date: 2024-07-11

Abstract

An illuminating paddle, including a main body to hit a ball, a sensor disposed within at least a portion of the main body to detect an impact against the main body, a plurality of central lights disposed on at least a portion of a center of the main body to illuminate in response to the sensor detecting the impact of the ball against the center of the main body, a plurality of edge lights disposed on at least a portion of the main body to illuminate in response to the sensor detecting the impact of the ball against the center of the main body, and a speaker disposed on and within at least a portion of the main body to emit at least one sound in response to the sensor detecting the impact of the ball against the center of the main body.

Description

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The present general inventive concept relates generally to sports, and particularly, to an illuminating paddle.

2. Description of the Related Art

Pickleball is a racket and/or a paddle sport that is played either indoors and/or outdoors. Pickleball is played on a court using a net similar to a tennis net where the pickleball is hit by players using the racket and/or the paddle. Currently, pickleball is played around the world by many individuals in recreational game play, structured game play, league, and/or tournament play and continues to gain in popularity.
The paddle used in pickleball is usually a smooth surface with a handle. Moreover, the paddle is only used to hit the pickleball and has no other functions. The paddle has no other entertainment value other than its use in playing pickleball.
Therefore, there is a need for an illuminating paddle that enhances playing a paddle sport game.

SUMMARY

The present general inventive concept provides an illuminating paddle.
Additional features and utilities of the present general inventive concept will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the general inventive concept.
The foregoing and/or other features and utilities of the present general inventive concept may be achieved by providing an illuminating paddle, including a main body to hit a ball, a sensor disposed within at least a portion of the main body to detect an impact against the main body, a plurality of central lights disposed on at least a portion of a center of the main body to illuminate in response to the sensor detecting the impact of the ball against the center of the main body, a plurality of edge lights disposed on at least a portion of the main body to illuminate in response to the sensor detecting the impact of the ball against the center of the main body, and a speaker disposed on and within at least a portion of the main body to emit at least one sound in response to the sensor detecting the impact of the ball against the center of the main body.
The plurality of central lights, the plurality of edge lights, and the speaker may remain off while the sensor detects the impact of the ball outside a boundary of the center of the main body.
The plurality of edge lights may be disposed on an entirety of a perimeter of an edge of the main body.
The speaker may emit the at least one sound as at least one of a sound of applause, a sound of audience cheer, and sweet.
The illuminating paddle may further include a control unit disposed within at least a portion of the main body to automatically adjust at least one of a brightness level and a volume level based on a force level of the impact of the ball against the main body.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other features and utilities of the present generally inventive concept will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a front perspective view of an illuminating paddle, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concept.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various example embodiments (a.k.a., exemplary embodiments) will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings in which some example embodiments are illustrated. In the figures, the thicknesses of lines, layers and/or regions may be exaggerated for clarity.
Accordingly, while example embodiments are capable of various modifications and alternative forms, embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the figures and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intent to limit example embodiments to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, example embodiments are to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the disclosure. Like numbers refer to like/similar elements throughout the detailed description.
It is understood that when an element is referred to as being “connected” or “coupled” to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly connected” or “directly coupled” to another element, there are no intervening elements present. Other words used to describe the relationship between elements should be interpreted in a like fashion (e.g., “between” versus “directly between,” “adjacent” versus “directly adjacent,” etc.).
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes” and/or “including,” when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components and/or groups thereof.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which example embodiments belong. It will be further understood that terms, e.g., those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art. However, should the present disclosure give a specific meaning to a term deviating from a meaning commonly understood by one of ordinary skill, this meaning is to be taken into account in the specific context this definition is given herein.

LIST OF COMPONENTS

- Illuminating Paddle 100
- Main Body 110
- Blade 111
- Handle 112
- Connector 113
- Sensor 120
- Central Lights 130
- Edge Lights 140
- Speaker 150
- Control Buttons 160
- Sound Select Button 161
- Volume Button 162
- Mute Button 163
- Control Unit 170
- Processing Unit 171
- Communication Unit 172
- Storage Unit 173
- Power Button 180
- Power Source 190
- Battery 191
- Charging Port 192

FIG. 1 illustrates a front perspective view of an illuminating paddle 100, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concept.
The illuminating paddle 100 may be constructed from at least one of metal, plastic, foam, wood, graphite, and rubber, etc., but is not limited thereto.
The illuminating paddle 100 may include a main body 110, a sensor 120, and a plurality of central lights 130, a plurality of edge lights 140, a speaker 150, a plurality of control buttons 160, a control unit 170, a power button 180, and a power source 190, but is not limited thereto.
Referring to FIG. 1 , the main body 110 is illustrated to be a paddle. However, the main body 110 may be a racket, a bat, a stick, or any other sports-related device known to one of ordinary skill in the art, but is not limited thereto.
The main body 110 may include a blade 111, a handle 112, and a connector 113, but is not limited thereto.
The blade 111 may be a rounded planar surface. Moreover, the blade 111 may be durable and solid surface. The blade 111 may be used to hit a ball 10 during play of a sport game, such as pickleball, tennis ball, badminton, tablet tennis, etc.
The handle 112 may be disposed on at least a portion of the blade 111. The handle 112 may extend away from the blade 111 with respect to a direction. As such, the handle 112 may facilitate gripping thereof. Also, the handle 112 may have a wrapping thereon to increase comfort. In other words, the handle 112 may have a cushion to absorb an impact (i.e., gripping) thereon.
The connector 113 may be disposed on at least a portion of the handle 112. The connector 113 may connect the handle 112 to the blade 111.
The sensor 120 may include a weight sensor, an impact sensor, and a movement sensor, but is not limited thereto.
The sensor 120 may be disposed within at least a portion of the blade 111 and/or the handle 112. The sensor 120 may detect an impact against the blade 111. More specifically, the sensor 120 may detect the impact at a center of the blade 111 (e.g., sweet spot on the blade 111) by the ball 10.
Each of the plurality of central lights 130 may include a light-emitting diode (LED), an incandescent bulb, a halogen bulb, a fluorescent bulb, and a xenon bulb, but is not limited thereto. Also, the plurality of central lights 130 may include wording (e.g., sweet spot) and/or a plurality of lights arranged in a circle around the wording, but is not limited thereto. It is important to note that the center of the blade 111 may be outlined by the circle around the wording of the plurality of central lights 130.
The plurality of central lights 130 may be disposed on at least a portion of the center of the blade 111. The plurality of central lights 130 may illuminate in response to the sensor 120 detecting the impact of the ball 10 against the center of the blade 111. Conversely, the plurality of central lights 130 may remain off while the sensor 120 detects the impact outside a boundary of the center of the blade 111 (e.g., outside a boundary of the circle of the plurality of central lights 130) on the blade 111. Furthermore, the plurality of central lights 130 may illuminate for a predetermined period of time (e.g., two seconds, five seconds, ten seconds).
Each of the plurality of edge lights 140 may include a light-emitting diode (LED), an incandescent bulb, a halogen bulb, a fluorescent bulb, and a xenon bulb, but is not limited thereto.
The plurality of edge lights 140 may be disposed on at least a portion of a perimeter (e.g., an entirety of an edge) of the blade 111. The plurality of edge lights 140 may illuminate in response to the sensor 120 detecting the impact of the ball 10 against the center of the blade 111. Conversely, the plurality of edge lights 140 may remain off while the sensor 120 detects the impact outside the boundary of the center of the blade 111 (e.g., outside a boundary of the circle of the plurality of central lights 130) on the blade 111. Furthermore, the plurality of edge lights 140 may illuminate for a predetermined period of time (e.g., two seconds, five seconds, ten seconds). As such, the plurality of edge lights 140 may illuminate simultaneously with the plurality of central lights 130.
The speaker 150 may be disposed on and/or within at least a portion of the blade 111 and/or the handle 112. The speaker 150 may emit at least one sound in response to the sensor 120 detecting the impact of the ball 10 against the center of the blade 111. For example, the speaker 150 may emit a sound of applause, a sound of audience cheer, and/or a word (e.g., “Sweet!”). Thus, the speaker 150 may emit the at least one sound to celebrate and/or congratulate a user during play of the sport game. Conversely, the speaker 150 may remain off while the sensor 120 detects the impact outside the boundary of the center of the blade 111 (e.g., outside a boundary of the circle of the plurality of central lights 130) on the blade 111. Furthermore, the speaker 150 may emit the at least one sound for a predetermined period of time (e.g., two seconds, five seconds, ten seconds).
The plurality of control buttons 160 may include a sound select button 161, a volume button 162, and a mute button 163, but is not limited thereto.
The sound select button 161 may be disposed on at least a portion of the blade 111. The sound select button 161 may change and/or select the at least one sound emitted from the speaker 150 during playback. More specifically, the sound select button 161 may change the at least one sound emitted from the speaker 150 to the sound of applause, the sound of audience cheer, and/or “Sweet!”
The volume button 162 may be disposed on at least a portion of the blade 111. The volume button 162 may increase a volume level of the speaker 150 in response to depressing the volume button 162 a first time for a first predetermined period of time (e.g., two seconds, five seconds). Conversely, the volume button 162 may decrease the volume level of the speaker 150 in response to depressing the volume button 162 a second time for a second predetermined period of time (e.g., two seconds, five seconds).
The mute button 163 may be disposed on at least a portion of the blade 111. The mute button 163 may silence the speaker 150 in response to depressing the mute button 163 a first time. Conversely, the mute button 163 may enable sound from the speaker 150 in response to depressing the mute button 163 a second time.
The control unit 170 may include a processing unit 171, a communication unit 172, and a storage unit 173, but is not limited thereto.
The processing unit 171 (or central processing unit, CPU) may include electronic circuitry to carry out instructions of a computer program by performing basic arithmetic, logical, control and input/output (I/O) operations specified by the instructions. The processing unit 171 may include an arithmetic logic unit (ALU) that performs arithmetic and logic operations, processor registers that supply operands to the ALU and store the results of ALU operations, and a control unit that fetches instructions from memory and “executes” them by directing the coordinated operations of the ALU, registers and other components. The processing unit 171 may also include a microprocessor and a microcontroller.
The communication unit 172 may include a device capable of wireless or wired communication between other wireless or wired devices via at least one of Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, infrared (IR) wireless communication, satellite communication, broadcast radio communication, Microwave radio communication, Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Zigbee, near field communication (NFC), and radio frequency (RF) communication, USB, global positioning system (GPS), Firewire, and Ethernet.
The storage unit 173 may include a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a hard disk, a flash drive, a database connected to the Internet, cloud-based storage, Internet-based storage, or any other type of storage unit.
The control unit 170 may be disposed within at least a portion of the blade 111. The control unit 170 may access the Internet via the communication unit 172 to allow the user to access a website, and/or may allow a software application to be executed using the processing unit 171. For ease of description, the software application will be hereinafter referred to as an app. The app may be downloaded from the Internet to be stored on the storage unit 173.
The processing unit 171 executing the app may control the plurality of central lights 130, the plurality of edge lights 140, and/or the speaker 150. More specifically, the processing unit 171 executing the app may turn on the plurality of central lights 130, the plurality of edge lights 140, and/or the speaker 150 in response to the sensor 120 detecting the impact at the center of the blade 111 by the ball 10. Thus, the processing unit 171 may receive a signal form the sensor 120 in response to the impact by the ball 10.
Additionally, the processing unit 171 executing the app may distinguish a force level against the center of the blade 111, such that the processing unit 171 may send an illumination signal to the plurality of central lights 130 and/or the plurality of edge lights 140 to illuminate brighter for a strong impact compared to a light impact on the blade 111. Also, the processing unit 171 may send a sound signal to the speaker 150 to increase the volume level for the strong impact compared to the light impact on the blade 111. In other words, the processing unit 171 may automatically adjust a brightness level and/or the volume level based on the force level of the impact of the ball 10.
The power button 180 may be disposed on at least a portion of the handle 112. The power button 180 may turn on the sensor 120, the plurality of central lights 130, the plurality of edge lights 140, the speaker 150, the plurality of control buttons 160, and/or the control unit 170 in response to being depressed a first time. Conversely, the power button 180 may turn off the sensor 120, the plurality of central lights 130, the plurality of edge lights 140, the speaker 150, the plurality of control buttons 160, and/or the control unit 170 in response to being depressed a second time.
The power source 190 may include a battery 191 and a charging port 192, but is not limited thereto.
The power source 190 may be disposed on and/or within at least a portion of the blade 111 and/or the handle 112. The battery 191 may provide power to the sensor 120, the plurality of central lights 130, the plurality of edge lights 140, the speaker 150, the plurality of control buttons 160, the control unit 170, and/or the power button 180. The charging port 192 may charge the battery 191 in response to receiving power from an external power source (e.g., a power outlet) using a cord.
Therefore, the illuminating paddle 100 may enhance play of the sport game due to lights and/or sounds from the plurality of central lights 130, the plurality of edge lights 140, and/or the speaker 150 during play. Also, the illuminating paddle 100 may increase enjoyment by the user through the use of positive feedback.
The present general inventive concept may include an illuminating paddle 100, including a main body 110 to hit a ball 10, a sensor 120 disposed within at least a portion of the main body 110 to detect an impact against the main body 110, a plurality of central lights 130 disposed on at least a portion of a center of the main body 110 to illuminate in response to the sensor 120 detecting the impact of the ball 10 against the center of the main body 110, a plurality of edge lights 140 disposed on at least a portion of the main body 110 to illuminate in response to the sensor 120 detecting the impact of the ball 10 against the center of the main body 110, and a speaker 150 disposed on and within at least a portion of the main body 110 to emit at least one sound in response to the sensor 120 detecting the impact of the ball 10 against the center of the main body 110.
The plurality of central lights 130, the plurality of edge lights 140, and the speaker 150 may remain off while the sensor 120 detects the impact of the ball 10 outside a boundary of the center of the main body 110.
The plurality of edge lights 140 may be disposed on an entirety of a perimeter of an edge of the main body 110.
The speaker 150 may emit the at least one sound as at least one of a sound of applause, a sound of audience cheer, and sweet.
The illuminating paddle 100 may further include a control unit 170 disposed within at least a portion of the main body 110 to automatically adjust at least one of a brightness level and a volume level based on a force level of the impact of the ball 10 against the main body 110.
Although a few embodiments of the present general inventive concept have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the general inventive concept, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. An illuminating paddle, comprising:

a main body to hit a ball;

a sensor disposed within at least a portion of the main body to detect an impact against the main body;

a plurality of central lights disposed on at least a portion of a center of the main body to illuminate in response to the sensor detecting the impact of the ball against the center of the main body;

a plurality of edge lights disposed on at least a portion of the main body to illuminate in response to the sensor detecting the impact of the ball against the center of the main body; and

a speaker disposed on and within at least a portion of the main body to emit at least one sound in response to the sensor detecting the impact of the ball against the center of the main body.

2. The illuminating paddle of claim 1, wherein the plurality of central lights, the plurality of edge lights, and the speaker remain off while the sensor detects the impact of the ball outside a boundary of the center of the main body.

3. The illuminating paddle of claim 1, wherein the plurality of edge lights are disposed on an entirety of a perimeter of an edge of the main body.

4. The illuminating paddle of claim 1, wherein the speaker emits the at least one sound as at least one of a sound of applause, a sound of audience cheer, and sweet.

5. The illuminating paddle of claim 1, further comprising:

a control unit disposed within at least a portion of the main body to automatically adjust at least one of a brightness level and a volume level based on a force level of the impact of the ball against the main body.