WO1997020449A1

WO1997020449A1 - Method for reproducing ball sounds during a sporting event, and ball therefor

Info

Publication number: WO1997020449A1
Application number: PCT/FR1996/001903
Authority: WO
Inventors: Rémy GOETGHELUCK; Pascal Goetgheluck
Original assignee: Sound-Ball
Priority date: 1995-11-29
Filing date: 1996-11-29
Publication date: 1997-06-05
Also published as: BR9611798A; KR19990071693A; ATE195210T1; EA000895B1; AU1034897A; EA199800487A1; CN1211379A; EP0864245A1; DE69609626D1; JP2000500943A; EP0864245B1

Abstract

A method for reproducing the sound environment during a sporting event involving a ball. A device (13) built into the ball comprises a radiofrequency transmitter and a microphone, and is positioned inside the ball by a flexible suspension means. A radiofrequency receiver is provided adjacent to the playing area for receiving signals from the device (13) inside the ball and reproducing an audio signal corresponding to the sound environment picked up by the microphone.

Description

PROCESS FOR THE RESTORATION OF BALLOON NOISE DURING A SPORTS EVENT AND BALLOON FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SUCH A DEVICE. The present invention relates to a method for acquiring information on the dynamic situation of a ball and / or restoring the sound environment during a sporting event relating to a ball sport, in particular during a match. football or basketball for the sound system of a stadium or a sports hall, or for television or radio broadcasting.

Radio or television reports of football, rugby, handball or basketball matches require the permanent intervention of a commentator to transmit to the viewer or to the listener the soundscapes formed by the noises of the ball (strikes, rebounds , ...), unlike tennis matches where the impact of the ball on the racket or on the field contributes greatly to reviving the course of the discussions from a distance.

It is very difficult to pick up the noises of the impacts on the ball of the aforementioned sports because of the dimensions of the grounds on which these sports are practiced, and because of the very great mobility of the players.

The object of the present invention is to propose a technical solution to this drawback by allowing the sound of balloon noises to be taken, and to transmit them to a fixed installation where they can be mixed with comments or with a general atmosphere captured by fixed microphones.

To this end, the invention relates more particularly to a method consisting in integrating into inside the ball a device comprising a radiofrequency transmitter and a microphone, said device being positioned inside the ball by a flexible suspension means, and in that one has near the playing field a radio frequency receiver for receive the signals transmitted by the device included in the balloon and reproduce a corresponding audio signal.

This device makes it possible to capture noises such as impacts on the ball directly, and to transmit them to a fixed receiver. It allows the use of a microphone with low sensitivity and low bandwidth. Furthermore, the device is preferably positioned at the center of gravity of the balloon, which avoids disturbance of both static and dynamic behavior of the balloon.

According to a preferred embodiment, the microphone is a microphone of low sensitivity so as not to pick up the ambient noises (cries of the spectators, wind, etc.), but only the noises specific to the balloon (striking the balloon, rebounds, ...) According to a first variant, the device is activated by a sensor sensitive to acceleration, the power supply circuit of the transmitter comprising a timer for a predetermined duration after activation. When the balloon is at rest for a time greater than said predetermined duration, the sound environment is a priori irrelevant, and it is possible to interrupt the supply of the transmitter to increase the autonomy of the device. According to another variant, possibly supplementing the previous variant, the device includes a switch accessible through the balloon inflation valve.

According to a third variant, the device comprises a switch that can be activated by a radio frequency signal.

The radio receiver consumes significantly less electrical energy than the transmitter, which increases the autonomy of the device.

According to yet another variant, the supply circuit of the radiofrequency transmitter comprises an activation circuit sensitive to the level of the signal delivered by the microphone, supplying said transmitter only when said signal exceeds a threshold value, the supply circuit of the transmitter including a timer for a predetermined duration after activation

The invention also relates to a balloon comprising in its inflation volume a device constituted by a microphone, a low-frequency circuit delivering a modulation signal to a radiofrequency transmitter and a power source.

According to a first variant, it comprises a bladder having an elastic tubular sleeve extending substantially along a diagonal inside which said device is disposed

According to a particular embodiment, the sleeve has perforated walls in that it communicates with the inflation valve of the bladder.

According to an exemplary implementation, the device comprises a switch accessible through said sleeve by a rod passing through the inflation valve

According to another alternative embodiment, the bladder has elastic suspensions extending substantially radially between the interior wall and the device. The invention will be better understood on reading the description of an example of non-limiting implementation, referring to the accompanying drawings in which:

- Figure 1 shows a schematic view of the device integrated in the balloon;

- Figure 2 shows a sectional view of a balloon according to the invention;

- Figure 3 shows the block diagram of an equipment according to the invention; - Figure 4 shows the block diagram of the processing electronics of the fixed station;

- Figure 5 shows the timing diagram of the received signal.

Figure 1 shows a schematic view of the device integrated in the balloon. It includes a piezoelectric microphone (1) delivering a signal preamplified by a low-frequency circuit (2). The signal delivered by this low-frequency circuit (2) ensures the frequency modulation of a high-frequency circuit (3) operating in the VIF band from 140 to 180 Mhz, with a transmission power of about 5mW which gives it a range of about 200 meters. Powering circuits

B.F. (2) and H.F. (3) is provided by a lithium battery

(4). A switch (5) switches off the device when the ball is stored. This switch is for example accessible with a rod passing through the inflation valve of the balloon. It can also be constituted by a radio controlled electronic switch. The consumption of a receiver being much lower than the consumption of the transmitter, such a radio controlled switch makes it possible to significantly extend the life of the battery (5).

The device comprises a detection circuit (6) activating the supply of the HF circuit (3) when the signal delivered by the LF circuit exceeds a threshold value, even transiently. A timer (7) maintains the power supply to the HF circuit (3) for a predetermined duration, for example 30 seconds, after an impulse from the circuit (6) so as to avoid a chopped transmission of the signal FIG. 2 represents a sectional view d a balloon comprising such a device. It is constituted in a known manner of an envelope (8) produced for example by sewing a plurality of polygonal pieces cut from a multilayer material. Inside this envelope (8) is a bladder (9) made of latex by example, communicating with the outside via a valve (10)

Inside the bladder (9), a sleeve (11) is provided, constituted by a latex conduit, the wall of which is perforated to allow air to pass when the balloon is inflated. This sleeve is welded at its front ends. (12, 13) on the inner wall of the bladder (9) and extends substantially along a diameter of the balloon In the middle of this sleeve (11) is placed the radio transmitter device (13) The radio transmitter device (13 ) is maintained by elastic deformation of the sleeve (11) It is placed substantially in the center of the balloon, in the middle of the sleeve (11) so that its weight does not disturb the static or dynamic behavior of the balloon II can be replaced by the bladder inflation port

The radio transmitter device (13) can be introduced into the sleeve (11) using a piston having an interior section complementary to one of the front ends of the device. This piston has a length greater than the radius of the balloon. device is placed on 1 end of the piston which is used to push it back in the middle of the sleeve (11) To facilitate the positioning of the device, the piston has an outer ring limiting movement to

1 inside the balloon When the device (13) has reaches the middle of the sleeve (11), the piston is removed, the device remaining blocked by the sleeve (11).

The invention is described in the foregoing by way of nonlimiting example. Those skilled in the art will be able to produce different variants without departing from the scope of the invention. In particular, the device may be suspended in the balloon by means equivalent to the perforated sleeve, for example by a solid sleeve or an elastic guying.

In the case of a full sleeve, the pressure exerted on the walls of the sleeve contributes to the blocking of the device in its centered position.

In the case of a guying, the device is suspended by a set of links converging towards the center of the balloon, one of the ends of the links being fixed on the inner wall of the bladder or of the balloon, and the other end of the links being fixed on the device. The invention also relates to a reception station for implementing the method according to the invention.

This station includes means for reproducing a satisfactory sound from the module signal received. The sound picked up by the microphone is not always usable, due to phenomena of resonance, distortion due to the implantation in the heart of the balloon, the clipping of high intensities, etc.

To overcome these drawbacks, one solution consists in processing the signal by time filtering.

FIG. 3 represents the block diagram of an equipment according to the invention.

The part implanted in the balloon comprises a micro-transmitter (20) and a modulation circuit low frequency (21) connected to a microphone (22) A battery (23) provides the power supplies.

The fixed part includes a receiver (24), an electronic processing circuit (25) and a mixer (26) delivering a low-frequency signal.

FIG. 4 represents the block diagram of the electronic processing of the fixed station. It is composed of an analog / digital converter (27) receiving the demodulated audio signal coming from the high-frequency receiver. The digitized signal is exploited by a microcomputer (28) performing a thresholding and delivering an activation or deactivation signal to an audio switch (29).

The demodulated audio signal from the HF receiver digitizes by the analog / digital converter (27) supplied to the microcomputer (28) a digital value corresponding to the amplitude of the audio signal This value is compared to a set value corresponding to a triggering threshold . If the value of the signal from the analog / digital converter

(27) is lower than the set value, the microcomputer blocks the audio switch (29). The microcomputer (28) then launches a new A / D conversion cycle and again compares the signal supplied by the analog / digital converter (27) with the set value. The cycle starts again as long as the value of the converted audio signal is lower than the set value When the signal supplied by the analog / digital converter (27) is higher than the set value, the microcomputer (28) activates the audio switch (29 ) for a short duration T compared to the reverberation time, of the order of 10 milliseconds Advantageously, this duration can be adjusted in steps of 1 millisecond to optimize the output signal At the end of the duration period T during which the audio switch is activated, the microcomputer (28) locks the audio switch (29) again for a period of 1 order of magnitude of the reverberation time, ie in the range of 200 to 500 milliseconds. This time is also adjustable. FIG. 5 represents the timing diagram of the received signal. The curve (30) indicates the evolution of the audio signal over time, and the lower curve (31) the state of the audio switch (29).

The advantage of this treatment is to eliminate the vibration modes specific to the balloon while retaining the wealth of information provided by the on-board micro-transmitter. In addition, the intensity of the sounds and the dynamics of the signal are correctly restored. The signal is then processed by a center band pass filter on a frequency of the order of 1000 Hz, so as to rebalance the tone of the sound emitted by the balloon.

The invention can of course be subject to various variations without departing from the scope of protection.

Claims

1 - Process for the acquisition of information on the dynamic situation of a ball and / or the restitution of the sound environment during a sporting event relating to a sport of ball characterized in that one integrates into the ball a device (13) comprising a radio frequency transmitter and a sensor such as an accelerometer, a shock sensor or a microphone, said sensor delivering a modulation signal from the transmitter, said device

(13) being positioned 1 inside the ball by a flexible suspension means and in that 1 there is near the playing field a radio frequency receiver for receiving the radio-frequency module signals transmitted by the device (13) included in the ball

2 - Method according to claim 1 characterized in that the device (13) is active by a sensor sensitive to acceleration, the power supply circuit of 1 transmitter comprising a timer for a predetermined duration after activation

3 Method according to claim 1 or 2 characterized in that the device (13) comprises a switch accessible through the inflation valve of the balloon

4 Method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the device (13) comprises a switch that can be activated by a radio-frequency signal 5 - Method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the power supply circuit of the radio-frequency transmitter comprises an activation circuit sensitive to the level of the signal delivered by the, supplying said transmitter only when said signal exceeds a threshold value, the transmitter supply circuit comprising a timer for a predetermined duration after activation.

I

6 - Method according to claim 1 characterized in that said signal transmitted by the device addresses a bank of sounds capable of rendering an audio signal corresponding to the sound environment.

7 - Method according to claim 1 or 2 characterized in that the device (13) is activated by a sensor sensitive to acceleration, the power supply circuit of the transmitter comprising a timer for a predetermined period after activation.

8 - Balloon for implementing the method according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises, in its inflation volume, substantially centered with respect to the center of gravity of the balloon, a device (13) consisting of a microphone, a low-frequency circuit delivering a modulation signal to a radio-frequency transmitter and a power source.

9 - Balloon according to claim 8 characterized in that it comprises a bladder (">) having a sleeve (11) tubular elastic extending substantially along a diagonal inside which said device (13) is disposed.

10 - Balloon according to claim 8 or 9 characterized in that the sleeve (11) has perforated walls in that it communicates with the bladder inflation valve (9).

11 - Balloon according to any one of claims 10 characterized in that the bladder (9) has elastic suspensions extending substantially radially between the inner wall and the device (13)

12 Balloon according to any one of claims 8 to 11 characterized in that the bladder (9) has elastic suspensions extending substantially radially between the inner wall and the device (13).

13 - Balloon according to any one of claims 8 to 12 characterized in that the microphone has a low sensitivity to only pick up noise from the balloon, excluding outside noise.

14 - Fixed station for implementing the method according to at least one of claims 1 to 10 characterized in that it comprises a receiver (24), an electronic processing circuit (25) and a mixer (26 ) delivering a low-frequency signal.

15 - Fixed station according to claim 14 characterized in that it is further comprises a processing circuit comprising an analog / digital converter (27) receiving the audio signal demodulated coming from the high-frequency receiver, the digitized signal is exploited by a microcomputer (28) performing a thresholding and delivering an activation or deactivation signal to an audio switch (29).

16 - Fixed station according to claim 14 or 15 characterized in that the analog / digital converter (27) supplied to the microcomputer (28) a digital value corresponding to the amplitude of the audio signal, this value being compared with a corresponding reference value at a trigger point.

17 - Fixed station according to claim 16 characterized in that the microcomputer blocks the audio switch (29) as long as the value of the converted audio signal is less than the set value and in that the microcomputer (28) activates the audio switch (29 ) for a short duration T compared to the reverberation time.

18 - Fixed station according to claim 17 or 20 characterized in that the microcomputer (28) again locks the audio switch (29) for a period of the order of magnitude of the duration of the reverberation, at the end of the period duration T during which the audio switch is activated.

19 - Fixed station according to claim 18 characterized in that it comprises a band pass filter centered on a frequency of the order of 1000 Hz to process the output audio signal.