US3825749A — Photoelectric pinfall detection system

Claim 1

Independent Claim 161 words

A photoelectric pin counting device comprising: means for illuminating bowling pins standing upon a bowling lane so that light will be reflected therefrom, means for sensing light reflected from said illuminating means by each of said standing pins which may come to be within a detection window of the light sensing means, said light sensing means comprising a light receiving unit including a lightsensitive element and means for focusing light reflected from a standing pin upon said light-sensitive element, means for rotating said light receiving unit so as to cause said detection window to scan across the area above the bowling lane occupied by standing pins in order that light reflected by any standing pins scanned in the detection window will be focused serially upon said light-sensitive element, and circuit means including said light-sensitive element for generating an electrical signal representing each standing pin having its reflected light scanned by the light-sensitive element during the rotation of the light receiving unit.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 161 words

A photoelectric pin counting device comprising: means for illuminating bowling pins standing upon a bowling lane so that light will be reflected therefrom, means for sensing light reflected from said illuminating means by each of said standing pins which may come to be within a detection window of the light sensing means, said light sensing means comprising a light receiving unit including a lightsensitive element and means for focusing light reflected from a standing pin upon said light-sensitive element, means for rotating said light receiving unit so as to cause said detection window to scan across the area above the bowling lane occupied by standing pins in order that light reflected by any standing pins scanned in the detection window will be focused serially upon said light-sensitive element, and circuit means including said light-sensitive element for generating an electrical signal representing each standing pin having its reflected light scanned by the light-sensitive element during the rotation of the light receiving unit.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 33 words

The device of claim 1 wherein said illuminating means comprise: a light transmitting unit including a light source, and a lens focusing said light source only upon the heads of the standing pins.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 29 words

The device of claim 2 wherein means for rotating said light receiving unit also comprise: means for rotating said light transmitting unit in unison with said light receiving unit.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 77 words

The device of claim 1 including means for gating the output of said signal generating means in accordance with the scanning position of said light sensing means comprising: means for opening a gate at a first preselected position in a unidirectional scan of the pin area, and means for closing said gate at a second preselected position in the same scan, said first and second positions defining the sector of the scan limited to the pin-standing area.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 77 words

The device of claim 4 wherein said gating means comprise: a first optical coupler operative to open said gate, a second optical coupler operative to close said gate, and means, having a window therein which aligns with the optical axes of said couplers and mounted for movement through said axes, for causing said couplers to conduct or not to conduct in response to movements of said window in accordance with the position of said light sensing means.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 31 words

The device of claim 5 wherein said light receiving unit rotating means includes means for moving said window in synchronization with the scanning motion of said light transmitting and receiving units.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 36 words

The device of claim 1 further including circuit means for connection to an automatic bowling pinsetter control mechanism for causing the pinsetter to set a full set of pins upon the detection of no standing pins.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 17 words

The device of claim 1 wherein said light receiving unit includes only a single light sensitive element.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 38 words

The device of claim 2 wherein the light transmitting unit contains: means for focusing the light incident on the standing pins into an area having a height of approximately 3 inches and a width of approximately 1 inch.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 22 words

The device of claim 9 comprising in addition: means for rotating the light transmitting unit in unison with the light receiving unit.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 105 words

The combination, for use with a bowling pinsetter on a bowling lane, of a photoelectric pin counting device and means for automatically calculating a bowling score comprising: a pin counting device comprising means for illuminating standing bowling pins with light, a photoelectric sensing unit responsive to light reflected from a standing pin, means responsive to said photoelectric sensing unit for generating electrical signals representing each standing pin sensed by said unit, means for rotating said sensing unit to scan across the pin deck of a bowling lane; and means including an electronic computer responsive to said electrical signals for calculating and displaying the resulting score.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 105 words

The combination, for use with a bowling pinsetter on a bowling lane, of a photoelectric pin counting device and means for automatically calculating a bowling score comprising: a pin counting device comprising means for illuminating standing bowling pins with light, a photoelectric sensing unit responsive to light reflected from a standing pin, means responsive to said photoelectric sensing unit for generating electrical signals representing each standing pin sensed by said unit, means for rotating said sensing unit to scan across the pin deck of a bowling lane; and means including an electronic computer responsive to said electrical signals for calculating and displaying the resulting score.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 42 words

The device of claim 11 further including means for activating said photoelectric pin counting device in response to the presence of a delivered ball comprising: means for detecting the passing of a delivered ball through a selected line across the bowling lane.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 109 words

The device of claim 12 further including means for inactivating said counting device upon the occurence of any one of the following events: a. no pins are detected standing by said photoelectric sensing unit; b. the pinsetter servicing the bowling lane upon which the pin count is being taken reaches a preselected position in its operational cycle; c. the pinsetter''s rake goes into motion between its up and down positions; d. the expiration of a preselected period of time following the detecting of ball passage beyond the preselected line across the bowling lane; and e. the pin count represented by said electrical signals has been accepted by said computer.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 104 words

A photoelectric device for counting pins standing upon a bowling lane after delivery of a ball comprising: means for illuminating standing pins; means for detecting light reflected from each individual standing pin; means responsive to said detecting means for generating electrical signals representing the number of pins standing upon the lane after the delivery of the ball; said illuminating and detecting means being fixedly aligned with each other and focused generally within the area occupied by the heads of the standing pins; and means for causing said illuminating and detecting means to oscillate across the area occupied by the heads of the standing pins.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 104 words

A photoelectric device for counting pins standing upon a bowling lane after delivery of a ball comprising: means for illuminating standing pins; means for detecting light reflected from each individual standing pin; means responsive to said detecting means for generating electrical signals representing the number of pins standing upon the lane after the delivery of the ball; said illuminating and detecting means being fixedly aligned with each other and focused generally within the area occupied by the heads of the standing pins; and means for causing said illuminating and detecting means to oscillate across the area occupied by the heads of the standing pins.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 21 words

The device of claim 14 in combination with a scoring computer responsive to said electrical signals for calculating a bowler''s score.

Claim 19

Dependent Claim 43 words

The device of claim 15 further including means for connection to an automatic pinsetter control mechanism servicing the bowling lane for causing the automatic pinsetter to set a full set of pins upon the detection of no standing pins on said bowling lane.

Claim 20

Dependent Claim 30 words

The device of claim 16 further including a first electronic memory means for storing the count of pins detected standing upon the bowling lane after the delivery of a ball.

Claim 21

Dependent Claim 56 words

The device of claim 17 further including a second electronic memory coupled to said first electronic memory, and means for entering the count in said first memory into said second memory and conditioning said first memory to store pincount for the next ball, whereby the first ball and second ball pinfalls are stored within the pincounter.

Claim 22

Dependent Claim 38 words

The device of claim 18 in combination with a scoring computer, including means for entering the count in said memories in the computer and wherein the counter will be inactivated when both of said memories are storing pincounts.

Claim 23

Independent Claim 92 words

A device for counting bowling pins standing upon a bowling lane comprising: an illuminating device for transmitting light to the pins and an eLectro-optical pin detecting device, both devices mounted in the same position at one side of the lane with an unobstructed view of at least a part of the head of each standing pin, said electro-optical pin detecting device being capable of discriminating between light reflections from a plurality of standing pins; and means responsive to said electro-optical pin detecting device for recording the number of standing pins detected thereby.

Claim 24

Independent Claim 92 words

A device for counting bowling pins standing upon a bowling lane comprising: an illuminating device for transmitting light to the pins and an eLectro-optical pin detecting device, both devices mounted in the same position at one side of the lane with an unobstructed view of at least a part of the head of each standing pin, said electro-optical pin detecting device being capable of discriminating between light reflections from a plurality of standing pins; and means responsive to said electro-optical pin detecting device for recording the number of standing pins detected thereby.

Claim 25

Dependent Claim 41 words

The device of claim 20 wherein said electro-optical pin detecting device is mounted between a pair of bowling lanes, and at a distance of between 117 and 154 inches in front of the back row of pin spots upon the lane.

Claim 26

Independent Claim 103 words

A method of counting bowling pins standing upon a bowling lane comprising the steps of: providing an optical detector capable of differentiating light reflections from a plurality of standing pins; illuminating pins standing upon the lane with a light source located at one side of the lane and at an elevation approximately that of the pin heads; viewing said illuminated pins with said detector at the same position to one side of the lane and from an elevation approximately that of the pin heads from where all standing pins can be seen; and counting light reflections from standing pins detected by said detector.

Claim 27

Independent Claim 103 words

A method of counting bowling pins standing upon a bowling lane comprising the steps of: providing an optical detector capable of differentiating light reflections from a plurality of standing pins; illuminating pins standing upon the lane with a light source located at one side of the lane and at an elevation approximately that of the pin heads; viewing said illuminated pins with said detector at the same position to one side of the lane and from an elevation approximately that of the pin heads from where all standing pins can be seen; and counting light reflections from standing pins detected by said detector.

Claim 28

Dependent Claim 19 words

The method of claim 22 wherein the standing pins are serially illuminated and the reflections therefrom are serially counted.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	1977-07-22	1978-01-21	1978-07-23	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	1981-07-22	1982-01-21	1982-07-23	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	1985-07-22	1986-01-21	1986-07-23	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Photoelectric pinfall detection system

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