Technical Field

The present invention refers to a control and display device for 5 stopwatches for timed sports, particularly for use in games of basketball, ice hockey, roller hockey, field hockey, handball, water polo and wrestling. Background Art

In timed sports keeping track of the effective playing time is essential,

^• because in such sports the stopwatch is stopped at every whistle of the

10 referee or at moments that are collectively known as 'dead time', i.e. in those times when the teams are effectively not playing. It can be seen how in these sports it is essential and critically important to promptly stop and start the stopwatch. Although attempts have been made to render the stop, start and reset operations of the stopwatch as automated as possible by means of

15 using sensors integrated with special electronic systems or similar systems, there are still situations where the abovementioned operations can only be performed by human beings.

In particular in basketball, to help the game officials on the field there are referees, field officials, who are responsible for the operations at the 0 'touchline', and in particular they have to manage the counting of the time and of the twenty-four second stopwatch which determines the period of time within which a shot must be attempted at the basket by the team in possession of the ball.

In the national, upper league championships there is usually a game 5 official to operate the stopwatch ('timekeeper') and one for the twenty-four second stopwatch ('twenty-four second stopwatch keeper'), while in the lower leagues and in the amateur championships the same person can operate both of the stopwatches.

The aforementioned twenty-four seconds in basketball is the time that 30 the team has in which to attempt a shot at the basket. This time is monitored by a special stopwatch known as the 'twenty-four second stopwatch'. This stopwatch must be started the instant a team takes control of the ball, i.e. at the moment in which a player on the field makes contact with the ball.

The twenty-four second stopwatch can be stopped and then restarted from the number of seconds remaining, or it can be reset again to twenty- four seconds before the previous twenty-four seconds have elapsed.

If the stopwatch reaches the end of its countdown, i.e. it is not reset before the twenty-four seconds have elapsed, then gameplay is stopped and the stopwatch is reset again to twenty-four seconds. The effective playing time of the period is managed by means of a special stopwatch, known as the 'game stopwatch'. This stopwatch times a countdown beginning from the maximum duration time of the playing period.

The game officials manage the game stopwatch and the twenty-four second stopwatch by means of a special control and display device.

Presently, control devices are constituted by a visualizer of the game stopwatch, a visualizer of the twenty- four second stopwatch and a plurality of buttons for operating them, such as buttons for resetting the stopwatches and buttons for advancing or retreating the times on the stopwatches. A drawback with traditional stopwatches is that only the current values of the stopwatch are displayed and therefore any error by the referee or by the operators of the stopwatches cannot be restored with precision because the time of the previous interruption of the stopwatch is not known. Indeed, currently control devices are not equipped with the functionality to store the instants in time at which interruptions, restarts, and resets of the stopwatches occur.

Moreover the twenty-four second stopwatch usually displays only the seconds, i.e. it approximates to the second. This is a fairly reductive and disadvantageous aspect, especially during the final moments of the action and especially in sports, such as basketball, where victory or defeat of a team can be determined in fractions of a second of play.

Finally, of no small importance is the fact that the display of the twenty-four second stopwatch is often not synchronised with the stopwatch for the game period and therefore, in the event of errors, the correction of the two stopwatches is performed manually, in an approximately and rough manner. Disclosure of the Invention

The aim of the present invention is to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks by using a control and display device for stopwatches that makes it possible to keep track of the interruptions to the stopwatch following interruptions in play.

Within this aim, an object of the invention is to provide a control and display device for stopwatches in which the tracking and displaying of the time available to finish a game play are more accurate than the known solutions.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a control and display device for stopwatches that, in the event of an operator error, allows the manual or automatic restoration of the time values of such stopwatches and which also allows the referee to decide whether such restoration operation can be done only for the twenty-four second stopwatch or simultaneously for both of the stopwatches.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a control and display device for stopwatches that is easy and intuitive to use and which makes it possible to avoid, as far as possible, errors owing to accidentally or involuntarily pressing the buttons.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a control and display device for stopwatches that is highly reliable, easy to implement and low cost.

This aim, as well as these and other objects which will become better apparent hereinafter, are achieved by a control and display device for stopwatches for timed sports, comprising a first stopwatch that is controlled by events which are different but connected to those of a second stopwatch, each event of both of such stopwatches being stored in memory means, characterized in that it comprises means for selecting a particular event among the events recorded in such memory means and in that it comprises means for setting the time value associated with such particular event as a starting value in at least one of such two stopwatches. Brief Description of the Drawings

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become better apparent from the detailed description that follows of a preferred, but not exclusive, embodiment of the control and display device for stopwatches for timed sports, according to the invention, illustrated by way of non- limiting example in the accompanying drawings, wherein the sole figure shows a plan view of the control and display device for stopwatches according to the present invention. Ways of carrying out the Invention

With reference to the figure, a control and display device for stopwatches according to the invention, indicated globally with the reference numeral 1, is divided into an area 2, for example located on the left, for operating a first stopwatch, in this case used for counting down the game period and an area 3, for example located on the right, for operating the second stopwatch, in this case used for counting down the twenty-four seconds.

In the upper part of area 2 there is a first display 4 for displaying the current time of the first stopwatch, i.e. the game stopwatch.

Immediately above such first display 4 are the first means 5 a, 5b and 5 c of manually advancing respectively minutes, seconds and hundredths of a second of the time value displayed on 4. Immediately below such first display 4 are the first means 6a, 6b and 6c of manually retreating such time value. In the lower part of the area 4 there is a first display 7 in which appears the indication of the last stop made by the first stopwatch.

Moreover there are first means 8 of setting the starting value, constituted by a button with the wording 'RESET' below it while above and under the display 7 there are first means 9a and 9b for changing the event shown in the first display, implemented by buttons with arrow symbols pointing respectively upwards and downwards.

The purpose of these buttons is to run through and view, on the first display, the various different previous stop situations that have been stored on suitable memory means.

In the upper part of area 3 there is a second display 10 for displaying the current time of the second stopwatch, i.e. the twenty-four-second stopwatch, with indication of tenths of a second and of hundredths of a second. In a position above the display 10 there are second means l la, 1 Ib for manually advancing the seconds and the hundredths of seconds of the time value displayed on the display 10.

In a position below the third display 10 there are second means 12a, 12b for retreating the time value. In the lower part of the area 3 there is a second display 13 that is divided into three zones 13a, 13b and 13c which show the last three operations performed on the first and on the second stopwatch.

In particular the device is capable of storing and displaying, on the second display 13, the time value 14 of the second stopwatch and the corresponding time value 15 of the first stopwatch.

The situations of the second stopwatch, i.e. the twenty-four second stopwatch, which are stored on suitable memory means to be displayed later, are:

• Start of the first stopwatch • Start of the second stopwatch • Stop of the first stopwatch and of the second stopwatch.

• Reset of the second stopwatch before the end of the countdown

• Reset of the second stopwatch at the end of the countdown

The indications on the second display are shown by the solid or flashing illumination of the individual wordings. Illumination of the individual wording is green for the start state, red for the stop state and yellow for the reset state.

In a position above the display 13a there are second means 16 of setting the starting value constituted by a second button beside the wording 'RESET 24'" and on the other side there are third means 17 of setting the starting value, constituted by a third button with the wording 'RESET 24" &

CRONO'.

Below the part 13c of the second display 13 there are second means 18a and 18b for changing the event shown in such second display, which are constituted by second buttons with the arrow symbol pointing respectively upwards and downwards that are used to run through and display, on the three parts of the second display, the operations preceding the last three that were performed on both the stopwatches.

The device according to the invention also has means of control 20, constituted by a fourth button with the wording 'CONTROL' .

The device according to the invention can store and subsequently display on the first display 7 all the stops of the first stopwatch, the game stopwatch (and consequently the starts of the following action).

By way of the first means for changing the event shown, 9a and 9b, the user can run through all the previous stop situations. Once the situation of interest has been found, the user can restore the current time to that situation by acting simultaneously on the control means 20 and on the first system 8 for setting the starting value.

The device also stores, for all the events of both of the stopwatches, the time values of both of the stopwatches at that instant in time. By way of the second display 13, divided into three zones 13a, 13b and 13 c, it is possible to display the last three events for both of the stopwatches.

By way of the second means for changing the event shown, 18a and 18b, the user runs through the various different events to identify the event of specific interest and transfer it to the zone 13 a.

The referee may decide to restore the time value associated with the particular event selected only to the second stopwatch, and in this case it is necessary to act simultaneously on the control system 20 and on the second system 16 for setting the starting value.

Or the referee may decide to simultaneously restore the time value associated with the particular event selected to both of the stopwatches, and in this case it is necessary to act simultaneously on the control system 20 and on the third means 17 for setting the starting value. It should be noted that in order to avoid accidentally pressing the buttons, all the buttons function only if they are pressed simultaneously with the means of control 20.

Although it is possible to automatically restore the time values in the two stopwatches, it is still possible to intervene manually by pressing the buttons for incrementing and decrementing.

For both of the stopwatches there is no limit to the number of situations that can be stored.

To better comprehend the operation of the device according to the invention, below are some examples of application in the typical context of a basketball game. In the examples, the first stopwatch counts the game period and the second stopwatch counts the twenty-four seconds.

• Example A

The stopwatch for the game period records the start of the penultimate action at 22" from the end. When there are fewer than twenty-four seconds left from the end of the game period the twenty- four second stopwatch is not started. The stopwatch stops at 1.17" and then stops again at 1.03". From a conference between the referees and the game official on the touchline it emerges that the stopwatch for the game period was restarted in error. The game officials search through the last stops of the stopwatch, find 1.17" and set it on the game stopwatch thus allowing the game to be resumed from this last instant in time.

• Example B

The new action begins at 8 '37" and only the stopwatch for the game period starts. The ball comes into the possession of the 'A' team, the game stopwatch shows 8 '35" and the twenty-four second stopwatch begins. When the ball goes out of play, the game stopwatch shows 8 '25" and the twenty- four second stopwatch is at 14". The referee, by mistake, gives the ball to the other, 'B' team, and therefore the game stopwatch remains at 8 '25" while the twenty- four second stopwatch is reset to 24". Later, the referee realises his mistake and gives the ball back to the 'A' team and the twenty-four second stopwatch has to be corrected by making it return to 14".

In this case the device according to the invention operates as follows. The game stopwatch, by storing the stop times of the actions (and consequently the start times of the following actions), records the starting time of the last action after the stop at 8'37" and subsequently the stop at 8 '25". For the twenty-four-hour stopwatch, all the recent events are recorded and stored:

Event "4", i.e. the reset of the twenty-four second stopwatch, as described previously, occurs because of a mistake made by the referee who then realises his mistake and backtracks on his decision. The game official, by means of the device according to the invention, can recover the situation of the stopwatches before the mistaken decision made by the referee, i.e. the situation corresponding to event 3, and resets it as the current time and the starting time for resuming the game. • Example C

There are 32" left before the end of the game period and the 'A' team commits a foul relating to the twenty-four seconds. The bell signalling the end of the twenty-four seconds does not ring owing to a technical problem, so the referees do not notice the foul and continue on until around 4" before the end, when the game stops because the ball leaves the field.

The referee, not knowing the instant when the twenty-four seconds elapsed, erroneously resumes the game with 4" remaining instead of with 8" remaining. With the device according to the invention, the game official would have been able to recover the event in which the twenty-four second countdown had ended and the corresponding time value in the game stopwatch, thus allowing a more exact and correct resumption of the game.

In practice it has been found that the device according to the invention fully achieves the aim and objects in that it makes it possible to more precisely resolve time errors and inaccuracies in using stopwatches that can normally occur during the playing of a game.

Although the device according to the invention has been conceived in particular for use during basketball games, it can also be used, more generally, for all sports that use a stopwatch, such as for example ice hockey, roller hockey, field hockey, handball, water polo and wrestling. The invention, thus conceived, and in particular the position of the displays and of the buttons inside the control and display device, is susceptible of undergoing numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the appended claims. Moreover, all the details may be replaced by other technically equivalent elements. In practice, the materials employed, as well as the dimensions, may be any according to requirements and to the state of the art.

The content of the Italian application for invention patent no. MI2009A000835, the priority of which is claimed in the present application, is incorporated as a reference. Where the technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, those reference signs have been included for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly, such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the interpretation of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.