US 6,204,813 · Granted 2001-03-20
The Radio Tracking Patent That Pioneered Real-Time Sports Analytics
Imagine tiny radio transmitters sewn into athletes' gear that constantly broadcast their exact location to receivers around a field or track. This patent describes a system that catches those signals and instantly figures out where each player or object is, turning messy real-world motion into precise digital data.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a radio frequency positioning system that uses multiple spread spectrum transceivers attached to objects to transmit their location signals, combined with at least three fixed receivers that triangulate those signals to determine both identity and precise position data of numerous objects simultaneously. What's protected here is the specific architecture of using spread spectrum technology for multi-object indoor or local-area tracking, not just the concept of radio positioning.
Why it matters
This patent represents early foundational work in real-time object tracking for sports and athletics, a field that has since exploded into billion-dollar industries spanning player analytics, broadcast visualization, and coaching technology. By locking down the core method of using distributed transceivers and signal processing to track multiple moving targets, Trakus established intellectual property in a technology that became central to how modern sports are filmed, analyzed, and monetized.
Real-world use
Every time a sports broadcast shows a glowing path tracing a player's sprint across the field, or when a coach reviews heat maps of where athletes covered ground during a game, that data often originates from radio tracking systems built on principles this patent protects.
Original USPTO abstract
A radio frequency positioning system is described that determines identity and positional data of numerous objects. The system includes a plurality of spread spectrum radio transceivers where at least one transceiver is positioned on each of the numerous objects. At least three spread spectrum radio transceivers transmit to and receive signals from the plurality of radio transceivers. A signal processor is coupled to the spread spectrum radio transceivers and determines the identity and the positional data of the objects.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 6,204,813
- Filing date
- 1998-02-20
- Grant date
- 2001-03-20
- Assignee
- Trakus, Inc.
- Inventor(s)
- WADELL BRIAN C., MCCARTHY ROBERT J., GRAVENGAARD ERIC L., SPITZ ERIC, KATROS VAHE
- CPC class
- A63B24/0021
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