Combined digital scorekeeper and vibration dampener

Abstract

Disclosed is a combined digital scorekeeper and vibration dampener device. The device is encased in a housing fabricated from a vibration dampening and/or shock absorption material. The device includes a plurality of string channels for attaching directly to the strings of a racket, and provides a miniature scoreboard that is operated by a simple mechanical or touch button system, so as not to distract the player's from the game. In an embodiment, the device is includes wireless technology to exchange scores and other data with other digital scorekeeper devices used by other players during a game, or via a network to a remote device to document the statistics from the match or provide data for other applications or sharing with others. In an embodiment, the digital scorekeeper includes one or more inertial sensors configured to detect and/or measure various data associated with the player's performance, which can be synced to video and used with training applications.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus comprising:
 a housing including a top surface, bottom surface, frontside surface, backside surface, and two end surfaces, the housing made at least partially of vibration dampening material;   an electronic scoreboard embedded in or attached to the top surface;   a plurality of adjacent, spaced-apart parallel string channels in the bottom surface and extending from the frontside surface to the backside surface, the string channels configured to attach the apparatus to strings of a racquet;   an input interface embedded in or attached to at least one of the top surface, frontside or backside surface;   a processor;   memory storing instructions that when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
 receiving user input through the score input interface; 
 responsive to the using input, updating a score stored in the memory; and 
 outputting the score on the electronic scoreboard. 
   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the input interface includes a microphone, and the operations executed by the processor further include:
 receiving, by the microphone, speech commands;   responsive to the speech commands, updating a score stored in memory; and   outputting the score on the electronic scoreboard.   
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the input interface includes a plurality of mechanical pushbuttons on the top surface that, when pressed by a user, updates the score stored in the memory. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 3 , wherein the mechanical pushbuttons are disposed on opposite sides of the electronic scoreboard. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the electronic scoreboard is touch sensitive and configured to receive taps or gestures by a user to update the score stored in the memory. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein each string channel includes a partially cylindrical portion for holding a string in place and an elongated guide portion for guiding the string into the cylindrical portion. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the vibration dampening or absorbing material is rubber. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the ends each include a string channel extending from the backside to the frontside for receiving strings of the racquet. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a rechargeable battery; and   one or more ports on the backside or frontside surface for at least one of charging the battery or for transferring or receiving data from another device.   
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein the one or more ports is micro universal serial bus (USB) port. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a wireless transceiver coupled to the processor, and the operations further comprising:   establishing, using the wireless transceiver, wireless communications with a remote device over a network; and   transferring, using the network, score data stored in memory to the remote device.   
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a wireless transceiver coupled to the processor, and the operations further comprising:   establishing, using the wireless transceiver, wireless communications with a remote device over a network;   receiving, using the network, score data from the remote device; and   replacing or updating the score in the memory with the score data.   
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the network is a wireless ad hoc Bluetooth piconet. 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 one or more inertial sensors configured to capture performance data of a player using the racquet in a sporting event, the operations further comprising storing the performance data in the memory.   
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 a wireless transceiver coupled to the processor, and wherein the operations further comprise:   establishing, using the wireless transceiver, wireless communications with a remote device over a network; and   transferring, using the network, the performance data stored in the memory to the remote device.   
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the racquet is a tennis racquet.