Researchers Submit Patent Application, “Turf Playability Testing”, for Approval (USPTO 20200081938)

2020 MAR 27 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Washington, D.C., NewsRx journalists report that a patent application by the inventors Aldahir, Philipe (Chattanooga, TN); Sands, Trevor (Kennesaw, GA); Dutton, Jeremy (Calhoun, GA), filed on September 6, 2019, was made available online on March 12, 2020.

The patent’s assignee is Columbia Insurance Company (Omaha, Nebraska, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Turf playability can be considered as the way participants and objects interact with a particular sports playing surface. Various factors can affect playability. However, playability is typically considered a subjective and non-quantifiable descriptor.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent application, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent application: “It is to be understood that both the following general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive. Provided are methods and systems for testing turf playability. A method can comprise generating a test data matrix comprising a first dimension and a second dimension, each first dimension entry in a plurality of first dimension entries corresponding to a respective tested attribute of a plurality of tested attributes, each second dimension entry in a plurality of second dimension entries corresponding to a respective test point of a plurality of test points; determining a centroid associated with the test data matrix; determining a plurality of distances relative to the centroid; and determining, based on a comparison of the plurality of distances to a reference data set, a playability score.

“A system can comprise at least one computing device configured to at least: generate a test data matrix comprising a first dimension and a second dimension, each first dimension entry in a plurality of first dimension entries corresponding to a respective tested attribute of a plurality of tested attributes, each second dimension entry in a plurality of second dimension entries corresponding to a respective test point of a plurality of test points; determine a centroid associated with the test data matrix; determine a plurality of distances relative to the centroid; and determine, based on a comparison of the plurality of distances to a reference data set, a playability score.

“Additional advantages will be set forth in part in the description which follows or may be learned by practice. The advantages will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method, comprising: generating a test data matrix comprising a first dimension and a second dimension, each first dimension entry in a plurality of first dimension entries corresponding to a respective tested attribute of a plurality of tested attributes, each second dimension entry in a plurality of second dimension entries corresponding to a respective test point of a plurality of test points; determining a centroid associated with the test data matrix; determining a plurality of distances relative to the centroid; and determining, based on a comparison of the plurality of distances to a reference data set, a playability score.

“2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: generating, based on the test data matrix, one or more additional second dimension entries; and adding the one or more additional second dimension entries to the test data matrix.

“3. The method of claim 2, wherein generating the one or more additional second dimension entries comprises generating, based on one or more Cartesian cross products, the one or more additional second dimension entries.

“4. The method of claim 2, further comprising selecting, from the test data matrix, a subset of the plurality of second dimension entries.

“5. The method of claim 4, wherein determining the centroid associated with the test data matrix comprises determining the centroid relative to the subset of the plurality of second dimension entries.

“6. The method of claim 4, wherein determining the plurality of distances comprises determining, for the subset of the plurality of second dimension entries, a corresponding distance to the centroid.

“7. The method of claim 4, wherein determining the subset of the plurality of second dimension entries comprises performing a random selection of the plurality of second dimension entries.

“8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the centroid comprises determining the centroid based on one or more of: a k-means clustering, a density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN), or a principal component analysis (PCA) clustering.

“9. The method of claim 4, wherein determining the plurality of distances comprises determining a plurality of Euclidian distances or a plurality of cosine distances.

“10. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of tested attributes comprise one or more of: a g-max, a head injury criterion (HIC), a vertical deformation, an energy restitution, a shear vane, or a rotational traction.

“11. A system, comprising: at least one computing device configured to at least: generate a test data matrix comprising a first dimension and a second dimension, each first dimension entry in a plurality of first dimension entries corresponding to a respective tested attribute of a plurality of tested attributes, each second dimension entry in a plurality of second dimension entries corresponding to a respective test point of a plurality of test points; determine a centroid associated with the test data matrix; determine a plurality of distances relative to the centroid; and determine, based on a comparison of the plurality of distances to a reference data set, a playability score.

“12. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one computing device is further configured to at least: generate, based on the test data matrix, one or more additional second dimension entries; and add the one or more additional second dimension entries to the test data matrix.

“13. The system of claim 12, wherein generating the one or more additional second dimension entries comprises generating, based on one or more Cartesian cross products, the one or more additional second dimension entries.

“14. The system of claim 12, wherein the at least one computing device is further configured to at least select, from the test data matrix, a subset of the plurality of second dimension entries.

“15. The system of claim 14, wherein determining the centroid associated with the test data matrix comprises determining the centroid relative to the subset of the plurality of second dimension entries.

“16. The system of claim 14, wherein determining the plurality of distances comprises determining, for the subset of the plurality of second dimension entries, a corresponding distance to the centroid.

“17. The system of claim 14, wherein determining the subset of the plurality of second dimension entries comprises performing a random selection of the plurality of second dimension entries.

“18. The system of claim 11, wherein determining the centroid comprises determining the centroid based on one or more of: a k-means clustering, a density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN), or a principal component analysis (PCA) clustering.

“19. The system of claim 14, wherein determining the plurality of distances comprises determining a plurality of Euclidian distances or a plurality of cosine distances.

“20. The system of claim 11, wherein the plurality of tested attributes comprise one or more of: a g-max, a head injury criterion (HIC), a vertical deformation, an energy restitution, a shear vane, or a rotational traction.”

For additional information on this patent application, see: Aldahir, Philipe; Sands, Trevor; Dutton, Jeremy. Turf Playability Testing. Filed September 6, 2019 and posted March 12, 2020. Patent URL: http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220200081938%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20200081938&RS=DN/20200081938

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