IBM Patents in Events. What Comes Next?

IBM’s entrance into the Sports Analytics Patent Forecast® has been well-documented as the global patent leader looks to capitalize on technology areas forgotten by those already in the sector. One subcategory that has seen continuous neglect from most of the leaders in the space is the Events space. This category is classified as documents which relate to the detection of events in sporting events, which inherently leads to it mainly being filled with relatively niche companies specializing in highly time-based sports like track and field, but based on a patent granted in early-2021 to IBM, IBM is looking to leverage this space in a different way for more popular sports such as football, soccer, and other “territory” sports in which teams are split into offensive and defensive territories.

The patent relates generally to detecting “segmentation” events (i.e. touchdowns, ends of plays, goals, or anything else that segments the progression of the game) based on eigenvalue product comparisons of matrices and then analyzing the segments to determine how much they contributed to the total points scored of a match. Based on this contribution score, events are responded to in certain ways. The patent details many different applications for the technology and the claims do not seem to limit it to a specific sport, or even sports in general leaving IBM what looks to be a strong patent to build a portfolio around.

With this patent, it is clear that IBM is looking to enter the sports technology sphere from many different positions where large technology providers might have missed. Be on the lookout for it to continue to grow its portfolio in these areas to find its place in the market. Stay up to date with IBM’s market preceding patent filings by following the Sports Analytics Patent Forecast®.