Sports timing system (STS) event and participant announcement communication system (EPACS) and method

A method for communicating participant specific announcement information received from a sport timing system (STS) used to track a plurality of participants in a sporting event, the sports timing system receiving a detection of a participant from among a plurality of participants including a detection time from a coupled participant detection system and determining a time of passing of the participant by a detection point and associating the determined time of passing with a participant identifier uniquely identifying the participant in the sporting event and participant timing data, the sports timing system storing the determined time of passing associated with the participant identifier as the participant timing data, the method comprising

• receiving, at an announcement interface system having a processor, a memory, a first data interface communicating over the a communication network with the sport timing system, a multicast datagram announcement message including an identification of the sport timing system and participant data including the participant identifier and the participant timing data;
• storing in the announcement interface system a plurality of participant announcements each associated with a different one of the participants as identified by a different participant identifier;
• identifying a participant specific announcement from the plurality of stored participant announcements that is associated with the received participant identifier;
• transmitting over the first data interface a datagram request directory message requesting a listing of available images associated with the participant identifier of the received participant data from the sport timing system,
• in response to the datagram request directory message receiving a sent image directory message with the requested listing of available images associated with the participant identifier,
• transmitting over the first data interface a datagram request image message requesting an image associated with the participant identifier from the received listing of available images, and
• in response to the datagram request image message receiving a sent image message with the requested image,
• formatting, in the announcement interface system, the received portion of the participant data and the received image associated with the participant identifier into an announcement system message having a predetermined data format that is customized to the participant associated with the participant identifier and including the received participant specific announcement;
• and
• transmitting, at a second interface of the announcement interface system communicating with an announcement system, the formatted announcement system message including the participant data, the participant identifier, the received participant specific announcement including the received image, and participant timing data.

A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with a set of executable instructions for communicating participant specific announcement information received from a sport timing system (STS) used to track a plurality of participants in a sporting event, the sports timing system receiving a detection of a participant from among a plurality of participants including a detection time from a coupled participant detection system and determining a time of passing of the participant by a detection point and associating the determined time of passing with a participant identifier uniquely identifying the participant in the sporting event and participant timing data, the sports timing system storing the determined time of passing associated with the participant identifier as the participant timing data, the executable instructions executing the steps comprising:

• receiving, at an announcement interface system having a processor, a memory, a first data interface communicating over a communication network with the sport timing system, a multicast datagram announcement message including an identification of the sport timing system and participant data including participant identifier, and the participant timing data;
• storing in the announcement interface system a plurality of participant announcements each associated with a different one of the participants as identified by a different participant identifier;
• identifying a participant specific announcement from the plurality of stored participant announcements that is associated with the received participant identifier;
• transmitting over the first data interface a datagram request directory message requesting a listing of available images associated with the participant identifier of the received participant data from the sport timing system,
• in response to the datagram request directory message receiving a sent image directory message with the requested listing of available images associated with the participant identifier,
• transmitting over the first data interface a datagram request image message requesting an image associated with the participant identifier from the received listing of available images, and
• in response to the datagram request image message receiving a sent image message with the requested image,
• formatting, in the announcement interface system, the received portion of the participant data and the received requested image into an announcement system message having a predetermined data format that is customized to the participant associated with the participant identifier and including the received participant specific announcement;
• and
• transmitting, at a second interface of the announcement interface system communicating with an announcement system, the formatted announcement system message including the participant data, the participant identifier, the received participant specific announcement, the received requested image, and participant timing data.