Portable system for obtaining sports information

• US 10,332,270 B2
• Filed: 09/23/2015
• Issued: 06/25/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Chethan Yadav
• Original Assignee: Chethan Yadav
• Inventors: Yadav, Chethan
• Primary Examiner(s): Czekaj, Dave
• Assistant Examiner(s): Abimbola, Kehinde
• Application Number:
  US14/863,003
• Publication Number:
  US 20170083758A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,371 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/12 Absolute positions, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/17 Counting, e.g. counting periodical movements, revolutions or cycles, or including further data processing to determine distances or speed
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/20 Distances or displacements
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/30 Speed
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/35 Spin
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/53 Force of an impact, e.g. blow or punch
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/806 Video cameras
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/50 Wireless data transmission, e.g. by radio transmitters or telemetry
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/74 with powered illuminating means, e.g. lights
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 69/38 for tennis A63B61/006, A63B69/0073 and A63B69/0097 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/19 Sporting applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/52 Determining velocity
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30224 Ball; Puck
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/20 Analysis of motion motion estimation for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/43, H04N19/51
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/60 Analysis of geometric attributes
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/20 in augmented reality scenes
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/42 of sport video content
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/46 Extracting features or characteristics from the video content, e.g. video fingerprints, representative shots or key frames
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/30 : relating to physical therapies or activities, e.g. physiotherapy, acupressure or exercising

Abstract

A cost-effective, portable system is provided for obtaining and analyzing detailed sports information. The system may include, for example, a mobile device capable of calculating a distance between itself and a launch point of a ball, recording a video of the flight of the ball, analyzing the video to determine at least one flight characteristic, and determining, based on the at least one flight characteristic, an average speed of the ball during flight. The system may also include a sensor worn by a player and configured to wirelessly transmit various types of information to the mobile device for further processing.

Claims

1. A method of obtaining information on a ball in flight using a mobile device comprising at least a camera and a processor, said method comprising:

calculating, by the processor, a distance between the mobile device and a launch point of the ball;

recording, via the camera of the mobile device, a video of the flight of the ball;

analyzing, by the processor, the video to determine at least one flight characteristic; and

determining, by the processor, based on the at least one flight characteristic, an average speed of the ball during flight, wherein analyzing the video to determine at least one flight characteristic further comprises;

determining from the video, by the processor, a launch frame of the video at which the ball was launched;

determining from the video, by the processor, a landing frame of the video at which the ball landed;

determining, by the processor, based on a framerate of the video, a number of intervening frames between the launch frame and the landing frame of the video;

calculating, by the processor, an average speed of the ball during flight between the launch frame and the landing frame of the video based on the number of intervening frame;

determining from the video, by the processor, a beginning subset frame of the intervening frames;

determining from the video, by the processor, and ending subset frame of the intervening frames;

determining from the video, by the processor, any consecutive frames from the video existing between the beginning subset frame and the ending subset frame, wherein the beginning subset frame, the consecutive frames between the beginning subset frame and the ending subset frame, and the ending subset frame comprise a subset of frames, said subset of frames a part of but less than the number of intervening frames and said subset of frames captured during a subset of the flight of the ball between the launch frame and the ending frame;

measuring, by the processor, a rate of change of a size of an image of the ball during the subset of flight of the ball by locating and analyzing the image of the ball in two or more frames of the subset of frames;

determining, by the processor, a subset average speed of the ball during the subset of the flight of the ball based on a known size of the ball and the rate of change of the size of the image of the ball during the subset of flight; and

revising, by the processor, the average speed of the ball during flight between the launch frame and the landing frame of the video using the subset average speed of the ball during the subset of the flight of the ball.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein calculating a distance further comprises the processor utilizing a Global Positioning System module.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein calculating a distance further comprises the processor utilizing a geographic map associated with a geographic location of the ball and/or mobile device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the processor tracking a flight path of the ball and displaying, on a user interface, a graphic depicting the flight path of the ball.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the graphic depicting the flight path of the ball is color coded according to the average speed of the ball flight.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising the processor calculating, based on the calculated average speed and the tracked flight path of the ball, a direction and/or a magnitude of ball spin.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the graphic depicting the flight path of the ball is color coded according to the direction and/or magnitude of ball spin.

8. A system for tracking sports activity within a playing area, comprising:

a mobile device comprising at least a camera and a processor; and

a sensor configured to be worn by a player of the sports activity, the sensor configured to wirelessly communicate with the mobile device;

wherein the mobile device tracks movement of the ball by the processor processing data received by the camera;

wherein the mobile device tracks player movement via information received by the processor from the sensor worn by the player; and

wherein the mobile device is configured to display a graphical representation of the ball and/or player movement within the playing area, wherein the mobile device tracking movement of the ball by the processor processing data received by the camera further comprises;

determining from a video captured by the camera, by the processor, a launch frame of the video at which the ball was launched;

calculating, by the processor, a distance between the mobile device and the launch point of the ball;

determining from the video, by the processor, a landing frame of the video at which the ball landed;

determining, by the processor, based on a framerate of the video, a number of intervening frames between the launch frame and the landing frame of the video;

calculating, by the processor, an average speed of the ball during flight between the launch frame and the landing frame of the video based on the number of intervening frames;

determining from the video, by the processor, a beginning subset frame of the intervening frames;

determining from the video, by the processor, and ending subset frame of the intervening frames;

determining from the video, by the processor, any consecutive frames from the video existing between the beginning subset frame and the ending subset frame, wherein the beginning subset frame, the consecutive frames between the beginning subset frame and the ending subset frame, and the ending subset frame comprise a subset of frames, said subset of frames a part of but less than the number of intervening frames and said subset of frames captured during a subset of the flight of the ball between the launch frame and the ending frame;

measuring, by the processor, a rate of change of a size of an image of the ball during the subset of flight of the ball by locating and analyzing the image of the ball in two or more frames of the subset of frames;

determining, by the processor, a subset average speed of the ball during the subset of the flight of the ball based on a known size of the ball and the rate of change of the size of the image of the ball during the subset of flight; and

revising, by the processor, the average speed of the ball during flight between the launch frame and the landing frame of the video using the subset average speed of the ball during the subset of the flight of the ball.

9. The system of 8, wherein the sensor is configured to determine a player position via a GPS module.

10. The system of 9, wherein the mobile device comprises a GPS module and is configured to measure a distance between the mobile device and the player by the processor comparing the GPS locations of the mobile device and the sensor.

11. The system of 8, wherein the sensor emits a light detectable by the mobile device.

12. The system of 11, wherein the processor of the mobile device calculates player position based on the location of the emitted light.

13. The system of 8, wherein the mobile device calculates, by the processor, at least one of average player movement speed, maximum player movement speed, and/or player reaction time.

14. The system of 8, further comprising an impact sensor configured to be worn by the user and/or placed on a striking instrument, wherein the impact sensor detects the time of impact with the ball.

15. The system of 14, wherein the processor of the mobile device calculates ball speed based, at least in part, on information received from the impact sensor regarding the time of impact with the ball.