Systems and methods for tracking basketball player performance

• US 10,343,015 B2
• Filed: 08/23/2017
• Issued: 07/09/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pillar Vision Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Pillar Vision Incorporated
• Inventors: Marty, Alan W., Carter, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Saint-Vil, Eddy
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ermlick, William D
• Application Number:
  US15/684,413
• Publication Number:
  US 20180056124A1
• Time in Patent Office: 685 Days
• Field of Search: 434248
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2024/0034 during flight
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2024/0056 for statistical or strategic analysis
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/40 Acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/807 Photo cameras
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/54 Transponders, e.g. RFID
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2243/0037 Basketball
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 24/0021 Tracking a path or terminating locations
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 43/004 electrically conductive, e.g. for automatic arbitration
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 69/0071 for basketball
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 71/0622 Visual, audio or audio-visual systems for entertaining, instructing or motivating the user
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 71/0669 Score-keepers or score display devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10016 Video; Image sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30224 Ball; Puck
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30241 Trajectory
• 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: G06V 10/62 relating to a temporal dimension, e.g. time-based feature extraction; Pattern tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/23 Recognition of whole body movements, e.g. for sport training
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/0038 Sports

Abstract

Systems and methods relating to the tracking of the performance of a person playing basketball are described. The systems and methods can be used to determine and evaluate the shot placement of the basketball at the basketball hoop. The shot placement includes a lateral position and a depth position and is determined from a base point on the basketball hoop. The base point can correspond to the portion of the basketball hoop that is closest to the person'"'"'s location on the basketball court when taking the shot. A placement map can be provided to the person that provides information on the person'"'"'s shot placements so that the person can make adjustments to his/her shot placement and increase the probability of making a shot.

Claims

1. A system for evaluating basketball shooting performance, the system comprising:

at least one sensor configured to sense a basketball during a basketball shot at a basketball hoop by a player;

a memory device;

at least one processor configured to receive, from the at least one sensor, sensor data indicative of the basketball during the basketball shot, the at least one processor configured to select a base point for the basketball shot based on the sensor data, wherein a location of the selected base point relative to a predefined reference point is indicative of a first shot direction for the basketball shot, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine a shot placement of the basketball shot with respect to the basketball hoop based on the selected base point, wherein the at least one processor is configured to generate a map characterizing a shooting performance of the player, wherein the map indicates a plurality of shot placements for a plurality of basketball shots with respect to the basketball hoop, wherein the at least one processor is configured to normalize the shot placement to a predefined reference point by rotating the shot placement by an amount based on the selected base point, thereby defining a normalized shot placement for the basketball shot, such that the normalized shot placement is indicated on the map as if the basketball shot was taken from a predefined shot direction rather than the first shot direction; and

an output interface configured to provide an output based on the generated map.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine a location of the player when taking the basketball shot and to select the base point for the basketball shot based on the location of the player.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine a trajectory for the basketball shot based on the sensor data and to determine the location of the player based on the determined trajectory.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one processor is configured to generate a location map indicating the location of the player when taking the basketball shot, the at least one processor configured to determine a shot status for the basketball shot, wherein the shot status corresponds to one of a made shot or a missed shot, the at least one processor configured to include the shot status on the generated location map.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the shot placement includes a lateral position with respect to the basketball hoop and a depth position with respect to the basketball hoop.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the lateral position is defined with respect to a first line associated with the basketball hoop and the depth position is defined with respect to a second line associated with the basketball hoop that is perpendicular to the first line.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the first line of the basketball hoop passes through the base point and a center of the basketball hoop and the second line passes through one of the base point or the center of the basketball hoop.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine a shot status for the basketball shot, the shot status corresponding to one of a made shot or a missed shot, the at least one processor configured to include the shot status on the generated map.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the memory device is configured to store a plurality of shot placements for a plurality of basketball shots, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine at least one area associated with the basketball hoop having at least a portion of the plurality of shot placements in the at least one area, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to include the at least one area on the generated map.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor comprises at least one camera and the sensor data includes a plurality of images from the at least one camera.

10. A system for evaluating basketball shooting performance, the system comprising:

at least one sensor configured to sense a basketball during a basketball shot at a basketball hoop by a player;

a memory device configured to store a plurality of shot placements for a plurality of basketball shots with respect to the basketball hoop;

at least one processor configured to receive, from the at least one sensor, sensor data indicative of the basketball during the basketball shot, the at least one processor configured to select a base point for the basketball shot based on the sensor data, wherein a location of the selected base point relative to a predefined reference point is indicative of a first shot direction for the basketball shot, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine a shot placement of the basketball shot with respect to the basketball hoop based on the selected base point, wherein the at least one processor is configured to generate a map characterizing a shooting performance of the player, wherein the map indicates the plurality of shot placements, wherein the at least one processor is configured to normalize the shot placement to a predefined reference point based on the selected base point, thereby defining a normalized shot placement for the basketball shot, such that the normalized shot placement is indicated on the map as if the basketball shot was taken from a predefined shot direction rather than the first shot direction; and

an output interface configured to provide an output based on the generated map, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine at least one area associated with the basketball hoop having at least a portion of the plurality of shot placements in the at least one area, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to include the at least one area on the generated map, and wherein the determined at least one area includes a plurality of areas, each area of the plurality of areas being identified on the generated map based on a number of shot placements of the plurality of shot placements in the corresponding area.

12. A system for evaluating basketball shooting performance, the system comprising:

at least one sensor configured to capture images of a player taking a plurality of basketball shots at a basketball hoop, the plurality of basketball shots being taken from different locations on a basketball court and from different shot directions relative to the basketball hoop;

at least one processor configured to receive image data defining the images from the at least one sensor, the at least one processor configured to identify the basketball within the images for each of the plurality of basketball shots and to select a respective base point for each of the plurality of basketball shots based on the images, wherein a location of each selected base point relative to a predefined reference point indicates a shot direction for a corresponding one of the plurality of basketball shots, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine shot placements for the plurality of basketball shots with respect to the basketball hoop and to normalize the shot placements based on the base points such that each of the normalized shot placements is relative to a predefined shot direction as if each of the basketball shots was taken from the predefined shot direction, wherein the at least one processor is configured to generate a map based on the normalized shot placements, the map indicative of the normalized shot placements with respect to the basketball hoop, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine at least one area associated with the basketball hoop having at least a portion of the shot placements in the at least one area, wherein the at least one processor is configured to include the at least one area on the generated map, and wherein the determined at least one area includes a plurality of areas, each area of the plurality of areas being identified on the generated map based on a number of the shot placements in the corresponding area; and

an output interface configured to display the generated map.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the displayed map includes a value indicative of a shooting performance of the player for the plurality of basketball shots.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine a respective trajectory for at least one of the plurality of basketball shots based on the images and determine the location of the player on the basketball court for the at least one of the plurality of basketball shots based on the trajectory, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine at least one of the base points based on the location of the player.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein each of the shot placements includes a lateral position defined with respect to the basketball hoop and a depth position defined with respect to the basketball hoop.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine a shot status for each of the plurality of basketball shots, the shot status corresponding to one of a made shot or a missed shot, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to include shot status for each of the shot placements on the generated map.

17. A system for evaluating basketball shooting performance, the system comprising:

at least one sensor configured to capture images of a player taking a plurality of basketball shots at a basketball hoop, the plurality of basketball shots being taken from different locations on a basketball court and from different shot directions relative to the basketball hoop;

at least one processor configured to receive image data defining the images from the at least one sensor, the at least one processor configured to identify the basketball within the images for each of the plurality of basketball shots and to select a respective base point for each of the plurality of basketball shots based on the images, wherein a location of each selected base point relative to a predefined reference point indicates a shot direction for a corresponding one of the plurality of basketball shots, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine shot placements for the plurality of basketball shots and to normalize the shot placements based on the base points such that each of the normalized shot placements is relative to a predefined shot direction as if each of the basketball shots was taken from the predefined shot direction, wherein the at least one processor is configured to generate a map based on the normalized shot placements, the map indicative of the normalized shot placements with respect to the basketball hoop, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to normalize at least one of the shot placements by rotating the at least one shot placement by an amount based on a corresponding one of the base points; and

an output interface configured to display the generated map.

18. A system for evaluating basketball shooting performance, the system comprising:

at least one sensor configured to sense at least one basketball during a plurality of shots of the at least one basketball at a basketball hoop by a player, the plurality of shots including at least a first shot of the at least one basketball at the basketball hoop and a second shot of the at least one basketball at the basketball hoop;

at least one processor configured to determine, based on the at least one sensor, a shot placement of the at least one basketball with respect to the hoop for the first shot and a shot placement of the at least one basketball with respect to the hoop for the second shot, the at least one processor further configured to correlate the shot placement of the first shot with first data indicative of a first shot direction for the first shot relative to the hoop and to correlate the shot placement of the second shot with second data indicative of a second shot direction for the second shot relative to the hoop, wherein the second shot direction is different than the first shot direction, wherein the first data defines a first base point having a location based on the first shot direction for the first shot, and wherein the second data defines a second base point having a location based on the second shot direction for the second shot, the at least one processor further configured to define a map of the hoop and to indicate shot placements with respect to the hoop on the map, wherein the at least one processor is configured to normalize the first shot placement and the second shot placement with respect to a predefined shot direction based on the first base point defined by the first data and based on the second base point defined by the the second data such that (1) the normalized first shot placement is indicated on the map relative to the predefined shot direction as if the first shot was taken from the predefined shot direction instead of the first shot direction and (2) the normalized second shot placement is indicated on the map relative to the predefined shot direction as if the second shot was taken from the predefined shot direction instead of the second shot direction; and

an output interface configured to display the map,

wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine a first angle between the first base point and a predefined reference point associated with the predefined shot direction and to rotate the first shot placement based on the first angle.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine a second angle between the second base point and the predefined reference point associated with the predefined shot direction and to rotate the second shot placement based on the second angle.

20. A method for evaluating basketball shooting performance, comprising:

sensing at least one basketball with at least one sensor during a plurality of shots of the at least one basketball at a basketball hoop by a player, the plurality of shots including at least a first shot of the basketball at the basketball hoop and a second shot of the at least one basketball at the basketball hoop;

determining with at least one processor a shot placement of the at least one basketball with respect to the hoop for the first shot based on the sensing;

determining with the at least one processor a shot placement of the at least one basketball with respect to the hoop for the second shot based on the sensing;

determining a first shot direction for the first shot with the at least one processor based on the sensing;

determining a second shot direction for the second shot with the at least one processor based on the sensing, wherein the second shot direction is different than the first shot direction;

correlating the shot placement of the first shot with first data indicative of the first shot direction relative to the hoop;

correlating the shot placement of the second shot with second data indicative of the second shot direction relative to the hoop;

normalizing the first shot placement by rotating the first shot placement by an amount based on the first shot data, thereby defining a normalized first shot placement with respect to the hoop, such that the normalized first shot placement is relative to a predefined shot direction as if the first shot was taken from the predefined shot direction instead of the first shot direction;

normalizing the second shot placement by rotating the second shot placement by an amount based on the second shot data, thereby defining a normalized second shot placement with respect to the hoop, such that the normalized second shot placement is relative to the predefined shot direction as if the second shot was taken from the predefined shot direction instead of the second shot direction;

displaying a map of the hoop with an output interface;

indicating the normalized first shot placement on the map; and

indicating the normalized second shot placement on the map.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

selecting with the at least one processor a first base point for the first shot based on the first shot direction; and

selecting with the at least one processor a second base point for the second shot based on the second shot direction,

wherein the normalizing the first shot placement is based on the first base point, and wherein the normalizing the second shot placement is based on the second base point.

22. A method for evaluating basketball shooting performance, comprising:

sensing at least one basketball with at least one sensor during a plurality of shots of the at least one basketball at a basketball hoop by a player, the plurality of shots including at least a first shot of the basketball at the basketball hoop and a second shot of the at least one basketball at the basketball hoop;

determining with at least one processor a shot placement of the at least one basketball with respect to the hoop for the first shot based on the sensing;

determining with the at least one processor a shot placement of the at least one basketball with respect to the hoop for the second shot based on the sensing;

determining a first shot direction for the first shot with the at least one processor based on the sensing;

determining a second shot direction for the second shot with the at least one processor based on the sensing, wherein the second shot direction is different than the first shot direction;

correlating the shot placement of the first shot with first data indicative of the first shot direction relative to the hoop;

correlating the shot placement of the second shot with second data indicative of the second shot direction relative to the hoop;

normalizing the first shot placement based on the first shot data, thereby defining a normalized first shot placement with respect to the hoop, such that the normalized first shot placement is relative to a predefined shot direction as if the first shot was taken from the predefined shot direction instead of the first shot direction;

normalizing the second shot placement based on the second shot data, thereby defining a normalized second shot placement with respect to the hoop, such that the normalized second shot placement is relative to the predefined shot direction as if the second shot was taken from the predefined shot direction instead of the second shot direction;

storing in memory a plurality of shot placements for the plurality of shots;

determining with the at least one processor at least one area associated with the basketball hoop having at least a portion of the plurality of shot placements in the at least one area;

displaying a map of the hoop with an output interface, the map including the at least one area;

indicating the normalized first shot placement on the map; and

indicating the normalized second shot placement on the map,

wherein the determined at least one area includes a plurality of areas, each area of the plurality of areas identified on the generated map based on a number of shot placements of the plurality of shot placements in the corresponding area.