Method and apparatus for coaching athletic teams

• US 20060198608A1
• Filed: 06/24/2005
• Published: 09/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Frank D. Girardi
• Original Assignee: Frank D. Girardi
• Inventors: Girardi, Frank D.
• Application Number:
  US11/166,426
• Publication Number:
  US 20060198608A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 386/231
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/745 the internal structure of a single video sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/784 the detected or recognised objects being people
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/7844 using original textual content or text extracted from visual content or transcript of audio data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/786 using motion, e.g. object motion or camera motion
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/11 by using information not detectable on the record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/28 by using information signals recorded by the same method as the main recording G11B27/22 takes precedence

Abstract

In a computer program, a video input file and data input is segmented into individual play records so that each individual play can be displayed and manipulated by a user interface. If the video input file is digital, time stamps within the input file are used to segment the input file into individual play video files. Speech input is used to control the computer program and enter statistical information.

Claims

1. A play analysis computer program for use in conjunction with a computer system, the play analysis computer program comprising:

a playbook for storing at least play names and player names;

an input module for accepting commands, statistics and data inputs, the input module referencing at least the play names and the player names from the playbook to validate the commands, the statistics and the data inputs;

a video input module for accepting a video input stream of an athletic event, the video input module adapted to separate the video input stream into a plurality of individual plays of the athletic event;

a user interface for displaying the individual plays and the statistics; and

a database for storing the individual plays and the statistics, whereas the input module stores the statistics in the database.

2. The play analysis computer program of claim 1, wherein the input module uses voice recognition to input the commands, the statistics and the data.

3. The play analysis computer program of claim 2, wherein the voice recognition recognizes numbers uttered as discrete digits and uttered as contiguous numbers.

4. The play analysis computer program of claim 1, wherein the video input stream is a digital video input stream having time stamps and the video input module uses changes in the time stamps to separate the video input stream into the individual plays.

5. The play analysis computer program of claim 1, wherein the video input stream is an analog video input stream and the video input module detects scene changes in the video input stream to separate the video input stream into the individual plays.

6. The play analysis computer program of claim 1, wherein the user interface is adapted to display the individual plays and the statistics on a computer display.

7. The play analysis computer program of claim 6, wherein the athletic event is a football game.

8. The play analysis computer program of claim 7, wherein the user interface includes a mode of operation whereby an initial movement of a ball carrier within the statistics is analyzed to determine the ball carrier'"'"'s initial direction of movement and the ball carrier'"'"'s initial direction of movement is displayed as directional lines on a playing field.

9. The play analysis computer program of claim 7, whereas the user interface includes a mode of operation whereby a first video display area and a second video display area are displayed, the first video display area having a first of the plurality of individual plays and the second video display area having a second of the plurality of individual plays.

11. The method for analyzing athletic games of claim 9, wherein said time gap is one second.

10. A method for analyzing individual plays of a game, the method comprising:

receiving a digital video stream containing a digital video representation of an athletic event;

while more video data is present in the digital video stream;

(a) reading a time stamp from the digital video stream and storing the time stamp in a first register;

(b) creating an individual play output file for a current play of the digital video stream;

(c) reading a segment of video from the digital video stream;

(d) writing the segment of video to the individual play output file;

(e) reading a next time stamp from the digital video stream and storing the next time stamp in a second register;

(f) if the first register differs from the second register by more than a time gap, copying the contents of the second register into the first register and repeating the above steps (b) through (f); and

(g) copying the contents of the second register into the first register and repeating steps (c) through (g).

12. The method for analyzing athletic games of claim 10, further comprising:

inputting statistics regarding the current play and writing the statistics into a database.

13. The method for analyzing athletic games of claim 12, further comprising:

displaying the statistics for the current play and the individual play output file for the current play in a user interface on a computer monitor.

14. The method for analyzing athletic games of claim 13, wherein the athletic event is a football game.

15. The method for analyzing athletic games of claim 14, wherein the user interface includes a mode of operation whereby an initial movement of a ball carrier within the statistics is analyzed to determine the ball carrier'"'"'s initial direction of movement and the ball carrier'"'"'s initial direction of movement is displayed as directional lines on a playing field.

16. The method for analyzing athletic games of claim 14, further comprising a playbook, the playbook containing at least one of play names and player names, wherein the inputting statistics includes voice recognition and the voice recognition uses the playbook to determine valid inputs.

17. The method for analyzing athletic games of claim 16, wherein numbers are stored in the playbook as discrete digits and the voice recognition includes recognizing the numbers uttered as discrete digits and uttered as contiguous numbers.

18. A machine-readable storage having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:

receiving a digital video stream containing a digital video representation of an athletic event;

while more video data is present in the digital video stream;

(a) reading a time stamp from the digital video stream and storing the time stamp in a first register;

(b) creating an individual play output file for a current play of the digital video stream;

(c) reading a segment of video from the digital video stream;

(d) writing the segment of video to the individual play output file;

(e) reading a next time stamp from the digital video stream and storing the next time stamp in a second register;

(f) if the first register differs from the second register by more than a time gap, copying the contents of the second register into the first register and repeating the above steps (b) through (f); and

(g) copying the contents of the second register into the first register and repeating steps (c) through (g).

19. The machine-readable storage of claim 18, wherein said time gap is one second.

20. The machine-readable storage of claim 18, further comprising:

inputting statistics regarding the current play and writing the statistics to a database.

21. The machine-readable storage of claim 20, further comprising:

displaying the statistics for the current play and the individual play output file for the current play in a user interface on a computer monitor.

22. The machine-readable storage of claim 21, wherein the athletic event is a football game.

23. The machine-readable storage of claim 22, wherein the user interface includes a mode of operation whereby an initial movement of a ball carrier within the statistics is analyzed to determine the ball carrier'"'"'s initial direction of movement and the ball carrier'"'"'s initial direction of movement is displayed as directional lines on a playing field.

24. The machine-readable storage of claim 22, further comprising a playbook, the playbook containing at least one of play names and player names, wherein the inputting statistics includes voice recognition and the voice recognition uses the playbook to determine valid inputs.

25. The machine-readable storage of claim 24, wherein numbers are stored in the playbook as discrete digits and the voice recognition includes recognizing the numbers uttered as discrete digits and uttered as contiguous numbers.